Associated General Contractors of Michigan | Lansing, MI
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Professional Development Day 2024

Speakers & Sessions​

8:15 a.m. - 9:00 a.m. ​
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Jumping in the Driver's Seat empowers people to improve leadership skills, improve relationships and cultivate effective teams. Today's competitive and changing business environment demands that people must have an innate sense of personal responsibility for their work, their actions, and their relationships.  This program will increase personal effectiveness with the following:
  • Define leadership.
  • Gain tips for being better leaders every year.
  • Learn how appreciate the unique contribution of each employee you have.
  • Keys for creating a culture that employees don’t want to leave.
  • Discover practical communication skills for rewarding relationships with peers, vendors and customers alike.
​
Jumping in the Driver’s Seat will enable people to steer themselves into position to fully realize their outstanding contributions to their employer, family, and community.

Jay Gubrud is a catalyst for performance improvement. He is a dynamic professional speaker, trainer, author and consultant who has been presenting across industries and audiences for over twenty years. His programs challenge participants to eliminate the everyday roadblocks to their success. Jay has an innate ability to relate the trials of life and business in a way that everyone can relate to … Cars and Driving!

He has never been afraid to have a difference of opinion or shake up the status quo. He believes that regularly moving out of your comfort zone and improving your performance are key to personal and professional success and satisfaction.

He values the contribution of all people’s personalities and characteristics at the office and at home. His presentation style honors these differences and seeks to create an environment of mutual respect. Jay’s strives to open people’s minds to new ways of thinking and acting while at the same time reducing negativity.
In high school and college, he didn’t reside in just one group, he knew all the groups and built connections and transferred opportunities amongst those different groups. He continues to do that by working in a variety of industries and transferring ideas between different industries.


9:00 a.m . - 10:15 a.m.

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Facilitation for the Construction Field! Participants will actively engage in 3 to 4 facilitation exercises that are specifically designed for construction employees, including those working out in the field. This session will provide participants with the ability to immediately bring the design elements of Liberating Structures back to their team, to help quickly get open dialogue and active engagement. Participants will receive facilitation guides for each of the exercises they participate in during the session. 

Participants will: 
  • Understand the various design elements that help unlock dialogue and problem solving within teams.  
  • Be capable of personally facilitating exercises that help get a team of construction professionals actively engaged and openly communicating together.
  • Have a set of tools to quickly break through any barriers or resistance to participation in group training, brainstorming sessions, or other team events that require everyone to engage openly.
  • Participants will have fun, smile, and laugh throughout, which is key to having success with construction teams!

Facilitation for the Construction Field! will provide benefit for construction professionals in all phases of their career, including office and field professionals. The session also benefits HR and Workforce professionals that work as leaders and facilitators with their operations, field and office teams.

Steve Williams
Steve William's experience includes all phases of the hiring and employee development process. Acting as a true business partner, Steve maintains focus on achieving the operational and financial goals of EctoHR’s clients, which includes over 50 thriving contractors in the Midwest. Steve facilitates training and development initiatives with diverse teams of construction professionals, including Executives, Project Managers, Superintendents, tradespeople and more.
​

Prior to founding EctoHR in 2005, Steve was the Director of Customer Service for a national Professional Employment Organization, in addition to holding positions with a payroll firm and an HR-related software Company. He holds the SHRM-SCP certification and earns an average of 20 continuing education credits annually. Steve is an active speaker, frequently providing engaging presentations to various industry groups and other organizations.

Steve lives in Brighton with his wife, Lesley, and their two children – Sammi and Charlie. When not working, Steve enjoys spending time outdoors with his family and friends, traveling, running and skiing. 


10:30 a.m. - Noon

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​​​Build and Maximize Your Personal Brand - What is your personal brand? You have a unique perspective that represents what you care about most. That viewpoint can positively influence your firm’s culture and client experience.

Maximize your personal brand by aligning your values and interests with your daily work for greater influence, career advancement and more fun!  Bring your best self to professional conversations. Avoid career fatigue. Live purposely.

​You’ll leave this session with the tools to identify your personal brand, and also how to express it consistently in the world.  Bring your device to make instant updates on your social accounts during the session.

You will learn to: 
  • Clarify why you need a personal brand
  • Identify interests and values that align with your work
  • Start building your personal brand through exercises and discussion
  • Share your brand consistently and comfortably.

Christine Nelson
Christine Nelson is a communications consultant with Ingenuity Marketing Group, LLC
in Saint Paul, Minnesota. She works with A/E/C professionals across the U.S. on personal branding,
public relations, social media, ghostwriting and communications as part of a full-service digital
marketing agency.

Christine is a member of the Society for Marketing Professional Services. She speaks often on branding, marketing and communications topics to regional and national trade groups. 
​


1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m.

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OneLadder to Leadership  - There are 4 primary challenges that exist for women wanting to advance in leadership roles within construction.  These challenges can be related to ladder rungs that are Broken, Missing, Slippery, and Sticky.  This presentation will dive into what causes these hazards and what we can do together as an industry to overcome and eliminate them.  Eliminating these gender specific challenges will allow us to build OneLadder that provides an equitable and safe climb for ALL in our industry.

Barb Allen
​Barb Allen received her bachelor’s degree in Construction Management, then began her journey as a carpenter wearing her tool bags learning to physically build buildings, relationships, and a successful career as a woman in construction. She climbed ladder rungs that included Foreman, Assistant Superintendent, Superintendent, Pre-Construction Manager, Project Executive, and Operations Director. She now utilizes those experiences to educate and motivate audiences to better recognize, understand, and eliminate gender specific challenges in order to increase recruiting and retention within the industry.


2:15 p.m. - 3:45 p.m.

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Finding an Extra Hour Every Day: Time Management Tips and Tricks for Busy Professionals - In this popular quick-hitting program on “finding an extra hour of productivity” every day, Randy Dean, MBA, the “Totally Obsessed” Time Management/E-mail Guy uses humor and high energy as he goes into many of the most common areas of productivity loss (and possible gain!) afflicting many busy professionals today: managing multiple projects, maintaining “traction” when dealing with tasks and interruptions, managing your e-mails more efficiently, clearing the clutter in your mind for better focus and attention, keeping staff on task, tracking “who owes you what” and getting that information on time, and better managing your calendar and contacts for better time and relationship management. His goal is to help stressed out performers learn several new and immediately useful strategies for finding a few minutes on tasks, activities, and actions you are already doing, leading to at least an extra hour of productivity every day, as well as a better way to start and manage your day so more time is devoted to your key projects, clients, and activities with less distraction.

Randy Dean
Randall Dean, MBA, is the author of the recent Amazon.com #1 E-mail Bestseller, Taming the E-mail Beast, as well as the producer and creator of several highly-rated video-based self-study courses. He has nearly 30 years of experience using and teaching an advanced time management/personal organization system, including systems for effective e-mail management, office clutter reduction, optimizing your Outlook and/or Gmail/Google usage, and getting the most from affiliated smart phone and tablet devices.
​

He has taught different versions of his time and e-mail management systems for many prominent organizations including Michigan State University, University of California Berkeley, Westinghouse Electric Company, Volvo, The Global Business Travel Association, the Graduate Management Admissions Council, The University of Pittsburgh, The Ohio State University, the Institute of Management Accountants, the National Association for Legal Career Professionals, and The Michigan, Indiana, Texas, and Iowa Societies of Association Executives for groups as small as five and as large as 550.

His speaking and training programs are consistently some of the highest-rated programs for the many conferences and clients he speaks for, including major conferences, Fortune 500 organizations, top universities, governmental agencies, and leading nonprofits — basically anyone struggling to better manage their time, e-mail, smart phone/tablet devices, Google productivity apps, and/or Microsoft Outlook. (And he makes these topics fun and engaging too!)

He has previously been interviewed by the Washington Times, Detroit News, The Globe and Mail, Business Week Online, and numerous other media outlets, including radio, television, newspaper, and blog sites. He is an active member of the National Speakers Association (NSA) and Michigan Society of Association Executives.

Associated General Contractors of Michigan.  All Rights Reserved.
2323 N. Larch Street  |  Lansing, MI  48906
Phone: (517) 371-1550 | [email protected] | sitemap
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  • Login
  • Member Directory
  • News & Events
    • Golf Outing 2025
    • Communications
    • Annual Sponsorships
    • Association Calendar
    • Latest News
    • Photo Albums
    • Community Calendar
  • Membership
    • Why Join?
    • Membership Application
    • Update Your Profile
  • About Us
    • Our Team
    • Board of Directors
    • Mission Statement & History
    • Advocacy >
      • Alliance for Suicide Prevention
      • Construction Angels
      • Culture of CARE
      • PAC
      • Stay Well Program
    • AGC of America
    • Contact Us
  • Member Services
    • Awards >
      • Apprentice of the Year
      • Build Michigan Award
      • Cornerstone Award
      • SPARK Award
      • Safety Awards
    • NextGen Leaders Forum (NLF) >
      • NLF Leadership 2025-2027
      • Why Join?
      • Future Construction Leaders of Michigan
      • NLF Programs/Events
      • At the National Level
    • Education >
      • AGC EDGE
      • Upcoming AGC EDGE Courses
      • Supervisory Training Program
      • Professional Development Day
      • Educational Endowment Fund
    • Labor Relations Division
    • Legal >
      • Newletters
    • Safety & Health >
      • Safety & Health Training
      • MIOSHA Alliance
      • Michigan Construction Safety Training Day
    • Students >
      • Student Constructor Awareness Night (SCAN)
      • Scholarships
      • Summer Work Program
      • Student Chapters
      • Building Potential Program
      • Leaders and Legends Program
    • Tax & Fiscal
    • Workforce Development
  • Affinity Programs