Owners-only dialogues highlight CMAA 2011 Owners Forum

SAN ANTONIO — Construction program owners will have opportunities to interact with their peers during private "owners-only" dialogue sessions at the upcoming CMAA 2011 Owners Forum. Owner members of CMAA’s Board of Directors will facilitate the sessions, which will explore the owners’ current issues, concerns, and initiatives.

"These dialogues are venues for frank discussion of whatever is on owners’ minds," said CMAA President and CEO Bruce D’Agostino, CAE, FCMAA. "They will be structured, yet informal, opportunities to vent frustrations, share solutions, and connect with others in similar circumstances nationwide."

The private sessions are just one new feature of the forum, which takes place on May 15-17 at the Westin River Walk Hotel in San Antonio. The program continues the strategy, established by CMAA in 2010, of putting owner concerns front and center and showcasing owners throughout the conference agenda.

In an innovation for 2011, the forum program will consist of both plenary sessions and three concurrent "summits" addressing building strategies and two critical infrastructure markets. The 2011 forum will open on Sunday, May 15 with a special Military Design, Construction, and Energy Briefing featuring top leaders of the busiest and most important military commands in San Antonio and the Southwest.

The briefing will include hour-long panels on "Construction Challenges" and "Energy Challenges." Speakers will represent the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Air Force Center for Engineering and the Environment, 502nd Air Base Wing in San Antonio, and the Air Force Real Property Agency.

The briefing will lead directly into the forum’s welcoming reception Sunday evening. CMAA is offering a separate registration option for the combination of military briefing and welcome reception, designed to enable members of the Society of American Military Engineers (SAME) local post to take part.

The three concurrent "summit" conferences will focus on building strategies, water and wastewater, and transportation. Each summit will include two high-level, hour-long panel sessions of owners, one hour-long roundtable of CM/PM executives, five high impact educational breakout sessions, and a private, facilitated owners-only dialogue.

In addition, all forum participants from all three summits will come together for the Sunday military briefing and reception; Monday’s opening breakfast with remarks by the summits’ honorary chairs; a keynote luncheon; a Tuesday forum breakfast with chairs’ remarks; the closing town hall session with owners; and a number of networking breaks.

As in 2010, CMAA will offer a special low registration fee of $50 for owner participants, making it possible to participate in the forum even with today’s widespread budget pressures.

Full information about the 2011 CMAA Owners Forum is available online at www.cmaanet.org/owners-forum-2011.