Customer Connections Conference Sessions—Monday P.M.

Back to the Customer Connections Conference Agenda

Monday, October 28

1:30 — 2:45 p.m.
BREAKOUT SESSIONS
Recommended CEUs .1 / PDHs 1.25 / CPEs 1.5

Delivering Customer Value with New Technologies
There is an explosion of new technologies and information systems to help you better engage customers. But how do you decide what’s best? Should you host systems on the cloud or onsite? What is the ROI? Get answers with a deep dive into how other utilities are using advanced metering, outage management, personalized outbound messaging, billing systems, and more to improve the customer experience. Go over the essentials of budgeting, planning, support, and deployment.

Patty Cruz, Vice President of Consulting and Training, Hometown Connections, Round Rock, Texas
Brian Lassiter, Director of Business Development, Milsoft Utility Solutions, Abilene, Texas
Jim Malcom, Executive Vice President, Apogee Interactive, Atlanta, Georgia

Social Media: Greatest Hits and Lessons for Public Power
Get up to speed on what’s new and hot in social media. Find out how other public power utilities like yours are leveraging social media to raise their profile in their communities and engage diverse audiences while getting maximum bang for their buck. Discover which social media channels are most worthy of attention and where to find free tools to create compelling content. See how the American Public Power Association can help with curated tips and resources.

Sam Gonzales, Director, Digital & Social Media, American Public Power Association
Tara Trigg, Business Manager, City of Westerville Electric Division, Ohio
Kevin Westhuis, Utility Director, River Falls Municipal Utilities, Wisconsin

Driving Customers to Beneficial Electrification
Most states have significant emission reduction goals. Customers are increasingly interested in contributing to sustainability. Electrification can help meet these goals while increasing load for your utility. Learn about trends in electric and advanced mobility and how utilities are taking advantage of strategic electrification of the transportation sector to achieve load growth and emission reduction targets while providing cost-saving energy solutions to customers.

John-Michael Cross, Project Manager, Access Clean Energy Savings, Environmental and Energy Study Institute, Washington, D.C.
Emily Lemei, Customer Programs Manager & Regulatory Affairs, Northern California Power Agency, Roseville, California

Tech Talk for Key Accounts Managers
As a key account manager, you may not be an engineer, but you do sometimes need to put on your “tech hardhat” to help customers solve problems and make plans. You need to understand their technical challenges and figure out who to bring in to solve them. Review the basic engineering issues you need to be conversant in, such as the difference between power quality and reliability. Learn how to talk to your customers about utility tech changes.

Larry Blaufus, Senior Manager, Clark Public Utilities, Washington
Mark Shirah CPQ, Business Relations Coordinator, Public Education and Outreach, Ocala Electric Utility, Florida

3:15 — 4:30 p.m.
BREAKOUT SESSIONS
Recommended CEUs .1 / PDHs 1.25 / CPEs 1.5

Do You Know What Your Customers Really Want?
Customer preferences on how they want to do business with your utility are changing rapidly, thanks to Amazon, Google, Uber, smartphones, and smart data. How do you design services customers value and deliver them in ways they want? You must start by knowing what customers really want. Discover how meaningful customer research and data gathering and analysis can support your utility’s planning and service development. Learn from other utilities’ effective research endeavors.

Patty Cruz, Vice President of Consulting and Training, Hometown Connections, Round Rock, Texas
Michael Vigeant, CEO, Great Blue Research Inc., Glastonbury, Connecticut

Engaging Employees: Best Practices from the Trenches
Employee groups today are defined as much by varied interests and demographics as by functions and responsibility levels. How do you reach the diverse groups with key messages? What does it take to keep staff at all levels in the know and tuned to the utility mission and vision? How can you help colleagues be good ambassadors in the community? Get trends, best practices, and fresh ideas from utilities that score high in staff engagement and retention.

Krista Boston, Director of Customer Relations, Rochester Public Utilities, Minnesota
Dan Quatrocelli, Senior Director, Research, Great Blue Research Inc., Cromwell, Connecticut

Getting Smart About Smart Customers
What are customers really interested in when it comes to smart energy services? What are they willing to pay for smart technologies? Understand what customers value most and what actually makes them move from program interest to program engagement. Get insights from the Smart Energy Consumer Collaborative’s 2019 “State of the Consumer” report and from case studies. Learn from real-life examples of what has worked for other utilities in meeting the needs of the smart customer of the future.

Patty Durand, President and CEO, Smart Energy Consumer Collaborative, Atlanta, Georgia
John Romero, General Manager, Colorado Springs Utilities, Colorado

100% Renewable: Is It Doable?
Businesses and corporations large and small have committed to using 100% renewable energy over the next few years. Public power utilities continue to invest in renewable energy projects, factoring in attributes and credits such as RECs, SRECs, PTCs and ITCs. Learn about the legislative landscape of energy credits across the country. Discover how an influential global business committed to 100% renewable electricity is advancing its mission and how that can inspire your utility portfolio planning.

Danielle Murray, Manager, Commercial & Key Accounts, Austin Energy, Texas
John Worrell, Assistant Director of Electric, Greenville Utilities Commission, North Carolina
Paul Zummo, Director, Policy Research and Analysis, American Public Power Association

4:45 — 5:45 p.m.
BREAKOUT SESSIONS
Recommended CEUs .1 / PDHs 1 / CPEs 1.2

Resources You Can Use: Fuel Your Success and Professional Development
Learn how active involvement in the American Public Power Association community can help you advance in your career. Find out how you can leverage the Association’s member resources and experts to make your job easier. Discover solutions to key challenges and share ideas on how we can help you succeed.

Jeff Haas, Vice President, Membership & Strategic Development, American Public Power Association
Ursula Schryver, Vice President, Education & Customer Programs, American Public Power Association

Joint Action Agencies & Associations Roundtable
Meet with your peers from joint action agencies and state and regional associations to discuss hot topics in customer service, energy services, key accounts, and public communications.