2012 NSCA Business & Leadership Conference

Economic Outlook 2012: Conditions That Impact Your Business
Lee McPheters, Arizona State University

A review of long term trends, current conditions, and the economic outlook for the rest of 2012 and the next five years. The presentation will show how government, businesses and consumers all play a role in sustainable recovery. During this session, the strongest and weakest states will be listed and analyzed, and will conclude with a summary of the outlook for key U.S. indicators, including inflation, job creation, housing, and GDP.

This session will cover topics including:

What the long term trends tell us
Can the President affect the economy?
Taxes, spending and deficits
GDP by the numbers
The consumer: still the one
Watching the Worry Meter
Small business, big impact
Where the jobs are – top 10 states
U. S. Outlook for the short and intermediate term

Construction Forecasts: Conditions & Trends
Mark “Rusty” Sherwood, McGraw-Hill Construction

Backed by McGraw-Hill Construction’s 100+ years of industry experience and market data, Sherwood will offer projections on national construction activity for 2012, perspectives on key industry shaping trends, and implications of both on US-based Systems manufacturers and contractors.

Trends,Technology and Taking the Lead
Scott Klososky, Alkami Technology

Technology is simply a tool, but in the right hands, it can almost be magical in its ability to give us new capabilities. For this reason, it is critical to understand how technology can be fully leveraged in order to drive top-line revenues, or lower bottom-line costs. This is a talk that is both thought provoking and practical. Scott combines highlighting a few new trends that people might be aware of, and adds a few over the horizon trends that are completely new.

To this Scott adds the delivery of practical technology tools, or concepts that can be used as soon the attendees get back to the office. In the end with a fast paced and entertaining style, Scott creates context for many of the words and concepts that they have heard about but cannot really apply just yet.

Internal Measures: Is Your Business Really Safe? (breakout option)
Jay Myers, Interactive Solutions, Inc.

In the spring of 2003, Interactive Solutions, Inc. (ISI) experienced a devastating blow when owner, Jay Myers, discovered that the company’s accounting manager and receptionist had stolen over $257,000 from his Memphis based company.

Research shows that in 2010 alone, there were over 1,100 cases involving embezzlement’s exceeding $100,000 in the U.S. The average loss for those organizations was over $1 million, but the maximum exceeded $46 million. Of those cases, only 4% of the employees had any prior criminal record.

In this session you will learn about:

ISI’s dramatic embezzlement ordeal that almost sunk the company.
Specific steps to take if you suspect or discover embezzlement within your company.
The role of a Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE) or forensic accountant in dealing with embezzlement cases.
Management strategies concerning finances as well as employee, customer and vendor morale.
Prosecution strategies including state, local and federal authorities (U.S. Secret Service).
Prevention Strategies that can save your business.

Social Media for Revenue Growth: Top 5 Social Media Applications (breakout option)
Ira Koretsky, The Chief Storyteller

Learn how to engage clients and prospects quicker with compelling online messages. Join us for a fast-paced session packed with immediately applicable ideas and tips. Get your target audiences to say to themselves, “Wow! I need that,” with relevant messages and business stories you share online. We cover the most important social media applications today: blogs, LinkedIn, Slideshare, Facebook, and Twitter. Come prepared and bring some examples of your social media efforts or ideas you have for instant feedback and suggestions.

The "NEW" Executive Power Hour: Cut to the Chase
Craig Janssen, Acoustical Dimensions
Jim Sinapoli, Smart Buildings
Scott Klososky, Alkami Technology

The executive power hour will be a rapid fire series of three presentations delivered by industry leaders in an intense, thought-provoking manner. Each presenter will be given 20 minutes to deliver a clear and concise separate, yet linked presentation on industry topics of interest.

First, Craig Jansen will discuss topics that impacts systems integration firms and business approaches that require immediate evaluation. Current and near-future issues like IPD, BIM, construction delivery methods, changes and breakdowns will be presented.
Next, Jim Sinapoli will expand the topic to focus on more external client and facility-based issues requiring a strong sense of direction, leadership and the role of the CEO and senior leadership/ management in today’s business world.
Then, Scott Klososky will focus on technology and innovation within our primary sectors, but not necessarily in our control.

Saturday Sessions

Top 5 Legislative Issues in 2012
Cathy Mrosko, NSCA

Protecting your business means more than just earning profits. Understand new regulations, threatening policies and legislative issues affecting many small businesses. The implications of the upcoming 2012 elections could mean the difference between financial success or failure. Learn about:

National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) initiatives and the costs associated with these regulations
Taxes: Incentives, bonus depreciation, changes for small business
Regulatory changes: OSHA, EPA, Americans with Disabilities Act
Prevailing Wage: Solutions to winning bids

Leadership at 100 MPH
Cameron Herrold, BackPocket COO

Managing business growth can be an exhilarating experience, but it can also be an intimidating one. In this dynamic speech, Cameron reveals the systems all companies need to grow and how to do it while making a profit. In this keynote session you’ll discover how to:

Use a unique visioning process called a “Painted Picture” to create total alignment in your team members and have them reading your mind.
Attract, interview and retain top talent, while systematically removing low performers.
Reverse engineer long-term goals; know precisely what to do, and when to execute. You’ll forever change your strategic planning process to one that actually works.
Make useless meetings taboo in your company, skyrocketing productivity and profit.
Leverage simple and easy to put in place technology to drive growth.

Keynote Session sponsored by:

Company Culture = World Class Employees
Cameron Herrold, BackPocket COO

In this invigorating presentation, Cameron shares the secrets he has used to create truly amazing high-growth workplace cultures, including one company he led being rated #2 in Canada’s Best Places to Work as awarded by Canadian Business magazine and twice rated #1 Best Places to Work in BC as awarded by BC Business Magazine. He’s also formally mentored four other companies, now ranked among the best to work for in their countries. Additionally, this is some of the best content he teaches yearly at MITs Entrepreneurial Master’s Program.

In this presentation Cameron will reveal:

The best systems to attract, interview, select and handcuff top employees.
Secrets attracting ‘A’ players away from competitors.
Real life examples of what fantastic workplaces look like where Gen X, Gen Y and Baby Boomers all productively work together.
Step-by-step strategies for balancing culture with your bottom line.

Business Valuation (breakout option)
Chris Daum, FMI Capital Advisors, Inc.

This session will highlight trends driving current M&A activity and the key factors that impact valuation and lead to a successful transaction. Specific topics covered will include:

Competitive themes transforming the systems integration industry
Recent M&A activity including real world transaction examples
Key attributes of attractive acquisition targets
The difference between a strategic vs. financial buyer
How each type of buyer value your business, and why
Alternatives to a third party sale

Ownership Thinking: The Business Model for the 21st Century (breakout option)
Alex Freytag, Ownership Thinking, LLC

Why can’t everyone see what I see? As a business owner or leader, you’ve probably agonized on this question at some point. Why can’t my employees see the issues I see? Why don’t they focus their attention on the important issues? Don’t they understand the cost of doing business?

The problem is not that your employees lack the interest or capacity to contribute, but simply that they haven’t received the information, education, or tools they need to begin thinking and acting like an owner. Owners are focused on the company: sales, cash, profitability, the marketplace. Employees tend to focus on “me”: compensation, benefits, job security, getting my work done.

Ownership Thinking is a proven process that will move your employees from “me” to “us,” creating a better work environment and significantly improved financial performance. Companies practicing Ownership Thinking financially outperform their competitors by 30% or more, and they retain employees at a 200% better rate.

Alex Freytag delivers an engaging and interactive program that provides his audience with an overview of Ownership Thinking, as well as tools that they can take back to their organizations and immediately put to use. The presentation covers:

Business Acumen: Teaching your employees the fundamentals of business so they can link the tasks they perform to business objectives and, ultimately, their incentive plans.
Transparency and Accountability: How to identify key indicators, build scoreboards and rapid improvement plans and create an environment of high visibility and accountability.
Incentives and Equity Sharing: How to build incentive and/or broad-based equity plans that really work.
Finding Your Organization’s Higher Purpose: How to move people beyond the entitlement mentality so pervasive in our culture, and toward a mentality of earning and purpose.

Beer ‘n’ Bull

This year the annual beer and bull session at the BLC will cover the sensitive topic of stress points in manufacturer – integrator relations and supply chain management issues. The focus will be on policy and processes that strengthens or erode relationships. We will explore the attributes of the best manufacturer partners and those that the integrators find not so great.

Based upon direct input from the attendees, the specific topics will cover; exclusivity, direct sales and channel conflicts, forced demo purchases and other manufacturer imposed requirements, design flaw compensation, return policies, back charges for defects and technical labor on extended warranties.

For fairness, a manufacturer and an integrator will join CW on the stage to share viewpoints and perspectives. Having a manufacturer explain their logic and rationale will bring a heightened awareness of the opposing viewpoints. The open dialogue helps to generate a clear understanding of the natural tensions within the supply chain.

This should be a lively and productive debate. Most importantly, attendees of the BLC get first hand and close up concepts to take back to their business for improving vendor partner relations. These discussions will open up conversations you didn’t even think to have with your key suppliers.

Sponsored by: