Keynote Speakers
Tuesday, September 24, 2019 (During the Opening General Session)
Tariffs, taxes and telling leading indicators all add up to a shift in the business cycle in the latter half of 2019 and into the first half of 2020. We are going to look at what they all mean. What is short-term in nature and what is longer-term in nature? What do they all add up to? We will go over it all so that you can plan with confidence for the remainder of 2019 and for 2020. There is another rising trend coming. We think it is vitally important that you understand what to look for and how that upside cycle is likely to take shape. It is all about maximizing your bottom line, be it in a slowing economy, contraction or expansion. If you know what to expect, you can plan accordingly. In this session Alan Beaulieu will dive into the answers to these questions:
Your business is always changing, and you need to anticipate and capitalize on those changes. Innovation Made Simple makes the process of coming up with new ideas easier and more rewarding than you ever thought possible. Because every innovation in every industry – from automobiles to streaming music, coffee cup holders to wartime treaties – follows the same straightforward pattern. In this session you’ll learn:
Jeff Havens is not your typical business growth expert. His ability to provide actionable answers to today’s business challenges in an entertaining and impactful way has put him in front of more than 1,000 audiences across North America and Asia. But even more than that, Havens makes things easy. Havens has a unique ability to simplify seemingly complex problems in a way that gives a fresh perspective, one that runs counter to the conventional wisdom of the business world. He’ll show you that being innovative is not something only a few special people know how to do and that both exceptional leadership and exceptional customer experiences are built on surprisingly slender foundations.
Educational Session Speakers
Monday, September 23, 2019 1:30 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.
Last year when the US Supreme Court overturned 50 years of precedent in the landmark South Dakota v Wayfair decision, most of the attention has been on the impact of sales tax collection by smaller sellers. But there are also significant impacts to businesses such as manufacturers and distributors even though they generally aren’t required to collect tax from their customers under the resale exemption. What these companies are worried about is whether they need to register and how to make that determination as well as the changes to the exemption certificate requirements. Diane Yetter, president of YETTER Tax and founder of the Sales Tax Institute will help unravel the rules and answer your questions about how this case impacts your business. In this session you will:
Diane L. Yetter is the “Sales Tax Nerd TM” as well as a strategist, advisor, speaker and author in the field of sales and use tax. She is president and founder of YETTER Tax, a sales tax consulting and tax technology firm. She is also the founder of The Sales Tax Institute, which offers live and online courses to educate business professionals about sales and use tax. Diane works with clients of all sizes and in myriad industries to deliver sales tax services ranging from tax technology to tax policy and planning and training. She also regularly partnered with other advisors to help them serve their clients. Prior to founding the company in 1996, Diane was a tax professional for Arthur Andersen, Quaker Oats and the Kansas Department of Revenue. As an author, Diane has published three books and numerous articles concerning sales and use tax issues. Diane was named one of Accounting Today’s Top 100 Most Influential People in Accounting for 2011, 2012, 2017 and 2018.
Monday, September 23, 2019 3:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.
As performance plastics professionals, you already know the tremendous advantages that these materials have over other, more traditional materials. Yet the public perception is shaped by negative images in the media. How can you overcome these deeply held beliefs and promote the benefits of performance plastics? With science In this session, science writer and popular podcaster Brian Dunning will give you the science-based perspective you can use when discussing the benefits of performance plastics and how they differ from consumer-based plastics. You can use what you learn in your conversations when you are:
Science writer Brian Dunning is the host and producer of the Skeptoid podcast (skeptoid.com) with a weekly audience of 133,000 listeners, and the author of seven books on scientific skepticism. He is the writer and presenter of the documentary films Here Be Dragons (herebedragonsmovie.com) and Principles of Curiosity (principlesofcuriosity.com). He has appeared on numerous radio shows and television documentaries, and also hosts the science video series inFact with Brian Dunning (infactvideo.com). A computer scientist by trade, Brian uses new media to showcase the rewards of science and critical thinking. He is a member of the National Association of Science Writers and lives in central Oregon with his family.
Tuesday, September 24, 2019 1:45 p.m. – 2:45 p.m.
With new state privacy laws on the horizon, new cyber threats in the headlines daily and new technologies powering the modern enterprise, it can be difficult for business leaders to make sense of all the noise. In this session, risk management experts will provide a business-focused overview of the top trends in security and privacy for 2020, as well as practical steps you can take to position your organization for the future. This session is designed for a business audience (not IT specialists). Topics covered will include the business impacts of new privacy legislation, widespread adoption of cloud technologies, emerging cyber threats and more.
Larry Burke manages Focal Point's South Florida practice and leads many of Focal Point's largest Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) compliance and internal audit engagements for global clients, including Fortune 500 companies. He is a founding member of Focal Point and has more than 24 years of internal audit and accounting experience. He is a licensed CPA in the state of Florida. Prior to joining Focal Point, Burke held a number of accounting positions at various companies and was the CFO of a national healthcare services firm. Donel Martinez, Director, Focal Point Data Risk Donel Martinez is certified as an Information Systems Auditor (CISA), as a Certified HITRUST CSF Practitioner, as an Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (CAMS) and as a Scrum Master. He has led various compliance reviews in multiple areas including IT, information security, Sarbanes-Oxley, operational and data privacy and has experience leading engagements across organizations of different sizes. He has extensive knowledge of regulatory standards and frameworks including Sarbanes-Oxley, HIPAA, NIST, ISO 27001, BSA and state specific standards. Prior to joining Focal Point, Martinez held various project management and data analysis roles as well as anti-money laundering compliance role.
Hosted by the Manufacturers’ Rep CIG Tuesday, September 24, 2019 3:45 p.m. – 4:45 p.m.
Are platforms like LinkedIn causing measurable increases in sales? Yes. But only for the top 3 percent who apply a practical, repeatable communication method. For everyone else, LinkedIn is a waste of time. Jeff Molander will introduce you to top-performing sellers and reveal exactly how they do it. No buzzwords, no hype—just a 3-step communications method you can apply today. Effective use of digital is less about a technology revolution and more about a return to communications basics. In this session, you will discover and start practicing:
Jeff Molander is the founder of Communications Edge Inc. and creator of the Spark Selling technique — a means to start and qualify conversations with customers “from cold,” speeding them toward qualification. He's been selling for more than two decades. In 1999, Molander co-founded what became the Google Affiliate Network and Performics Inc. where he hired the management team, helped secure two rounds of funding and built the sales and marketing teams. Molander was first to offer a practical book for small businesses to sell using social media, Off the Hook Marketing: How to Make Social Media Sell for You.
Hosted by Women in Plastics Wednesday, September 25, 2019 9:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.
There has never been a better time to be an inclusive leader – and yet, many leaders are on the defensive when they should be leaning in. In this interactive session, you'll get a chance to engage in courageous conversations, exploring a number of practical leadership skills that will change the way that you lead and engage across difference with your peers, your teams and your customers. In This Session, You'll Learn:
Chuck Shelton is the founder and CEO of Greatheart Consulting in Seattle, WA, USA. For more than 25 years, he has honed a unique expertise in engaging and equipping leaders from cultures of advantage and their colleagues to grow their global business through inclusive leadership. This specialty led to the publication of his groundbreaking book, Leadership 101 For White Men, in which he challenged white men to take personal accountability for their learning around gender and race and commit to the building of relationships of trust across all difference. He lives near Seattle with Suzanne, a clinical psychologist, and loves to hike and work in the family’s 60-acre forest in the mountains of central Washington.
Director of Employee Development & Recruitment at North American Plastics Wednesday, September 25, 2019 10:15 a.m. – 11:15 a.m.
What can IAPD member companies do to attract and retain the next generation workforce? With low unemployment and competition from other industries, the performance plastics industry faces tremendous challenges when trying to hire the emerging workforce. In this panel session, you’ll hear directly from a panel of students about what you can do to appeal to their peers, what they’re really looking for in their careers and how to make the case for the performance plastics industry.