NSCA BizSkills

NSCA is pleased to announce the return of its BizSkills program in a full-day workshop. This comprehensive 1-day education program will deliver a strategic business curriculum, empowering participants with invaluable insights and tools crucial to enhancing business operations within the Pro AV industry. 

NSCA BizSkills Agenda

9:00 am - 10:30 am: Integration Business Sales

Commercial integration shouldn’t be a transactional business. As integrators’ customer relationships evolve, their sales approaches should, too. When NSCA members think of “sales,” it should be about managing customer relationships. Building trust and strong ties with customers leads to a long-term,mutually beneficial partnership. 

This session helps attendees understand the value of building customer relationships through outcome-based selling. We’lloutline the communication steps that benefit integration company business development leaders, sales team members, and anyone who plays a role in building customer relationships. 

This hands-on workshop gives integrators real ways they canbetter manage their customer relationships through tactics like:

• Customer matching
• Building credibility and trust
• Customer-focused interviewing processes

Attendees of this session will walk away with tools to leverage and nurture mutually beneficial relationships. 

10:30 am - 12:00 pm: Integration Business Project Management

In 2024 and beyond, integrators need air-tight project management to be profitable. NSCA has built a curriculum around each segment of project management. This class provides an overview of the project lifecycle and the impact that effective project management can have – from sales initiation and sales strategic planning to project management execution and project completion and closeout documentation. You’ll gain project management objectives and perhaps a recognition of areas in which your organization can reduce bleed and maximize profits. 

This hands-on workshop requires attendees to dive into each segment of the project lifecycle. Attendees will walk away with a better handle on how to make a project management impact in every stage of a project and improve chances for profitability. 

12:15 pm - 1:15 pm: NSCA Luncheon Plenary Session: Midyear Report on 12 Factors Impacting the Integration Market 

The one constant for integrators is that the industry is always changing. This lively conversation examines factors that define the state of the industry at the midpoint of 2024 and offers suggestions on how integrators need to react. Topics include:

1.       Customer demand for emerging technologies such as AI, machine learning, PoE, and IoT

2.       Economic trends (e.g. inflation, global conflict) that impact integrators business

3.       Backoffice finance trends that are plaguing way too many integrators

4.       Licensing, regulations, and emerging legislative issues that directly affect integrators 

Join NSCA Executive Director Tom LeBlanc and leading integrators in the NSCA Community to discuss challenges and opportunities unique to running and integration company. 

1:30 pm - 3:00 pm: Integration Business Operations

Ask anyone who has run an integration company or worked at one for a long time, and they’ll provide you with a list of industry-specific variables they wish they understood from the beginning. Indeed, business acumen is important for integrators to be successful, but they also need to understand the nuances of operating a company in our unique industry. This session will help any integration company team member or leader with a role in operations understand how to overcome some of those obstacles. 

It goes beyond an overview and includes a hands-on workshop and requires attendees to dive into several of the unique aspects of integration company operations. With an industry-specific focus, this session tackles how to: 

·       Improve integration business processes

·       Inventory management (including “just in time” versus “just in case” strategies)

·       Project preparation and management reduce risk of profit loss

·       Establish and leverage analytics that can be used for better decision-making

Most importantly, attendees of this session will recognize how to set operational goals that make sense for their companies and create strategies for achieving them. 

3:00 pm - 4:30 pm: Integration Business Finance

As a trade association supporting integrators, one of NSCA’s top priorities is to support our member companies’ financial leadership. It is integration companies’ financial leaders that put in place policies and processes that give their companies a chance to be profitable. That, in return, empowers integrators to invest in their talent and to solve customers’ mission critical challenges. This session on managing cash at the project level will help any integration company team member – whether a financial leader or anybody with any responsibility related to finances – understand the fundamental impacts of balance sheets, income statements, cash flow statements, and more. 

It goes beyond an overview and includes a hands-on workshop that requires attendees to dive into several aspects of integration company-specific finance. Cash is the lifeblood of any company, so each integration company employee should understand the impact that their decisions have on cash flow – but to do that it’s important to understand the big picture financial processes in a company. Through industry-specific examples and exercises, attendees will walk away with an understanding of what they need to accomplish with their Balance Sheet, Income Statement, and Cash Flow Statement. 

Supporting Sponsor: WyreStorm