Conference Program - Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2008

100 - Architectural Keynote Panel: A Shift in Perspective — Design and Construction for Long Life, Loose Fit and Low Energy

We are at a critical time where challenges are calling for a fundamental shift in perspective and practice. With unprecedented oil prices, a warming planet, global wide urbanization, evolving technologies, rising costs and buildings as primary factors in climate change, resource consumption and landfill content, it is time to seriously reconsider process, product and possibilities.

Over three decades back, in the midst of an earlier energy crisis, environmental design professionals chanted the mantra of “long life, loose fit, and low energy”. This rally call today resonates with greater meaning and real urgency as architects, designers, developers and builders seek innovative solutions to wicked problems.

The Architectural Keynote Panel will address the challenges, opportunities and obligations of designing and constructing in uncertain times. They will explore proven principles, case studies and best practices for creating an array of environments that are more responsive, responsible, viable and vibrant. Concepts of flexibility, adaptability, durability and sustainability all loom large in the equation. Convention, tradition and the status quo must be aggressively questioned as the rules shift and the stakes go up. Business as usual proves unacceptable as new landscapes, novel materials, and taxing conditions demand ingenuity, integration, cooperation and potency within the industry. A shift in perspective is essential as we struggle with an ever-changing marketplace, rising expectations and accountabilities, and a world increasingly in trouble and in need.

Brian R. Sinclair

Birol Fisekci

Ken Hutchinson

Graeme Scott

Lois Wellwood

BOMI/REIC = 2.0 self-reported
IDA credits = 2.0
AAA credits = 2.0 self-reported

101 - Facing the Future of Air Conditioning in Buildings

This seminar is designed to provide building managers and operators with a fundamental knowledge of refrigeration as it is applied to building air conditioning. Two refrigeration and air conditioning instructors from SAIT Polytechnic will take you through those aspects of building cooling that affect you, your building and your tenants.

The seminar begins with a brief look at energy efficiency as it is applied to “green” buildings. Next is an introduction to the refrigeration and air conditioning processes. This includes heat transfer basics, simple refrigeration and air conditioning cycles, and the importance of good air distribution.

A look at old and new refrigerants comes next. This topic includes the laws and regulations surrounding refrigerants that affect building managers and operators. Air conditioning systems used in buildings are reviewed; and includes an overview of chillers, heat exchangers and cooling towers.

The seminar closes with a discussion of various aspects of refrigeration system retrofitting. Here we explore equipment and refrigerant options. A question and answer session follows.

BOMI/REIC = 1.5 self-reported
IDA credits = 1.5
AAA credits = 1.5 self-reported

102 - Global LIFESTYLES & DESIGN Trends for 2010 and Beyond

Sponsored by

This TREND UNION audiovisual presentation The Farm of the Future – 2010 to 2050 will address trend forecasting in colors, materials and shapes for Home, Interiors and Industrial Design.

Emmanuelle Linard is an international leading trend expert and the Executive Director of Edelkoort Inc., the New York affiliate of the Paris-based Studio Edelkoort. Studio Edelkoort and Edelkoort Inc. have partnered with major U.S. and international companies to identify and analyze future consumer attitudes, lifestyles, and economic trends.

With a background in creation, production and public relations, French-born Emmanuelle Linard spent 10 years with the Edelkoort European office developing trend forecasts, managing production, and presenting audiovisuals internationally. Since 1999, Linard has directed Edelkoort Inc, developing trend projections for the U.S. market together with Li Edelkoort, the full-time staff in Paris, and the worldwide network of specialists affiliated with Studio Edelkoort’s TREND UNION which creates a collection of seasonal trend books and audiovisuals for the textile and fashion industries as well as the interior, retail, design and well being markets.

BOMI/REIC = 1.5 self-reported
IDA credits = 1.5
AAA credits = 1.5 self-reported

103 - Time is Money: Top Ten Targets for Improving Construction Productivity

Sponsored by

The need for successful construction productivity has never been greater. This seminar will improve your bottom line, provide a “real” approach to improve construction productivity and will demonstrate applications of best practices for productivity.

Topics for discussion:

• Improving worker motivation and satisfaction
• Best Practices Guidelines for supervision
• Efficient materials management
• Improving tool time through practical solutions
• Technology based communications strategies
• Mitigating change
• Better work practices

BOMI/REIC = 3.0 self-reported
IDA credits = 3.0
AAA credits = 3.0 self-reported

104 - Best Practices in Managing Your Time

If you’re continually asked to get more done in less time…
If your to-do list ends up with more items after a full day’s work than it had when you started…
If your “in box” looks more like a “landfill”…
you need this program.

The demands of today’s incredibly dynamic workplace stretch even the most effective producers. To keep your output at its highest and your stress at its lowest, join us for the “fastest 2 hours in training”—a session filled with ideas and action steps, how-to’s and what-to-do’s, and the inspiration to start practicing them right away.

Topics

You will:

• Discover the driving force behind all effective time management decisions—and how knowing it can make your life a whole lot easier
• Learn a simple way to select priorities from even the most complex lists of options.
• Understand what using a daily planner really means—and why you need one.
• Master the three questions effective people ask daily to help them stay focused and productive.
• Decipher how your past influences your current decisions.
• Recognize the truth about choices—and learn how to choose well

Benefits

If you don’t feel that you have the time to come to this program, you need to be here! You will learn what it takes to be more effective in all aspects of your life—in your career, in your relationships, and for yourself. The idea shared in this information-packed seminar have benefited thousands and they can work for you.

BOMI/REIC = 2.0 self-reported
IDA credits = 2.0
AAA credits = 2.0 self-reported

105 - !nspire! What Great Leaders Do

Sponsored by

The foreword of Inspire was written by 15 CEOs who cannot speak highly enough about how these ideas changed their lives and organizations. The need to inspire has never been greater than it is today, when many people feel afraid, cynical, and resigned. People yearn to be inspired more than ever; especially at work—but where can you find it? The best that most companies can do is try to motivate their people with traditional leadership models. Dr. Lance Secretan offers an inspiring alternative, a tested way to learn how to inspire from within one’s self and use this self-knowledge to inspire others. It starts with the individual and it does transform organizations.

The dictionary defines motivation as providing someone with a motive; to move, impel, induce, incite. By contrast, to inspire means to infuse with an encouraging or exalting influence, to animate, to stimulate by a divinity, a genius, an idea or a passion. The word is derived from the Latin root spirare, meaning to breathe, to give life, to express. Inspiring is other-focused while motivating is self-focused. Inspiring serves you where motivating serves me. The difference in organizations is palpable: inspired people arouse the hearts of others—employees and colleagues, customers and suppliers—and this translates directly into improved business performance.

Inspire! What Great Leaders Do teaches business leaders how to inspire superior performance by speaking to the inner lives and deeper needs of employees and anyone with whom you have a business relationship, and by aligning their desires with your organization’s cause—rather than seducing them with carrots that speak only to their outer lives and superficial selves. Secretan’s approach is practical. Inspire! is full of proven methods and provides valuable guidance for awakening the passion of others and a host of stories that illustrate how inspiring leaders have transformed their business environment from places of fear and resignation to powerhouses of effective performance.

BOMI/REIC = 2.0 self-reported
IDA credits = 2.0
AAA credits = 2.0 self-reported

106 - Builders Liens

Who is entitled to file a builders' lien? Is the estate and interest of Governments lienable? What are the proper times within which to file a builders’ lien? What is a prevenient arrangement? Can a change of title defeat a claim for lien? How do the major lien fund and minor lien fund work? If they don’t work under your contracts, how can you redraw your contracts to minimize the possibility of builders’ liens being filed, but still protecting your interests as the owner or contractor? Are arbitration clauses enforceable when builders’ liens are filed? How does one remove a builders’ lien from a certificate or title? Are there limited trust provisions in Alberta and how does one protect one’s self from ensuring that one can properly make progress payments without bearing double jeopardy if builders’ liens come on title to the property?

These are the questions, the answers of which will be provided at this seminar, which are extremely important to all members of the construction industry.

BOMI/REIC = 1.5 self-reported
IDA credits = 1.5
AAA credits = 1.5 core

107 - Working in Synergy: Cross Industry Collaboration

The successful delivery of a project involves the collaborative effort of many stakeholders such as owner, user groups, consultants, suppliers and contractors, who have diverse, changing interests as the work progresses. These stakeholders usually have conflicting priorities with respect to the project priorities of cost, time and performance (scope/quality). Typical views are:

• Consultants: lean towards performance given their design liability exposure;
• Suppliers/Contractors: often prioritize cost because we picked them on basis of lowest price;
• User Groups: “When can we move in?” (time); and
• Owner: wants all three!

Each of the stakeholders must understand what the owner’s real priorities are and then align their efforts, decisions and deliverables with the order of these priorities. For example new schools usually have to be ready to use by September 1st, therefore the project priorities might well be “time” first, “performance” second (must last 50 years) and “cost” third. All of the project team members therefore need to focus on achieving a tight deadline to open the school.

How do you align all of all these stakeholders to ensure the owner’s expectations are met and the project is a success for everyone involved? In this session you will learn some very simple tools to establish the project priorities, identify the deliverables for each stakeholder and understand the sequencing of different deliverables that create the project schedule critical path. You will create a realistic project schedule using “post-it notes” that has the input and support of all stakeholders.

BOMI/REIC = 1.5 self-reported
IDA credits = 1.5
AAA credits = 1.5 self-reported

108 - Daylighting in Buildings: Issues and Findings

Daylighting offers the potential for energy savings and improved environmental quality yet also poses the risk of increased energy use and poorer environmental quality due to the heat and glare associated with direct solar radiation.

This session will include recent research findings and discussion of current issues in daylighting. Recent examples of local buildings, the Water Centre and Pine Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant Operations Maintenance and Administration Building, will be discussed in the context of daylighting and the design process.

BOMI/REIC = 1.5 self-reported
IDA credits = 1.5
AAA credits = 1.5 self-reported

109 - Environmental Lighting for Exteriors

Environmental concerns are a pressing issue in every aspect of our lives. This session will address lighting for exteriors in terms of light pollution, light trespass and government regulations. Discussion will be relevant to exterior lighting as it applies to security, parking, or design aesthetics.

BOMI/REIC = 1.5 self-reported
IDA credits = 1.5
AAA credits = 1.5 core

110 - Building Envelope 101 – The Basics

The construction industry in Alberta is running at break-neck speed, leaving a void in the responsibility to share knowledge at a basic level. In the hustle and bustle of new buildings popping up on every street corner, we are seeing a lack of understanding around the critical importance of the building envelope as an environmental separator. This presentation aims to take a step back and provide a link between the building envelope’s design and its construction. Attendees will come away with a better understanding of the various cladding and roofing systems, especially the integration from one assembly to the next, and the importance of rain control, effective insulation strategies, vapor retarders, air barriers, sealants, etc. A sustainable building begins with a durable building envelope.

BOMI/REIC = 1.5 self-reported
IDA credits = 1.5
AAA credits = 1.5 self-reported

111 - The Law of Tendering

This session will cover the rights and obligations of all of those involved in the tendering process. What are the obligations of those parties who submit tenders and what are the obligations of those parties who call for tenders? Can the person calling for tenders accept a non-compliant tender? Does a tender have to have all the i’s dotted and the t’s crossed to be a compliant tender or is a substantially compliant tender sufficient? What is a substantially compliant tender? What damages is the tenderer liable for who refuses to enter into Contract B? Is the tender-calling authority responsible for damages and, if so, how much if the tender-calling authority wrongfully awards a tender? Can a tender-calling authority bid shop after tenders close? Does the privilege clause (the lowest or any tender will necessarily be accepted) give the tender-calling authority any rights? Can that tender-calling authority amend a tenderer’s tender after tenders close if the tender package permits the tender-calling authority that right?

These are all questions of interest, not only to the construction industry, but to any party involved in the tender process. The tender process of course includes requests for proposals and thus can cover a wide range of commercial transactions.

BOMI/REIC = 1.5 self-reported
IDA credits = 1.5
AAA credits = 1.5 core

112 - OHS & Construction

Attendees will receive updates on Occupational Health and Safety legislation and its application to the construction industry. They will not only be given information on their legal requirements, but practical advice on structuring programs to avoid penalties under Bill C-45. In addition, discussion will include means of preventing incidents and in the unfortunate case of an incident, the appropriate manner to avoid further ramifications to the individual and the organization.

BOMI/REIC = 1.5 self-reported
IDA credits = 1.5
AAA credits = 1.5 core credits (based on preliminary AAA approval)

113 - The Future of LEED — Where is It Going?

Sponsored by

This hour and a half presentation will provide an overview of the LEED Canada Initiative (LCI) and Green Building Performance Initiative (GBPI). The LCI is the Canada Green Building Council’s program to develop the next generation of the rating system (LEED Canada 2009). The GBPI will put existing buildings on track towards LEED certification and much more. In Canada, buildings account for 35% of total GHG emissions and green buildings is a part of national climate change solution.

BOMI/REIC = 1.5 self-reported
IDA credits = 1.5
AAA credits = 1.5 self-reported

114 - Recent Changes to Land Use Bylaw: Interesting Aspects of New Commercial Land Use Districts

This session will review interesting aspects of the new commercial land use districts in Bylaw 1P2007, Calgary’s new land use bylaw. The seminar will include background on how and why the new districts were developed, and how the previous land designations were transitioned to the new districts. The presentation will also outline advantages and features of the new commercial land use districts, including a discussion of car and bicycle parking requirements, tenant and use changes in existing buildings, and new commercial use definitions.

BOMI/REIC = 1.5 self-reported
IDA credits = 1.5
AAA credits = 1.5 core (based on preliminary AAA approval)

115 - Building Envelope 201 – The Solutions

Why is it that lessons learned by the construction industry 20, 30 and even 50 years ago, are often forgotten and seem to be repeated in every new boom? As a follow-up to Building Envelope 101, the presenters will address the design and construction processes, focusing on the importance of a well planned building envelope, including the need to clearly define:

• Performance expectations (thermal comfort, rain control, energy efficiency)
• Detailing to address drainage and thermal continuity
• Controlling air movement and vapour diffusion;
• Constructability; and
• Performance verification (best achieved through commissioning)

Bring your questions, and the presenters will address these to interact and share as much knowledge as they can over the short period available.

BOMI/REIC = 1.5 self-reported
IDA credits = 1.5
AAA credits = 1.5 core (based on preliminary AAA approval)

116 - Best Practices for Effective Communications

Communication is not just about how you talk and listen. It’s about making connections with people. To make those connections, we must do the right things—use the right words and tone, break down communication barriers we often set ourselves, and never, ever let the fear of not saying things right keep us from saying the right things. This program explains—and demonstrates—the expert speaking, listening, and interpersonal skills practiced by top professionals around the world.

Topics

You’ll gain the skills that enable you to successfully:

• Discuss difficult issues with people above and below you on the organization chart—without being offensive or getting defensive.
• Recognize and break down communication barriers between people, departments, divisions, and locations.
• Avoid the redundancies and overused phrases that plague organizational communications.
• Remember a simple technique that guarantees your instructions were understood accurately.
• Understand the communication process and discover our unavoidable roles within it.
• Solve problems and fix mistakes without blaming or accusing.
• Present a different opinion without creating hard feelings (or avoiding the truth).
• Stay composed, even when you feel overwhelmed.
• Think on your feet and react smoothly when you’re put on the spot.
• Concentrate better, understand more, and listen more open-mindedly.
• Deal with issues rather than emotions.
• Defend your viewpoints without creating bad blood between you and others.

You’ll learn to get people’s attention, gain their respect and support, get your ideas accepted more often, and cut down on friction at work and at home. Communication is shared meaning and everyone attending will be equipped with the tools it takes to share their message with anyone.

BOMI/REIC = 2.0 self-reported
IDA credits = 2.0
AAA credits = 2.0 self-reported

117 - Project Risk and Uncertainty Management

Sponsored by

Successful projects do not happen by chance. Several components must fall into place in order to successfully deliver a project. Successful delivery of each phase — project planning, design, implementation, procurement, commissioning — is critical for producing results and benefits.

Project risks can be defined as possibilities of occurring losses to a project that could have many negative impacts. Risks prevail throughout the life cycle of a project in many different categories such as political, social, environmental etc. Uncertainty is considered to be “the gap between the information required to estimate an outcome and the information already possessed by the decision maker.” Risk and uncertainty, therefore, go hand in hand and must be assessed together.

A proper risk and uncertainty analysis will provide an essential tool to successfully manage and complete projects. However, this is not an easy undertaking. The proper identification, quantification and management of risks will optimize the project targets such as cost, time, quality, scope etc using project management, simulation and operations research tools and processes.

Deliverables

• Understand the principles and fundamentals of risk and uncertainty management
• Learn a structured process of risk analysis and management
• Learn basics of scheduling, simulation tools to mitigate risk and uncertainty
• Gain knowledge of the application of various other tools to analyze risks to plan projects
• Learn operations research tools for optimization and decision analysis
• Develop a proper risk analysis and mitigation plan

BOMI/REIC = 3.0 self-reported
IDA credits = 3.0
AAA credits = 3.0 core (based on preliminary AAA approval)

118 - Marketing Your Business

With a strategy to market your firm proactively, you can adapt to economic, professional and market changes, and you can position your firm for success. Without a plan you’re vulnerable to boom-bust cycles and you could miss out on promotional opportunities or run out of work when changing markets diminish overnight.

Marketing Your Business is a dynamic, three-hour workshop that shows how to design and implement a marketing strategy in a straightforward and practical manner. Learn how to position your firm and market strategically to stay apace with change.

You will learn how to:

• Gather economic, market, client and internal information
• Conduct a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats assessment
• Establish marketing goals and objectives
• Devise a distinctive brand positioning
• Identify target markets
• Establish service strategies
• Define your key marketing messages
• Develop a marketing budget and schedule
• Choose the most effective tactics for reaching your target market

Who Should Attend:

• Owners, principals, or partners looking to grow the practice or beginning to plan for succession
• Senior associates looking to enhance their management skills
• Marketing associates at professional firms

BOMI/REIC = 3.0 self-reported
IDA credits = 3.0
AAA credits = 3.0 self-reported