Customer Connections Conference

Public Communications

Customer Service

Energy Innovation

Key Accounts

10:30 - 11:45 a.m.

Sunday, November 13

Preconference Seminar: 

Electric Vehicles: Preparing for Transportation Electrification
The electric vehicle market is expanding, changing how your customers will use electricity and what charging options they expect to see in your community. Get a complete view of the latest charging technology options and learn how other public power utilities are collaborating with charging industry partners, working with commercial customers to support electric fleets, and incorporating EVs into smart city concepts. 

Dive into the considerations for modeling your community’s future needs. From home-based charging to public fast chargers and accommodating fleets, review which charging ownership and incentive models fit your utility’s profile. Discuss where and how to access funding to develop EV-related infrastructure and review options for rate design. Gain insight from one utility’s practical experience in implementing a wide array of EV initiatives, including engaging with different parts of the supply chain and designing programs that support equitable access to EVs. 

Topics: 

• Electric vehicle market trends & forecasts
• Considerations in deploying charging infrastructure
• Funding opportunities for public power
• Designing rates and setting prices for EV charging

Cameron Freberg, Utility Strategist, Austin Energy, Texas; Dave Roberts, Senior Consultant, Vermont Energy Investment Corporation; and Patricia Taylor, Senior Manager, Regulatory Policy & Business Programs, American Public Power Association

Preconference Seminar: 

Improving Your Team's Culture to Improve Engagement
Organizations with clear and strong cultures tend to perform better and achieve higher levels of employee engagement and satisfaction. That statement can apply to individual teams and units as much as it does to whole organizations, so if you want to improve performance and engagement in your smaller circle, start designing the culture of your team rather than letting it evolve organically. In this half-day workshop, culture expert Jamie Notter will take you through a step-by-step process for identifying the problem areas inside your team’s culture and then making concrete changes that will turn things around, including addressing internal team dynamics and improving how your team interacts with other parts of the organization. Get templates and resources you can take back and apply with your team on an ongoing basis.

Topics:

• How to spot the culture patterns in your team that are messing with success
• Different approaches to changing team culture that produce immediate results
• Why teams get off track, and how to fix it

Jamie Notter, Co-Founder, Human Workplaces

Welcome Reception

Reconnect with friends, engage with new colleagues, and meet public power’s supporters, advocates and champions that can help you succeed.  

Monday, November 14

Networking Breakfasts

• Newcomers Networking Breakfast
  New to the Customer Connections Conference? Meet other first-time conference attendees, learn more about the conference and APPA, and make connections that you can build on throughout the conference.
   
• Networking Breakfast
  Get energized for the day ahead with your peers and the conference sponsors at this informal continental breakfast

 Opening General Session

• Chair’s Address
  Anthony Cannon, General Manager/CEO, Greenville Utilities Commission, North Carolina, and 2022-23 Chair, American Public Power Association
   
• Honoring Our Colleagues: Excellence in Public Power Communications
  Innovative, informative and inspiring: view the winning videos from APPA members honored with 2022 Excellence in Public Power Communications Awards.

Break with Sponsors

Breakout Sessions

1. Public Communications Roundtable 
   Gather with your utility communicator peers for a lively networking session and discussion of the latest and most pressing public communications challenges. Share your experiences in the areas of addressing diversity, equity and inclusion in communications; capturing high-quality audio and video; keeping website information fresh and accurate; and finding unique ways to connect utility personnel with the community.  

2. Customer Service Roundtable 
   Kick off the conference by sharing your hot topics and priorities in customer service in a lively discussion with peers from utilities like yours. Swap strategies and brainstorm potential solutions to mutual challenges. 

3. Barriers Beyond Income 
   Energy efficiency and electrification programs targeted at low- to moderate-income customers are instrumental in addressing energy burden. In this session, we will look deeper at those that served to address barriers beyond income, including language, immigration status, culture and age. We will explore a program that is partnering with community-based organizations that are deeply rooted in these underserved communities to make their programs more diverse and equitable. 

4. Sales is Not a Four-Letter Word 
   Whether we like to admit it or not, we’re all salespeople at some point in our many different roles. We all have opportunities to influence or persuade others for their benefit and potentially ours as well. Developing these skills is one of the most productive, and fun, things you can do to further your success in providing more value to your key account customers.

   Tom DuBos, Sales Manager, National Information Solutions Cooperative

Lunch on your own

Breakout Sessions

5. Keeping It Fresh: Promoting Public Power 
   Public power utilities are challenged to stay out in front of their customers, governing bodies and employees with informative and engaging messaging on the benefits of public power with a goal of creating community champions. Hear from communicators on their creative approaches to developing messaging and leveraging all available platforms to deliver them. 
   
   Nicole Albers, Director of Public Affairs and Strategic Communications, Florida Municipal Electric Association; and Constance Anderson, Communications Division Manager, Turlock Irrigation District, California

6. CSR Security Awareness: Protecting Customer and Utility Data 
   Customer service representatives are considered the front line for your utility. Utilities usually spend a lot of money training CSRs on how to treat the customers well, but what about security awareness? How do you educate and keep your staff vigilant to cyber threats? Learn data protection best practices and how your frontline employees can use them to protect your customer and utility data from hacks. Refresh your CSRs on cybersecurity basics.  

7.  Clean Firm Supply 
   Conservation and energy efficiency have played a large role in curtailing growing demand over the past decades. However, the topic of resource adequacy remains a concern as we are coming to rely more on weather-dependent, intermittent generation. What non-carbon-emitting options do we have, and are they safe? Explore a new generation of nuclear technology capable of providing a firm and inexpensive supply of energy to our nation.
   
   John Kutsch, Executive Director, Thorium Energy Alliance

8. Large Electric Vehicle Fleets: Your Next Key Account  
   When a large customer shows up at your door and has a fleet of EVs, how do you prepare for that? What type of infrastructure do you need, who in your utility needs to be prepared and what do they need to be prepared to talk about? This session will discuss what you need to know to help support large EV fleet customers.

Break with Sponsors

Breakout Sessions 

9. DIY Workshop: Easy Design with Canva 
   Canva is a fantastic tool that is easy for anyone to learn to create custom designs for a variety of media. Bring your laptop and follow along with a live demo of how to use Canva to create things like stickers, infographics, social posts and even short videos. 
   
   Heather Contant, Director of Government & Community Relations, Delaware Municipal Electric Corporation; and Jessica Lewer, Communications & Executive Assistant, Marshfield Utilities, Wisconsin

10. Digital Enhancement to Improve Customer Satisfaction 
    If you are seeking to better connect with your customers, this session is for you. Hear how one utility designed and implemented a new digital engagement strategy, including robust online energy audits, enhanced self-service education tools, and personalized video bill explanations that are presented to customers when their bill changes. Discover how these tools are helping CSRs respond to customer questions and concerns, helping customers take advantage of energy-saving programs, and improving customer satisfaction and the overall customer perception of the utility. 

11. Customer Resistance to Energy Innovation 
    Energy innovation is necessary in the age of rapid electrification, aggressive carbon reduction and grid resilience. As utilities grow through these innovative initiatives and programs, utilities must engage community stakeholders through the development process to build buy-in and reduce resistance. However, utilities must be prepared manage some level of customer resistance. Hear from utilities who have faced community resistance to programs like demand response, advanced metering infrastructure integration, wind energy and solar farms and how they managed.
    
    Gary Ivory, General Manager, Douglas County PUD, Washington

12. Assessing the Health of Your Key Accounts Program 
    Reassess the parameters of your key accounts program. Learn how to assess the health of your program, monitor progress and identify opportunities for improvement.

Happy Hour with Colleagues 

Meet up with other attendees from public power utilities, affiliates and partner organizations at a relaxing, fun, pay-your-own-way happy hour at the hotel bar. Share a drink and discuss how to take on the future.

Tuesday, November 15

Networking Breakfasts

• Women in Public Power Networking Breakfast
  Join a lively discussion to connect with other women in public power about common challenges and opportunities working in the industry.
   
• Networking Breakfast
  Get energized for the day ahead with your peers and the conference sponsors at this informal continental breakfast

General Session 

• Honoring Our Colleagues: Smart Energy Providers
  Join us to honor the utilities receiving the American Public Power Association’s Smart Energy Provider best practices designation, recognizing utilities for incorporating energy efficiencies and sustainability in their operations and services. 

• Public Power in 2030: Forecasting the Future
  New regulations, technological innovations, workforce realities, cyber threats and changing customers are transforming the electric utility industry. What will public power look like as it enters the next decade? Get practical insight into the changing technology, economic, demographic and cultural trends that will shape our future over the coming years — and the new challenges and opportunities we are likely to face — and what it all may mean for public power and your communities. 

  Michael Rogers, technology pioneer, author, journalist; and founder, Practical Futurist

Break with Sponsors

Breakout Sessions

13. Staying Out of the Weeds: Communicating About Emerging Energy Issues 
    Emerging technology and environmental goals present a slew of challenges and opportunities for public power utilities. Hear from public power communicators who are effectively messaging to their customers and other stakeholders on topics such as solar net metering, distributed energy resources, carbon reduction goals and more. 

14. No Customer Left Behind: Equity of Access to Customer Programs 
    Utility incentive programs typically fall into two categories — those intended to reach designated low-income groups, and those that are open to all customers but in reality mostly attract wealthier customers who are able to fund major improvements to their homes. To reach sustainability goals, utilities will have to electrify large numbers of homes and recruit large numbers of customers into load flexibility programs – both of which will require reaching new demographic groups that are currently underserved by existing programs. Hear about new approaches to program design and marketing, and how can learn from their successes and failures.

15. Electrifying Planes, Trains, Automobiles and Everything Else: The Future of Electrification 
    Take a first look into the next wave of transportation electrification. What might the future hold, and what potential impacts and opportunities may our communities face in a future where all forms of transportation may be increasingly electrified? Join us for a sneak peak of the next wave of electrification, from sea to air — this wave may be here sooner than you think.

16. Key Account Journey Mapping versus Cycle of Service  
    Journey mapping follows the customer experience from their perspective while the cycle of service lays out the utility’s procedures, though these are not always aligned. Learn how you can improve your customer experience through journey mapping: how to do it, the process, what to look for, hurdles and milestones.

Lunch on your own

Breakout Sessions 

17. Game Planning for Winning the Crisis 
    Whether it comes in the form of a storm, wildfire, pandemic or personnel issue, a public power utility’s response to crisis is always stronger if it’s guided by a plan. This session will explore the components of a strong crisis communications plan as well as the process of developing, testing and refining it.
    
    Valerie Larson-Holmes, Director of Communications, Missouri River Energy Services, South Dakota

18. Taking the Complexity Out of Helping Limited-Income Customers 
    Reaching limited-income customers and enrolling them in energy affordability programs is a complex task. It requires understanding the full extent of the population that may benefit from assistance and reaching them with personalized insights and offers. Discover best practices on how public power utilities can better engage limited-income customers to promote helpful programs, and hear real-world examples of how data analytics and behavioral science are addressing these obstacles. 

19.  Changing Customer Expectations in a Connected World 
    Customers served by utilities with advanced metering infrastructure expect immediate access to data and timely smartphone communications. This session will explore different ways of leveraging the connected world so that your customers are not only empowered to control their usage, but also have full confidence that their utility is responding to their needs and concerns... all accomplished through the convenience of their connected device.

20. Large Customer Panel 
    Hear from a panel of key accounts. Learn about their interests and concerns as they relate to energy, what they are looking for from their utilities and opportunities to improve the service and relationships you have with your key accounts. Learn what has changed in terms of expectations and needs over the last few years.

Break with Sponsors

Breakout Sessions 

21. Public Communications Rapid-Fire Workshop 
    Join your fellow communicators to tackle the common challenges you share. Submit topics in advance for a rapid-fire Q&A and brainstorming session. You can be sure you’ll get more than you give at this roundtable. 

22. Rates and Customer Education: How Smart Is the AMI? 
    How do we educate utility customers on their rates and advantages of advanced metering infrastructure? AMI brings a mountain of enhanced data and can be mined to set rates that are more dynamic and reflective of discrete usage patterns. Learn ways that utilities have leveraged their AMI data to improve billing accuracy, reduce customer complaints (including those high usage concerns), resolve billing disputes faster and give customers rates that work for them. Hear how you can drive rate adoption and educate your customers on their rates and billing.

23. Electric Vehicles: Infrastructure 
    Customers need a place to charge their electric vehicles, but not all needs are the same: you must consider their parking situation, distribution circuits, peak demand and more. Utilities must evaluate their infrastructure and specific community needs to develop a holistic charging plan that manages their constraints to minimize the costs for the utility and customers. Get tips on how to evaluate the EV charging needs and the potential layered solution sets that exist to solve those needs. Discuss the advantages of owning the EV charging infrastructure versus enabling third parties, considerations when building programs to encourage EV infrastructure, and why having a community plan might lower your overall costs for the EV future.

24. Quantify and Communicate the Value of Your Key Accounts 
    While everyone understands that key accounts are important to the community, from a revenue, employment and community perspective, many utilities aren’t accurately quantifying or communicating the impacts. Hear how utilities are using key performance indicators, dashboards and other methods to assess the impact of large customers on the community and effectively communicate that value to utility staff, senior leadership, elected officials and key stakeholders to ensure resources are allocated to the utility and the key accounts program. 

Reception 

Enjoy some food, drinks and downtime with friends and colleagues you already know, and grow your network of public power contacts.

Wednesday, November 16

Networking Breakfast

Network with your peers at this informal continental breakfast. There are no speakers or moderators — just visit with colleagues and chat with sponsors.

Breakout Sessions 

25. Taming the Social Media Beast 
    Managing multiple social media platforms and sourcing engaging content requires an investment of time and money. And demonstrating the value of social media to leadership can be a challenge. Learn creative ways to plan content, measure success and highlight the return on investment.
    
    Michael Pells, Director, Digital & Social Communications, American Public Power Association

26. The Secret Oxygen of the CSR: When Conflict, Communication and True Colors in the Call Center Collide 
    Who’s on the other side of the customer service experience in your utility? How does that CSR navigate the stress of the job, the volatility of the call, the pace of the day and the overall team experience? How can your managerial style work in conjunction with their operational approach? Don’t miss this fast-paced, highly intuitive and thought-provoking workshop to see how you can apply tangible strategies based on a True Colors model of “oxygen” with your CSR team.

    Eric Rowles, President, and Fred Baker, Senior Training Associate, Leading to Change

27. Energy Innovation Roundtable 
    Gather with your peers to continue the conversation on hot topics in energy innovation. Share your program successes, failures and lessons learned. Discuss how you communicate technical programs and changes in technologies and rate structures to your customers and how you engage customers in the expanding digital frontier. 

28. Key Accounts Roundtable 
    Connect with other key account professionals to discuss current issues in a small group setting. Select the issues that interest you from topics solicited from attendees prior to the conference.

Break with Sponsors

Closing General Session 

• Honoring Our Colleagues: Excellence in Public Power Communications and Certificate Program Graduates
  Celebrate winners of the Excellence in Public Power Communications awards — including the Audience Choice video award. Congratulate the newest graduates from the Academy’s Customer Service Management, Energy Efficiency Management and Key Accounts certificate programs. 

• Oreos, Netflix and Our Disruptive Innovation: Sparking Transformative Change
  What do Oreos, Netflix and your work all have in common? Just as utilities must constantly innovate to succeed in our rapidly transforming industry, we each have the potential to transform our work and industry by veering from our traditional approaches and sparking an innovative change in how we operate. In this hands-on, example-filled presentation, we’ll explore how “disruptive innovation” can be applied to our workplaces while remaining true to the structure and integrity of our mission. Get ready to dream, brainstorm and walk away with a multitiered design of change… and maybe even a cookie or two.
  
  Eric Rowles, President, and Fred Baker, Senior Training Associate, Leading to Change

Customer Connections Conference