CFMA Conference Winners Were the Attendees

The Construction Financial Management Association (CFMA) held their 2011 Annual Conference earlier this week and I must say those attending came out ahead. It’s not just the CPE credits and the speakers, but the networking that goes on that makes this such a success. Here are a few takeaways from the sessions, happenings and social events.

The Chapter Summit was great and packed tightly with discussions, feedback and education. Top challenges for chapters are how to get more butts in seats, increase participation, new member attraction and finding speakers with good topics. I’d be happy to offer my presentation to chapters across the country adding a spin into business development if you need a speaker. Sharing is a big thing in social networking so here’s access to my Leveraging LinkedIn and Social Media for CFMA chapters. I invite everyone to ask questions and/or connect with me on LinkedIn if you need a leg up on how to.

The keynote “connections” address with Marc Scharenbroich was a thunderous success in his approach to being authentic, a good listener and appreciative. His closing Boomba Hey CFMA is on YouTube or you can view it here. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7Q-_Gsh8GY] I’d recommend reading his book, Nice Bike to reinforce his message and his thank you extends the benefits … proceeds help military families.

For those wanting to know if there was a buzz during the conference may want to review the Twitter stream of #CFMA2011 as there were a few people chatting other than exhibitors. You do not need a Twitter account to view the activity. Just go to http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23cfma2011.

As a techie, I also thoroughly enjoyed the presentation on Smartphones and immediately implemented a mobile app for my own business…it takes up to 14 days to be added to the Android Market so I’ll update this post once it’s live. If it is well received an iPhone version will be out before the end of June. I’ll keep you posted …thank you Jim Spellos for sharing Appsbar.com as a free solution! Jim also shared info on augmented reality using the layars app and for those firms or individuals that need to read signs in Spanish you should checkout the iPhone app “Word Lens” from Questvisual.com …it will blow your mind!

I made new friends and connected with controllers, CPAs, and exhibitors from across the country. We danced, sang, shared stories, broke bread and had deep discussions. Special thanks go to Sue Marion and Amy Hanagan for making my stay fun, Diedre Aldous for our Main Street Days activities, Dina O’Rourke for keeping the CFMA engine running, John Corocoran for involving me in Chapter Summit and the exhibitors for sponsoring keynotes, meals, entertainments, etc …as catching up with friends but once a year is made sweeter by your generosity. To everyone I met “Nice Bike”.

I’ve left a few holes for those in attendance to share their experiences, education and networking stories. Feel free to share these construction education gems and also share your own by adding comments and sharing this with others.