NECA Convention 2009 Seattle: The Blog

• The Red Sox and Yankees are playing the night of our Opening Reception, and we'll be in the middle of the excitement! http://bit.ly/d5mvdj #

• Check out the 2010 Boston blog! http://bit.ly/bITYio #

NECA is launching the Contractors Challenge to encourage NECA members to provide a program for their employees to participate in the educational and networking opportunities available at NECA 2010 Boston.

“The success of my company is a direct result of the things I learned at past NECA events. I think it’s a good investment to send our young people to the NECA Convention and Show. The training our people get at NECA just isn’t available anywhere else, and it gives me a chance to reward them for working hard through the year.”
- Rex Ferry, NECA President

What’s the Contractors Challenge? Find out here!

• The NECA Show is over 70% sold! See who's exhibiting so far at http://bit.ly/aqwCEQ. It's not too early to plan your show floor route! #
• @solardock And we're looking forward to seeing you at NECA 2010 Boston this October in booth 100! in reply to solardock #

You told us what you wanted, and we listened! NECA 2010 Boston will reflect many great suggestions that will make it an even better event – for you and your company!

1. More family-friendly.
The 2010 NECA Show will be open to all children accompanied by an adult. All they need is a badge for admission!

2. More peer-to-peer networking.
The new NECA Women’s Peer Group and Safety Roundtable are just a few of the opportunities for special groups within the association to meet and discuss the special concerns they face.

3. More opportunities for your entire company.
Newly launched by NECA President Rex Ferry, the “Contractors Challenge: Motivate, Reward, Recognize” is a program any NECA member can customize to help bring talented employees to NECA 2010 Boston. More details can be found online!

4. More access to innovation.
Find more energy solutions across the entire exhibit hall. Companies offering green energy innovations will be identified with NECA Energy Solutions logos on their booths, in the Show Guide and on www.necaconvention.org. Attendees will also be asked to vote for their favorite exhibitors for the first time as part of ELECTRICAL CONTRACTOR’s Show Stoppers awards.

5. First-Timer Orientation
Will NECA 2010 Boston be your first time at NECA’s annual convention and trade show? Don’t get lost or overwhelmed. First-time attendees will have a special orientation session from NECA and Boston chapter staff about determining and following a path that makes the event work best for you.

Revolutionary Power. Renewable Solutions.

For more than 80 years, the National Electrical Contractors Association (NECA) has been bringing the nation’s leading electrical contractors together with manufacturers, innovators, suppliers and service providers to help make our electrical construction industry the strongest in the world. In 2010, NECA will host its annual Convention and Trade Show to Boston, Oct. 2-5.

NECA’s convention and trade show are the leading events for the electrical construction industry, featuring classroom and hands-on education, active networking opportunities and open discussion forums where electrical contractors can address the critical issues facing their industry.

“The NECA convention is where I come to get recharged,” said Rocky Sharp, Madsen Electric, Tacoma, Wa. “No matter how tough a year it may have been, I know I’m going to hear some kind of good news there. Either it’s a new product that saves time on a job, or a new way to connect with customers – it always helps. It always gives me a new perspective and a renewed outlook.”

“We broke all previous attendance records for our 2009 pre-convention workshops and management seminars in Seattle, largely because our training focuses on topics that matter to electrical contractors,” said Beth Ellis, NECA executive director, convention/exposition. “We ask them what issues are affecting how they do business, what aspects of the industry they want to learn more about, and sessions are led by experienced instructors. Contractors know that the NECA convention is the best deal when it comes to management education.”

NECA 2010 Boston will also feature an expanded Energy Solutions Zone with new “building green” resources at the NECA Show; special safety sessions for line contractors and a keynote speech from ocean explorer Bob Ballard, who located the wrecks of the Titanic, Yorktown, and more.

Learn more about NECA 2010 Boston at www.necaconvention.org, become a fan of NECA Convention on Facebook, and get updates via Twitter, twitter.com/NECAConvention.

Order your copy today! See PDF order form below:

NECA09MgtSemOrderForm

Also – Download PDF’s of all presentation handouts here:  http://blog.necaconvention.org/management-workshop-handouts/

If you missed the action, NECA tweeted during the Seattle Convention & Trade Show – right from the show floor! Click here to check it out – or to catch up on what you missed!

Here is a helpful step-by-step guide on Social Media, how to get started and what to do – download it now!

For more information on NECA in Social Media, visit our website.

Everyone at the airport yesterday seemed to be a face I recognized from the past four days at NECA 2009 Seattle. We were all sporting bags from NECA Show exhibitors (ELECTRICAL CONTRACTOR’s bag seemed to be the most popular), and we all looked pretty tired, but happy.

NECA 2009 Seattle closed out on Tuesday with an awesome performance by Cirque Dreams at McCaw Hall. There were lots of “ooo’s and ahhh’s” and spontaneous applause during their gravity-defying feats and high-energy performance.

Thanks to all the NECA members and chapters who joined us in Seattle and on the NECA Convention blog this year. But don’t take us off your RSS or Twitter feed just yet! We’ll have more video and photos from Seattle, along with copies of presentations for downloading. Don’t forget to retrieve your CEU certificate either!

If you have any questions about anything we covered in the NECA 2009 Seattle blog, you can always reach me by email. And check out the new site we’ve already launched for NECA 2010 Boston, Oct. 2-5, 2010.

[To answer the question, “what is that group of words thing over there in the right column?” That’s called a “tag cloud” and it’s generated by the “tags” or keywords we assign to each post. As more posts with certain tags are written, that tag shows up as bigger within the cloud, so you can tell at a glance what we’ve written about the most.]

Please click on “Share your thoughts” and tell us your favorite part of NECA 2009 Seattle! Thanks for helping us make it a great event!