Tribute, Inc., a provider of ERP software for industrial distributors, had their TribNet meeting of Tribute and TrulinX Software users in New Orleans this year and was another successful learning and networking experience for all.

Held at the New Orleans Downtown Marriott at the Convention Center, the meeting was in a great location in the Warehouse District. We were surrounded by excellent restaurants and shops and close enough to the French Quarter for its myriad entertainments.

We had over 160 attendees with many new customers attending and finding value in the software presentations and networking opportunities.

The week began with a day of intense work by the TrulinX PPAB and the Tribute Program Review Committees, where members review and rank the open project lists, which helps determine the direction for future software development.

We kicked off the User's Group meeting with a welcome from Tribute Inc. president Tim Reynolds and a review of Tribute’s strategic initiatives. We were honored to have Ken Brown, partner at Evergreen Consulting, as our keynote speaker this year.

Ken Brown brought his years of experience as president of a nationally known distribution business to his presentation, "The Perfect Customer: Strategic Pricing & Customer Profitability."

Evergreen Consulting is a boutique consulting firm devoted entirely on the wholesale distribution channel. Their focus area is strategic pricing (SMART Pricing) and customer profitability (SMART CPA). They also facilitate strategic planning and sales compensation projects for Evergreen clients.

We also extend a huge thanks to our sponsors for exhibiting and presenting breakout sessions, including one from our partner, Brennan Industries.

Our Gold Sponsors: Tour de Force, Inc., and Matillion, and our Silver Sponsors:  3Delta Systems, Enlighten.Net, Harland Technology Services, Rubber Tree Systems, MITS, and WarehouseTWO.

Our annual meeting is a great way to network with other customers and we try to do that in a casual setting. We had a pleasant opening reception at the hotel and Thursday evening we had our annual president's dinner at an excellent restaurant in the French Quarter - The Court of Two Sisters.

Elections were held to fill new positions on the TribNet Committee Board as well as the Tribute Program Review and TrulinX Program Priority Assignment Boards. We appreciate the time our executive board and committee members give to the promotion of our meeting and development of the software. We encourage customers to join TribNet and our new member's forum on Basecamp.

We look forward to another great meeting next summer – make plans to join us back in Cleveland, June 20th - 23rd, 2017!