Schedule At-A-Glance
All times are in Central Time Zone
Tuesday, February 27, 2024
7:00am – 1:30pm
2:00pm – 6:00pm
BLC Onsite Registration
3:30pm – 4:15pm
5:00pm – 6:00pm
6:00pm – 8:00pm
Wednesday, February 28, 2024
7:00am – 8:00am
Breakfast
8:00am – 9:00am
9:00am – 9:15am
Break
9:15am – 10:45am
10:45am – 11:00am
Break
11:00am – 12:00pm
12:00pm – 1:15pm
Networking Lunch
1:15pm – 2:45pm
Breakout #1
Breakout #2
Breakout #3
Breakout #4
2:45pm – 3:00pm
Break
6:00pm – 7:00pm
Cocktail Hour
7:00pm – 9:00pm
Dinner/Entertainment
Thursday, February 29, 2024
7:30am – 8:30am
Breakfast
8:30am – 9:15am
9:15am – 10:30am
10:30am – 10:45am
Break
10:45am – 12:00pm
12:00pm – 1:15pm
Networking Lunch
1:15pm – 2:30pm
Breakout #5
Breakout #6
Breakout #7
Breakout #8
2:30pm – 2:45pm
Break
2:45pm – 3:45pm
5:00pm – 6:00pm
Closing Night Reception
6:00pm
Closing Night Dinner
Detailed Schedule At-A-Glance
Tuesday, February 27, 2024
7:00am – 1:30pm
NSCA Education Foundation Industry Charity Golf Outing
Join the NSCA Education Foundation for its annual Industry Charity Golf Outing to kick off the conference. It takes place at TPC Four Seasons Las Colinas golf course. The outing not only offers you the chance to meet new Business & Leadership Conference attendees and get reacquainted with those you’ve met in years past, but also gives you a way to support the NSCA Education Foundation as it raises money to advance industry initiatives.
Lunch will be provided; awards will be given during the Opening Night Dinner, which begins at 6pm.
View more details here.
2:00pm – 6:00pm
BLC Onsite Registration
3:30pm – 4:15pm
First-Time Attendee Orientation
If you haven’t attended NSCA’s Business & Leadership Conference (BLC) before, then this orientation is a great way to meet other new people and learn what to expect from the BLC experience. This informal orientation provides examples of how attendees from previous BLCs have applied concepts they learned to strengthen business operations and profitability.
6:00pm – 8:00pm
Opening Night Dinner and Awards
Join us as we honor our Excellence in Business winners: integration firms that experience success in business performance, employee engagement, differentiating strategies, strategic transformation, customer experience, talent development, and more. We’ll also recognize winners from the Excellence in Product Innovation Awards, Randy Vaughan Founder’s Award.
Wednesday, February 28, 2024
8:00am – 9:00am
Opening Session: Economic Outlook 2024 for Integrators
Presented by Dr. Chris Kuehl
NSCA Chief Economist Dr. Chris Kuehl always brings his unique combination of straight talk and dry sense of humor to his exploration of the economy and how it impacts your business. This time, he has lots to discuss with the NSCA community about inflation, supply chain and skilled worker shortages, and the decline in commercial office space. As always, Dr. Kuehl will look at economic issues through the lens of integration company leaders to help you prepare for what’s ahead. The session concludes with a performance summary of key indicators, including inflation, job creation, housing, and GDP, and what they mean for your business.
9:15am – 10:45am
Keynote: Strategies to Succeed—No Matter What the Economy Does
Presented by Meridith Elliott Powell
After learning what the economy has in store for integrators in 2024 and beyond, business and banking veteran Meridith Elliott Powell brings the perfect finance-focused, follow-up punch. Integrators will learn about business growth strategies to help them gain ground in their markets, despite economic challenges. She’ll discuss how to build a team that thrives amid change, design a strategy that gets results, rise above the white noise, and leave the competition in the dust. Uncover leadership development strategies to help you navigate change and succeed—no matter what the economy does.
11:00am – 12:00pm
General Session: The Chaotic State of the Industry
Panelists: Michael Bonner
Chaos is an all-too-familiar word for integration company leaders in 2024. So much is changing so rapidly—and so unpredictably. There is no choice but to adapt to the rate of change, but that’s easier said than done. How can integrators budget for this rate of change? How can they deal with chaos related to continual staff training in a desperate effort to keep pace with fast-evolving technology? In this session, Michael will discuss the difference between chaos and transformation, chaos due to wage inflation and staffing shortages, and chaos caused by poor choices (entering non-ideal projects with non-ideal customers, for example). You’ll also discover how to leverage the fact that the integrated solutions you provide can help customers navigate their own chaos.
3:00pm – 4:30pm
The Executive Power Hour: Exploring the Power of AI for a Safe, Ethical Digital Revolution
Presented by Tanmay Bakshi
As excited as integration company leaders might be about the possibilities that come with artificial intelligence (AI), pragmatic integration company leaders are also concerned. It’s more important than ever to ensure digital trust so users feel confident that their data is safe, private, secure, reliable, and ethically handled. In this session, you’ll explore how organizations can harness the full potential of AI to drive a digital revolution that’s safe and ethical. Discover the key tools and best practices you need to build and launch AI solutions that users trust. Plus, you’ll get tips on how to structure your business to take advantage of data, leaving you with a fresh perspective on AI and machine learning.
Thursday, February 29, 2024
8:30am – 9:15am
Wake-Up Session: 2024 NSCA Legislative Agenda and Business Meeting
Presenters: Chuck Wilson & NSCA Board of Directors
NSCA is your voice, your business resource, and your trusted advisor. Our annual business meeting covers the state of our industry, the election of our leadership, and our 2024 legislative agenda. This interactive session is led by NSCA and industry leaders who have specific experience and knowledge about codes and compliance, emerging technologies, risk management, industry trends, growth strategies, and running successful integration companies. Make it a top priority to attend and learn what NSCA is doing to support your business, keep you informed, and help you take action.
9:15am – 10:30am
General Session: Culture Is as Leadership Does
Presented by Steve Thomas
As integration company leaders navigate unprecedented times and challenges, company culture becomes even more important. It’s no secret that great people make great organizations. The culture of any organization is what makes it effective—whether you’re a large company or a small family. Culture is defined by the individuals on your team: their personalities, values, and weirdness. It impacts everything you do, everything you are, and everything you become, but it’s also the one thing that integrators often have the toughest time building and maintaining. In this entertaining session, you’ll find out how to create a culture in which people can come to work and be the best version of themselves, which, incidentally, is the goal of leadership.
2:45pm – 3:45pm
Closing Keynote: Empower Your Teams with Positive Accountability
Presented by Dr. Jessica Kriegel
In 2024, integration leaders will face challenges related to tenuous profitability and the need to continually adapt to customers’ evolving needs. There’s little room for error and an escalated need for company-wide accountability. How can integrators elevate personal and professional accountability to drive growth? In this session, Dr. Jessica Kriegel explains how to motivate your team to step into accountability and activate your team to take ownership of not only of their actions, but also of the success of the organization. This creates purpose and meaning for your teams in their daily work. When all your teams are engaged and accountable, everyone gains a clear view of how they contribute to achieving business goals, and they take an active role in growing impact.
NSCA Does It Right at the Business & Leadership Conference
NSCA's Board of Directors and BLC Planning Committee are committed to planning the integration industry's most valuable business conference. They work tirelessly to identify integration companies' biggest business challenges -- then to find top thinkers and speakers that can help integration company leaders overcome these obstacles. In 2023, the business challenges are real -- and BLC aims to help NSCA members rise to the occasion.