Event Recap · Portable Storage Industry

NPSA Fall Networking Retreat 2026 Recap

Joe Ellickson, CEO, Omni~View
Milwaukee, Wisconsin

In this recap: Coming Home · NPSA Night Shift · Women of NPSA · Education Sessions · Laverne & Shirley Tour · Harley-Davidson Museum · What We’re Taking Home

The NPSA Fall Networking Retreat in Milwaukee was a reminder of what makes this industry special: the people in it. Over a few packed days, operators, vendors, suppliers and partners from every corner of portables came together to learn, compare notes and build relationships. Here are the moments that stood out for the Omni~View team.

But first, thank you to Mark Depasquale, Joel Rathbone, Kaylee Ferguson, and Riley Mortensen!

Coming home: family, friends, customers and Brewers baseball

One of my personal highlights was simply coming home. I grew up a little over an hour outside of Milwaukee, so this work trip started with a night in my childhood home, catching up with my parents, cousins, aunts, uncles and other family along the way. Driving past the cornfields and cow pastures reminded me where I started, and how my family, friends and neighbors shaped the path that now has me leading a team that serves this industry.

It was just as special to bring my business world and my personal world together at a Milwaukee Brewers game with customers and new connections. We tailgated in the parking lot with my cousin and his crew, which is about as Milwaukee as it gets, and the conversations came easily. Then Jacob Misiorowski took the mound and hit 105 mph on his very first pitch. Being in the stands for that with people we work with every day is something none of us will forget.

A Welcome That Set the Tone

The welcome reception was amazing and thoughtfully put together. From the first handshake, it was clear the NPSA team had built an event designed for real conversation, not just name tags. It set the tone for everything that followed: familiar faces catching up, new faces finding their way in, and everyone feeling like part of the same community.

Hosting the NPSA Night Shift

Omni~View along with our co-host Storage Protectors was proud to host the NPSA Night Shift. Many of our team members live in Wisconsin, so it was fun to declare from the stage that in Wisconsin, we don’t roll out the red carpet, we roll out the barrel. That’s exactly what we did. We had the privilege of buying a couple of rounds for the couple hundred NPSA members who came together from every part of the industry: operators, vendors, suppliers, financiers, and more. The format was simple: fun games with good people for a great Milwaukee night!

There is no better way to meet your neighbors than throwing bags, trading ping pong shots or sliding a shuffleboard puck. The energy in the room was vibrant, the conversations were real, and the chance to connect was top notch.

Congratulations to our prize winners:

Forouzan Farazi
of Mobile Cube, winner of the Omni~View YETI cooler

Mary Beth Maloy
of Maloy Mobile Storage, winner of the Meta Oculus

Brian Hawkins
of Big Steel Boxes, winner of the Wisconsin Old Fashioned kit

Beatrice Constante
of The Storage Box, winner of the Carhartt backpack, Nike hat, and YETI mug

Women of NPSA

A few dozen women from across the industry gathered over coffee and mimosas for the Women of NPSA networking breakfast. The coffee was strong, but the themes were stronger: Stronger Together and Fuel Your Day, Grow Your Network. Julia Mozumdar and former NPSA Chair Angie Payne shared the group’s history and why it matters. They encouraged everyone in the room to get involved and keep the committee thriving because of the impact it has on the industry.

Angie spoke about why it matters to keep showing up and advocating for a seat at the table, which is exactly what she has done. After her husband’s unexpected death when her children were young, she faced different obstacles than her peers, and as a mom and a woman she brought a different perspective to her business and the industry. She carved out her own space in her own way.

The key takeaway: women face unique challenges in this industry, and the chance to connect with other Women of NPSA is priceless.

Education Sessions

The education program pushed everyone to think bigger about how they grow and how they show up for customers.

Carl Gould: Hypergrowth in Action

(compliments of Spinnaker Equipment Services)

Carl Gould is a worldwide authority on business and entrepreneurship who built three multimillion-dollar businesses by the age of 40. He is an award-winning coach and mentor whose methodologies are in practice in 35 countries, and the author of multiple books on business strategy, leadership and sustainable growth. Across a VIP hot seat coaching lunch and two hands-on Hypergrowth sessions, he pushed attendees to find hidden value, differentiate and leave with a growth plan.

Our team’s biggest takeaway from Carl was the importance of solidifying your value through your pricing strategy, and the power of guarantees. He credited much of his early success to charging more than his competition, backed by high service levels and real guarantees. He promised to pay customers back for the work he performed if he did not meet every single deliverable.

Ken Schmidt: Building Tattoo-Worthy Customer Relationships

(compliments of SeaCube Containers)

Ken Schmidt is a customer loyalty expert and reputation and brand-building authority who played a senior role in the Harley-Davidson turnaround. He is the author of Make Some Noise: The Unconventional Road to Dominance.

Our team loved Ken’s session. His core message: don’t let your business become a commodity that competes on price, or even on what you do. Compete on who you are and what you stand for. His success in turning Harley-Davidson around was built on creating a value system for the brand that told customers who Harley was, attaching human values to the brand rather than leaning on what it did. Everyone made good motorcycles and parts. Only Harley stood for something.

He also said that passion is the single most attractive trait a human can possess, and that it plays a major role in both brand development and human connection. It was the perfect setup for our evening at the Harley-Davidson Museum.

An Editorial Note

Some may say we don’t work in the most glamorous industry. Portable storage and sanitation don’t inspire movie scenes like a Harley tearing through Terminator 2. But your brand means a lot. It can give people comfort, quality and assurance during some of the best and hardest moments of their lives. The same way a tradesman looks at their Milwaukee toolset and the confidence it gives them, you can give a contractor confidence that their most valuable assets are available and protected on the job site. That is worth building a brand around, and worth being passionate about.

A Laverne & Shirley Tour of Milwaukee

The next big highlight was a tour through the Laverne & Shirley sites of Milwaukee, and the best part was connecting with people in the most Milwaukee way possible: sharing a pint of locally brewed beer at the iconic Lakefront Brewery.

Along the way we stopped to see the Bronze Fonz, took in some of downtown Milwaukee’s most iconic spots, and celebrated the city’s deep German heritage. It was part history lesson, part neighborhood tour, and all good company.

An Evening at the Harley-Davidson Museum

The Harley-Davidson Museum was as beautiful as it was cool, and it made the perfect backdrop for great conversations. With live music in the background, we met with people surrounded by some of the most iconic motorcycles in the world, inside a truly world-class museum.

Congratulations to Tim Ciccarillo of Freedom Conex on winning the Harley. Tim grabbed a helmet and rode it home.

It was an incredible event, and a big thank you to Triton Container Sales for sponsoring it.

What We're Taking Home

While I didn’t win the Harley, I’m taking a lot home with me. AI was the theme of last year’s event and how it’s impacting our industry, and it’s exciting to think about what we’ll be able to do with it. But the biggest lesson from these sessions and this week of networking is simpler: relationships matter. How your customers connect with you, your product, and your brand matter. They matter at industry events, and they matter in our communities back home.

The best operators invest in connecting with their vendors and their people, and they keep learning how to connect better with their customers, whether through branding, customer experience, or the many other touchpoints that make up a great business. Technology can help with all of that, but it starts and ends with people.

Thank You

None of this happens without the people behind it. Thank you to the NPSA Board of Directors, both past and present, and current Chair Joe Helleny for their service and leadership, and to the NPSA staff who planned every detail of this retreat. Thank you to Ken Schmidt and Carl Gould for sessions that will shape how we think about our business, and to SeaCube Containers, Spinnaker Equipment Services, Storage Protectors, and Triton Container Sales for sponsoring events.

And thank you to all of the NPSA members who joined us in Milwaukee. We can’t wait to see you at the next one.

Cheers!

Joe

Joe Ellickson
CEO, Omni~View