Approximately 10 members of the New England Chapter of SIOR attended the spring SIOR National Convention on April 24th at the Grand Hyatt Hotel. Chapter president Mark Stevens and Rob Nahigian, Chapter public relations and national vice president faculty training and development, attended earlier officer meetings prior to the convention to strategize on attracting new members and educational presenters. The New England Chapter members attending included: Garry Holmes, Arlon Brown, Greg Cahill, Peter Hayes, Ned Leeming, Bob Cleary, Mark Stevens, Rob Nahigian, Greg Klemmer and John McKinley,
On Wednesday, the pre-convention included a golf outing at the Belle Haven Country Club. Thursday morning was dedicated time for all committee meetings. Stevens and Nahigian attended a combination of the Convention Education meeting, the Faculty Committee meeting and the COPS meeting. The opening general session was then held Thursday afternoon and the topic was: "HOW: Why How We Do Anything Means Everything... In Business (and In Life)" with speaker Dov Seidman. This event was sponsored by Spectrus Real Estate Group.
Seidman is the founder, chairman and chief executive officer of LRN.
Author of HOW: Why How We Do Anything Means Everything...in Business (and in Life), Seidman has built a career, and pioneered an industry, around the idea that the most principled businesses are the most profitable over the long term. Fourteen years ago, long before Enron, he founded LRN with a powerful vision that the world would be a better place if more people did the right thing. From that basic notion, he has grown a successful company that has helped to shape the ways millions of employees, managers and leaders behave and interact all over the world. Seidman is recognized as a thought leader on a range of topics - from achieving significance in our new 21st century world, to the importance of trust in personal and business dealings to succeeding with both principles and profits in mind.
Seidman spoke about the fact that a flat, connected and transparent world has changed the rules of the marketplace. Customers, competitors and the public now have unprecedented visibility into organizations and their operations. Seidman persuasively explained why the frontier of 21st century prosperity lies not in out-performing the competition but in out-behaving them; it's not what you do, but how you do what you do. Companies are now in a position to win by literally out-behaving the competition. How a company thinks, behaves and governs sets it apart, facilitating strong relationships with partners and vendors and continuing business from customers and clients.
In 2004, he testified before the U.S. Sentencing Commission about the need for companies to develop ethical cultures instead of check-the-box, compliance-only approaches, and his views helped shape the amendments to the Federal Sentencing Guidelines.

The afternoon concurrent programs included Investment Property Marketplace, Client's Global Supply Chain: From their Supplier's Supplier to their Customer's Customer and From Google to Great: Using Technology to Gain an Edge.
The Supply Chain program included information to learn more about how companies' supply chain strategies are impacting their real estate decisions. What impact will it have on your business and what can you do to bring more value to your clients? As more and more products are being manufactured overseas, how will this impact your local markets? Different strategies were presented to the attendees to take advantage of the changing markets and differentiate themselves from the competition
The opening cocktail reception was held on Thursday evening and sponsored by Panattoni Development.

Friday morning had concurrent specialty practice boards on
1. Distribution and Logistics
2. Investment and Land Joint Sessions.
The Distribution and Logistics program offered complexities of today's distribution centers. The session hosted an "interactive case study" of a recent SIOR build to suit for a large distribution center. The case study included the SIOR broker as well as the developer of the actual project, outlining the essential (and non-essential) elements of an effective BTS RFP and the work letter. Items covered spanned from the viewpoint of the developer/owner as well as the client and broker.
The general session was held in the afternoon and was Emerging Markets sponsored by ProLogis. The speaker was Antoine von Agtmael. von Agtmael spoke about a new breed of world leading companies that are catching their Western competitors off-guard. House hold names today - IBM, Ford, Wal-Mart, Sony and Shell - are in danger of becoming has-beens as more innovative new superstars in the emerging markets claim dominance. Understanding how they have become world-class market leaders, and where they are taking the world economy, is crucial to understanding not only the future of globalization, but also the future of Western competitiveness. Each year we are buying more planes from Brazil's Embraer, refrigerators from China's Haier appliance maker, smart cell phones from Taiwan's HTC, and gas from Russia's Gazprom, von Agtmael will explore how these relative unknowns came so far in the world markets so fast, what they are doing right that their Western competitors are doing wrong, and how Western companies can face the intensifing challenges and survive.
The evening included a baseball game at the new Washington Nationals ball field.

Saturday included programs such as Brokerage Management Specialty Practice Board: Brokerage M&A - How can you grow your company through merger or acquisition? Learn how to structure these kinds of transactions, and how to determine valuation models. Learn how to find the right company to merge with, and methodology for earn outs. There was an opportunity for question and answers during the session.
Another afternoon event included Corporate Services Specialty Practice Board: Myths and Lies about LEED Certification. Michael Arny, Leonardo Academy clarified the value and process of LEED certification and focused on the broker/advisor role of SIORs in the certification process. He presented a triple bottom line analysis for a new green decision making matrix involving total life cycle costing, delivery schedule and risk issues. Attendees received a copy of a LEED Certification Tool Kit, a guide through the process.