In a year when competition and prices were up but profit margins were down, a renewed focus on management issues defines the conference program at the upcoming National Pavement Expo West, Nov. 20-22 in Las Vegas.
Well over half of the 31 educational sessions are new to the show, and an even dozen of the new topics discuss management concerns of contractors.
Sales and marketing issues lead the list of new sessions, with Jeff Stokes' "Killer" Marketing for Contractors to kick-off the first day, and another Stokes session, Differentiate or Die: Cutting Edge Marketing as the anchor session on the afternoon of Nov. 21. Guy Gruenberg, Grow Consulting, brings his unique touch to "Gotcha: Attitude is Everything in Sales," while Jared Everett returns with Strengthen Your Sales & Customer Service Skills.
Top-draw consultant Brad Humphrey takes a broader look at management with new sessions including Total Customer Service: How to Become Your Customer's Only Provider, Squeezing 3%-5% More Profit from Your Business, and The Dollar Value of Quality, last year's top-rated management seminar. Humphrey also tackles crew and productivity issues with his new How to Turn Your Crew Into a High-performance Team and a redesigned employee-improvement seminar, For Employees Only: How to Become More Valuable to Your Company.
Other management sessions include "How We Do It": Operational Insights for Small Contractors by Nick Howell, T&N Asphalt Services; Secrets of Successful Job Costing and Creating Measurable Goals, Gruenberg; and How to Become a Great Construction Coach, Stokes.
On the technical side new sessions include Improving Your Infrared Repair Operation, Tom Eosso, Eosso Brothers Paving; Pavement Defects & Repair Strategies and Pavement Preservation Strategies for 2009, both by asphalt pavement consultant Roger Smith; and How Storm Water Management Affects Pavers and Sweepers, by Jim and Linda Huff, Huff & Huff Inc.
Some of NPE West's strongest technical sessions and speakers also return, including Jim Scherocman for Effective Compaction of Hot Mix Asphalt, Improve Your Asphalt Paver Operations, and the new Improve Your Overlay Work.
John Ball, Top-Quality Paving, again presents Applying "Best Practices" to Your Paving Operations and Essentials of Parking Lot & Driveway Paving, while Mick Vinckier, Miktom Parking Lot Maintenance presents Parking Lot Striping for Contractors and How to Stripe the Tough Jobs. Robert Liles, Robert Liles Parking Lot Service, presents Parking Lot Layout & Striping Basics and a new session, Adding Services - and Profits - To Your Striping & Sealcoating Business.
For complete seminar descriptions visit www.nationalpavementexpo.com.
