ROCKVILLE, Md. - The Mechanical Contractors Association of America (MCAA) has announced that its Project Performance Conference, set for Oct. 6-8 in Chicago, will give participants an opportunity to be part of small teams tackling the strategic, financial, and environmental risks that impact the success of a real-life hotel project. Conference leader Tom Williams will lead attendees through the process of turning around a bad job and explain how he and his colleagues at McKenney's Inc. (Atlanta) successfully turned around that job and brought it in profitably and to the owner's satisfaction.

Other instructors will include Tim Wentz, who teaches mechanical construction at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln; John Koontz, MCAA's national director for project management and advanced supervisory education; Mike Gossman, MCAA's 2004 president and executive vice president of Huxtable & Associates Inc. (Lawrence, KS); Chuck Gaziano, vice president of the healthcare and research group at McKenney's Inc.; and Paul Stynchcomb, principal with the construction consulting firm of Brower, Kriz and Stynchcomb LLC. Together, they will discuss the strategic risk inherent in business decision making, show participants how to manage risks and take control of labor productivity, and offer insight into when it's better not to take a job. They will also share techniques to develop team-based strategies for spotting opportunities when others see only disaster.

In addition to hands-on education, participants will have an opportunity to network during breaks, at the opening breakfast sponsored by CNA, and during a networking happy hour sponsored by Siemens Building Technologies.

Online registration and a brochure detailing the schedule and speakers are available at www.mcaa.org/education.

Publication date: 09/05/2005