We recently hosted our fifth annual educational seminar for Chem-Man. The event was held at the Hilton Garden Inn in Jonesboro, Arkansas (home of our flagship location).
The seminar has been a well-received course we have offered over the years as an opportunity for current customers and users to receive a refresher course, see new enhancements and updates, and for prospective users to see what Chem-Man is all about. It has always been very important to Regina, myself, and everyone at Chem-Man to ensure our users and customers are educated on how to use the program to its full capabilities and be aware of new enhancements and updates. For that reason, Regina was inspired years ago to begin offering this seminar before the beginning of the spray season.
I had the honor of leading the seminar, making this the second year for me to conduct the class and be the person in the hot seat. Although it is no nuance for me to host an educational session on behalf of Chem-Man (as I usually do so at all state aerial association conventions), this seminar hit close to home in the weeks before my preparations. In the last two weeks leading up to the day of the seminar, I worked diligently to compose an outline and a syllabus for what I would cover and prepare examples in the account I use for demonstration purposes. Whenever I host an education session, I like to ensure I’m well prepared with my material and present information pertinent and relevant to the geographical setting and workflow of those I anticipate in attendance. It wasn’t until three-fourths of the way into composing my material that I realized the irony of the situation, as not long ago, I was one of the Chem-Man users amongst many others in the crowd, eager to learn, discover new ways to streamline operations, improve efficiency, and enhance productivity.
As I have stated before, I was a user of Chem-Man before my career with Chem-Man began. In 2019, I was given an opportunity to manage a newly formed ag flying business, where I was introduced to using Chem-Man for the first time. I received brief training from another user of Chem-Man and was thrown to the wolves, in a sense, to learn how to use and navigate through the program—unbeknownst to me at the time that Chem-Man provides free and unlimited training to its users. Despite the brief introduction to Chem-Man, I still somehow stumbled through the first season in business successfully but only used the program's capabilities at a bare minimum. As the second season rapidly approached, I was invited to attend the first annual Chem-Man seminar in Jonesboro and accepted the invite without hesitation. I expected to learn many things and gain valuable insight, but little did I know that I would be exposed to a portion of the program that I never knew existed—one that would single-handedly help improve operations tenfold and help me manage the workload beyond any degree and extent in which I had done the previous year.
In the previous year, I only used Chem-Man to bill completed jobs, produce a single-page map, and keep track of orders—all in a large paper workbook. I would then take that full-page map after it was printed, handwrite the acres, grower, and chemical mixture, and notate any adjacent crops that would pose an issue for inadvertent drift. Once I sat through the first few minutes, I quickly saw all that I wasn’t utilizing, such as the job scheduling management system, the work orders that contained maps with all the pertinent job information, and the various reports available within the program. I realized how much time I had squandered handwriting load sheets, notating maps, marking sensitive areas, and listing the mixture—all while being oblivious that Chem-Man’s program could do all of this for me. I was certain that everything discussed would help improve operations moving forward with the current spray season. I wanted to make certain that with the roles being reversed and myself being the one presenting, I could share Chem-Man features that would be of comparable value to the audience. I prefaced the seminar by telling the crowd I was in their shoes not long ago. I hoped the attendees would go forth with newfound knowledge on how to make operations even better than before with the undiscovered features of Chem-Man.
I began the presentation by creating a work order and taking that work order through the entire dispatching process, all the way over to the billing aspect. Once the job was complete—from the conception of the job to completion—I broke every area of Chem-Man down so that we could see how we could move the job through the flow. I dissected each area of the program and all the options and areas of input within each section. I wanted to ensure that no stone was left unturned, even for those who had been using the program for several years. There were several breaks between each subject to keep the crowd engaged, and everyone in attendance had a chance to have their name drawn for select giveaways. Lunch was provided by Chem-Man and served as a chance for operations and their representatives to mingle, share stories, and swap workflow techniques with each other.
By the end of the afternoon, I could sense that the crowd and I had been privy to all the material that could be processed in one day. Considering we had people in attendance from eight hours away, I knew it would be wise to conclude and allow those with long drives to begin making their way home. When it was all said and done, we had roughly 30 people in attendance from states such as Arkansas, Illinois, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Tennessee, and Texas, and different industries ranging from fixed-wing aerial, rotorcraft, ground, and drone. I was pleased with the engaging questions and conversations, and I’m confident that everyone left with a new understanding of what Chem-Man can do for them.
As Chem-Man continues to grow and advance with the industry, enhancements and updates will need to be shared and shown how to navigate—continuing the need for our annual seminar and the education courses I offer at each state association’s conference. We are thankful to everyone who spent their day with us during the seminar. A video recording of the seminar will be made available by the time the readers see this article. It will be available on our YouTube channel for those unable to attend so they can view it at their convenience.
While some areas, such as California and the states in the south, have already begun their seasons, it is still very much the off-season for most operations in the US and Canada. I encourage you, whether you use Chem-Man or even another platform, to take the time to understand your software better, update maps and information, and do anything you can to prepare yourself for the upcoming season so that when the time comes, you will have yourself and your operation in the best position possible. Chem-Man is available for additional training and help for those who want to maximize their program, streamline their workflow, and increase efficiency and productivity.
