2016 ACPA Education Conference

Event Info | Hotel Info | Speakers & Sessions | Schedule Overview
Conference Agenda | Exhibitors' Info | Sponsorship | Transportation | ACPA Fall Board Meeting

Nashville, TN
Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center
 

Member Registration Fee: $500*
Non-Member Registration Fee: $650*
Non-Sponsoring Manufacturer/Distributor Reg. Fee: $795*

ACPA Education Conference "Gaining the Edge"
Throughout this 1-1/2 day event, you'll have the opportunity to network with other top-level industry professionals - including NRMCA professionals - as well as attend educational sessions tailored specifically for Concrete Pumpers.  Topics such as:

• Workforce development
• Fleet management
• Sales strategies and planning
• Navigating Federal Hours of Service regulations
• Managing a compliance audit
• Contractual risk

* As an added bonus, registration includes your choice of one NRMCA education session at no charge! Click here for a complete list of NRMCA education sessions.

FEATURE SESSIONS:
THE PERFECT POUR
Achieving a perfect pour isn’t just happenstance; it requires careful, deliberate and expert planning and coordination on behalf of the entire placement team. Mike Schneider, VP and CPO at Baker Concrete Construction, will focus on how a concrete contractor selects a ready mix concrete supplier, a concrete pumping service and other important teammates. Mike will address how a concrete contractor works with the selected team to cooperatively achieve the most efficient, the safest and the most profitable concrete placement possible - no matter the size of the job.

Learning objectives will include:

• How to select as teammates the various services, suppliers and tradesmen
• How to coordinate and lead your chosen teammates to success
• How to duplicate, refine and improve your concrete placement team time over time

RESULTS OF THE 2015 FINANCIAL BENCHMARK SURVEY
Ok, so you’re making money and business is good; but what’s wrong with making more? Wouldn’t you like to know how your bottom line compares to some of the top performers in the pumping industry? Or, how your expenses compare to other companies of the same size? Do you have too much debt? What more can you do to improve your profitability? Using the results from the 2015 Financial Benchmarking Survey, you’ll hear the answers to these and many other questions that will help you understand the cornerstones of success and allow you to elevate the quality of your business-making decisions. Don’t miss this exciting opportunity to discover the possibilities that can put your business on the path to a more secure and profitable future.

This year's event will be held in collaboration with NRMCA's ConcreteWorks.

 Event Brochure

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Hotel Information

Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center
2800 Opryland Drive
Nashville, TN  37214
615-889-1000
Hotel Website

Group Room Rate: $209/night* (plus applicable taxes)

*Contact Sue Schumacher at sue[at]concretepumpers[dot]com or 614.431.5618 to secure hotel reservations.

Experience the finest in Southern hospitality at Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center in Nashville, Tennessee. This premier Opryland hotel offers guests an unforgettable getaway with all the excitement and energy of Music City under one spectacular roof. Nestled in a bend of the Cumberland River, and featuring an extraordinary selection of dining, shopping and recreational activities, there is never a shortage of things to do at this resort. After unwinding at Relâche Spa & Salon, practice your swing at Gaylord Springs Golf Links, make a splash at the indoor or outdoor pool, hit the gym at the state-of-the-art fitness center, or explore the nine acres of lush, indoor gardens and cascading waterfalls. Following a day of Nashville fun, return to deluxe accommodations with modern amenities. Come experience why this Gaylord hotel is in a class of its own!

Hotel Features:

Speakers & Sessions

FEATURE SESSION:  THE PERFECT POUR

Achieving a perfect pour isn’t just happenstance; it requires careful, deliberate and expert planning and coordination on behalf of the entire placement team. Mike Schneider, VP and CPO at Baker Concrete Construction, will focus on how a concrete contractor selects a ready mix concrete supplier, a concrete pumping service and other important teammates. Mike will address how a concrete contractor works with the selected team to cooperatively achieve the most efficient, the safest and the most profitable concrete placement possible - no matter the size of the job.

Learning objectives will include:

• How to select as teammates the various services, suppliers and tradesmen
• How to coordinate and lead your chosen teammates to success
• How to duplicate, refine and improve your concrete placement team time over time

FEATURE SESSION:  RESULTS OF THE 2015 FINANCIAL BENCHMARK SURVEY
Ok, so you’re making money and business is good; but what’s wrong with making more? Wouldn’t you like to know how your bottom line compares to some of the top performers in the pumping industry? Or, how your expenses compare to other companies of the same size? Do you have too much debt? What more can you do to improve your profitability? Using the results from the 2015 Financial Benchmarking Survey, you’ll hear the answers to these and many other questions that will help you understand the cornerstones of success and allow you to elevate the quality of your business-making decisions. Don’t miss this exciting opportunity to discover the possibilities that can put your business on the path to a more secure and profitable future.

HELP WANTED!  TIPS FOR FINDING AND HIRING OPERATORS
You have the work, yet your pumps sit idle due to a shortage of qualified help. Where do other pumping companies find their operators, and what do prospective employees look for when seeking employment?  Using feedback from the workforce development survey, we’ll share members’ responses and ideas for how to recruit potential operators and offer tools which can help you optimize your search to select the right candidate. Other discussion points will include:

• How to effectively target potential candidates in ads on social media 
• Benefit/pay expectations of potential employees
• Interview questions and assessments
• Performance evaluations

FLEET MANAGEMENT – KEEP YOUR FLEET OPERATING AT MAXIMUM PERFORMANCE
No matter your fleet size, it’s important you, as well as your operators, understand what makes a concrete pump “tick” to stay on top of maintenance and avoid those costly job site breakdowns. It’s more than just about replacing parts on a schedule, a well-planned maintenance program makes way for improved annual budgeting, reduced breakdowns, increased equipment utilization and can shed light on many “watch-out” areas before they become a crisis.  This session will cover topics including:

• Types of maintenance
• Pump theory
• Troubleshooting
• Inspection points
• Maintenance planning and…
• Offer helpful rules of thumb to consider

Learn how you can take control to minimize those unexpected costs and keep your pumps pumping for increased profit!

DRIVING SALES AND PROFIT
We all want to build a profitable, viable business. But how much growth will it take to produce the real returns that make the business sustainable? Do you know? In this session, we’ll develop sales and expense management goals to guide the entire team to make profitable decisions for a growing company.

In today’s competitive climate, it is critical to know your costs and price accordingly. We’ll explore how your pricing practices and selling activities relate to your growth and profitability. We’ll focus on the importance of controlling costs, maintaining margins, pricing for profit, and increasing the average job amount. Then we’ll explore how these actions connect to company financial success and leave you with your own high-level plan for growing sales and profit.

Topics will include:

• How can I set sales goals that will produce the profits my company needs to be sustainable?
• How do changes in price impact the number of jobs required to produce the profit the business needs?
• What must I measure to assess whether we’re on track with the plan?
• What system of accountability and feedback will keep the entire team on track?

NAVIGATING THRU THE COMPLICATED RULES OF DOT HOURS OF SERVICE
If you think it's impossible to comply with Federal Hours of Service Regulations and still do business, you're not alone! In this session, we'll take the complexity out of HOS compliance and help you understand how to implement the rules in order to operate without fear of violation. You'll learn about on-duty and restart time periods, the proper use of driver logs including 100-air mile radius reporting, electronic logging devices (ELDs), interstate and intrastate rules, and the 30-minute rest break requirement as well as we'll take a look at what's coming up in this next generation of FMCSA changes and how you can begin to prepare now.

COMPLIANCE – IN AN AUDIT WILL YOU BE FISH OR FOWL?
There are no “gray” areas when it comes to compliance and unfortunately, the consequences of non-compliance can be severe.  During this session, we’ll walk you through many of the areas where there could be potential gaps in your procedures and reporting; such as: hiring procedures and DOT requirements, drug testing, accident reporting, OSHA logs, MSDS forms, the ASME B30.27 Safety Standard requirement, and more. We’ll also provide check-off lists and forms to keep you organized and help you prepare in the event of an audit – or worse, an accident!

CONTRACTUAL RISK – WHAT TO LOOK FOR BEFORE YOU SIGN
Every concrete pumper is engaged in several different contracts at any given moment. Are those contracts protecting your business in the event of a loss? Do you know what to sign and what not to sign to protect your business from the worst case scenario? Do you have alternate language to substitute for unacceptable language when a contract is presented to you? Having someone on your side, either your insurance agent or your insurance carrier to review current contracts, relate contracts to policy terms and stand by your side in the event of a claim is powerful. Are you prepared?

The contracts used by concrete pumpers need to be consistent with their coverage form. Between regulations, state specific language and the policy forms, this can quickly become a legal nightmare. The carrier partner or MGA providing coverage should also offer related services such as contract support. What if contract management costs additional money and is substandard or worse yet – is not provided at all?

Attendees of this session will:

1. Learn key contract connections between the policy and the job site, start the contract review on the right foot.
2. Review a real world case in heavy construction where the contract protected the insured and a few examples of how quickly it could have changed with one word.
3. Identify and close common coverage exposure gaps through contract management.

ROUNDTABLE TOPICS:
DEVELOPING A SAFETY CULTURE
“I had a strong safety program in place, yet my company still had a lot of accidents. Unfortunately, I didn’t realize until later it was because my company lacked the benefit of a strong safety culture”

– Les Ainsworth, past owner of Pumpco

What differentiates a safety program from a safety culture? Members will share their thoughts and ideas on how to develop an effective culture of safety that is essential in attaining a desired goal of zero accidents, minimizing losses, and impacting an employee’s commitment and loyalty to their organization.

FIX - BEST PRACTICES OF RUNNING A CP BUSINESS
At this Forum for Information Exchange (FIX) roundtable, members can share their ideas for best practices in dealing with issues every concrete pumper faces on a day-to-day basis. Topics will include everything from employees, dispatching, compliance, safety, fleet management, supplier relations, sales and customer loyalty, there’s no topic that can’t be FIX’ed! 

UTILIZING THE RESULTS OF THE 2015 F/S BENCHMARK SURVEY REPORT
Report in hand, you have the results of your company’s financial benchmark assessment or perhaps you’ve just heard the results of the 2015 F/S Benchmark report. Now what? What are the next steps towards implementing what you’ve learned to impact your bottom line? Steve Abercrombie of Profit Soup will lead the discussion on what others have done to achieve the maximum benefits from their participation and what follow-up benefits you, too, can derive – if you didn’t.

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Tentative Schedule Overview

Saturday, September 17

• Exhibitor/Equipment Move-in: 7:00 am - 7:00 pm

Sunday, September 18

• Exhibitor/Equipment Move-in: 7:00 am - 2:00 pm
• Conference Registration: 3:00 pm - 7:00 pm
• Welcome Reception: 4:45 pm - 7:00 pm **

Monday, September 19

• Sessions: 8:15 am - 4:45 pm
• Happy Hour at the Pump: 4:45 pm - 6:45 pm
• Dinner/Entertainment: 6:45 pm - 9:30 pm **

Tuesday, September 20

• Sessions: 8:15 am - 12:00 pm
• Lunch: 12:00 pm - 1:pm
• Exhibitor/Equipment Move-out: 1:30 pm - 6:30 pm

** There will be a guest rate of $200.00 if someone wants to attend the receptions and Monday night's dinner only. 

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Conference Agenda

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Exhibitor Prospectus 

ACPA's Pumping Knowledge Into Your Business – Gaining the Edge! Education Conference 2016 is scheduled for September 18-20, 2016, at the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center in Nashville, TN. This year's event begins an exciting co-location with NRMCA's ConcreteWorks.

 More Information     Full Exhibitor Prospectus

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Sponsorship Opportunities 

The ACPA Education Conference is this year's premier event for the concrete pumping industry and it's also your best opportunity to connect with concrete pumpers from all across the globe. There are several sponsorship opportunities available!

 Sponsorship Application

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Transportation

Airport Information:

Nashville International Airport (BNA) is the closest airport to the Gaylord Opryland. The airport is 8.3 miles north of the hotel and travel to and from the airport will take approximately 15 minutes.

Ground Transportation:

Gaylord Opryland does offer transportation to/from the airport. The shuttle runs every 30 minutes starting at 5:30 am. The cost is $19/one way or $30/round trip. You can access the shuttle by following the ground transportation signage at the airport.

The estimated taxi fare to/from the airport is approximately $30 each way. A Hertz Car Rental is located at the Gaylord Opryland.

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