Session Descriptions
Educational Tracks
Four tracks (over 20 breakout sessions to choose from)
ALL Included in the Annual Conference Registration Package
All conference participants are invited to attend breakout sessions that focus on strategies, trends and challenges pertaining to their specific interests.
Four Education Tracks:
- Executive I & Executive II
Designed for C-level attendees, these simultaneous tracks offer executives a variety of sessions to attend, ranging from vision and strategy to operational efficiency to business innovation. - Sales
At these sessions, sales professionals, owners and executives will learn a variety of innovative and proven ways to build business and further penetrate the marketplace. - Recruiting
These informative and interactive sessions feature strategies, techniques and information designed to enhance a firm's recruiting engine.
Session Descriptions By Education Track
Executive Track
The Demonization of H-1Bs and Its Implications: Where Do We Go From Here?
Moderated by Mark B. Roberts, CEO, TechServe Alliance
For much of the past year, the use of H-1Bs generally and our industry in particular, has been under attack. After an overview of the legal and legislative environment, we will explore the implications of restrictions (both current and proposed) on the talent pool and our industry. In addition to an immigration law expert, we will be joined by industry executives who will share their perspective on current and future access to global talent here and abroad.
At Your Own Peril - A Panel Discussion on Key Legal Issues
Moderated by Mark B. Roberts, CEO, TechServe Alliance
Any owner or executive in an IT services firm must be keenly aware of the key legal issues and trends affecting the industry. As new developments and legislation continue to affect employment and immigration law, today's businesses must stay informed of issues in such diverse areas as reclassification of independent contractors, overtime and H-1B visas. How will these developments affect your business? Is your company exposed to liability? Are you taking the appropriate steps to minimize your risk? During this session, you will hear from a panel of leading attorneys representing the IT staffing and solutions industry. They will discuss today's most pressing legal issues and offer practical strategies for responding to the evolving legal landscape.
Diversifying Your Business Strategies
Moderated by Mike Cleland, Charted Path, LLC
As the IT staffing industry continues in a state of flux, what go-to-market strategy best suits your organization to ensure ongoing profitable growth? This panel of experienced executives will discuss success factors and lessons learned from three distinct models including sales strategies built on regional VMS/MSP programs, branch offices and niche specialization. Panelists will present pointed questions to get participants thinking out of the box about their specific situations.
Disney's Approach to Leadership Excellence
Leadership Excellence explores strategies and methods for improving team results through exceptional and storytelling leadership, because without strong leadership, organizations will not grow or succeed. Learn proven leadership philosophies used to exhibit the values and behaviors that generate results - period.
Back to the Basics of Profitability
Al Bates, President & CEO, Profit Planning Group
Financial expert Dr. Al Bates will help attendees set specific sales, gross profit, expense and accounts receivable targets and provide a road map for reaching those targets. This session emphasizes two essential concepts: "Planning Profits First," focusing on profit as the first element of a plan, and "Setting Profit Priorities," directing your company's efforts where there is the greatest potential pay-off. You will leave this session with both an understanding of what drives profitability in the IT services industry and a plan to improve your own profitability.
The Power of Information — Managing through Metrics
Al Bates, President & CEO, Profit Planning Group
Dr. Al Bates will share the key industry metrics by which IT staffing and solutions firms should measure their sales forces and recruiters for better profitability. Topics to be discussed include:
- Compensation schemes employed by other firms for salespeople and recruiters
- The relationship between incentive compensation and the performance of salespeople and recruiters
- Performance metrics of top salespeople and recruiters
- The relationship between tenure and performance
Decide on Your Future — Today
Alan Beaulieu, Principal, EcoTrends Institute
Keep abreast of the changes in the U.S. and global economies in 2011 and beyond. Learn to anticipate changes and capitalize on them before your competitors do. Alan Beaulieu has a proven track record of providing economic forecasts with nearly 100% accuracy. Hear his thoughts on the economic outlook with particular attention paid to the information technology sector. His talk will cover the topics:
- Short-term and long-term economic forecasts and how they affect TechServe Alliance companies
- How the U.S. is affected by corporate production facilities being moved overseas
- Whether the stock market gives a true reading of the economy
- Leading economic indicators to watch for
- What businesses should do to prepare for the next few years
Creating Strategic Value in Your Company and M&A: An Update on the M&A Market and What Strategic Elements are Most Important to Maximize the Long-Term Value of Your Company
Moderated by Tom Nunn, President, Tom Nunn Consulting
2010 has seen a noticeable improvement in buyers’ interest in IT Staffing Industry acquisitions in a clear sign that optimism is on the rebound as the US economy emerges out of a prolonged recession. Whether you are a buyer, a seller or just want to learn more about this aspect of our industry, join our panel of experts to get an up to date overview of current trends affecting the industry. Topics covered in this session will include:
- Overview of recent transactions; buyer & seller characteristics, valuation trends
- Building your company’s value – what do buyers typically look for when determining terms and price
- Should you consider yourself a buyer – pros & cons of being a “small buyer”
- Tax planning – ideas and structure to manage tax liabilities as buyer or seller
- Perspective from a seller
Getting More Out of Your Sales Organization…What a CEO or Sales Leader Must Start Doing and Stop Doing
Chris Mott, President, Corporate Training Division, Kurlan & Associates
This session will provide an overview of common mistakes as well as best practices in effective sales management. You should attend this session if you are frustrated by salespeople who perform inconsistently, if you haven’t been able to consistently develop sales winners or want some specific ideas on how to get your sales organization to the next level. Topics will include:
- What mistakes do you continue to make that you don’t know are mistakes?
- What should a sales leader spend 80% of their time doing?
- Why does my sales organization perform so inconsistently?
- How do I better measure attitude, activity, behavior and numbers?
- How do I make my sales organization more accountable?
- Why can’t we hire enough overachieving salespeople?
Fifth Annual Women’s Luncheon
Sponsored by ClearEdge Marketing
TechServe Alliance members are invited to attend the fifth-annual women’s luncheon — an interactive plated lunch that provides an exclusive, unmatched, can’t-miss opportunity to meet with talented peers to share knowledge, resources and business ideas.
Sponsored by ClearEdge Marketing, and facilitated by ClearEdge President Leslie Vickrey — a well-known veteran marketer in the IT services industry — this luncheon will feature roundtable discussions led by senior women in the Alliance. Roundtable discussions will cover 2-3 topics impacting the IT services industry today, and will be decided on by each table. Topics include:
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Motivating, retaining and managing staff
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Recruiting Web 2.0 — social media and candidate recruitment
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Growing your business, new account sales lead generation
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Mentoring and networking
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Future of women in IT services
The luncheon will end with a debriefing of each table’s discussion — ensuring attendees don’t miss a thing!
Guest Moderators Include:
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Threase Baker, Vice President of Operations and Owner, ABBTECH
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Barbie Barta, Vice President, PSCI
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Jamie Delsing, Managing Partner, Consultis
- Stephanie Schroeder, Vice President, NetEffects
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Susan Thaden, President/CEO, Client Resources, Inc.
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Amy Vasquez, Executive Vice President, S3
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Karen Wilson, President, Make Corporation
Standing Out: Position Your Firm for Preference
Kyle Braun, Sales Director, Staffing & Recruiting Group, CareerBuilder
Think about those pivotal moments when you could differentiate your firm in the eyes of clients, candidates and internal employees. Do you seize those opportunities to “stand out” or just do what you’ve always done – or what your competitors do?
Your message has the power to create preference and differentiate your firm to clients, candidates and internal employees. This session will take you through a series of pertinent questions to help you identify where you can make a bigger impact with your key audiences. By reflecting on different areas of your business – from branding and customer service, to sales and recognition – you will walk away with actionable ideas to position your firm’s unique attributes to your primary stakeholders.
Additional Sessions to be added soon.
Sales Track
The Transformational Magic of Market Share
Scott Wintrip, PCC, StaffingU
Did you know that some IT services firms actually GREW through the latest recession, while many others shrank or completely disappeared? And that many of these same firms are increasing their margins as we continue to witness decline in overall industry margins?
How is this possible? Through the amazing transformational power of increasing market share! Learn about the inherent power of adding diversity and depth to your customer base and learn current statistics on who's buying, what they're buying, and how many contacts it takes to get them to buy from you. You'll also hear about five key mistakes your competition is making and how to avoid these pitfalls yourself. In addition, you'll take away key actions for your firm and gain a renewed sense of the viability of IT staffing and solutions in this new economy.
The Power of "The Golden 120 Seconds of Every Sales Call"
Navigating the Critical Sales Junctures in Which Sales Professionals Can
Make or Break a Deal
Peter Dennis, President of PMD Sales Training & Consulting, Inc.
There are several critical junctures during every sales call or meeting in which the sales person's interaction with the prospective customer can most impact the outcome. Join the author of "The Golden 120 Seconds of Every Sales Call" to learn an innovative approach that focuses on these junctures and helps sales professionals navigate them skillfully to move things forward with prospects, close more deals, generate additional revenue and create distance from the competition. New and veteran sales professionals alike will benefit from examples of what occurs in the field and practical execution that focuses on the prospects' goals, being proactive, and building relationships. With these tips, you'll create and execute a strategic sales plan that has customers calling you.
Make Your Sales Calls Matter
Top 10 Before and After Sales Call Strategies that Lead to Big Rewards
Gerry Layo, Speaker, Trainer, Author & Coach, Sales Coach International
Gerry Layo is back by popular demand to give us a double dose of real-world sales strategies. In this two-pronged session, Gerry will zero-in on the importance of both what happens before the sales call and what happens afterward. In today’s challenging sales marketplace, differentiation is key ― and that comes with specific planning in advance and strong, creative follow-up afterward. These sessions are appropriate for both salespeople and recruiters and will address:
Part #1 - The Top 10 Pre-Call Preparation Strategies of Top Performing Sales Pros
What occurs before the sales call TRUMPS what occurs during the sales call. Why? Without significant thought and prep work in advance of the call, the call results in a “commoditization” of the salesperson and thus, a heavy focus on rate vs. value. Attendees will learn:
- Four questions to ask internally before every sales call that, when answered, will double your chances of making every sale
- A marketplace definition and penetration strategy to laser in FOCUS
- 10 pre-call preparation strategies of the top sales pros
Part #2 - The Top 10 Follow-Through Tactics of the Top Sales Pros
Follow through is not a once-in-a-while thing ― it is an every-single-time thing. I define it as “doing what you say you’re going to do, when you say you are going to do it … plus ONE!” This session will tee-up new ideas for follow-through and ensure attendees can execute them by addressing things like:
Four specific times during the sales cycle when follow-through is necessary
Seven facts as to why follow-through is important and seven main reasons we “drop the ball”
10 follow-through tactics that separate the best from the rest
“Hypnotic & Emotional Selling”
Esoteric mumbo jumbo that will dramatically help you close more deals!
Neil Lebovits, CPA, CPC, CTS, Leader, Motivator, Speaker, Trainer and Former Member of Global Executive Team
Ever wish you could close more deals by applying simple techniques? Wish you could have fewer turndowns and improve your “conversion” statistics? Wish you could get more clients to give you job orders after you meet with them? Wish you could have more candidates begging for the job? Wish you could bill as much as that “other guy/gal”? Wish there were some hidden secrets that could make people do what you wanted more often than not? Is that even possible? Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes and YES!!!! Learn the top methods of power persuasion and the tools you will need to close more deals than ever before! Most experts agree that there are six “power” techniques proven to work. This session’s learning objectives include:
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Get a great understanding of the six most influential tools for power persuasion on the planet!
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Understand the power in setting the right expectations
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Learn what “Emotional Selling” is and how to simply “twist” your closes, making them instantly much more effective!
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Walk away with great examples of how to implement these new “tools”
- Figure out why you closed some deals and finally figure out why you lost others
- Take home a foundation to persuade more people throughout the different elements of the job or work-order process
Additional Sessions to be added soon.
Recruiting Track
It's Them or You
Barb Bruno, Good as Gold Training
Someone has to be the Recruiter of Choice — why not you? It's true that the recruiter with the candidate and the greatest clients WINS!
During this session you will learn how to:
- Identify and become a trusted advisor to outstanding key accounts
- Become a magnet for top talent
- Increase your candidate and client referrals by 300%
- Fill a much higher percentage of your contracts and job orders
- Truly differentiate yourself from your competition
If you are serious about accomplishing a higher level of production, success and Income, this session is a must attend!
Best D@mn Recruiting Tips — Period!
Al Dubuc, Founder, Oz Consulting and Training
Engaging Questions! When hiring IT recruiters, what is the #1 attribute to look for? What is the #1 reason recruiters will fail in 2011? What do Al Dubuc and Hall of Famer Willie McCovey have in common? (First correct answer on this one wins a full set of Oz CDs!)
This session is specifically designed for recruiters and will bring you entertaining and insightful proven methods for success beyond job boards!
- Learn where to add depth to your in-depth phone interviews
- Realize perfect techniques for "candidate control"
- Become a master at "min-max negotiation"
- Anticipate and address common industry objections
- Prevent and if necessary resolve common industry crises
- Become a screening expert
- Fine-tune closing — be up-front, conditional, trial, bold and proxy
You'll be poised, pro-active, and prepared to pounce with your personal production pipeline at the end of this session!
How Connected Are You? A Social Media Workshop for Your IT Staffing Firm
Michelle Spellerberg, Sr. Director, Brand Management & Emerging Media, Personified; Leah McKelvey, Marketing Manager, Staffing & Recruiting, CareerBuilder
This two-part workshop will challenge you to determine how connected you really are to the audiences you wish to serve – and think about ways you can engage candidates and clients more to drive your business forward.
How easy is it for an IT candidate to get responses to their questions? Do you convey your value by sharing testimonials directly from your clients? Is your website doing enough to convey your dynamic brand? This in-depth workshop will take you through exercises to determine where you stand, share benchmarking data, best practices and examples on where you could be, and outline the steps necessary to build your own social media strategy to ultimately help you achieve your goals.
Key Motivators to Hire the Right Generational Mix
Sherri Elliott-Yeary, SPHR, Founder and CEO of human resources consulting companies Optimance Workforce Strategies and Gen InsYght
To survive and excel in a competitive labor market, your organization must be able to recruit, retain and develop top talent from all four generations. Each generation has its own unique identity, which impacts performance, productivity and organizational passion. To be an employer of choice, you must tap into the values, expectations and behaviors of all the generations in the workplace in order to engage all employee groups. By doing so, you will be able to maximize each generation’s skills sets, while managing the differences.
Optimizing the Candidate Experience and Building Loyalty
Raleen Gagnon, Principal Segment Marketing Manager, Monster; Todd Workman, National Account Manager, Monster
The first step is to build your candidate pipeline, but how do you maintain it? This breakout session will introduce a number of innovative ways to differentiate your organization in the eyes of the candidate as they go through the interviewing and hiring process. Highlights will include a number of simple things that will build candidate loyalty as well as a few ways to increase the value proposition of your services. Using industry examples to demonstrate the significance of managing the candidate experience, this session will touch upon the challenges and best practices related to maximizing candidate relationships.
Additional Sessions to be added soon.
