NECA Convention 2009 Seattle: The Blog

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!

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!

Hi everyone!

I’m Beth Margulies, NECA’s director of public relations, and I’ll be live-blogging NECA’s convention and trade show in Seattle this week on blog.necaconvention.org.

I hope you’ve been reading the blog to keep up with new sessions and special offers, but now with everything in full swing, we’re shifting our coverage on-site, with daily reports on sessions, speakers and scenes from the Show floor. If you see something you like here, use the Social Media tools on each post to share it on your own Facebook, Twitter or MySpace page.

But this blog isn’t the only way you can keep up with everything that’s going on in Seattle.  You can become a fan of the NECA Convention on Facebook to receive important updates before the events and while they happen.

Or follow us on Twitter, twitter.com/necaconvention for quick updates about new blog posts, room changes, and raffle drawings.  Ginger Wilson has already tweeted tons of pictures and reports from pre-convention workshops and as the Show floor takes shape. If already on Twitter, you can tag your own tweets with #NECA09 to let your followers know you’re tweeting about NECA 2009 Seattle.

For NECA 2009 Seattle attendees who aren’t familiar with everything social media can offer electrical contractors, you might want to attend the management seminar I’m leading on Tuesday, Sept. 15 at 8 a.m., What is Social Media and How it Can Help Your Business.  Details about NECA’s own social media can be found on our website, too.

There won’t be a lot of time to spare in Seattle, so take advantage of NECA’s social media for event updates and to stay in touch!

NECA 2008 Chicago closed out last night with an awesome performance by Bruce Hornsby, Ricky Skaggs, and Kentucky Thunder at the Arie Crown theater. “Best event so far!” one audience member was heard exclaiming during the multiple standing ovations that the group received.

Thanks so much for joining us in Chicago and on the NECA Convention blog this year. But don’t take us off your RSS or web bookmark just yet! We’ll have more video and photos from Chicago, 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 2008 Chicago blog, you can always reach me by email.

PS: To answer the question, “what is that tag 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. Right now, it looks like “green,” “General Session,” and “Share your thoughts” have the most posts. Clicking on a tag displays all the posts with that tag.

So click on “Share your thoughts” and tell us what you’re thinking right now!

ELECTRICAL CONTRACTOR and The Electrical Distributor (TED) Magazine jointly sponsored an Electrical Products Anti-Counterfeiting Panel yesterday to discuss the widespread impact counterfeit electrical products are having throughout the industry.

“Call it counterfeiting, call it mislabeling, call it gray-market – but it’s all a crime,” said ELECTRICAL CONTRACTOR publisher John Maisel. “It affects every part of the electrical products channel, from manufacturers to distributors to contractors, and especially, end-users.”

Panelists included Kevin Yates, VP Siemens Energy and automation, and Steve Litchfield, asst consul Schneider Electric-Square D, Bob Crane of Underwriters Laboratory, and Bill Feyman, VP Leed consul, Babcork Electric. They focused primarily on the liabilities presented by counterfeit products.

“The closer you are to the end of the supply chain, the more liability you have,” Yates said. “So the most liability potentially rests with the electrical contractors.”

Crane pointed out some warning signs to help contractors avoid fakes. “The terms ‘overstock’ or ‘only 50 left’ are often used to promote the sale of counterfeit products,” he said.

“In 1981, the counterfeit products were laughable,” Litchfield said. “You could tell right away that they were fakes and inferior products. But in 2004, the first products I saw from an unauthorized distributor – another tip-off that products may be counterfeit – you couldn’t tell the difference from the packaging. It was a circuit breaker, and the flaws were really frightening when we tested it.”

Panelists echoed the concern that counterfeit products are a concern for the entire electrical industry. Manufacturers have taken initiative in pursuing and suing counterfeiters, enlisting help from U.S. Customs. They’ve had to spearhead raids on plants in China. But with less than one percent of all imports coming the U.S. screened and the fact that counterfeiting is roughly a $250 billion annual business, “counterfeiting is a value proposition,” Yates said. “Bottom line, they stand to make a lot of money, and the chances of getting caught are slim.

“We have to take the initiative to protect our customers, our workers, and our brands,” he continued. “It’s going to take education to recognized counterfeits and government assistance to prosecute the criminals behind counterfeiting.”

ELECTRICAL CONTRACTOR will release a special supplement to its December issue on the risks posed by counterfeit electrical products and what electrical contractors, site managers and other electrical industry professionals can do to protect themselves, their workers, and their customers.

What are your concerns about counterfeit electrical products? How much of an impact do you think it will have on the industry?

by Ellie Collinson, The Raben Group

The audience at today's general session on labor relations

While some attendees were enjoying Art Smith’s cooking presentation, today’s General Session focused on labor relations and highlighted the need for local control and local opportunities for partnership.

Ed Hill, IBEW International President, spoke about the importance of 8-hour days and responsible use of CW/CE classifications. Both Hilland NECA Vice President for Labor Relations (and newly inducted Academy Fellow) Geary Higgins underscored the value of communication and action at the local level to the future of building market share.

Eric Nixon of Maron Electric Company, Chicago, raises a question from the floor.

Higgins stated that it is critical to the future of the NECA/IBEW working relationship that as NECA leadership pushes for changes and cooperation at the national level, they are able to demonstrate the value of these initiatives at the local level. To the extent that local chapters and members have success stories and data to share, I hope you will keep in touch with Geary and his team. NECA members can also read and subscribe to Geary’s labor relations column Between the Lines here. Feel free to leave a comment (anonymous if you prefer) to this blog post as well.

NJATC Executive Director Mike Callanan also highlighted some of the changes at NJATC to increase local market specialization and to provide responsive flexible skill training programs in addition to increased use of technology for national curricula.

And lastly, the Ps seem to have it: members of the NECA Task Force on Labor Relations, along with Geary and Mike, all spoke on a panel and fielded questions from the audience about what issues are primarily percolating across the country. Two problems (or perhaps opportunities for change) seemed to affect members across the country: portability and pensions. Political Leadership Council leaders pushed for increased participation in future pension planning and policies at the federal level.

Maybe I’m getting punchy from trying to see everything going on here at NECA 2008 Chicago!

Members of the Labor Relations Task Force and guest panelists field questions from members.

Jennifer Brice, NECA NewsCast host, reports on Day 3 at NECA 2008 Chicago with opening day festivities. Beth Ellis, NECA executive director, meetings/expositions, opened the 53rd NECA Show with the traditional ribbon cutting. This segment also includes interviews with members and exhibitors on the show floor and NECA CEO John Grau talking about his excitement over what’s to come.