Sometimes, the best way for company leaders to lean into their business is to step away from it. For integrators, taking some time away from creating solutions for others allows you to focus on identifying and solving your own business challenges. It’s important for both perspective and strategic planning.
That’s one reason NSCA’s annual Business & Leadership Conference (BLC) doesn’t focus much on customer solutions. Instead, integrators who attend are asked to take that step back and broaden their view of what needs to be done to sustain success. As such, it falls on NSCA to plan a conference that will get integration company leaders thinking about topics that can foster new ideas and present new opportunities.
The Art and Science of Planning BLC
Long before I joined the NSCA team, the art and science of planning BLC had been perfected. The NSCA team doesn’t plan BLC content in a silo. We work with the BLC Planning Committee, made up of industry peers, and we gather input from NSCA’s Board of Directors. The goal is to pinpoint the big challenges that integrators face and determine whether NSCA can make an impact in those areas by bringing together leading thinkers to dig deeper.
What follows is a quick look at the keynotes and general sessions we have planned for BLC 2024. There’s a lot to look forward to!
Related: NSCA Unveils Keynote Lineup for BLC 2024
BLC 2024 Keynotes and General Sessions
- If you’ve attended BLC recently, then you know Dr. Chris Kuehl. He’s NSCA’s chief economist, and he’s the only BLC speaker we invite back annually. He’ll provide his economic outlook, connecting the dots between macroeconomic factors and integrators’ own challenges. (He’s also super funny.)
- Meridith Elliott Powell will provide the second part of this finance one-two punch. She’ll talk about the uncertainty that Dr. Kuehl describes and how integrators can respond.
- To advise you on how to thrive even amid the chaotic state of the industry, Michael Bonner will share his leadership experience. This will help you think about uncertainty and disorder in a new way.
- A 19-year-old technology prodigy, Tanmay Bakshi, has quickly become a leading thinker on AI. He’s joining BLC to help you envision the possibilities of AI, even while carefully navigating its inherent challenges.
- As we double down on company culture, Steve Thomas will share some of the concepts he uses as he works with organizations to boost culture. For example, making sure that changes stem from leadership.
- Former New York representative and senatorial candidate Rick Lazio joins NSCA’s CEO, Chuck Wilson, to talk about the business impact of 2024 being an election year. Expect a long Q&A, so prepare your questions now.
- Dr. Jessica Kriegel, an accountability expert, will help you establish accountability among your team members with respect to profitability challenges and related issues.
BLC Breakout Sessions
BLC breakout sessions dive into industry issues even more deeply than our strategic general sessions do. Whether you’re in leadership, finance, business development, operations or HR, there will be a breakout session for you. When companies bring multiple team members to BLC, they share the keynote experiences while bringing back specific action steps from the breakouts based on their roles. This year, Powell, Bonner and Kriegel all will lead their own breakout sessions. This will give BLC attendees the chance to work closely with these experts.
For integrators who are continually focused on improving their organizations, BLC is a critical event. Don’t miss it.
Will you be at BLC? Registration is capped, but travel plans change at the last minute, so it pays to be on the waiting list. To register for NSCA’s Business & Leadership Conference, visit NSCA.org/blc-2024.
