2015 Spring Conference Proceedings

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Trapped under the Sea
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Mr. Swidey discusses his best-selling book, Trapped under the Sea, which recounts the factors leading up to and following a major construction accident that took several workers’ lives in the nearly 10-mile long Deer Island Tunnel. The workers were commercial divers who were tasked with removing 55 large safety plugs that had been installed at the end of the tunnel, which lies hundreds of feet below the ocean floor, and carries up to 1 billion gallons of wastewater from the Boston wastewater treatment plant out into the deep Atlantic waters of Massachusetts Bay. (78 minutes)

The Dark Side of Innovation
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Have you ever wondered what your life looks like when viewed through the eyes of others? Ever considered what your project partners say about you when you’re not in the room? Kord Wissmann used to live on our side of the street, working as a geotechnical consultant and providing engineering excellence for a fair fee. Then, 16 years ago, Kord moved to the other side of the street: geotechnical contracting, known to many as “the dark side.” Kord gives us his thoughts about the forces driving geoinnovation. He shows us how our business models stand in the way and discusses what we can do to pave the way for innovation. This short session provides a different perspective and practical suggestions to help us stand apart. (20 minutes)

Giving Back: An Investment in Our Profession
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Geoprofessionals, united, can serve our communities in many unique and constructive ways. Isn’t it time that we got serious about doing that? Combining what we know about the earth with how it is engineered is often deemed to be mysterious talent, misunderstood by the public, and even by our clients. Let’s use our unique mystique constructively, working together to give back to the communities that make us successful. As we learn to do that, we will learn to work together on many fronts that will further benefit our profession, and expose our value to the public. (28 minutes)

Innovation for Any Company: How To Engage Employees in Solutions for the Future
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Stop trying to be innovative by emulating Google! Embrace your current corporate culture and learn how any company can become innovative at little to no cost. Learn why companies need new ideas to grow business development, improve client relations and boost employee engagement. Even risk-averse industries such as engineering, investing, and healthcare can solve challenges and create new opportunities by leveraging a streamlined innovation process. Hear real-world examples and lessons learned that can help any size company embrace its industry’s trends and future demands. (39 minutes)

Lead Smart: High-Performance Leadership of the Generational Workforce
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Jason Young teaches that leaders develop, motivate, and empower people to achieve extraordinary results by providing vision, example, and support from a bottom-up perspective. Discover the power of becoming a person of influence and how that applies to everyone in your organization. Hear how inspiring and organizing talent to build effective teams creates an incredible workplace culture and how applying successful coaching skills will help teams excel. You’ll learn how to lead a workplace that is filled with significant generational differences and associated challenges between Traditionalists, Boomers, Generation X-ers, and the newest group – the Millennials. Each generation learns, values, thinks, and develops differently and must be led differently. Yet each generation has common ground which leaders can leverage and build on. In this presentation, Jason Young encourages leaders not to judge, but to coach and manage each generational group in a way that helps create and sustain a high-performance workplace. (76 minutes)

Nuclear Regulatory Compliance: Lessons Learned, Action Taken
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Many GBA-Member Firms have equipment that is government regulated because it contains radioactive materials. Compliance with state and federal regulations can be a management challenge; firms have been on the receiving end of a surprise inspection that resulted in violations and fines. Learn how a GBA-Member Firm learned the hard way about the importance of senior management being actively involved in the oversight of regulatory compliance, and how the firm used innovative technology to optimize management and develop one of the most sophisticated nuclear-compliance programs in the industry. (25 minutes)

Investigation and Treatment of a Swallvette, A.K.A.: Sinkhole Remediation at the National Corvette Museum
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At 5:38 am, February 12, 2014, security cameras recorded the collapse of the display floor and development of a sizeable sinkhole inside the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, KY. While the geology and engineering aspects of this event can be discussed in great detail, this presentation is mostly nontechnical, focusing on the historical significance of the vehicles affected by the collapse, history, anecdotes, photos, comedy, lore, and examples of infatuation with America’s sports car while working amidst worldwide attention and media chaos. (54 minutes)

Diversity Is the New Inclusion
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James addresses diversity and inclusion and how they have evolved from a socially responsible perspective to a key business strategy that drives the operational and cultural development of an organization. In the fast-paced move toward globalization, increasing market share and profitable growth are affected by a renewed emphasis on diversity and inclusion along with the quest for top talent in the industry. (44 minutes)

Free Every Generation To Innovate
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Geoprofessionals find adaptive solutions that accommodate the unexpected (after all, soil, rock and water move) and mitigate risk on a daily basis. The question is, how does one create a company culture that generates inventive ideas – whether incremental or mind-blowing – that make projects more efficient and safer? Generational studies provide a useful framework for answering this question. Four generations of engineers make up today’s firms, and each of those generations defines innovation differently, yet companies must foster new ideas from every age group. In this interactive session, attendees will identify their own expectations about innovation, as well as the expectations of other generations. Then they’ll explore practical, best-practice ideas that free each generation to innovate. Speaker Amy Lynch will use industry examples, humor, stories, and video clips to make this session memorable. (59 minutes)

Business Vision: April 2015-October 2015
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How accurate were the business-conditions predictions you and your geoprofessional peers made six months ago? What are you and your peers predicting for the next six months? Business Practices Committee Vice Chair Matthew “Matt” Moler, P.E. reports findings of the Committee’s most recent business-conditions survey. Matt will provide insight that can help guide your business decisions as we move through 2015. (9 minutes)

Get out of Your Box: Success with Multiple-Service-Line Projects
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A three-person panel discusses successful techniques for cross-selling environmental, geotechnical, and CoMET services and coordinating service delivery across these multiple service lines for clients’ projects. Brief presentations and case studies provide examples, followed by an open discussion and Q&A. (53 minutes)