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Southwest HVAC News
ACCA Fall Meetings Bring
Contractors New Ideas, Fresh Approaches
TACCA, the nation’s largest organization of indoor environment and
energy services contracting businesses, presented two back-to-back
contractor events in Austin earlier this month: the first Building
Performance Forum and the 5th Annual Service Managers Forum. Total
attendance for the two events was the largest ever for ACCA’s fall
meetings, with attendance up more than 45% over 2011. The meetings
were co-presented by the Air Conditioning, Heating & Refrigeration
NEWS.
New Building Performance Forum
The Building Performance Forum was held October 9 & 10. Contractors
from across the country came to learn about the future of building
performance and how to grow this particular service within their
companies.
The event started with Nate Kredich of the US Green Building Council
sharing how building performance has gained prominence on a
world-wide stage and how it can change the way you do business. It
wrapped up with a frank and humorous session with Doug Garrett of
Building Performance & Comfort. He explained how the market is
changing now and over the next 10 years, with growing customer
demand for home performance services. In between, contractors chose
from 12 different Learning Labs led by contractors and other
experts, covering both introductory and advanced topics.
“The 2012 ACCA Building Performance Forum was very eye-opening,”
said Mike Tucker, owner of Tuckers Air Conditioning & Heating in
Gaithersburg, MD. “There was a lot of great information in a short
time frame. I believe this is an important step for my company and
will help me achieve my company and personal goals.”
“I really liked the way the event was structured with tracks for
beginners and more experienced contractors,” added Keith Paton of
Ivey Mechanical in Kosciusko, MS. “The presenters were so willing to
share the good and the bad stories about their experience and it
gave a lot of reassurance that contractors can succeed. It was great
to see how to get down the road to be successful.”
Rob Minnick, of Minnick’s in Laurel, MD, said of the forum, “It
brought together so many contractors that were willing to ask
questions and pick my brain for ideas. The networking was awesome
and I’m really looking forward to doing it again next year.”
The event also included a Sponsor Showcase that allowed attendees to
learn about new and innovative solutions to challenges they face on
a day-to-day basis. “The sponsor showcase was great for us,” said
Chris Boaz of Aeroseal. “I had the opportunity to speak with most of
the attendees and left with several enthusiastic prospects. I look
forward to future opportunities.”
The Building Performance Forum sponsors were: Aeroseal; CallSource;
Comfort Institute; ComfortRX; Emerson; Everblue Training Institute;
Federated Insurance; GreenHomes America; Honeywell; Jackson Systems;
Mitsubishi; Thermostat Recycling ; Trane; and Ultra-Aire.
Stay tuned for details about the next Building Performance Forum at
www.buildingperformanceforum.com.
5th Annual Service Managers Forum
In its fifth year, the Service Managers Forum reached new levels of
success, with the highest attendance in history. The day and half
event brought contractors from 35 states together to learn and
network on October 11 & 12.
The event kicked off with an upbeat and honest look at the different
generations in the workplace with popular keynote speaker Bruce
Wilkinson. He shared the traits of the different generations and how
managers can get the most out of each employee by making small
adjustments. There was also a special lunch session on October 11
where Bobby Ring of Meyer & Depew Co. in Kenilworth, NJ, talked
about his experience working with NBC this summer on a “sting”
operation that aired on the Today Show and Dateline. He showed the
full clip from the Dateline airing and discussed with attendees how
their companies can avoid being caught in similar situations, and
also how they could use the broadcast in their own training
programs.
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12 Learning Labs covered a variety
of leadership and management topics created especially for
service leaders, from hiring the right people to motivating your
employees, from creating consistent procedures to improving
communications, and from maximizing the value of service
agreements to implementing new technologies.
“The best part of the event is all the tried and true ideas
people share with each other,” said Ken Marshall, service
manager at Mark E. Meacham, Inc. in Charlton, MA. “This has been
a great event to get me back into the business frame of mind.”
“I really had a good time and learned a lot from everyone I
talked to,” said Robbey Moore, co-owner and vice president of
Perkins Climate Control in Leesville, LA. “We are a small
company and we like the information we get from this event.”
“This was my first Service Managers Forum and I didn’t know what
to expect,” added Chase Rampey, service manager at Centex
Mechanical, Inc. in Bastrop, TX. “I was recently promoted to
service manager and have been wondering how I am going to adapt
to my new roll, because it’s both exciting and terrifying. I had
never considered asking for help from peers in the industry, but
after attending the conference, I see that we are in this
together as an industry. Finding people that are so willing to
share information with each other helps dial down the
‘terrifying’ aspect of my new position. Thank you so much for
the inspiration. I’ll see you guys at the next one.”
The Service Managers Forum also included a Sponsor Showcase
where companies showcased products and services to help service
managers increase productivity, improve workflow, and take
advantage of new opportunities
“I was very impressed with the open mindedness and support for
technician training by ACCA members,” said Barney McClung of
Everblue in Huntersville, NC. “I have always believed that the
field technician is the key to great customer service and
providing good quality training for the field tech demonstrates
the commitment ACCA members have to their technicians and their
customers.With the positive response we received at the event,
we look forward to sponsoring more ACCA events.”
The Service Managers Forum sponsors were: 3M/Filtrete; AC Leak
Freeze; Advanced Refrigerant Technologies; CallSource; Comfort
Institute; Contractorselling.com; Data-Basics, Inc.; Davis
Business Solutions Inc.; Emerson; Everblue Training Institute;
Honeywell; Jackson Systems; Mitsubishi; Mobi; NATE; Nextraq;
Service Automation; Thermostat Recycling; and Trane.
Learn more about this year’s event and get details about the 6th
Annual Service Managers Forum at
www.servicemanagersforum.com.
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