The NSCA Business & Leadership Conference (BLC) aims to be the premier thought-leadership and executive-networking event for integration businesses. The 2024 iteration, which took place last week in Irving, Texas, certainly lived up to that billing. Featuring inspiring keynotes, actionable information about the political and macroeconomic climate, and plenty of time for networking and forging connections, BLC 2024 reminded us why hundreds of company presidents, CEOs and owners come back year after year. It was also an occasion to celebrate remarkable individuals in our ranks, as well as business-enhancing products and best-of-breed integrators. Overall, attendees left the conference inspired and invigorated, excited to implement these transformative ideas in their own businesses.
BLC 2024 kicked off with an opening night dinner and reception that allowed attendees to ease into the packed three days and connect with old friends. When Tom LeBlanc, NSCA’s executive director, took the stage, he noted that Chuck Wilson, NSCA’s CEO, plans to step back from day-to-day NSCA leadership duties this spring. This will allow him to focus on related passions, such as the NSCA Education Foundation and the Partner Alliance for Safer Schools (PASS). In addition, Wilson will take on a strategic role supporting the NSCA team and executive director Tom LeBlanc.
Wilson usually avoids the spotlight, but he expressed real gratitude as the integration community showed its appreciation for his decades of selfless service. For more on Wilson, check out our companion article: “Chuck Wilson Honored: Community Celebrates His Ongoing Contributions.” NSCA planned this leadership change meticulously, with a multi-phase transition having occurred over the last couple of years.
NSCA Business & Leadership Conference Honors Superstars
Multimedia journalist Alesia Hendley (second from right) received the inaugural John Greene Mentorship Award. The award, named after a well-known industry educator and mentor, recognizes Hendley’s commitment to paying forward her own success. Photo by Dan Ferrisi.
Next, NSCA took the opportunity to honor three of the most remarkable people who have ever graced the AV community: multimedia journalist Alesia Hendley, AtlasIED executive Gina Sansivero and veteran integrator Jay Rogina. Hendley received the inaugural John Greene Mentorship Award. The award, named after a well-known industry educator and mentor, recognizes Hendley’s commitment to paying forward her own success and using her platform to amplify others’ voices. Hendley is, of course, a monthly Commercial Integrator contributor whose column is titled “Perfecting Your Craft.”
Sansivero received the 2024 Volunteer of the Year award, recognizing her ceaseless efforts to better our industry community, nurture the next generation, empower marginalized groups and raise funds to support industry initiatives. Those efforts, of course, include her service as a board member for the NSCA Education Foundation. Throughout the year, the Foundation seeks to grow the industry by providing access to educational experiences that cultivate business skills, enable growth and enhance industry professionalism.
Jay Rogina received the NSCA Education Foundation Founders’ Award, which recognizes a lifetime of contributions to our industry’s betterment. Photo by Dan Ferrisi.
Rogina, meanwhile, received the NSCA Education Foundation Founders’ Award, which recognizes a lifetime of contributions to our industry’s betterment. More specifically, the award celebrates those who inspire the community of AV professionals and build ladders to help others achieve success. Rogina is best known for having been CEO and principal of Spinitar — since acquired by Solutionz, Inc. — where he created a loyalty-building company culture that drove Spinitar to success. Rogina is also the 21st inductee in CI’s #AVLivingLegends series.
Product and Integrator Awards
As a Platinum Media Sponsor, Commercial Integrator was on hand at BLC 2024 to present the Excellence in Product Innovation (EPI) awards to vendors whose products are not merely innovative but that, more importantly, make a positive impact on integrators’ businesses. In the Ease of Customization category, Biamp won for Apprimo Touch 8i. For the New Revenue Potential category, Crestron took top honors for Crestron Flex Pods. For Recurring Revenue Potential, Wesco International, Inc., won for Conference Room as a Service. In the Retrofit/Installer-Friendly category, Sony Electronics came out on top for Crystal LED VERONA Series. In the Technology Platform category, AMETEK SurgeX won for SurgeX Connect. For the Trail-Blazing Innovation category, Symetrix earned top honors for xIO XLR-Series. And finally, Sharp ePaper received the 2024 Most Innovative Product award. CI and NSCA congratulate all the winners!
After that, it was time to announce the Excellence in Business awards, which recognize NSCA member companies that are doing exciting and interesting things from a business perspective. This year’s honorees were as follows: Hyphn for Business Performance, ET Group for Employee Engagement, Fairchild Communication Systems for Differentiating Strategies, 5 North Media for Strategic Transformation, Parallel Technologies for Customer Experience and Texadia Systems for Talent Development.
After each honoree came to the stage, CI moderated a short roundtable that allowed each integrator to discuss their innovative approaches to vexing challenges like driving accountability, improving company culture, maximizing how customers leverage solutions and empowering team members to shift their career path. Post-roundtable chatter indicated that integrators in the audience gleaned truly valuable nuggets from the conversation.
NSCA Business & Leadership Conference Attracts Brilliant Speakers
The next day, the content program began in earnest with Dr. Chris Kuehl, a BLC veteran and managing partner/co-founder of Armada Corporate Intelligence. Kuehl offered an economic update that possibly helped to defuse some of the lingering economic anxiety that has plagued us in recent years. He offered a few key takeaways:
- Interest-rate cuts likely won’t occur until Q3/24 or Q4/24, and then only down to 4.75%.
- There are no recessionary signs on the horizon, with strong consumer spending and steady corporate investment.
- We continue to experience an acute worker shortage, a fact that produces wage hikes that, in turn, fuel inflation.
- The outcome of the rancorous presidential election is unlikely to materially affect the economy.
On the last point, Kuehl pointed out that the Federal Reserve controls monetary policy, whereas Congress writes taxing and spending laws.
Meridith Elliott Powell taught BLC attendees how to thrive regardless of the economy. She offered a nine-step plan for integration business owners to handle uncertainty more productively. Photo by Dan Ferrisi.
The next speaker, Meridith Elliott Powell, taught BLC attendees how to thrive regardless of the economy. She offered a nine-step plan for integration business owners to handle uncertainty more productively. She mentioned, for example, that we must condition ourselves for change. “You have no control of what happens in the marketplace,” Powell observed. “You have 100% control of what you do about it.” Thus, she encouraged adopting a proactive posture, rather than simply allowing change to happen to you. Powell also held up Chick-fil-A as an example of a company that knows its core values and lives by them. “Get clear on what your values are and hold to them like a litmus test,” she urged. Indeed, according to Powell, every single decision an organization makes should be measured against its core values. She also encouraged BLC attendees to build their personal networks, saying that the person standing next to you might be the one person who can take your business to the next level.
Handling Chaos
Another speaker, Michael Bonner, focused his talk on chaos — that is, the remarkable rate of change not only in our industry but also in our society. For the BLC audience of business leaders, he urged engaging with team members in a fulsome way to gain their confidence and trust. “You can’t make a withdrawal from someone you have never invested in,” Bonner said. That means really seeing the people you work with and understanding their stressors. He also disambiguated organizational climate and organizational culture, saying the former is what’s said during the meeting, whereas the latter is what’s said in the parking lot afterward. Culture is what really defines your organization, both as an employer and as a partner for others. Then, Bonner offered several tips to maintain greatness, one of which is to have a diverse enough community around you to advise, support and guide you amid unpredictable disruption. His high-energy talk was a hit with attendees.
Later that afternoon, Tanmay Bakshi, a 19-year-old AI prodigy, delivered an eye-opening presentation entitled “Exploring the Power of AI for a Safe, Ethical Digital Revolution.” Of course, AI is one of the hottest topics these days in integration circles. That buzz came through in the extended Q&A session that followed Bakshi’s hourlong talk. Many integrators might still be trying to understand how to leverage AI for our industry’s goals and purposes, but Bakshi’s talk got BLC attendees’ minds aswirl with all the possibilities.
NSCA Business & Leadership Conference Day Two
On the second day of BLC 2024, LeBlanc took the stage to discuss a new NSCA event unveiling this fall: XBO (Excellence in Business Operations) Experience. You can read all about it in the April issue’s “AV as a Business” column, but, in brief, the next generation of AV professionals is planning and executing the event for the same audience: the next generation of AV professionals. This aligns with and underscores a longtime NSCA mission to, as LeBlanc puts it, “…help close that generation gap by training future company leaders.” CI plans to attend the inaugural event, which takes place November 12 to 13 at Georgia Tech in Atlanta.
NSCA leadership then presented the Per Haugen Lifetime Achievement Award to Ingolf de Jong, CEO and president at GENCOMM, who has been a longtime leader within NSCA. With his beloved wife, Wendy, in attendance, de Jong got emotional as he reflected on his lifetime of service to the integration community. “I absolutely love this industry,” he said. de Jong’s work on behalf of NSCA has included serving as president of the NSCA board of directors and having a continuing role on the NSCA Education Foundation board of directors.
Steve Thomas focused on the qualities and characteristics that make for effective leaders and, thus, an outstanding company culture. Photo by Dan Ferrisi.
Another speaker, Steve Thomas, focused on the qualities and characteristics that make for effective leaders and, thus, an outstanding company culture. As Thomas put it, “Better people make better organizations. Better people make better leaders.” Among his top tips were creating “fanatical psychological and emotional safety,” meaning giving team members confidence that they won’t be shamed or humiliated for putting forth ideas or making mistakes. Thomas also urged building “unmistakable chemistry,” which refers to building genuine connections with people. Relationships are automatic, he said, but real connection takes work.
Thomas also urged leaders to obsess over improvement, creating an environment in which everyone coaches everyone. And he said it’s imperative to commit to a compelling “win.” That means finding the bigger, more intrinsic thing at play — not dollars — and aligning the entire organization behind it. Thomas’ presentation was my personal favorite of the entire event.
The Political Climate
Next up, Chuck Wilson took the stage with former congressman Rick Lazio (R-N.Y.) to offer a breakdown of how uncertainty in Washington, D.C., might affect integration businesses. Wilson underscored NSCA’s indefatigable efforts to fight harmful legislation, such as “right-to-repair” bills that could conceivably allow untrained people to attempt to repair, for example, their own alarm systems. Wilson also pointed to prevailing-wage laws that can lead to dangerous unpredictability when integrators are bidding on jobs.
Chuck Wilson took the stage with former congressman Rick Lazio to offer a breakdown of how uncertainty in Washington, D.C., might affect integration businesses. Photo by Dan Ferrisi.
As the conversation broadened, Lazio pointed to immigration as a key issue that will shape the upcoming elections. He argued that we need more skilled workers to help compensate for falling birthrates, and he lamented current caps on H1B visas. Lazio also pointed to 2025 as a hugely consequential year with regard to tax policy, as the individual measures included in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act will expire, which will affect marginal rates for everyone. According to Lazio, this year’s elections will determine which party has the upper hand in the ensuing negotiations. A good night for the Republicans might mean more favorable treatment for capital gains and business investment. A good night for Democrats might mean more support for working families and the economically vulnerable.
The closing keynote, delivered by Dr. Jessica Kriegel, was another popular favorite. Entitled “Empower Your Teams with Positive Accountability,” the session emphasized that every team member must be invested in the organization’s business goals and embrace an active role in achieving them. That means not only being personally accountable but also accepting accountability for the larger organization’s success or failure. Accountability of this scope, she argues, nurtures a sense of purpose and meaning, transforming daily task execution into something grander and more inspiring.
Wrapping Up NSCA Business & Leadership Conference
BLC 2024 was a remarkable success, with many integrators heard to say things like, “This is why I come back year after year.” The thought-leadership content was top notch; the networking opportunities were without peer, especially given the caliber of leaders that BLC attracts; and the insights gleaned will no doubt give attending integrators a competitive advantage versus their peers.
Both Wilson and LeBlanc frequently lament that, these days, integrators are so busy working in their business that they scarcely have time to work on their business. For those who invested three days in the NSCA Business & Leadership Conference this past February, that investment is already reaping dividends — and it’ll continue to do so for many months and years to come.
