Passionate Speaker | Inspiring Keynote Speaker

Motivational Speaker for the Construction Owners of America

Written by Jody Urquhart | Mon, Nov 19, 2018 @ 09:41 PM

On November 15, 2018, I was a motivational speaker for the Construction Owners Association of America Fall Owners Leadership Conference.

The event, held at the Hilton in La Jolla California attracted over 350 Construction Owners.

Hundreds of planning, design and construction industry leaders gathered for this 3-day event. A brilliant, interactive audience that gravitated towards the opportunity to laugh with their colleagues.

The other guest speaker topics on the agenda included: Tools for Managing Uncertainty, Small Project Execution, Project Management Soft Skills, Making Technology Function, Effective Project Leadership, Driving Innovation, Decision Making, Data Driven Design, Design- Assist Contracting, BIM model, the Owners Roundtable and more.

I attended two great sessions:

The first was Michael Carrancho and Jim Yuengert from the Smithsonian Institute. This content-filled presentation led us through the Smithsonian's Lessons Learned program. The guest speakers explained how the program is set up to capture feedback and use it for continual improvement.

I also attended the Women in Skilled Trades session by Carol Cool from the Michigan State University. Carol presented a lively, passionate appeal to attract more women in the construction field. Women in Skilled Trades ( WIST) is a newly created nonprofit apprenticeship readiness program to help women get into skilled trades.

Tori Menold and Carol Cool developed this program at the Michigan State University.  Together they created a program that strives to build better lives for women by preparing them for a successful career in the skilled trades industry and connecting them with other tradeswomen.

Check it out at http://cedamichigan.org/2018/05/women-in-skilled-trades-program/

I was the opening keynote funny motivational speaker for the construction owners conference. I presented the interactive motivational speech, Follow Me I'm Right Behind You, How to Lead and Influence Others.

It was a significant, intelligent, hard-working audience. Construction is an industry I have grown to love as it struggles with change and innovation, yet leads the way to growth in our communities.