• Finance Managers
• Directors of Finance
• CFOs
• Vice Presidents of Finance
• Directors of Accounting

• Directors of Finance
• Controllers
• Account Leaders
• E-Commerce Managers
• HR Generalists

• HR Directors/Managers
• Technical Recruiters
• Training Managers
• Education Coordinators

Welcome Reception

Sponsored by:

9:00 am - 10:15 am

Cowboys & Sheepherders: Two Approaches to Leadership
Kevin Burgess
Located in Carneros/Mount Veeder

Every kid wants to be a cowboy. Shepherds are not nearly as glamorous. However, the two groups represent two distinct approaches to leading that produce radically different outcomes. This training session will get participants to reflect and rethink their approach to leadership.

Sponsored by:

10:30 am - 11:30 am

Best Practices in Dealer Finance
Panelists: Steve Seminack, Modern Group
Panelists: Steve Seminack, Modern Group; Josh Ricart, MECO Miami; Shawn Beyer, Vermeer MidSouth
Moderator: Jason Black
Located in Carneros/Mount Veeder

The finance office has a lot of responsibilities for one department. You have to ensure compliance, stay knowledgeable about bank and finance company programs, maintain good relationships with those finance sources, and run the day-to-day financial operations of the business, among other things. That’s quite a workload, and it’s essential to develop good processes and procedures to accomplish those objectives. Hear from our panelists to find out what best practices they recommend to get the job done.

Science Fiction vs. Reality - Talent Management Trends for 2018
Sean Pomeroy
Located in Stag's Leap

With so many blogs, whitepapers, emails, press releases and industry communication, how can you tell what are new, emerging talent management trends and not just marketing buzz?  Attend this session to get a recap of the top trends, which are meaningful and important to include in your roadmap, and which are just white noise.

11:30 am - 12:30 pm

The Art, Secret and Benefits of a Quick Close
Rex Collins
Located in Carneros/Mount Veeder

This session will discuss how equipment dealerships are able to generate an accurate monthly financial statement by the 5^th business day of the following month.  In addition to discussing concrete steps to achieve this, participants will focus on the benefits that dealers who operate under a system that requires timely reporting realize, including:

• Benefits to the dealer
• Benefits to the management team
• Benefits to the employees
• Benefits relating to cash management
• Benefits relating to lender relationships
• Benefits to a dealer’s bottom line performance

Collaborating with Competitors: Growing Talent Pools to Meet Workforce Challenges
Panelists: Polly Van Valkenburg, Linder Co.; Patty Dooley, HOLT CAT; Joanna Verastegui, Sonsray Machinery; Sheryl Perko, Power Motive Corp.
Moderator: Phil Riggs
Located in Stag's Leap

With today’s workforce challenges, the key to finding talent in the future may very well require dealers to collaborate with others. Hear from our panelists on how they have worked with other dealers and organizations to grow their talent pool to address the workforce shortage together.

LUNCH
Located at the Pool Patio

Sponsored by:

1:15 pm - 2:15 pm

Equipment Financing Trends: Usage- and Service-Based Models
Theo Rennenberg
Located in Carneros/Mount Veeder

Manufacturers and dealers are consistently faced with customer demands to continually increase operational efficiencies, reduce margin and the need for equipment to be “always on.”

Increased collaboration between manufacturers, dealers, distributors and resellers is leading to usage-based and managed services business models to meet these demands and unlock new revenue opportunities and partnerships.

During this session, attendees will gain an understanding of new equipment financing trends and outlook, and learn ways equipment financing can maximize investment in equipment and add value to their business model. They’ll also get pragmatic use cases of results and usage-based financing models.

Roundtable Collaboration
Located in Stag's Leap

Join fellow HR professionals to discuss hot topics, issues, industry trends, and developments affecting human resources during this structured networking hour.

2:15 pm - 3:15 pm

Roundtable Collaboration
Located in Stag's Leap

Join fellow finance professionals to discuss hot topics, issues, industry trends, and developments affecting human resources during this structured networking hour.
 

Worksite Wellness: How Healthy Employees Make for Healthy Businesses
Dr. Michael Moses
Located in Carneros/Mount Veeder

It can be hard to adopt and maintain a healthy lifestyle when you’re a busy dealership professional. But what are the consequences if you don’t? This session will cover easy ways to incorporate balanced nutrition and mental focus into your workday, so that you can stay on top of your game and maintain peak performance. It will also give you tips on how to promote employee health and well-being in the workplace, which can lower absenteeism, increase job satisfaction and productivity, and contribute to higher employee retention and lower health care costs.

3:30 pm - 4:30 pm

Six Tips for Communicating With Non-Financial Staff
Mark Robilliard
Located in Carneros/Mount Veeder

You are in constant communication with all of the other departments in your dealership, but do those others have trouble understanding you? This session will demonstrate why employees outside of the finance department are confused by ‘accountant-speak’ and how you can better communicate with them to ensure you’re all on the same page. You may be surprised where some of their confusions originate.

Critical Skills for Developing a Feedback Culture
David Cohen
Located in Stag's Leap

Everyone’s perception of giving and receiving feedback is different. We like to believe we are better at feedback than we are. Giving feedback takes courage and precision. It is an ongoing, two-way conversation where context is examined, and barriers to progress are broken down.

Every year, millions of dollars are wasted on pointless performance management conversations that aren’t improving results. There is now a focus on building cultures of feedback. Organizations are demanding that effective conversations start happening.

Participants will learn how to:

• Become a leader who asks for and welcomes feedback

• Receive feedback in a way that ensures you continue to receive it

• Create a feedback culture, where feedback is delivered in a way that will enrich relationships

This session will provide the tools needed for consistent, detailed feedback that enriches the relationship and the organization.

4:30 pm - 5:30 pm

Emerging Healthcare Trends that are Better for You & Your Employees
Brian Uhlig
Located in Carneros/Mount Veeder

The last year has been an eventful one for healthcare, from heated debates over health and tax reform to mega-mergers that will affect the way people access and pay for services. What healthcare changes are going to affect your bottom line? This session will discuss the healthcare trends on the horizon in 2018 and beyond that will most affect your dealership’s operations and provide you with solutions that you can use to begin lowering your healthcare costs immediately.

Cocktail Reception
Located in Grand Courtyard Patio

Sponsored by:

9:00 am - 10:00 am

How to Protect Your Organization From Internal and External Threats
Adam Williams
Located in Carneros/Mount Veeder

Too often, companies believe that they won’t be affected by security breaches. And too often, they’re wrong. To effectively address cybersecurity, your dealership’s approach must be holistic; technology is not the sole solution. A number of elements must be considered, including organization, culture, and the human factor, in order to be impactful. Attend this session and learn how to take a more effective approach to protecting your dealership from both internal and external cybersecurity threats.

10:00 am - 11:00 am

The First 100 Days: How the New Tax Law is Impacting Your Dealership and Customers
Panelists: Marc Johnson, KCoe Isom; Lauren Gibson, Gibson Machinery; Jon Pugmire, Arnold Machinery
Moderator: Daniel B. Fisher
Located in Carneros/Mount Veeder

Congress recently completed the first major rewrite of the tax code in more than 30 years.  As with any major piece of legislation, there has been some good and some bad. Join us for a panel discussion moderated by AED’s Vice President of Government Affairs Daniel B. Fisher to learn about how the new tax law has impacted dealerships and their customers and what to expect going forward.

Finance for the HR Professional
Mark Robilliard
Located in Stag's Leap

As an HR professional, you support the profit centers within your organization, but do you really speak their language? This session will focus on the language of business: accounting, with a goal of increasing your financial literacy. Using a unique visual approach, this session appeals to all, including those ‘challenged’ by numbers.

11:15 am - 12:15 pm
 

The Future of Your Dealership
Dick Stewart
Located in Carneros/Mount Veeder

Dealerships have to constantly look toward the future in order to retain long-term success. This means keeping an eye on trends, timing purchases and investments, and being able to adjust accordingly. This session will examine current industry results and look at what trends will be driving your dealership in the future.

The Care and Feeding of Elusive Millennials: It's About More Than Free Food
Courtney Ramsey
Located in Stag's Leap

Ahhh…the elusive millennial! After years and years of study and observation, Gen X and Baby Boomers are still confused on how to handle them in the workplace. In this interactive session, you’ll learn what works at work for millennials. (Hint: what attracts the right millennial talent may not keep them engaged!)

Participants will also:

• Learn what benefits, both traditional and not-so-traditional, are most important to top millennial talent

• Discover what millennials say about salary and how it plays into total compensation

• Understand how out-of-the-box perks impact the bottom line

Leave with new knowledge, as well as the facts needed to back up what your gut is already telling you: new talent is different, and they expect different!