More than 300 professionals from the electronic commercial systems industry recently gathered in Dallas for the 16th annual NSCA Business & Leadership Conference to share ideas, discover new ways to encourage business growth, and build relationships with industry peers.
NSCA’s Business & Leadership Conference reached sell-out levels, with registration closing after 300 attendees. This conference -– developed exclusively for leaders within systems integration firms –- revealed innovative ways to increase profits, promote engaged workplaces, create irrefutable market offers, and approach converging technology.
“As always, the BLC was a highlight to our year,” says John Bangs, president of AV/COM Integrators in Severn, MD. “Excellent information, a relaxing atmosphere, and great insight to help us expand our firm’s capability into the future.”
Employee engagement was a recurring theme at this year’s Business & Leadership Conference. Keynote Adrian Gostick, New York Times best-selling author of “The Carrot Principle” and “All In,” shared insights about the factors affecting business performance – including employee engagement – based on two years of research from 300,000+ global business leaders.
Keynote Daniel Pink, New York Times best-selling author of “Drive” and “To Sell Is Human,” offered new sales approaches to help firms stand out in a world where information is abundant. Informed buyers – surrounded by information, choices, and ways to talk back to brands – now control the sales conversation, says Pink. It’s no longer an economy of “buyer beware,” but “seller beware.”
“We were amazed by the outpouring of positive responses from our attendees, sponsors, and speakers,” says NSCA executive director Chuck Wilson. “This sell-out event was full of industry professionals who were anxious to hear from our speakers about concepts and theories to improve their employees and their businesses.”
At the Business & Leadership Conference, NSCA recognized Bob Coffeen as the annual Per Haugen Lifetime Achievement Award winner for his industry contributions. Five Excellence in Business Award winners were also recognized for implementing new business, growth, marketing, and professional development strategies.
And for the first time, NSCA welcomed AV Nation to its Business & Leadership Conference. For attendees who want to relive the event – or for industry leaders who had to miss the conference – AV Nation produced two podcasts featuring event takeaways and insights on the state of the industry, how the economy will affect integrators, and upcoming trends.
For spurring conference dialog and sharing lessons, NSCA also recognized Brock McGinnis Westbury National and Kourtney Govro of Sphere3 and All Systems as BLC’s two “Most Prolific Tweeters.” They each received a pair of Shure noise-isolating earbuds. The #NSCABLC hashtag lit up across Twitter as attendees shared tidbits from presenters and panel discussions, and engaged fellow audience members with questions and comments.
“Once again, this conference stands out,” says John Graham, executive vice president at Solutions360. “We get great value from our sponsorship of the event, but it’s just as much for our own professional development and great insight into what’s important to our customers and prospective customers’ businesses.”
NSCA thanks the 2014 sponsors:
• Host Sponsor: Atlas Sound/IED
• Keynote Sponsor: Synnex
• Media Sponsor: Commercial Integrator
• Platinum Sponsors: AMX; BIAMP; Chief; Shure; West Penn Wire
• Gold Sponsors: Almo; Cisco; FSR; Gepco; LG; Liberty AV; MediaVision; Panasonic; Rauland-Borg; Sharp; Solutions360; SurgeX; Tannoy; ViewSonic
• Session Sponsors: Bose; Listen; Middle Atlantic
• Item Sponsors: Herman; Solutions 360
• Integration Sponsors: Bosch; BTX; Eaton; Kramer; Sennheiser; Stealth Acoustics
• Conference Endorsers: PSA Security Network and USAV Group
NSCA announced the 2015 Business & Leadership Conference details at the conclusion of the 2014 conference, receiving nearly 60 on-site registrations. The 2015 Business & Leadership Conference will be held on Feb.26-28 in Tampa,.
