CLF 2023 D2E3 | Building a Successful Construction Conference with Donna Grant (VRCA) | EP83 (Part 3)

Day 2 Episode 3 | In this episode, from the conference floor at the VRCA Construction Leadership Forum 2023, James and Christian are joined by Donna Grant, President of the Vancouver Regional Construction Association and Host of the annual Construction Leadership Forum.


EPISODE LINKS:
Donna Grant LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/donna-grant-86993474/
VRCA Website: https://vrca.ca/
VRCA LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/vancouver-regional-construction-association/
VRCA Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vanconstruct/
VRCA Twitter: https://twitter.com/VanConstruction 

PODCAST INFO:
the Site Visit Website: https://www.sitemaxsystems.com/podcast
the Site Visit on Buzzsprout: https://thesitevisit.buzzsprout.com/269424
the Site Visit on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-site-visit/id1456494446
the Site Visit on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5cp4qJE5ExZmO3EwldN1HH

FOLLOW ALONG:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thesitevisit
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesitevisit

Transcript

SPEAKER_04 1:06

We are at the end, Donna.

SPEAKER_03 1:08

It's a wrap.

SPEAKER_04 1:10

It is a wrap. And what a fantastic 48 hours it's been. For those listening, we have Donna Grant, president of the VRCA, the head honcho, the one who put this all together, had an awesome team, though, and you gave shout outs to everybody. One thing that we definitely would say is the team nailed it. Yeah, they did. Yeah. They did a great job.

SPEAKER_03 1:27

Yeah. And and you you never, it's a it's a very new team. Uh Afsana and I are the only two that have ever done this before. And so to have everybody gel the way they did, you know, Eva, it's her first week. You know, totally. The fact that she didn't run from the room screaming and say, no, this is way too much. That everybody had a smile on their face and everybody knew they could count on each other. So to have a team that trusts each other that quickly and and uh and can deliver is is just uh all my dreams come true for sure.

SPEAKER_04 1:54

Well, I mean it speaks to something that you've been building in the association uh since you joined um last year.

SPEAKER_03 2:00

Uh it'll be my two-year anniversary on June 15th.

SPEAKER_04 2:03

This is the second year, the second one of these years.

SPEAKER_03 2:05

Just about done.

SPEAKER_04 2:05

That's right. Yeah, yeah. Well, I mean, even that, you know, you with two years at the helm of things here and a new team to pull it all together to nail it. And it all we heard from people is that this is like a highlight of their year. And they're sharing stories about last year and how, oh, when everyone hits the lounge and then they really start connecting and doing certain things, and then of course, people love to rip it up and and go. And but it just sounds like everybody is the theme has been a lot of collaboration and like connecting this weekend, right?

SPEAKER_03 2:34

Yeah, the networking part of it is is so important to everybody. And uh uh you want to, you know, make sure that there's those opportunities for everybody to connect. Uh, but at the same time, you want to make sure that when they're in the room listening to a speaker, that they say to themselves that was time well spent, and that it wasn't like, well, we could have been outside networking. So we like to have that that that good balance. But before I say anything further, though, I want to thank you both so much having you here and having you get the voice of our members and so many of them and such diversity in the members that you're speaking to, our speakers, uh, you know, RMC Adam. And uh uh it's I I'm excited to hear what you put together with it, and and I'm just really grateful uh that you know, 2023 we should have a podcast from our event. And because of the two of you, we get to have that. So thank you very much. Oh, thank you for having us.

SPEAKER_04 3:22

We really appreciate it. No, really, it's totally our pleasure. Thank you very much, Donna. And we uh we'll turn these conversations around very quickly this week because I think in chatting with a lot of the members that are here, there's obviously uh many that aren't, and also in the industry that would just really benefit from hearing some of the nuggets that came out of these speakers and these sessions. That's your uh word for the for the nuggets is nuggets. Nuggets. Well, we always wrapped up every what's the one nugget you'd leave everybody with? Nuggets. But um chicken nuggets.

SPEAKER_03 3:51

Well, one of the things that I I kept hearing quite a bit of is is how many new faces were here. Yeah, like we had people who've been here multiple times, but I would say, you know, probably the majority uh were new new faces. And you know, some companies they'll they'll bring an entire team up. So there'll be a manager and all of their team, and they'll they'll they'll come, they'll do their bonding and stuff. And other people will send some of their staff as a perk. You know, you're on the job site all the time. Let's let's let's send you up to Whistler, have some professional development, enjoy yourself, relax a bit. And there's just and then there's people who come by themselves, and there's this wonderful combination. Uh, but the the common thread through all of them is that that community that's being built in the cons in the construction industry through events like this. And uh uh on Thursday night we had a I don't know if anybody told you, but the little networking thing that we did was uh everybody got a a ticket with a number on it.

SPEAKER_04 4:43

Yeah, yes and then you had to find your match. Did people find their match? Yeah, yes, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 4:48

And and the feedback on it was it was such a simple thing, but how much people loved it because you know, you sometimes if you're coming in on your own, you feel like everybody already knows each other and you're the only odd man out that doesn't know somebody. Most of the people here are here because they want to meet others.

SPEAKER_05 5:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 5:04

So, you know, give them that little nudge, that little excuse to go up and say what's your number, and you know, what's your yeah?

SPEAKER_05 5:09

I I heard the uh a couple of times, hey, what's your number? Are we a match? I'm like, excuse me.

SPEAKER_00 5:13

Exactly. Uh that's a little forward.

SPEAKER_04 5:16

One one thing, and I and and I know, I mean, getting amongst a big crowd can be somewhat intimidating in the last icebreaker. Yeah, the icebreaker thing is big. And in the last um closing keynote here, uh she asked she even asked, like, is anyone up here by themselves? And I was surprised there's quite a number of hands that that go up, right? And I think that's really cool because yes, there are some people that know each other, they're part of YCL or they're part of the events that go on, but man, we talked to so many new people that I'd never met before, and it was just it was great. It was easy. People are out here just to really connect and have a good time.

SPEAKER_03 5:50

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 5:51

This venue is ridiculous, too. It's so good.

SPEAKER_03 5:53

Isn't it beautiful?

SPEAKER_05 5:54

Actually, there's somebody that uh one of the um uh one of the staff outside was putting the food out um and he said to me, he said, so is um you guys are a great group. You're not like too rowdy. I said, no, but no, this is construction, it's very controlled, but yeah, at Buffalo Bills, like it goes off. So it's uh he goes, so is it that you know the financial industry in construction? I said, no, no, this is like no the everything, like the people that build places like this. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 6:24

And he's like also TD. I mean TDs, they're the ones who paid everybody's cover charge at Buffalo Bills. So you can't forget. I know.

SPEAKER_05 6:32

Well, TD's our bank, so so less. Lester? Yeah, Lesterly. So so Lester is like he kept like notioning over to me at the Mallard. Hey, can I get you something? I was like, uh it was good, but and then he's like, let's Buffalo Bills. I said, No, not with your wallet. Because that would have been because it's how many, it's so many years now of being with TD that yeah, he had a lot to spend on us. Oh, good. And I'm like, I don't want, I don't, we want to don't want to withdraw.

SPEAKER_04 6:56

We'll take him up, we'll go, we'll go golf or something. Yeah, we have to get something that doesn't kill our liver. I can't get out till 3 a.m. in the morning anymore.

SPEAKER_03 7:02

Well, Procor, they they sponsored our axe throwing.

SPEAKER_04 7:05

So much fun.

SPEAKER_03 7:06

Yeah, and that and I mean we didn't they didn't tell us they were gonna do it in advance, but they they bought everybody's drinks and they they made sure that everybody had a great time and the feedback on it was really good. It was uh an activity that anybody, you know, no one had to have been, you know, spending the last 10 years honing their skills. Anybody could do it, and it was a great sort of uh um uh team building for people who'd never never met anybody else there.

SPEAKER_04 7:30

Yeah. Oh, yeah. That that was a great way to kick off the conference. It was a lot of people, I didn't know it. Yeah, there's a lot of people new people there that I'd not met before, and to go in there and to do something that like you can't really say, oh, I'm I'm very skilled at this. It's like everyone's kind of new to it, and so you're kind of sucking a little bit all together and figuring out.

SPEAKER_03 7:50

Yeah, but you don't you don't have to do it for 20 years to get good. Exactly. You know, you just figure out six throws in, you're probably getting much better than when you started.

SPEAKER_04 7:57

Exactly, exactly. Well, we've kind of talked a lot about the things that we would probably consider some highlights, but if you had to focus in on like a couple things, and this isn't the nugget, this isn't the nugget. No, this is just pre-nugget. Yeah, pre-nugget. Just what would you say just really stood out?

SPEAKER_03 8:13

Well, uh somebody came up to me uh Friday, the end of the day Friday, and uh if I if if nothing else is said to me about this this conference, this will be enough. And they said today was really useful. Holy smokes, that was just that's uh you can't hope for more than that. You put together these professional conferences and you hope that they will be useful. And uh uh so that one word is you know music to my ears. And and then just seeing seeing the managers here with their teams, for example, finding ways to to develop that that um strength in their teams and that that resilience in their teams. And and uh I was asked what what do I hope will be the the what will be construction leadership in the next year? And to me, it's it's leaders who can help build hope. You know, uh who knows what our next challenge is gonna be. We we've unprecedented challenges over the last three years that we we couldn't have anticipated, and we don't know what the next one might be. So if you have managers that are developing hope within their teams, then that can help carry you through whatever the next challenge might be. And that's how we're gonna retain people in this industry because it is uh an industry of hope. Uh, you know, and it's but it's also an industry of of people who find a way when uh the the way isn't uh clearly visible in the moment. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 9:42

Good point. Yeah, that's a very good point.

SPEAKER_04 9:44

Well, that is something that has come up a lot through some of the keynotes and the speakers, and then people and then guests that came over here as well. Is everyone really did touch on what construction was able to do in the last three years. And you make a good point about what's ahead, you know, economic struggle, whatever it happens to be, right? But the useful part of the content here, like you go to a lot of conferences and you and you sit through sessions and it's kind of like they're just glazed or whatever, people just show up as their company. But the fact that people came here for a reason, there was a lot of intention behind the groups, for one, because you look at the guest list, you're like, oh, those people, like you said, they're teams, they work together. Yeah, it's like, oh, there's intention behind that, and then oh, the sessions were geared specifically towards like practical resolutions of things. You go, oh wow, they are really useful and really helpful. To take that away from a conference is a massive home run. Yeah, it's awesome. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 10:36

Well, I mean, I I I I can't even pick a favorite. Like, I just loved every session. And to be able to start off with the legends, yeah, I mean, that that really set the tone for what what people were going to get to expect in the in the day and a half ahead was tangibles and and real life experience and a way to, you know, see uh uh through the eyes of somebody who's been doing it maybe 30 years longer than you, uh, you know a different route that they can take and that you know stick with it. Uh, I I I would be uh very surprised if Dave McFarland hasn't had some really, really difficult days in over 27 years at Ellis Dawn. And yet he's still here, he's still talking to young people, he's still leading teams and leading the organization, and and uh that gives that gives people a reason to persevere.

SPEAKER_04 11:27

Yeah, totally. Fun thing about the legends. Uh we had two of the three legends, uh David McFarland and Sarah Clark, on first to kick us off. And uh we said that we got the legends with us, and he very quickly was like, whoa, whoa, uh we'd prefer to be called the cool kids. And they're that too. They are that too. But then actually, then we had Rick Wagner on at the end of the day. Yeah, we hung out with him last night. Yeah. Just fireside chats with Rick. It was awesome. Yeah, it's really good.

SPEAKER_03 11:53

He really is an institution on his own in this industry. Like he's somebody who who has never slowed down as far as his volunteering uh for construction. And he has such such intelligence, but such also such uh a unique perspective and such common sense, and unaccompanied by any ego whatsoever. Like he is a humble man and and uh uh he just he just continues to find ways to make a difference. And you know, uh there's people you see all the time, but uh he's unique in some i in that he he never stops to pat himself on the back. He's got no time for that. He's just moving on to the next way to find something something that he can do that will help. And boy, has that man made a difference in this industry. So we're we're grateful that he's made a uh a volunteer home for himself in the VRCA because yeah, we're lucky to have him.

SPEAKER_05 12:47

And we should uh should we sing him happy birthday right now?

SPEAKER_03 12:49

I know it's his birthday today. Go for it. No, no, no, no.

SPEAKER_05 12:54

But let's all say, Hey Rick, happy birthday.

SPEAKER_03 12:57

Happy birthday.

SPEAKER_04 12:57

Hey Rick, happy birthday. It's gonna be belated when this comes out, but it's today. It's today officially. It will be belated, yeah. But hey, time stamp. That's awesome. That's cool. All right. Is it nugget time? I think so. Okay. Well, is there anything that you would want to leave uh the audience with? Obviously, there's gonna be members that listen to this. It's a capstone on the whole conference, the construction leaders forum here for 2023. Donna, is there anything you'd want a nugget to leave to participate?

SPEAKER_03 13:29

If we can get if we we we're trying to create as many possible ways to participate in the association, but uh uh if you can find as a member or if you're you know thinking of becoming a member, a way to participate in the association is a way to participate in your industry. And and people who sit back and let everybody else do the heavy lifting make the loads heavier for them. If we can have more hands helping out, if we have more more people speaking up about their concerns or speaking up with their ideas, however they want to participate, whether it's talking to high school students or coming to a division meeting or or just coming and networking or sponsoring something or or saying, you know, I I think this is I think this is garbage over there at VRCA, not happy with it at all. That's participation we need as well. So if if everyone could take that nugget away of maybe in the next 12 months, I'm gonna find a way to participate in my industries association. Uh, even if 10% more participate, that's a game changer.

SPEAKER_04 14:35

Substantial difference.

SPEAKER_03 14:36

That's really good.

SPEAKER_04 14:37

Well, that's a great way to end it off. Donna, you and the team did a fantastic job this weekend. We look forward to to being involved more, obviously, and uh to next year. Yeah, and you moderated really well.

SPEAKER_05 14:49

I've got to say, you did a really great job, man.

SPEAKER_03 14:51

Oh, thank you very much.

SPEAKER_05 14:52

That's a great kind of you to stay. Very genuine.

SPEAKER_03 14:54

Well, we're not gonna wait till next year to see you guys. We'll find more find lots more to do between now and then.

SPEAKER_04 14:59

Absolutely. Looking forward to it. Thanks again, take on it.

SPEAKER_05 15:03

Well, that does it for another episode of the site. Thank you for listening.