Dawn Peer Group: Hot Topics for Sub-Specialties

Jun 24, 2013 6:00am ‐ Jun 24, 2013 7:00am

Credits: None available.

Here’s your chance to exchange ideas and possibly some solutions to a specialty trade’s most pressing issues and hot topics. Participants will share their ideas and best practices for:
• Analyzing EMOD rates
• Organizing prequalification processes
• Assessing credit and surety availability
• Comparing and contrasting accounting software
• Managing cash - getting and keeping it!

Dawn Peer Group: Wake Up with Financial Survey Trivia & Why Benchmarking Matters

Jun 24, 2013 6:00am ‐ Jun 24, 2013 7:00am

Credits: None available.

Trivia and benchmarking together at last! Rise and shine with a dive into CFMA’s 2012 Construction Industry Annual Financial Survey results and Benchmarker how-to demo and make sure you have the data you need to build a better bottom line. This session will enable you to:
• Identify trends and surprise Survey findings
• Define key ratios and apply steps to turn around a “bad” ratio
• Use benchmarking vs. the competition to effectively influence and advise strategy

General Session I: Executing Imagination: Turning Creative Fire into Real Results

Jun 24, 2013 7:15am ‐ Jun 24, 2013 8:45am

Credits: None available.

Organizations often have an abundance of raw creativity, but tend to lack a systematic process to harness it. In an era where ideas only count if they drive results, how do you focus your team’s imagination into practical outputs? Josh Linkner will help you make the leap from the whiteboard to tangible results while addressing such questions as:

• How do you ensure your best ideas don’t get lost during execution?
• How do you maintain a creative culture through the realities of our hyper-competitive world?
• How do you drive everyday creativity and direct it toward specific, measurable gains?

You will be energized by the answers to these questions and more in this fast-moving, fun, and interactive session.

Planes, Trains & (uh) Vehicles! Analyzing the True Cost of Compensation

Jun 24, 2013 9:00am ‐ Jun 24, 2013 10:15am

Credits: None available.

This session will enable you to identify:
• Total compensation trends and practices and why each element is important
• The impact additional cash pieces (such as bonuses, vehicle allowances, gas cards, area uplifts, etc.) have on base pay and total compensation
• Ways to design a competitive total compensation package
• Action items to reduce your overall compensation costs

Offsetting Tier 4 Mandates with a Shrewd Cost Reduction Strategy

Jun 24, 2013 9:00am ‐ Jun 24, 2013 10:15am

Credits: None available.

Tier 4 is a government-mandated reduction in harmful exhaust gases for diesel equipment and is made up of two significant phases (or stages) for different engine horsepower ratings. Tier 4’s final regulations, which will further reduce emissions, are scheduled to be implemented beginning in 2014 and 2015.

Learn how to avoid hefty fines, potential increased ownership and operating costs, accelerated enforcement by local and state agencies, possible legal actions and litigation costs, decreased profit margins, and potential job losses from the restrictive compliance associated with Tier 4 conversion of heavy equipment engines.
This session will allow you to:

• Identify Tier 4, its phases, and when they will be enacted
• Prepare for financial implications of compliance and noncompliance
• Recognize ways to offset these costs with equipment strategies

The WIP... A Surety's Deep Dive

Jun 24, 2013 9:00am ‐ Jun 24, 2013 10:15am

Credits: None available.

This surety expert will explain how his industry looks at the WIP schedule that we know so well – or do we? This session will help you:
• Relate the significance of the WIP calculations from your surety’s perspective
• Recognize how your underwriter evaluates pure job borrow, overbillings and underbillings, and contract losses
• Evaluate a surety’s WIP trend analysis
• Recognize what underwriters do with WIPs and how they can affect your bonding through real-life examples

Everything's Looking Up: The Advantages of Cloud & Mobile Technology

Jun 24, 2013 9:00am ‐ Jun 24, 2013 10:15am

Credits: None available.

The technology landscape is changing. Accessing, viewing, and sharing data from anywhere is easier than ever thanks to today’s cloud and mobile applications. Learn how to stay productive outside the office with:
• The latest capabilities of cloud and mobile technologies
• The simplicity of the Virtual Desktop
• Security and data recovery lessons

Acquisition Activity in the U.S. Construction Industry: Trends & Forecasts

Jun 24, 2013 10:30am ‐ Jun 24, 2013 11:45am

Credits: None available.

Discover the underlying forces of construction companies’ acquisition activity and what will likely happen in the coming years. At the conclusion of this session, you will be able to identify and recognize:
• Reasons for contractor acquisitions
• Foreign involvement and influence
• Financial requirements and surety influence
• Changing markets and the need for diversity

GCs & Subs: Can We Be Friends?

Jun 24, 2013 10:30am ‐ Jun 24, 2013 11:45am

Credits: None available.

The relationship between GCs and subcontractors can range from tenuous to one of great collaboration and professionalism. In this session, we will discuss ways for both GCs and subcontractors to make the best of this relationship – with “win-win” results for both.
You will be able to:
• Recognize and describe opportunities to improve the working relationship from real-life stories
• Know what works, how to impress, and what to avoid
• Contrast the dos and don’ts from both sides
• Address situations with improved approaches to communication

Accurate Project Cost Forecasting: More Than Just Revenue Recognition

Jun 24, 2013 10:30am ‐ Jun 24, 2013 11:45am

Credits: None available.

We all have to do it for revenue recognition, but how can we improve the accuracy of our projections as well as use them to improve the performance of current and future projects? This session will address this question and enable you to:
• Recognize the benefits of forecasting
• List key components to successful forecasting
• Identify how other contractors are using forecasting to improve project and company performance
• Describe how technology can improve the accuracy of forecasting