2014 RECONVERGE: G2 Archive

This is the agenda from the 2014 RECONVERGE:G2 symposium held in Austin, Texas on April 14-16, 2014. Click here to return to the agenda archives page.

Wednesday, April 9, 2014

8:00am – Welcome

Nat Brooks & Terry Thiele

Opening Remarks

8:15am – Keynote

David Bates & William Moore

How the Political Climate is Changing and How It Will Impact Business and Markets

Washington veterans David Bates and Billy Moore discuss how the political climate in the U.S. is changing and the potential impact on business markets. They will focus on the immediate outlook in Congress before and after the elections in 2014, and how the outcome will impact policy uncertainty on taxes, spending, monetary policy and regulation. They will review the presidential prospects in 2016 and implications for policy in 2017.

9:00am – Session

Joe Goldberg

How to Effectively Collect, Analyze, and Report Political Intelligence

“Political intelligence” and “collecting intelligence on politics” has differences and similarities. We will discuss issues regarding both activities and look into case studies for examples.

9:45am – Break

NETWORKING BREAK

10:15am – Session

Terry Thiele

Roots of Strategic Failure (Both Internal or External) and What Intelligence Can Do to Help See it Coming and Avoid it at Home

We will explore (1) understanding your customer, (2) building your toolbox, (3) engaging your managers, (4) participating in strategy development, and (5) participating in strategy execution.

11:00am – Session

Tim Stone

Establishing Coaching / Training for Senior Executives on Competitive Intelligence and Strategy

Leaders of competitive intelligence functions can have a much more significant impact on their company’s strategies and business results if they are able to coach and help senior executives understand the potential benefits of intelligence research and analysis activities. Determining how to establish and manage this coaching and training process for senior executives can be very challenging. Mr. Stone will share his experiences and provide insights into how this can be accomplished successfully, enhancing the impact of internal competitive intelligence functions.

11:30am – Session

Craig McHenry

Lessons from Jack Ryan: Earning and Keeping the Right to Tell Them What to Do When They Find The Red October

Skills and expertise will get you to the table, but it will take something else to keep you there in order for you to maximize your impact with senior leadership. That something else is the softer side of interpersonal skills and emotional intelligence. This presentation will introduce you to the key concepts and techniques you need to connect with your stakeholders as demonstrated by Tom Clancy’s ultimate CIA analyst, Jack Ryan.

12:00pm – Lunch

LUNCH

1:15pm – Session

Steve Douvas

Scenario Planning: A Strategic Decision Making Tool or Pure Academic Exercise?

The session discusses the strengths and weaknesses of scenario planning in using it to make strategic decisions.

2:30pm – Session

Tim Smith, Craig McHenry, Nat Brooks, Steve Douvas (Moderator)

Panel Discussion: How to Employ Scenario Planning on a Small Scale

3:15pm – Break

NETWORKING BREAK

4:00pm – Keynote

Stacy Armijo

Gaining Internal and Upward Influence With Your Executives

Most executives are elevated within their organizations because they produce quality results and have earned respect from their colleagues. However, as they transition from contributors to managers and leaders, they discover their success is determined less by their professional capability and more by their ability to influence fellow executives and those outside their organization. In this presentation, Stacy Armijo will share strategies for garnering that influence to help executives earn the attention and resources they need to make their programs successful.

4:45pm – Session

Nat Brooks & Terry Thiele

Closing Remarks

5:00pm – Reception

Dinner at Lambert’s

Thursday, April 10, 2014

8:00AM – Welcome

Nat Brooks & Terry Thiele

Opening Remarks

8:15am – Keynote

Steve Wallin

Harnessing Frontline Insights via Voice of the Customer Data

Few companies would argue that employees have tremendous knowledge about their customers and their competitors. Most would also probably agree that engaging employees to seek out their knowledge provides a direct benefit to the employees’ engagement level, which certainly has a positive impact on customer satisfaction, and ultimately, financial performance. Yet few companies take the time to truly listen to employees all of the time. In this session, we will discuss some opportunities organizations have to leverage the power of their employees’ voices.

9:00am – Session

Martha Rabin

Getting the Word to the Front Line

The discussion will focus on how you can build a knowledge service in which you are not just providing the information that your users need but a service that is so compelling that your users also understand they need you.

9:45am – Break

NETWORKING BREAK

10:15am Session

Paul Kinsinger

CI in the “New Normal:” Are You Fully Leveraging CI for the “VUCA world?”

As the world economy globalizes, there are greater growth and expansion opportunities everywhere. At the same time, however, the world has become an increasingly turbulent place in which only the most adaptive organizations are prevailing. Research shows that these organizations have developed five key adaptive organizational capabilities that are allowing them to out-perform others in their competitive sets in navigating today’s turbulence.

10:45am Session

Self Audits and Action Plan Development

Participants will break into groups to discuss the five adaptive capabilities and how CI could play a role in helping organizations to develop or further hone such capabilities, as well as create some “story lines” to take back to their companies. They will then return to the larger group to present out their findings so that each participant will have a complete set of takeaways with regard to CI’s role in and impact on all five adaptive capabilities.

12:00pm – Lunch

LUNCH

1:00pm – Session

Alysse Nockels

Taking the Looney Out of Recruiting: Best Personalities, Backgrounds, & Skill Sets to Do Intelligence

Recruiting can be a daunting task – the sheer amount of resumes a manager receives is enough to make your head spin! This lighting presentation will walk through a fictional, yet fun, example of how Acme Corporation added a new CI analyst to their team. You’ll walk away with tactics to quickly prioritize resumes, red flags to watch out for during interviews, and a proven methodology to rank candidates.

1:45pm – Session

Alysse Nockels, Martha Rabin, Steve Wallin

Panel Discussion: How to Systematically Enhance Career Development Support for Intelligence Professionals

2:15pm – Session

Kim Rosengren

Timely Intelligence Provides the Three Keys to Successful Product Innovations and Introductions

In a world where technology changes faster than you can learn the new features, good intelligence can make the difference between a make or break year. Market validation drives executive confidence in the business plan; competitive analysis helps you determine if you have the right to win with your innovation; all data roles up into content and sales tools that drive market entry and fast adoption. In this session, you’ll learn about three intelligence techniques to help you win executive buy-in and market adoption for any product innovation.

3:00pm – Break

NETWORKING BREAK

3:30pm – Session

Angel Hedberg

How Industry and Market Sense Making Communicates Strategic Intelligence

Businesses with effective processes for collecting intelligence on their external environment, integrating it with internal information, and then using both external and internal knowledge to take advantage of opportunities while guarding against threats will be those that survive in the long-term.

4:00pm – Keynote

Mike McCalley

A Great Defense Creates Offensive Opportunities: How CI Creates Opportunities for Growth

4:45pm – Session

Nat Brooks & Terry Thiele

Closing Remarks