NECA Convention 2009 Seattle: The Blog

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!

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.

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.

The 2009 NECA national award winners were recognized at this morning’s closing general session. (There’s a list of winners below this post.) We also heard from NECA CEO John Grau, ELECTRI Council Chairman Bob Mike Mazzeo, and President Rex Ferry.

Blind adventurer Erik Weihenmayer offered today’s keynote speech. He shared some great stories about his quest to climb the world’s seven highest summits – a quest made even more challenging by his lack of sight.

“You can’t retreat and just focus on survival when times are tough,” he told attendees. “I believe there is something inside each of us – a light that feeds on frustration and setbacks. And it’s that light that gives us the power to be stronger and better.”

Weihenmayer likened his own pioneering spirit to the work done by NECA contractors. “You have to embrace new ways of doing more with less and transforming how you do business. The adventure lies in building new strategies.

“There’s a direct correlation between innovation and adversity,” he continued. “You have to square off with adversity to achieve greatness.”

2009 NECA Award Winners

Coggeshall Award: Ben W. Nevers, Sr.

Comstock Award: Dillard R. “Rod” Borden

James H. McGraw Award: Max L. Landon

NECA Association Executive Distinguished Service Award: Robert G. LaLumiere

ELECTRI International Wendt Award: Jack McCormick, McCormick Systems and Giovanni Marcelli, Accubid

Today’s special session on labor relations focused on the good work being done by local Labor Management Cooperation Committees around the country, and the role LMCCs have in raising market share and recruiting new talent to the industry.

Rex Ferry, NECA President, John Negro, NECA Vice President, District 7, and Geary Higgins, NECA Vice President, Labor Relations, opened the session with reports on NECA’s work to improve and promote positive labor relations on the national level. NECA and the IBEW have held two joint NLMCC retreats this year, focusing on where the industry is, and where it needs to go.

“[IBEW International President] Ed Hill gets it,” Ferry said. “Together we’ve been able to create programs like the Code of Excellence and agreements to recapture small work. However, he’s not going to force anything on his members. So we have to work at the local level to make any real impact.”

To discuss those local efforts, chapter managers and contractors from the four NECA regions each described the own LMCC activities.

Jeff Collins and Dan Neal described the community outreach programs the Western Ohio LMCC has sponsored and the how they have united labor and management outside of work in service projects. “You have to include everyone,” Neal remarked. Neal also advised getting professional public relations help on communication projects. He reports that the area has seen a 12 percent increase in market share.

Dan Schaeffer and Doug Martin portrayed the St. Louis LMCC, the Electrical Connection, as the public face of the industry. The organization’s +5 homeowners protection plan led to greater involvement in community building and service projects, at the mayor’s request. “Such projects helped erase negative impressions that people had about union contractors,” Martin said.

Gary Neil and Chase Pendergraft explained the importance of both doing good work and then telling people about the good work you’ve done. Pendergraft played a radio ad that the East Tennessee LMCC produced that named the NECA member contractors who had worked in the community’s Habitat for Humanity program and how they could be trusted to do work for home and building owners, too.

Jeff Zuniga and Don Campbell reported that  Northern California LMCC efforts on meeting very specific local, regional and statewide needs. “We reach out to local school districts with information,” Campbell said. “We are the best and first resource for electrical construction information, and we do whatever it takes to things right for the client.”

Q&A followed the brief presentations, with many NECA members praised the high level of organization and collaboration the profiled LMCCs activities demonstrated.

A download of the special session slides will be available on NECA’s website following NECA 2009 Seattle.

By Ginger Wilson

Bet you didn’t know that there’s a right way to taste coffee. That’s okay, most of us don’t.

So we were happy to have Major Cohen, a art teacher-turned-Starbucks Coffee Educator, brew 500 cups of coffee using French presses give us a lesson on the finer points of tasting at this morning’s Lifestyle session.

You might feel a little strange the next time you head out for your caffeine fix, but you should taste your coffee much the same way you taste your wine: sniff, then slurp. Slurping your coffee allows the brew to hit your entire palate so you can experience the full acidity and the body of the coffee. Today’s selection was Starbucks La Candelia, a Costa Rican coffee farmed by the Sanchez family.

One more hint from Cohen? Coffee is only good for seven days. It’s a fresh food, and there’s nothing you can do – including putting it in the freezer – to make it last longer.

After the coffee tasting, there was wine. David LeClaire, a certified sommelier and Washington state wine expert, led the group through sampling several local varietals. Washington offers some wonderful wines from nearly 600 wineries, owing to the fact that area east of the Cascade Mountains has long, hot summers and very little rain.

LeClaire’s number one tip for tasting wine? Try more than one sip. Your mouth is never ready for that first sip, so a wine that seems too sharp at first taste might be just what you’re looking for on the second try.

What are your favorite coffee or wine choices? Let us know in the comments below.

Coffee is everywhere in Seattle, and as in most cities, Starbucks seems to dominate the market for caffeine-seekers. We had a great opportunity to hear from Howard Behar, the man who oversaw much of Starbuck’s stellar expansion, at yesterday’s opening general session.

Following his second retirement as Starbucks’ president in 2003, Behar put nearly 50 years of lessons on business leadership he’d learned into a book, It’s Not About the Coffee. He brought those insights into an industry-tailored message for NECA members.

Given the tough economy so many NECA members are currently working in, Behar’s message of putting people first was especially timely.

Behar pointed out that Starbucks made the commitment to its workforce early in the company’s history. “People are the glue that hold an organization together,” he said. “You have to care about every person in your organization, and every person you serve.”

He encouraged NECA members to define their values – the ideals that define their businesses – and then be prepared to pay the prices to remain true to those values.

One of Behar’s key points was “the person who sweeps the floor should pick the broom.” He echoed the same commitments NECA members make to workforce training and learning from other companies’ best practices, but encouraged the audience to not walk away from new ideas, especially new ideas that come from the field.

“Leading with compassion never stops,” Behar said. “As leaders, we must show we care about the people first, not protecting our own backsides. It’s a non-stop responsibility, but it’s worth it.”

What do you think about Behar’s message that real business leaders care about people? How do you show this in your own company?

Edited to Add: Check out PaulsonElectric’s tweet about the session!

The 2009 induction ceremony of new Fellows into the Academy of Electrical Contracting at the Opening General Session marks the 41th anniversary of this exceptional organization. Academy Chairman Milner Irvin introduced the nine new Fellows:

Scott Bringmann
Alcan Electrical & Engineering, Inc.
Anchorage, Alaska

Kenneth Hart
Dynalectric Company ~ Washington, DC
Dulles, Virginia

Stephen J. Kohnen
Kay-Bee Electric Company
Florissant, Missouri

Craig Martin
Frost Electric Company, Inc.
Aurora, Illinois

Ben Nevers
Nevers Electric
Bogalusa, Louisiana

William A. Powell, Jr.
Chewning & Wilmer, Inc.
Richmond, Virginia

Daniel G. Schaeffer
Schaeffer Electric Company
St. Louis, Missouri

Chris Schoolcraft
Shawver and Son Inc.
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Lanny Thomas
Allison-Smith Company
Atlanta, Georgia

Since its founding meeting in 1968, the Academy has served as the “voice of experience” for NECA and ELECTRI International – The Foundation for Electrical Construction, Inc. Fellows of the Academy are invited to join the organization based on their exceptional service to the electrical contracting industry. Each Academy Fellow authors a white page on their area of industry expertise, and they participate in issue analysis to determine trends within the industry and make recommendations.

More information about the Academy’s 2009 annual meeting, a list of Fellows and a complete archive of papers by Academy Fellows is available on NECA’s website.

Following presentations from the three Green Energy Challenge finalist teams yesterday, the entry from the NECA student chapter at the University of Washington was selected as the winner. The results were announced at the NECA Student Chapter Summit today.

Oregon State University placed second, and The Pennsylvania State University was third.

UW team leader Joey Berger was also recognized for his excellent presentation skills.

“I have a great deal of admiration for all the work the student teams put into their projects,” said Challenge juror Tim Ehmann, a senior project manager with Rochester Solar Technologies. “They brought a fresh perspective to some of the major work going on in electrical construction today.”

A full report of the Green Energy Challenge submissions will be available from ELECTRI International soon. More information about the Green Energy Challenge can be found on NECA’s website.

The New & Featured Product Room at The NECA Show focuses exclusively on new and outstanding innovations in electrical construction. It’s the ideal platform to showcase technological advances – and Show-goers report they never miss it! Click here for your online preview!