The 16th annual First Alert Professional dealer conference “Partners in Paradise,” took place in Boca Raton, Fla., Oct. 5-8, 2006. Honeywell put on a Paradise-themed weekend with more than 900 people in attendance. Plenty of awards were given out to recognize dealers, along with a special community service award to the National Crime Prevention Council and the Life Safety Award to Jaime Miranda Jr. who saved two children from a burning home.

Educational and roundtable sessions covered topics including, increasing your RMR; increasing the value of your business; life safety offerings; new product offerings; the future of alarm communications, the Sunset Clause and options for dealers.

In the opening session, Joe Sausa, First Alert Professional president, said that this year, Honeywell’s main focus was to bring its dealers, “results.” Ben Cornett, president of Honeywell Security told the crowd, “If we don’t have what you need, tell us and we’ll make it. It’s not about product; it’s about people.”

And that is exactly what the three-day event was about. At the awards dinner on Saturday, Oct. 8, Honeywell recognized high-achieving dealer partners, which included a long list of 5-, 10-, and 15-year partners; Latin America and Carribean achievement awards; rookies of the year; sales leaders of the year; life safety awards; circle of excellence awards; and the medal of honor – given to Joseph Colosimo, president of Guardian Protection Services, Pittsburgh.

Next year’s sales event will be golf themed “The Masters of Sales,” and the conference will take place at the Westin Kierland Resort and Spa, Scottsdale, Ariz., Nov. 8-11.