GreatFutures Forum Education Sessions Focused on Teamwork, Discussions

The second day of the GreatFutures Forum continued with a variety of education sessions focused on teamwork and discussions.

Kevin Dougherty captured attendees’ interest with tales of communication successes and failures from his own career as a contractor. He offered tips on how to maintain the important lines of communication that add insight to intelligence, seasoning to skill and technique to technology.

Tyler Culp, president of the student chapter at the University of Missouri-Columbia showcased his chapter’s meteoric rise from new student chapter to Student Chapter Competition winners in just two years.

Students got a first-hand look at what it’s really like to be a mechanical contractor thanks to “Ted: A Day in the Life.” The video follows Ted McHugh of West Chester Mechanical Contractors in Aston, PA through a typical workday. In addition to highlighting the daily demands associated with keeping a project on time and within budget, it showcases how a great future is achievable in the mechanical industry. Ted McHugh and his boss, MCAA Past President Mark Rogers, were on hand to answer questions and share their experiences.

In It’s All in the Game – Forum Frenzy (Part I), Prof. Tim Wentz of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln challenged student teams to analyze a project and decide how to organize and manage it to successful and completion. The teams have less than 12 hours to prepare to answer a battery of questions. We’ll see how they do tomorrow morning.

New this year were a series of roundtable discussions designed to provide students with a greater understanding of how contracting businesses operate, the types of opportunities typically offered to young professionals, and when and how to make the move upward in a company. Paul Lakin and Kalen Cartwright shared Everything You Want to Know About Mechanical Contracting and Your Future Job. In How to Turn Opportunities into Successes, Shaabini Alford encouraged students to challenge assumptions along the road to success. Kathy McCauley separated facts from fiction and as she answered questions from students about company culture.