July 7, 2025 | Mark Paradies

Global TapRooT® Summit History: 1994-2025

TapRooT® Summit History (Including the Future: 2025)

We started planning the first Global TapRooT® Summit (back then, it was just called the TapRooT® Conference) in 1993. That was over 30 years ago! Ever since the success of the first Summit in 1994, we have been improving each year throughout the Summit’s history. Our goal is to make the Summit the best place to:

Meet and network with performance improvement experts.
Benchmark best practices from around the world.
Learn the latest techniques for performance improvement, incident investigation, and root cause analysis.
Improve your safety, risk management, human performance, quality, operational excellence, CAPA, and maintenance/reliability programs.
Have fun and be inspired while learning.

We have developed an outstanding event that you will enjoy, plus you will go back to work with valuable best practices to share at your company. How valuable will these best practices be? So valuable that we provide this guarantee:

GUARANTEE

Attend the Global TapRooT® Summit. Go back to work and implement
your road map to success. If you don’t save 10 times the cost of your
attendance at the Summit, let us know and return your Summit materials,
and we will refund 100% of the Summit registration fee.

This guarantee shows how certain we are that you will learn valuable best practices to take your facility’s performance to the next level.

Below is a history of the Summit from 1994-2024 and a preview of 2025 Summit in Knoxville, Tennessee. Reading about past Summits is like a walk down memory lane. Do you recognize anyone from past summits in the pictures below? It will also help you see why attending the 2025 Summit is valuable for your company and career and will be the BEST Summit we have ever organized.

1st Summit – 1994 – GATLINBURG

Our first Keynote Speaker was Dr. Charles O. Hopkins, University of Illinois, a human factors expert and my mentor, who spoke to the 33 participants about applying human factors to improve human performance. Yes, we talked about improving human performance about a decade before it was “cool.”

Dr. Charles O Hopkins - Human Factors Pioneer

We had a three-mile run before breakfast, and we ended the Summit with a steak cookout at Cades Cove in the Smoky Mountains. How did we pull it off? Seriously, I look back and don’t know. But we knew we would do it again.

2nd Summit – 1995 – ORLANDO

Disney was a great place to hold the second Summit. The Orlando Summit was the first Summit to include pre-Summit TapRooT® Courses. With 77 people attending the Orlando TapRooT® Summit, we invented the Name Game as a way to maximize networking.

3rd Summit – 1996 – NASHVILLE

Our third Summit institutionalized sponsoring a social activity/reception. In Nashville, the choice was clear – the Grand Ole Opry.

Again, the number of people attending grew. Plus, as usual, we were ahead of our time. The 1996 Summit had a session dedicated to learning from medical errors at hospitals (three years before the publication of Lucian Leape’s call to action: To Err Is Human – Building a Safer Health System).

4th Summit – 1997 – SAN ANTONIO

Commercial Electrician, Lighting & Sign Contractor San Antonio, TX | FSG

1997 was the first Summit in Texas, with over 100 participants. It was bigger and better in every way. More networking, learning, keynote speakers, tracks, and pre-Summit Courses. And everyone enjoyed the Alamo reception (yes, we ate inside the Alamo). The Riverwalk was just outside the hotel.

5th Summit – 1998 – DALLAS

The Southfork Ranch hosted the 1998 Summit. Yes, we had the reception in the TV JR house pictured above. Everybody had a blast.

The 1998 Summit was also the start of presenting TapRooT® Users with Success Story Awards – a great way to share best practices.

In the early years, we held the Summit every 14-16 months. Thus, after the November 1998 Summit, we skipped 1999 and held the next Summit in March of 2000.

6th Summit – 2000 – GATLINBURG

Remember the Y2K scare? Well, we overcame it and had the 2000 Summit.

Below is Mark Paradies, one of the Keynote Speakers, providing advice on improving performance.

It was one of the many presentations that shared best practices that people took home and implemented.

Above are Mark Paradies and Linda Unger with Shuttle Astronaut Mike Mullane, our Friday keynote speaker. He explained the first Shuttle disaster and how Summit attendees could achieve operational excellence.

7th Summit – 2001 – GALVESTON

2001 Summit almost didn’t happen. Two days before the Summit, a tropical storm dropped two FEET of rain on Houston and Galveston! But the show went on…

At the Summit, we had great Keynote Speakers. That’s Mark and Ed with one of the keynote speakers. Also, Dr. John Grout talked about how mistake-proofing (Poka-Yoke) fits into an improvement program.

8th Summit – 2002 – GATLINBURG

Back to Gatlinburg for the 8th TapRooT® Summit. That’s Linda, below, introducing one of the Best Practice Session Speakers, Dave Prewitt, VP from Alaska Airlines. Our Keynote Speakers included presenters from the NTSB and Tennessee OSHA.

Participants said it couldn’t get any better. But they were wrong. We continued to improve!

9th Summit – 2003 – DALLAS

We liked the Southfork Ranch so much that we returned in 2003. Of course, there were great Keynote Speakers. We also had the first TapRooT® Advisory Board Dinner. Below is Linda Unger with some of the TapRooT® Advisory Board members.

10th Summit – 2005 – SAN ANTONIO

Wow! Interesting keynote speakers, great networking, and tons of best practice sharing. We had the reception at Bighorn Saloon and a Riverwalk Cruise for the Advisory Board Dinner.

The Summit that couldn’t get better (according to the previous year’s participants’ feedback) hit a new high (according to 2005 Summit attendees).

11th Summit – 2006 – GATLINBURG

What a view!

The Smoky Mountains is a great place to hold a Summit. And it is just outside Knoxville, the site of the 2025 Summit.

12th Summit – 2007 – SAN ANTONIO

Back to San Antonio for the 2007 TapRooT® Summit – the first Summit with more than 200 participants!

We had Heinz Block present about the development of Equifactor® Equipment Troubleshooting. Plus, we had Josh Davis, an Olympic three-time gold medalist, talk about achieving success and how to inspire your kids.

Linda Unger, Josh Davis, and Mark Paradies

Each year, the Summit gets better and better.

13th Summit – 2008 – LAS VEGAS

2008 marked the 20th Anniversary of System Improvements. And the 2008 Summit was bigger and better than ever!

Elvis stopped by the reception to sing us a few tunes. Plus, we had great Keynote Speakers, including one of the operators on duty at Three Mile Island during the accident and an Apache helicopter pilot from the Gulf War who had been wrongly prosecuted for a human error.

14th Summit – 2009 – NASHVILLE

Yes, the Great Recession struck. But we still had over 200 people attend the Nashville TapRooT® Summit. Despite tropical storms, the Great Recession, and COVID, we have NEVER canceled a Global TapRooT® Summit. Our loyal clients know the Summit’s value and strive to attend regardless of weather or economic conditions.

The Keynote Speakers included Mike Kelly and E.D. Hill from Fox News.

Mark Paradies, E.D. Hil, and Linda Unger

As usual, we had a great reception with a Disco theme. We even got Ken Reed to dance! (That will never happen again.)

15th Summit – 2010 – SAN ANTONIO

The Keynote Speakers at the 2010 Summit included the co-pilot of the “Miracle on the Hudson” flight – Jeff Skiles. As usual at the Summit, there was great best practice sharing, networking, and benchmarking for all.

Plus, the reception was a Halloween costume party. Above is Ken dressed as a NASCAR pit crew member. What fun!

16th Summit – 2012 – LAS VEGAS

Back to Las Vegas! This was the first Summit with over 300 participants.

We had Ken Mattingly, an Apollo Astronaut, as our closing Keynote Speaker, plus a great reception at Margaritaville!

17th Summit – 2013 – GATLINBURG

Another great Summit was held in Gatlinburg, TN. Bill Rancic, the first winner of the TV show The Apprentice, shared insights on the competition and motivated us all to give our best effort to make improvements.

18th Summit – 2014 – AUSTIN

This was our first Summit at the Horseshoe Bay Resort. Below is a picture from the “Name Game.” Meeting people is how we start every Summit.

19th Summit- 2015 – LAS VEGAS

It was another great Summit in Vegas! Captain Richard Phillips was our closing speaker. It’s no wonder they made a movie out of his heroic experience!

And below is Linda Unger giving out Success Story Awards…

20th Summit – 2016 – SAN ANTONIO

Great Keynote Speakers, including Mike Durrant (Blackhawk Down), made the 2016 TapRooT® Summit in San Antonio another success.

21st Summit – 2018 – KNOXVILLE

2018 was the first Summit in our hometown – Knoxville, Tennessee. People loved it! Downtown has many activities and dining within walking distance of the Knoxville Convention Center.

Mark Paradies interviewed Mike Williams about surviving the Deepwater Horizon accident. He was one of the folks left behind by the liferafts and had to jump from the deck of the Deepwater Horizon. What an impactful discussion. Here are some highlights from the 2018 Summit in a video.

Also, Vincent Phipps (who was in the video above) was a Keynote Speaker at the 2018 Summit and will speak at the 2025 Summit.

22nd Summit – 2019 – HOUSTON

2019 was the first Summit held in Houston, and it was great! We had Astronaut Jim Wetherbee speak about high-reliability lessons learned from space.

At the reception (western theme), we got Michelle, Mark, and Ken to back up Carl Dixon signing the Eagles tune, Take It Easy.

23rd Summit – 2020 – AUSTIN (Horseshoe Bay Resort)

Another great Summit. This Summit ended at the start of the COVID pandemic. We were lucky to complete the Summit just before the restrictions started. Nobody caught the dreaded virus – perhaps because we used up gallons of hand sanitizer. We bought the last of the supplies in Knoxville and brought it to the Summit so every attendee could have all they needed. (The sanitizer was almost as valuable as toilet paper!)

24th Summit – 2021 – KNOXVILLE

The 2021 Global TapRooT® Summit was a HYBRID Summit (held virtually and in person). Once again, we had some great Keynote Speakers, including Olympian Shannon Miller.

Mark Paradies, Shannon Miller, and Linda Unger

This was our first Summit after COVID. We didn’t know what to expect. But the combination of virtual and live (although challenging) was a great success.

25th Summit – 2022 – KNOXVILLE

Yes, the 2022 Global TapRooT® Summit was held for the second straight year in Knoxville, Tennessee, because of the difficulty in planning Summits in the post-COVID world.

Once again, we had great Keynote Speakers, including Vice Admiral Joseph Aucoin, who spoke about ship collisions in the Pacific.

And great Best Practice Tracks with over 40 talks.

We decided this would be the last hybrid Summit to promote better networking in the future.

26th Summit – 2023 – HOUSTON

The 2023 Global TapRooT® Summit was held at the Margaritaville Lake Resort, Lake Conroe, near Houston, Texas.

And everyone had a great time and took home valuable lessons learned.

27th Summit – 2024 – AUSTIN

The 27th Global TapRooT® Summit was held at the Horseshoe Bay Resort near Austin, Texas.

We had inspiring, educational, motivational Keynote Speakers.

And attendees agree that it was an amazing success.

Everyone met new friends, learned new best practices, and had fun.

And we had our first Women in TapRooT® Reception.

28th Summit – 2025 – KNOXVILLE

So, now you know that we:

Hold the Summit in interesting vacation locations,
Find Keynote Speakers that educate, motivate, and inspire,
Organize best practice tracks that share industry leader best practices and the latest technical innovations,
Promote networking and benchmarking between participants, and
Make all of the above FUN!

What will we do to make the 28th Global TapRooT® Summit (being held at the Knoxville Convention Center in Knoxville, Tennessee, on September 29 – October 3) even better than the first 27?

First, the Keynote Speakers…

VINCENT PHIPPS: How to Share, Learn, and Implement Best Practices from the Summit.

ALEX WEBER: Facing Challenges, Self-Doubt, and Uncertainty When Achieving World-Class Performance

GARD CLARK: Life and Death Underwater

BARB CARR: Making Improvement Happen!

KC CAMPBELL: Flying in the Face of Fear: Lessons on Leading with Courage

Second, the eight Best Practice Tracks (one more than last year) are better than ever!

See the complete schedule for all the breakout sessions HERE.

And don’t forget the networking that we build into the Summit. We have even more ideas to make it even better this year.

Finally, we have even more pre-Summit Courses – 11 – held on September 29-30. Pick one of these and see how great they are…

But here is a bonus, you will receive a $300 discount OFF the course registration fee when you attend one of the courses above and the Summit. That’s the biggest discount we have ever offered on the combined pre-Summit Course and the Summit.

Register Now

See below for the Summit fees and potential discounts for each attendee…

To register, CLICK HERE.