By Rebekah Morris for Arizona Builder’s Exchange
“Heard that from the Owner?” Yep.
“Can we quote them?” Yep.
“Good enough for me. Let’s go.”
For the Digital Magazine, that’s how we roll. No additional confirmation of a project needed if the word comes direct from the person who will make the project happen. It’s likely the same in your world. A project is no longer a rumor if the Owner is talking about it.
For that reason, in 2018, AZBEX is increasing the focus on in-person events where we hear direct from Owners.
To stay current on the local market, you’re most likely keeping your eyes open and ears to the ground. You probably do that by either by reading the twice-weekly news magazine (Thank you!) or by visiting our website regularly. (There’s way more we keep just for our magazine subscribers by the way.)
That keeps you up on current solicitations, market news and industry trends. The information is as good as you make it: You, the reader, have to take action to make this information count. You have to make the call, send the email, respond to the RFQ, etc. A reasonable next step is to attend industry events. Network. Go listen to the people who are developing our built environment. We want to hear from them too.
We learn much more than project leads when we get an institutional owner or top developer to come in and talk not only about what they’re planning, but what their concerns are, what they see happening in the market and why they procure design and construction services the way they do.
We’ve produced events since 2015. That first event was, well, a failure. We learned a lot, listened to what our market wants out of in-person events, and now produce conferences that stay true to who we are (business opportunities for design & construction firms in AZ), utilize our local market expertise, add the networking aspect everyone wants, and highlight owners above all else.
Our slate of 2018 conference events looks like this:
Those larger style events have become exactly what we want – an impressive return on attendees’ time and money investments. The half-day format has worked well; no need to lose an entire day to the conference. More than three hours of networking time available for those who come early and stay for the happy hour.
Building on the success of the half-day conferences; AZBEX is launching the Leading Market Series, a smaller format monthly breakfast event. Each month, a panel of top owners will discuss what they see happening in the market. AZBEX research staff will kick off the program with an overview of the market sector with information from the AZBEX database. Municipalities are invited to attend as guests to offer attendees a quick view into their upcoming procurements as well.
We hope you’ll make time to attend any (or all!) of our upcoming events. If your goal is to hear direct from Owners in the respective space, you won’t be disappointed.