Over the course of any given year, MEA has three conferences for its members. The purposes of these conferences are to:

• Give members an opportunity to gain updated business and industry information.
• Allow committee and board members a set meeting time to determine policies and formulate the focus of MEA for the upcoming quarter.
• Provide a relaxed atmosphere for members to network and exchange ideas with other members or prospective members.
• Enjoy each others' company in the hospitality suite.

The first conference of the year is held in the spring in either March or April and is located in the Twin Cities Metro area.

The second conference of the year is held for four days in the first week of June. The meeting is co-hosted by the International Association of Electrical Inspectors. It is a great opportunity to pick up free continuing education credits, learn about new products at the product show, gain valuable business information from other contractor members and inspectors and enjoy food, golf, Rolle Bolle and conversation with old friends. Anyone interested in attending is encouraged to bring their family for golf, special activities for guests and children, informative meetings, and raffle prizes!

The third and final conference of the year takes place in December and is held in or near the city where the current Chairman of the Board lives.

2010 Spring Conference

MEA will hold its 2010 Spring Conference at the Hyatt Hotel (1300 Nicollet Mall) in Minneapolis on April 12-14. The NCEL Expo will immediately follow the conference. Presentations will include the following:

• "Find Extra Money Inside Your Company" presented by David Crary, Hindsite
• "Best Value Teams" presented by Eric Seanger, Melrose Electric and MEA's Chairman of the Board

More information and registration forms will be available soon.

2009 Winter Conference

U of M's new Golden Gopher's TCF Stadium - Joel Gatewood made grounding and bonding interesting and topped it off with the inspection of the Daktronics state of the art Gopher's Scoreboard! A very cool way to learn the NEC and get info on installing the many smaller Daktronics LED signs that are popping up all over Minnesota. MEA's instructor general, Paul Krmpotich, teamed up with the electricians at the U of M to show new 3000 amp equipment that can be installed with almost no personal protective equipment. No-they are not putting anyone at risk! It's an exciting new technology that will keep electricians safer.

MEA's Strategic Plan Update - Interesting, informative and fun is the way members described the fast paced, effective three hour meeting led by Tom Kopperud. It generated clear direction for the leadership and staff. The update will be presented at the Annual Meeting for final approval.

More Highlights and Pictures from the 2009 Winter Conference

2009 Summer Conference

"Glad I was there! Glad my competition wasn't!" was an interesting comment at MEA's Summer Conference. Here were some of the reasons:

• Steve Sviggum, Commissioner of Labor, paid a surprise visit to our education and government action committees. It was great to have him discuss unallotments, the future of training, and more.
• NFPA 70E enforcement was addressed by Tom Joachim, the head of the Construction Codes & Licensing Division and Bob Durkee, OSHA Consulting.
• Bill Glahn, Assistant Energy Commissioner, spoke about how to get energy grants for implementing the state energy mandates.
• Ways of getting new business with "stimulus" money and rebates for energy efficient projects were discussed at seminars. Rob Olson of EESCO United flew in experts Jason Bondra (Pittsburgh) and Jim Paplaczyk (Chicago) to talk about the best-selling trends in green projects.

More Highlights and Pictures from the 2009 Summer Conference

2009 Spring Conference

Changes that affect electrical contractors were explained by experts who are in the know!

• How Minnesota will use the $9 billion in stimulus money was explained by Steve Sviggum, Commissioner of Labor.
• How to cut the cost of your workers’ compensation insurance was explained by Bill Daly, Federated Insurance.
• The value of indenturing apprentices in a registered program was explained by Roslyn Wade, Director of Labor Standards & Apprenticeship.
• Prevailing Wage changes under consideration was explained by John Ploetz, MEA.
• How electrical contractors will be affected as the Legislature balances the budget was explained by Tom Bakk, Chair of the Senate Tax Committee.
  

More Highlights and Pictures from the 2009 Spring Conference

2008 Winter Conference

Commissioner Steve Sviggum, Department of Labor, updated the contractors who attended MEA's business luncheon about proposals being considered for overhauling the current workers comp system, changes that were made to the Independent Contractor Exemption Certificate requirements, and the DOL's outlook for 2009. He encouraged people to reach across party lines to discuss their business needs with their legislators and to be active participants in the political process.

More Highlights and Pictures from the 2008 Winter Conference

2008 Summer Conference

It started with good news. Northern Minnesota has $6 to $7 BILLION in new construction projects in varying stages. According to Senator David Tomassoni of Chisolm, if everything works out as planned, almost all construction workers in the state will be busy in northeastern Minnesota. While Minnesota is missing the energy and defense industry—it is encouraging to learn how valuable our mineral deposits have become to India, China, and other countries. Plus—who knew they would discover copper deposits in Aitkin? It was an upbeat way to end a full day of committee work on Thursday. We emerged from our conference rooms into a sunny afternoon, good news from the Senator, and a delicious dinner hosted by Federated Insurance in Breezy Point’s new dining room overlooking the lake.

More Highlights and Pictures from the 2008 Summer Conference

2008 Spring Conference

Tammy Miller... CEO from Border States, gave an excellent talk about how to “Survive the Downturn in Construction.”

While reports from McGraw Hill show the decline for total construction during the first two months of 2008 at 34% in the Midwest compared to 18% nationally, it is helpful to focus on the fact that the value of new construction starts during the first two months of 2008 actually increased 1% compared to the prior year, if we exclude residential building, which declined 41%.

More Highlights and Pictures from the 2008 Spring Conference

2007 Winter Conference

Three hours of solid gold ideas and information were contained in the following three highly informative talks:

• How to Sell your Business Without Really Trying—given by Wyatt Zaun. More on this topic is discussed in Judi Rubin’s column on page 2.
• Insure Against Design-Build Disasters—given by Bob Anderson, Federated Insurance.New Enforcement Rules & Top 10 NEC Changes—given by John Schultz, Electrical Licensing & Inspection Unit.

More Highlights and Pictures from the 2007 Winter Conference

2007 Summer Conference

Thanks to all of our members, contractors, product/service members, inspectors, OSHA consulting, families, and staff for making the Summer Conference productive, successful, and fun. Many of our contractors brought their families so it was especially fun to see all the children. The children had a great time at the scavenger hunt, bingo, swimming, and playing games while spouses enjoyed activities like wine tasting and shopping. Contractors and inspectors shopped at the product show, got free continuing education credits, and accomplished a lot on behalf of the industry as you can see from the following report.

More Highlights and Pictures from the 2007 Summer Conference

2007 Spring Conference

The MEA 2007 spring conference was held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Bloomington. On the agenda was strategic planning and election of new officers and board members. Initial drafts of the new strategic plan for MEA will be reviewed by board members and committee chairs with a final draft scheduled to be available for the 2007 winter conference.

More Highlights and Pictures from the 2007 Spring Conference

2006 Winter Conference

Avoiding fines and avoiding problems were the focus of the MEA 2006 Winter Meeting as we discussed dangerous contract clauses with attorney Doug Seaton of the Seaton, Beck law firm. He provided new information about minor changes in contracts that can save big dollars. Bob Anderson of Federated Insurance explained how to avoid losing your insurance coverage by having your agent review contract clauses that ‘shift liability’ with the underwriting before you sign the contract. For example, some clauses make subcontractors responsible for the work of the other contractors. Insurance companies may refuse to cover projects such as residential buildings with a high risk of mold. John Ploetz and Eric Seanger updated members about how to best compete for JOBZ and other prevailing wage projects. The discussion about what size a job needs to be in order to be truly profitable and the most common mistakes contractors make the first time they bid on one of these jobs. Tom Joicham, Assistant Director, MN Dept. of Labor updated us on the bill consolidating the Electrical Licensing and Inspection Unit into the Dept. of Labor. Supervision of unlicensed workers, new insurance amounts, rules regarding the master of record and other information were covered. At this point, it appears that our major concerns have been resolved. We will know for sure when we see the final language.

More Highlights and Pictures from the 2006 Winter Conference