“Inspiring Leaderships” at 2013 Women In NECA Roundtable

Women In NECA Roundtable

Monday, October 14 • 2:00–4:00 pm

“Inspiring Leadership” at the 2013 Women In NECA Roundtable will focus on leadership opportunities and strategies for industry women now and in the future. If you’re a woman involved within the electrical contracting industry, WIN wants you to join us for this once-a-year event!

The aim of “Inspiring Leadership” is for women to see that there is a rewarding place for them in electrical contracting and NECA, and they don’t have to change who they are to achieve it. They simply have to be true to their best self.  

Join us for three distinct discussions on leadership at this year’s WIN Roundtable:

• The Pathways for NECA Leadership

Frank Piatt, NECA Field Representative, Eastern Region
The basics of how NECA members move through leadership roles on the chapter and national level and the “gender-blind” characteristics that can help you serve as a NECA leader.

• Industry Influence

Carolyn Fazio, Chair & Chief Executive, Fazio International Ltd.
How women are shaping the business of electrical construction and inspiring students to consider careers in electrical construction.

• Keynote: Leadership and How it Differs from Management

Stephane McShane, Senior Consultant, Maxim Consulting Group
Women in construction have unique strengths suited to help them excel in both management and leadership roles.  We will explain how leadership and management differ, what effective leadership looks like, how to lead with greater success, and the benefits of great leadership to your career.

A joint reception with NECA Business Development and Future Leaders will be held immediately after the WIN Roundtable.

About Women In NECA: WIN supports the professional development of women working in the electrical contracting industry through educational and networking events; promotes diversity in the industry; and encourages women to explore careers in the electrical contracting industry. WIN works to make NECA and our industry stronger by advancing women’s goals for professional growth.

NEW! “Cogen” Business Opportunities Management Workshop Added

We’re pleased to announce the addition of a management workshop on cogeneration energy to the Tuesday, Oct. 15 course schedule.  Business Development Opportunities through “Behind the Meter” Cogeneration Projects: A Case Study Presentation will highlight the business opportunities that opened up for both the project owner and electrical contractor.

About the Project

Fort Hays State University went live in 2013 with a 4 MW Renewable Cogeneration system that produces up to 40 percent of their net electricity load. The project was designed to improve the campus’s bottom line by using of one fuel source to simultaneously produce both electricity and heat. The university’s Akers Energy Center operation includes two 900 kw peak-shaving generation units, 4160vac distribution system and the Staefa digital control system used in over 95 percent of the university buildings.  The power plant generates steam to heat campus buildings and serves as a distribution center for electrical service to the university.

About the Presentation

The project owner, Fort Hays State University, and the owner’s representative will present the case study of how the business case was developed, sold, and implemented.  During this case study presentation, best practices will be outlined for NECA contractors to replicate and generate incremental revenue through similar “behind the meter” projects.

Meet the Presenters

Tim Speno is President of E2E Summit™.   E2E Summit ™ are  industry specific, Executive- to-Executive meetings and peer groups, that connect industry Visionaries, Innovators, and Pioneers (VIPs).  The purpose of these executive connections is for the VIPs to engage one another and to execute innovative programs that address the most critical opportunities affecting their organizations and their industry.  Tim began his career with the DeWALT Industrial Tool Division of Black & Decker and for over seven years held various management positions in sales, product development, and manufacturing. From 2004 to 2006 Tim joined Cooper Industries, Bussmann Division, where he was involved in  Product Management and  New Business Development.  In 2007, Tim joined the Executive Management Team of Milwaukee Electric Tool Corporation. For six years he was Vice President of Service and Demand Creation with an emphasis in Strategic Planning, New Product Development, Project Leadership, and Executive Management.

Mike Steinke is an Executive Managing Partner of WECC LLC and directly responsible for sales and project development.  He has personally acted as a wind business consultant on 300 plus projects ranging from 50kW “behind the meter” projects to large wind farms.  He is qualified as an expert witness in the litigation involving wind farms, acted as a guest instructor in Wind technology at Autry Technical Center (Enid, OK).  Mike has testified before the Oklahoma legislature on wind energy issues, made numerous renewable energy presentations at Energy Industry Conferences, Universities, and routinely speaks to community groups through the West.  He has also assisted the Oklahoma legislature in crafting “ wind friendly” legislation and is published in a variety of journals and newspapers regarding the wind industry.

Michael Martin is an Assistant Professor of Management and Marketing at Fort Hays State University. Mr. Martin recently completed his doctoral dissertation on service quality in Industrial Products return and repair process through Capella University. He received his MBA from Fort Hays State University after graduating with a BS in Marketing from Kansas State University. Previous to his arrival at Fort Hays State University, Mr. Martin delivered training programs to store level employees and managers in inventory control and customer service for Checkpoint Systems. His current research interests include customer service in manufacturing and student engagement in higher education.  He has presented at the Southwest Business Symposium and published in the Journal of Business: Research, Teaching, and Practice and Southwest Business Administration Journal.

Get Smart: Attend the Safety Forum at NECA 2013 Washington DC

Second Annual Safety Forum at NECA 2013 Washington DC
Saturday, Oct. 12 – Sunday, Oct. 13
$250 member/$599 non-member/Included with Weekend Package registration

When it comes to electrical construction, safety is everyone’s job. However, it takes a real leader to make safety a company priority. If you manage a workplace or jobsite safety program, enforce or develop safety standards, supervise workers, oversee a facility, or simply strive for a safe work environment, you need to attend the second annual Safety Forum at NECA 2013 Washington DC.

Mike Johnston, NECA Executive Director, Standards and Safety, discussion arc flash protection.

Safety leadership requires people who are ready to motivate people around a common purpose. Safety leaders see benefits not just for their workers, but as a tool to grow their companies. Today, clients are demanding evidence of effective safety performance and the integration of safety and health management systems to job site safety. Safety and health has evolved from a regulatory drive activity to and business development tool.

The Safety Forum goes beyond the basics. It is your opportunity to network with your industry peers, share best practices, and hear directly from the leaders developing and enforcing U.S. safety practices.

Safety standards evolve rapidly in the electrical industry. You need the most up-to-date information and resources, and the Safety Forum will deliver them on the issues that affect us every day:

Supervisor’s Guide to Job Safety * NFPA 70E for Contractors * Arc-Flash Protection
Systems Approach to Electrical Safety * ARC-Flash Hazard/Incident Energy Analysis*
OSHA Compliance

You can attend the Safety Forum by registering for a Weekend Package, as an a la cart program, or with your full registration. >>

Attending NECA 2013 Makes Perfect Business Sense

Early registration is now open for NECA 2013 Washington, DC – the premier electrical construction event that brings together the best minds in the industry together to discuss the opportunities, issues and innovations affecting electrical contractors.

Education Programs

Nearly 50 different educational opportunities to learn from leading experts on the industry trends, business practices and technology shaping electrical contracting today. NECA 2013 Washington, D.C. includes pre-convention workshops, management seminars and technical workshops.

Trade Show

A three-day event featuring more than 300 exhibitors from the leading companies working with electrical construction professionals. NECA Trade Show includes the annual ELECTRICAL CONTRACTOR magazine Showstopper Awards of the best innovations in tools, equipment, products and software.

Special Activities

Customized training and networking sessions make NECA 2013 Washington the leading gathering of electrical professionals working in all aspects of the industry. Special sessions include the Third Annual NECA Energy Forum, the Second Annual Safety Forum, NECA’s Student Chapter Summit and 5th Green Energy Challenge, the Women In NECA Roundtable, and a meeting of NECA’s international chapters.

If you’re looking for the best way to get the most education value and networking opportunities for your electrical contracting business, NECA 2013 Washington, Oct. 12-15 is the place to be!

Register Now!

Southern Nevada JATC at NECA 2012 Featured in Las Vegas Review-Journal

The Electrical Joint Apprenticeship Training Committee of Southern Nevada’s showcase at NECA 2012 Las Vegas was the subject of the article, “Solar Power, Plug-in Cars Mesh Well” by Stan Hanel in the Las Vegas Review-Journal. The article also covered how electrical contractors are making connections for electric vehicles and solar-powered charging stations. From the article:

Here in Southern Nevada, where the sun shines 300 days a year, there is a synergy that benefits people who install photovoltaic solar panels on the roofs of their homes and buy plug-in electric cars. Unlike other homeowners, they can create a portion of the energy that powers the appliances in their homes and provides fuel for a plug-in electric car.

The article discussed EJATCSV’s training program in renewable energy and technology, and how apprenticeship includes classroom and on-the-job training. Read the full article, including details about solar power and EV charging installations, online.

A complete list of media coverage from NECA 2012 Las Vegas can be found online. 

Got CEUs? Need Handouts? Get Them Online!

Thanks for supporting our efforts to make NECA 2012 Las Vegas as paperless as possible. Your CEU certificates and session handouts can be found online.

Continuing Education Units
Most pre-convention workshops, management seminars and technical sessions at NECA 2012 Las Vegas offered continuing education units for attendees who had their badges scanned at the start and end of the sessions.

Retrieving your CEU certificate of completion can be done online. If you don’t receive an email prompt for collecting your CEU certificate, you can go to  www2.cmrreg.com/neca12ceu and enter the information from your badge to pull up your record. You will need your member ID, your badge number or your first and last name from your meeting registration to get your record.

If you think there’s a mistake, simply complete and submit a CEU Change Request Form. Directions can be found on the CEU retrieval site.

Not all courses offered at NECA 2012 Las Vegas will meet your state’s CEU requirement for continuing education credit. Check with your state authorities to confirm eligibility.

Handouts
Most presenters at NECA 2012 Las Vegas have made their session handouts available online, either through the archived session schedule or the convention app. Both formats are indexed by session date and title.

Go to “Education” under “Schedule” on convention website to view sessions by date and description; handouts have been uploaded as PDFs with the individual session descriptions. You can also easily access handouts via the NECA 2012 Las Vegas app by clicking on the “Handouts” icon. Make sure your app is synched to get the most recent upload of handouts.

Peter Diamandis Delivers Tutorial in Exponential Growth

“I’m passionate about changing the world, where the basic needs of every human are met,” said Closing General Session speaker Dr. Peter Diamandis. “And I believe that exponential change is going to take us there.”

Best known for his sponsorship of the X Prize to spur innovation in space travel, Diamandis brought his inspiring message about how the future is better than we think, when we examine the astounding rate of ongoing innovation

Diamandis spoke about his work with Singularity University, an institute he establish to incubate businesses capable of exponential growth. To describe exponential growth, he referred to our instinctive human progress as “linear and local,” when 30 steps will take you to the other side of a room, or maybe down a hall.

“If you take 30 exponential steps – 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, and so on – you will actually go around the planet 26 times,” Diamandis said, letting the numbers sink in for the audience. “There’s a disconnect between our brains’ hardware and what we’re actually capable of with the exponential speed of technological innovation.”

Diamandis outlined some of the innovation Singularity has made in the areas of artificial intelligence, cloud computing, robotics, 3D printing and synthetic biology. “If any electrical contractors in the audience are working in data centers, you are in a true growth market,” he said. “Data storage is supporting exponential growth in digital content.”

Diamandis’s latest book, written with bestselling science journalist Steven Kotler, is Abundance—The Future is Better Than You Think. It has been called “a thrilling antidote to today’s dark pessimism” and includes exhaustive research and extensive interviews on how four emerging forces—exponential technologies, the DIY innovator, the Technophilanthropist, and the Rising Billion—are working together to solve our world’s biggest problems.

Women In NECA Roundtable: Being the Best You

Three of NECA’s top contractors made up the panel for Women In NECA’s (WIN) annual roundtable yesterday, taking questions from over 80 WIN members about how they built successful companies, without compromising or apologizing and by focusing on being the best at who they really are.

And who they are is proud Women In NECA contractors, who have been lauded by their peers, recognized by their state governors, and loved by their employees.

Gloria Ashford, Susan Ernst and Lynne Harker opened the session by sharing how they entered the industry. Ashford and Ernst established their companies with their IBEW-electrician husbands; Ernst, a self-described “serial entrepreneur,” bought her company after selling her computer-training business. Download 2012 Roundtable Panelist Bios >>

The women described how they’ve adjusted company operations during the economic downturn. Each has made significant changes, with Ernst moving into a completely new market. “We started from scratch. We threw out the old way of doing things, and it forced us to make necessary changes,” she said.

“It’s another way of ‘being the best you’,” Ashford said. “You become more selective. You focus on what you know how to do really well. And you do it better than anyone else.”

When discussing field workforce management and technical knowledge, the women echoed the need to be true to their professional goals and identities. “My door is always open,” Harker said. “Everyone at Placer knows they can come in any time. And I have zero problem with asking someone to explain how something works. People like to talk about their work – I make sure to give them that chance.”

“It’s an attitude,” Ashford said. “I let my employees know that I’m no different from them: I have a family to support and a mortgage to pay. That’s why I’m doing this.

“I’ve worked hard to be a contractor and to be myself,” Ashford continued. “I’m not going to pretend I’m ‘one of the guys,’ because I’m not. And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. What would be wrong is for me to act like I was. I’m Gloria, and I’m an electrical contractor.”

“I’ve gravitated to what I do best,” Ernst said. “Sure, sometimes you have to attitude. You have to fake it until you make it. But you will make it.”

Graybar CEO and constant WIN-booster Kathy Mazzarella joined the roundtable audience, and offered her encouragement to the women in the session. “The best revenge is success,” she told the group. “And you don’t have to broadcast what you’ve done. Just exist. You know what you’ve accomplished.”

Live On-Site from Las Vegas: NECA 2012 Tuesday Highlights

NECA 2012 Las Vegas: What happens in Vegas… goes on NECA’s Flickr!

Check out NECA’s Flickr Stream for NECA 2012 Las Vegas Moments You’ll Always Remember!