Civil Engineering Collective Training Schedule
If you are enrolled through in the Civil Engineering Collective through your company, you will be automatically registered for all sessions. If you are interested in becoming a member, please contact us here.
If you would like to request a specific topic, please click here.
Past sessions
Sept. 16, 2020 - 1:30pm ET
Whether you are part of a design team, managing a team, or building client relationships, you will be interacting more, virtually. How will you be sure to maintain high quality communications, a high level of engagement, and ultimately sound relationship?
In this session, you will learn how specific strategies that can help you support your virtual interactions, specifically:
-How to conduct or participate in remote meetings effectively,
-Simple tools that you can use to maximize these interactions and ensure they are meaningful,
-Strategies for streamlining your calls and meetings without sacrificing productivity,
-Steps to take to ensure those that you meet with leave your meetings with clear next steps, and
-How to save you and your colleagues time, by running smarter meetings.
Sept. 30, 2020 - 1:30pm ET
Positive public perception and approval, is an important, yet often underrated aspect of bringing civil engineering projects to reality is . What if it was easier for your firm to gain these items for your projects? This session is intended to help you in this important aspect of the project process. Sam Lytle, P.E. a civil engineer who now focuses on making civil projects look good, full time, will focus on the following objectives.
Learning Objectives:
- How to demonstrate the value of positive public perception for civil projects
- Review examples of positive case studies
- Learn multiple strategies for improving public perception
- Understand the return on investment on public outreach
Oct. 21, 2020 - 1:30pm ET
Want to win more work for you, your team and your company? You’ve got to understand what appeals to the unique Selection Team you’re proposing to…and understand subconscious powers at play. In this training course, learn what’s really going on in a Selection Team’s brain and how to create examples in your proposals that help you stand out in a crowded field.
Learning Objectives:
- What does Harry Potter’s “Mirror of Erised” have to do with successful proposal writing? (aka Understand the effect of subconscious Perceived Value and how most Selection Team members actually decide the fate of your proposal)
- Why can’t I bring the Potential Client a strawberry ice cream cone with crunchy toppings?? (aka What to ask your
- Potential Client before the RFP/Q hits the streets to gather the best information)
- Best strategies for submitting a proposal to a client you don’t have a history with
- How to write SHINY proposal examples that get noticed
- Use Eye Stops to capture the Selection Team’s attention
Nov. 12, 2020 - 12:00pm ET
Manage Your Projects to Meet Your Client's Expectations - The common goal at the end of every project should be for the client and design professional to be able to look at each other and both say “Yes, that is exactly what I expected.” The range of the client's response to anything short of that outcome will at best, diminish the likelihood of future assignments from that client, and at worst, possibly result in a professional liability claim. This presentation will address the various factors that can influence a client’s expectations, while at the same time cover various tools that can improve design efficiency. Specifically, the selection-for-work process, contract terms, critical elements of every contract, avoiding construction bidding pitfalls, and managing professional liability claims, is addressed.
Objectives:
- Understand the importance of meeting client's expectations
- Learn ways to anticipate client's expectations
- Become familiar with contract terms that influence client's expectations
- Learn procedures that can minimize or manage professional liability claims.
Dec. 1, 2020 - 1:30pm ET
Regardless of your experience level, if you don’t have clear goals, you may be setting yourself up for disappointment. This applies both to individuals and firms. We live in an uncertain world, yet your trajectory should be focused around your mission and goals, and the end of the year is a great time to set or reset your goals.
During this session, you will be taken through a simple goal-setting process to not only set your goals but to get to the true meaning of why certain goals are important to you. Knowing WHY you want to achieve a goal is just as important as setting goals, if not more. You’ll also be given three very specific steps to setting clear goals that you can use immediately upon completion of the session. These strategies can be utilized by individuals, teams, departments, and even firms.
Learning Objectives:
- Performing a year-end reflection prior to your goal-setting process,
- Understand the importance of setting career goals,
- Be able to define what success means to you,
- Have a simple formula to establish goals that align with your values, and
- Be able to create SMART goals.
Dec. 15, 2020 - 1:30pm ET
Most mistakes or issues related to project management revolve around the same issues such as scope creep, projects going over budget, or projects taking longer than planned for. However, if your firm can avoid these costly pitfalls, they will save a lot of money and build an even better reputation when it comes to client satisfaction.
This session will begin with PM experts discussing some of these common pitfalls, and end with a panel of Civil Engineering Collective (CEC) members discussing how their firms have navigated these common challenges.
Lead Instructor - Ann Tomalavage, P.E., PMP, LEED AP
Ann Tomalavage has walked in the shoes of the project manager. As a civil engineer, she has worked as a project manager for over 35 years in top-level firms. She developed a solid understanding of what it takes to become a world-class project manager.
Ann is also the sole provider of in-person project management foundations training for the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) nationwide. Of more than 200 ASCE professionals teaching nearly 100 civil engineering topics, Ann is consistently rated among the top four of all ASCE instructors.
Jan. 12, 2021 - 1:30pm ET
- The four ways that LinkedIn offers, for members to publish thought leadership content
- The two kinds of “Education” you need to show – your formal university program, and your continuing/online courses taken
- Why you need to build your connections
- Why recommendations are important – and four ways to get them
- Why having videos is particularly important in COVID time (it’s the only way they’ll get to “meet” you)
- Three LinkedIn activities most important to building your career
Feb. 02, 2021 - 1:30pm ET
- Understand global soft and hard infrastructure conditions, demands and trends
- Apply knowledge of historic and current US and International Infrastructure programs
- Analyze history and current economic and political trends and consequences associated with infrastructure development programs
- Evaluate the basic economic, finance and delivery principles associated with infrastructure development
Feb. 23, 2021 - 1:30pm ET
When it comes to success, we don't succeed alone. We succeed together! And in order to do that effectively, it's critical that we don't just change what we do, but also change what we think and believe. That's the power of mindsets - the foundation of personal and organizational change.
We'll discuss critical aspects of mindsets, provide tools to increase self-awareness, and discuss some activities to use in team settings to improve the mindsets of everyone together. Attendees should come away with a combination of theoretical and practical ideas to use right away to improve team success.
Mar. 16, 2021 - 1:30pm ET
In this session, you will learn the basics of failure analysis and how to manage professional liability claims.
Objectives:
- Understand the basics of failure analysis,
- Understand the basis for a professional liability claim,
- Learn ways to avoid a professional liability claim, and
- Learn how to navigate the professional liability claims process.
Apr. 07, 2021 - 12:00pm ET
As consumption of resources continues to increase, creativity will be even more important to ensure longevity for future generations. The ability to generate and implement creative solutions can ultimately decide the future, especially when it comes to dealing with some of the world’s biggest challenges like failing infrastructure and global warming. As cheesy as this may sound, we need to embrace creativity as a necessary skill set and not let it fall by the wayside with other skills that were nurtured in our youth, such as imagination and curiosity.
Imagine if we all included creativity in our day-to-day activities. Wouldn’t your workday have an almost whimsical feel to it? What if we were free to let our minds explore various solutions to problems—without ridicule. This is all very possible. Just like any habit or skill in this book, it requires a shift away from the belief of “we always do things this way.” This dogma traps organizations and individuals and shackles them from producing truly extraordinary results. I challenge you to take off the proverbial blinders and look at your projects with a new zest. Look at them with fresh eyes and see what you’re missing “in plain sight.”
Learning Objectives: In this session, you will:
- Learn how to harness creativity on your team.
- Understand the common barriers to creativity in engineering teams.
- Determine the best way to tackle a problem using creativity.
- Find out how to maintain a “rookie” mentality in your day-to-day practice to increase creativity.
Apr. 27, 2021 - 2:30pm ET
Building relationships is a critical component of engineering career success as well as the growth of any civil engineering firm. However, civil engineering professionals are rarely taught how to network effectively and build relationships. In this session, Civil Engineering Collective instructors will start the session with some key networking tips and examples followed by a panel of Civil Engineering Collective members who will talk about how they have had success in networking and business development in their firms.
This session will cover:
- Strategies on networking and building effective relationships
- How to build relationships online and offline
- How to avoid common networking pitfalls
- How to network through projects
May 27, 2021 - 1:30pm ET
Most civil engineering companies will identify their biggest project management pitfall as: doing work outside of the scope (aka Scope Creep).
While this is a common and debilitating challenge that MOST firms face, the reality is that by installing a few simple processes (that don’t require elaborate software) you can greatly reduce scope creep on your projects. These strategies should be learned and implemented by every project professional as early on as possible in their careers.
In this session, participants will learn how to:
- Ensure the project scope is clear to all team members,
- Identify scope creep as early as possible,
- Notify clients of work to be done outside of the scope, and
- Approach a client in an “extra work” situation (this is way harder than it sounds).
June 29, 2021 - 1:30pm ET
Though gender representation has yet to reach 50% in engineering fields, many companies have increasing numbers of women in engineering positions in recent years. In the US and Canada, approximately women make up 10% to 15% of all licensed engineers.
Research by Project RISE suggests that leaders in STEM fields (still overwhelmingly male) are trying to be inclusive leaders and support the women that report to them and work with them. In fact, when male engineering leaders were surveyed, 80% said that they believed themselves to be good allies to the women in their organizations. However, when the women from those same companies were also surveyed, only ~20% of them said that they felt adequately included or supported. So, there is a gap between the intention and the effective execution of allyship toward women in engineering and STEM fields by engineering managers and leaders.
This session will focus on helping participants:
- Understand the 'allyship gap' that interrupts the best of intentions of engineering managers
- Recognize the root causes of that gap, which leaves women in engineering workplaces contributing below their true potential
- Learn practical and evidence-based tips for engineering managers, project managers and leaders on how to close the allyship gap in their workplace
- Create respectful company environments where everyone's performance is maximized
July 20, 2021 - 1:30pm ET
If problem solving wasn’t already important in engineering, the COVID19 pandemic has forced companies and professionals to get more creative than ever in their ability to solve problems. How can you ensure that you (and your team members) are ready to solve the next problem you face? There are very specific actions you can take to improve your analytical thinking and problem-solving skills.
In this session, you will learn:
- Specific strategies to boost analytical thinking,
- Questions you can ask yourself or your team to improve creativity,
- Ways to obtain different perspectives on problems,
- Different ways to improve your brainstorming processes, and
- Ways for evaluating decisions effectively.
August 17, 2021 - 1:30pm ET
Feedback—ugh. Few people like to give it. Others like to receive feedback, but they often find the feedback they get is a waste of time. Only 17% of millennials report receiving meaningful feedback, according to Gallup. Furthermore, Gallup research shows only 14.5% of managers strongly agree that they are effective at giving feedback.
We learn to give feedback based on how someone gave us feedback. We perpetuate the feedback style that we received, whether that approach was good or bad. Let’s break that practice. I challenge you to become the example of one who gives specific, measurable, actionable, timely, and realistic feedback. It's a SMART practice.
In this session, you will learn:
- Why we give feedback
- The right ways to give meaningful feedback
- The right ways to ask for meaningful feedback
- How to give effective, focused “Feedback in 15” minutes
Sept. 22, 2021 - 12:00pm ET
The number of people working remotely may decrease the further we get away from COVID-19, but odds are it will remain high, permanently. Therefore, virtual calls, meetings and events will become part of the new normal. Are you ready for that?
Whether you are part of a design team, managing a team, or building client relationships, you will be interacting more, virtually. How will you be sure to maintain high quality communications, a high level of engagement, and ultimately sound relationship?
In this session, you will learn how specific strategies that can help you support your virtual interactions, specifically:
- How to conduct or participate in remote meetings effectively,
- Simple tools that you can use to maximize these interactions and ensure they are meaningful,
- Strategies for streamlining your calls and meetings without sacrificing productivity,
- Steps to take to ensure those that you meet with leave your meetings with clear next steps, and
- How to save you and your colleagues time, by running smarter meetings.
Sponsored by SmartBrief