This year’s convention will feature several exciting roundtable discussions on topics ranging from safety and labor relations, to business development, as part of the convention's education offerings (get a preview of convention education here). Check out the full schedule.
Labor Relations Roundtable
On Sunday, Sept. 29, from 8:00-9:50 am, NECA’s Ryan Courtney, executive director of labor relations for NECA; Ian Andrews, executive director of field and industrial labor relations; and Jonathan Mandl, director of labor relations, will moderate the Labor Relations Roundtable.
“Join us at the Labor Relations Roundtable during the upcoming NECA Show!” Courtney said. “Dive into the hottest labor relations topics in the country alongside your peers and seize the unique opportunity to craft and shape the future of Labor Relations within NECA!”
Safety Roundtable
The Safety Roundtable will be held Sunday, Sept.29, from 8:00-9:50 am. Wes Wheeler and Mike Starner, NECA, will moderate the discussion. This roundtable will discuss Human Operational Performance and how it integrates with safety on the job. A look into the 2024 NECA Safety Professionals Institute educational programs will also be provided.
“We have in our minds eye how projects should progress, but our workers are managing real-time variances in work plans, site conditions, equipment failures and personality conflicts. Managing safety with Human and Organizational Performance in mind will give you the best opportunity to achieve world class safety performance,” Starner said.
He said of the decision to focus the roundtable on Human Operational Performance, “Rules and compliance only get you so far. To take safety performance to the next level, you have to understand how human beings interact with the systems and environments in which they work. We can compensate for the human element (error, bias, risk tolerance, etc.) if we know that going in.” He further noted, “Prevention has limitations. We need to develop systems that allow our humans to fail safely. A systemic approach to managing risk with human performance will help to achieve the safest outcomes possible.”
Service & Maintenance Roundtable
Moderated by Fred Sargent, head of Great Service Forums and columnist for ELECTRICAL CONTRACTOR, the Service and Maintenance Roundtable will be held on Monday, Sept. 30 from 8:00-9:50 am. The roundtable discussion will center around efficiency, safety and reliability of electrical systems and offered attendees a chance to learn best practices in service and maintenance from their peers.
“We’ll kick off things Monday morning by challenging everyone present to pitch in and share the benefit of their contracting experience as we unpack four new proposed guidelines to success in the electrical service and maintenance business,” Sargent said. Those four topics include:
- Disrupting the well-established belief in the power of the “customer experience”
- The problems with decades of management theory on “relationships” versus “transactions,” using the 19th-century mechanical-electrical contraption called the “mutoscope” to illustrate this point
- The ways in which data can be a catalyst for success in service and maintenance
- A common-sense approach to extending and expanding an electrical service and maintenance business, and a reliable way to test the reasoning behind such an initiative
A mutoscope / image source: Wikimedia Commons
“Our goal is to fire up everyone’s imagination and point them towards new pathways to success in their service and maintenance business activities, which will always yield them greater profitability with less risk and more opportunity than anything else they may take on in electrical contracting,” Sargent said.
And be sure to catch these other exciting roundtables at NECA 2024 San Diego, as well:
Women in NECA (WIN) Forum
Sunday, Sept. 29, 4:00-6:00 pm
Kathy Mazzarella, chairman, president and CEO of Graybar, will talk at the Women in NECA Forum Roundtable about her leadership principles for lasting success. Drawing from her vast experience over her 44-year career, Mazzarella will share her leadership philosophy and discuss the timeless principles that have guided her journey in the past and continue to shape her vision for the future.
This will be followed by a networking reception
Business Development Roundtable
Monday, Sept. 30, 2:00-4:00 pm
The Business Development Roundtable has been designed to be collaborative and interactive with table groups being prompted to discuss everything from succession planning to NECA Project Excellence Awards to Partnering with fellow NECA contractors.
Immediately following the roundtable, further your connections and conversations at the reception from 4:00-5:00 pm on the East Mezzanine Level.
Future Leaders Forum
Monday, Sept. 30, 4:00-5:00 pm
The Future Leaders Forum will be a review of program rebranding with an overview of upcoming FL opportunities followed by a networking reception.
About The Author

Colleen Beaty
Senior EditorColleen Beaty is senior editor at ELECTRICAL CONTRACTOR Magazine, where she has worked since 2020. She has been writing about topics such as outside line work, wildlife and habitat conservation for more than 18 years. In her role with ELECTRICAL CONTRACTOR, she primarily works with the editorial team to fine-tune stories for the magazines and curate content for ECmag.com. She can also be found hosting ELECTRICAL CONTRACTOR's webinars. She holds a BS in wildlife conservation from the University of Delaware.
Colleen is fueled by tea (especially chai), and can often be found cross-stitching or birding in her spare time (but not both at once).
Reach her on LinkedIn or at [email protected].