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Attendees emerge pleased from IT Forum Conference in Chicago

By C. Fara Francis

The third annual AGC IT Forum Conference kicked off in Chicago on Aug. 11 with more than 150 attendees enthusiastic and ready to participate in peer-to-peer dialog. The wonderful weather in the Windy City seemed to encourage attendees to engage and participate.

The theme of the conference was "Where Technology and Construction Converge." Areas of focus were IT trends and strategy, enterprise content management (ECM) focusing on SharePoint, tablet computing and affordable solutions. The conference was rich in information and discussion and attendees were very pleased with the sessions and enjoyed collaboration with their peers at the networking reception sponsored by Pepper Construction.

Appropriately, "IT Trends and Strategy: 2011 and Beyond" started the conversation with Kurt Koenig of Penta Technologies. Angus Frost of Burger Consulting Group followed up with "Enterprise Content Management: What is the Role of SharePoint in your IT Strategy?" which set the stage for the first three breakout sessions: "SharePoint 2010 Advanced" with Steven Mulka of SIS Software; "SharePoint 2010: How to Get Started" with Raynald Morris of W M Jordan Construction; and "ECM Roundtable Discussion" with Burger’s Frost. These sessions allowed attendees to share experiences with ECM and SharePoint and learn new ways to work within the application.

Discussions on tablet computing and jobsite connectivity were also included. Mike Carrozzo and Peggy Smedley of Constructech Magazine kicked off the session with a well-received presentation, "Tablet Computing: Getting Data. Sending Information." Mulka (SIS Software), Peter Lasensky of NoteVault and Pat Kenney of Palmer Magazine presented at the breakout sessions.

On the final day of the conference, attention was turned to the bottom-line. In these economic times, it was appropriate to address "Cheap IT, How to do More with Less" with Del Ameko of Jaynes Construction, who provided insight on creative methods he’s implemented to meet IT needs. An additional topic, "Contractor Forum: Affordable Solutions" included Ameko, Walt Gamble of Gamble Construction Services, Todd Eldredge of Donley’s Inc. and Tary Carlson of Inici Group and was well attended with lots of takeaways as attendees enthusiastically shared experiences and solicited answers for their questions.

The conference wrapped up with another great takeaway, "IT Metrics: 20 Measures that Matter to Success with Technology" by Christian Burger. The information was gathered by a survey developed by Burger Consulting Group and completed prior to the conference. Burger shared great analytics covering topics of keen interest to attendees. Examples included senior IT roles by contractor service type and environment complexity, number of contractors with a disaster recovery plan and/or disaster recovery site by service type and revenue, average recovery times by application, acquisition costs for VoiP/Video conferencing per user, average number of IT staff per end user and top IT initiatives for the year. All who participated in the survey are set to receive a white paper summary of the results.

The conference also included some fun time. Attendees enjoyed a lovely reception courtesy of Pepper Construction and drawings for two Amazon gift cards courtesy of the national AGC and an iPad courtesy of B4 Consulting.

Attendees were extremely impressed with the conference content and the opportunity to network and collaborate with other technology professionals. The attendees and the AGC look forward to another successful conference in August 2012.

Here are some comments from some of the attendees:
"Being a first-timer and a bit of a construction industry novice, I learned a great deal, found it very insightful and will attend AGC I.T. sponsored events in the future."
Jeremy A. Fenolio
Director, IT and Communications, Walsh & Kelly, Inc.

"Short enough to keep your interest and long enough to exchange solutions/ideas from peers to solve problems."
Niraj Oak
VP, Information Systems, Linbeck Group, LLC

"The conference was a great opportunity to share ideas and hear about how other construction companies, large and small, are tackling various issues."
Nige Wingate
IT Director, Mortenson Construction

About the Writer
C. Fara Francis, MBA, PMP is chief information officer of the AGC where she oversees the IT department and its technology initiatives. Reach her at francisc@agc.org.