A lovely day to register

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Today is a special day because the Earlybird deadline to save $100 off your registration for the Spring Energy Symposium comes to a close. In between your chocolate and candy hearts, please confirm your registration today!  

Inside Track – Listening to the Voice of the Customer

We asked Claudia Rapkoch, Director, Corporate Communications, NorthWestern Energy and Program Development team member to give us some insights on how the Listening to the Voice of the Customer came together.  The session is in the Communications Track and is being held on Thursday from 1:30 – 3:00 pm. 

What about this topic motivated you to participate? 

Claudia:  It’s easy to fall into the trap of believing you know what your customers want because you’re interacting (or communicating) with them every day. But, interaction alone doesn’t provide the insight into what might make a real difference to the overall customer experience. Communication is a process that is far more dynamic and multi-dimensional than what some might believe and the whole concept of “listening” tends to be shoved aside when time and budgets are at a premium. As a communications professional I’m pretty passionate about taking that extra step to incorporate the customer into an overall cyclical process that is ever evolving and changing and the best way to do that, in my opinion, is to take the time to listen to them. At a time when people are at risk of becoming so disconnected because of technology, I believe those utilities that perfect the art of human connection will have the greatest success.     

What are you most excited to see happen during your session? 

Claudia:  I’m really looking forward to the discussion with the participants. We all share the same basic challenges even though the circumstances may be different. I really want people to learn not only from the presenters, but to share their experiences through this discussion. As presenters, we want to learn something too!

What would you like attendees to take away from your session? 

Claudia:  I really hope people find it time well spent.  Yes, it’s only an hour-and-a-half of the day, but I hope people leave feeling like the session was useful, thought-provoking and  relevant.    

Thank you for your time Claudia!  We look forward to your session. 

What is a PDT?

The energy industry loves acronyms!  And so do we!

PDT stands for Program Development Team. By definition, a PDT is a diverse mix of energy industry professionals responsible for the content creation of programs. Role may involve subject matter expert recruitment and participating in planning meetings while receiving invaluable networking opportunities throughout the entire process.

Benefits abound from being a part of a PDT.  Involvement offers you increased visibility with industry peers and leaders, the opportunity to refine your facilitation and presentation skills, and a chance to build a personal peer network.

PDTs usually have anywhere from 5 to 10 peer representatives, which makes the workload minimal.  Planning is done over conference calls and the WEI staff guides and supports the team to reach the program’s objectives. 

If you meet one of the PDT members who were involved in planning the Spring Energy Symposium, be sure to thank them for their involvement.  All of those relevant topics, lively sessions and engaging speakers happen because of their dedication and commitment.  Thank you PDTs!

For a list of all WEI PDTs, including our Board of Directors, Executive Planning Committee and the Spring Energy Symposium, visit our committee listings.

Inside Track - Customer Operations

The Program Delivery Team (PDT) of the Customer Operations track has developed some engaging and insightful customer-oriented sessions.  Provided below is an overview of each session, and the full agenda and details are available here.

Customer Experience – Blue Space Consulting and PG&E will share best practices around thinking like the customer to improve the customer experience.   

Channel of Choice – Interacting with Customers in Ways THEY Want to Interact – Alvarez & Marsal and PG&E share insights on channel strategies from offering self service to multichannel approaches.

Outage Communications: What Customers Want to Know and When – J.D. Power will update recent utility research around outage communication strategies.

Engaging Employees in Security and Building a Security Culture – In this joint session San Diego Gas & Electric and SW Gas will facilitate a workshop on how to develop a safety culture with your teams. 

Handling Angry Customers – SW Gas and Seattle City Light will provide tactical approaches in educating your staff on how to best deal with frustrated customers who reach the call center or approach staff in the field. 

Thank you PDT, these relevant sessions are sure to engage our attendees!

Share

The 2014 Spring Energy Symposium is impressive!  Impressive for many reasons, but primarily because you will be attending.  You should tell everyone!  Here are some simple tips to help you promote SES through your favorite social media channels (i.e., Twitter and LinkedIn). 

• Use the direct link to the SES homepage:  www.westernenergy.org/ses
• In your post, don’t forget the official 2014 Spring Energy Symposium hashtag:  #2014weises 
• Promote the blog:  http://springenergysymposium.blogspot.com/
• Use this link to  get directly to our postcard:  http://www.westernenergy.org/ses/SES2014_Postcard.pdf
• Do you work with a service company, vendor or consultant on a project?  Send them our Vendor Display information.

If you have any questions or need some creative ideas on what to highlight in your post, contact Beth Bearman.

Inside Track - Everyone is a Technologist

We asked Kevin Wade, Director, IT Services at Idaho Power a few questions about the session he is facilitating and presenting;  “Everyone is a Technologist”.  Kevin is part of the Program Delivery Team (PDT) for the Business Intelligence and Technology track.  He will be presenting along with Jeanne Vold, Business Technology Officer with NorthWestern Energy. The session is scheduled on Friday, March 14^th from 10:30 am – 12:05 pm. 

What about this topic motivated you to participate? 

Kevin:  With smart phones, tablets and simple programming languages it seems like everyone has a technology solution to solve a business problem.  The issue is that the management of these solutions is disparate and the overall business direction may or may not be addressed when these are implemented.  My interest is not to stifle the local innovation but to educate all parties on an enterprise focus.

What are you most excited to see happen during your session? 

Kevin: A healthy discussion on why centralized IT departments cannot deliver solutions that “Shadow IT” develops but also discuss what is the impact of several groups developing with different architecture.  My hope is that both sides will listen and learn from each other.

What would you like attendees to take away from your session? 

Kevin: I would like to see attendees take back the ability to have a healthy productive discussion with their IT and OT departments.

                                              

Thank you for your participation Kevin!  We look forward to your session.

Inside Track – Business Intelligence and Technology

The Spring Energy Symposium is one of our larger conferences, focused on Corporate Services and Customer Service disciplines.  In order to accommodate so many areas, we have divided groups into seven tracks. The Business Intelligence and Technology track will focus on IT systems, Data Analysis and Cybersecurity.   The Program Delivery Team who developed the sessions has put together a solid agenda.  

Session highlights include: 

• Data for Decisions – Sempra Energy shares how to use data effectively to make informed decisions.

• Social Networking Inside and Out – NW Natural will provide a case study on a recent Unified Communications and Collaboration (UCC) project.

• Cybersecurity:  The Future is Now – Sacramento Municipal Utility District, PG&E and the Federal Bureau of Investigation come together to discuss best practices on day-to-day IT operations.

• Engaging Employees in Security and Building a Security Culture – In this joint session with Customer Operations and Our People, San Diego Gas & Electric and SW Gas will facilitate a workshop on how to develop a safety culture with your teams. 

• Everyone is a Technologist – Idaho Power and NorthWestern Energy will discuss best practices on managing the increasing amount of mobile technology and the impact to your IT department.

We look forward to seeing you at these sessions and engaging in these IT topics!