IBTTA’s Communications and Administration Workshop: A Relaxed Setting for Intensive Learning

Tampa, Florida will be the setting for some of the most topical and intensive discussions on the IBTTA agenda when this year’s Communications and Administration Workshop convenes March 12-14.

Hosted by the Tampa Hillsborough Expressway Authority (THEA), the Workshop will focus on some of the most immediate issues facing tolling agencies across North America and around the world. From cybersecurity to crisis communications, from getting your organization aligned and your team engaged to winning the war for talent, this three-day event is your opportunity to learn alongside your colleagues, build a wider professional network, and kick off IBTTA’s 2017 conference season in one of America’s most awesomely innovative transportation centers.

And Human Resource professionals take note: With four sessions at this Workshop covered by Society for Human Resource Management (SHRP) certification, you can earn up to 6.0 professional development credits for the SHRM-CP and SHRM-SCP designations.

Keeping Your Agency Safe

Safety is Job One for any tolling agency. But in 2017, that principle applies as much to your agency as it does to your customers. Cybersecurity is a growing threat across the economy, with too many businesses across all sectors of the economy learning too late that their data wasn’t as safe as they thought. “The toll industry processes millions of electronic transactions each year worth billions of dollars,” the conference program states. “If you think your systems can’t be hacked, you’re wrong.”

In fact, with your customers’ privacy and your own organization’s credibility on the line, the first, essential step in building a cybersecurity strategy is to recognize that no one is immune—and to develop a comprehensive response, recovery, and communications plan to prepare for a major data breach before it happens. In Tampa, you’ll hear from senior technology, legal, and law enforcement specialists about the scope of the threat, then dig into the communications and issues management strategies that help organizations respond through news and social media when cyber-attacks occur.

When all else fails, organizational safety can also play out in the courts, yet another venue where preparedness and prevention can protect your agency from the unexpected. From customers objecting to what they see as onerous tolls or collection methods, to vendors and agencies disputing operations agreements, litigation is a costly distraction from whatever else you thought you would be working on that day, week, or month. All the more reason to attend this workshop for a heads-up on the evolving legal landscape, the challenges the industry can expect in the coming months and years, and what your agency can do to prepare.

Managing at the Speed of Business

It’s a new year, and yet again, new work demands and opportunities are pouring in at a faster pace than ever before. And nowhere is the intensity ratcheting up more than in the all-important fight to recruit and retain the work force talent your organization needs, today and tomorrow.

“Superior talent is the key to success,” the program notes. And the first step in winning the battle for the best employees is “to understand why companies are having such a tough time attracting, managing, and keeping talent. Companies that fail to adapt their approach to talent management will fall into a newly-opened crevasse from which they may never escape.” In one of our four SHRM-accredited sessions, you’ll get a picture of how the war for talent developed and learn what the most innovative companies are doing to turn a serious challenge into a competitive advantage.

With a program filled with crisis communications and effective web marketing, integrated procurement strategies and organizational effectiveness, the fast pace and high stakes you face in your everyday work won’t be far away. All the more reason that the workshop builds in some time to catch your breath and network with your colleagues at one of Tampa’s most relaxing venues. Monday evening’s event is at Splittsville, an entertainment complex with 12 bowling lanes, seven championship billiards tables, and dinner will be served.

Choose Your Own Adventure

IBTTA conferences are always the best place to learn from your colleagues, compare notes on challenges you’ve been working on across different agencies, and anticipate issues or opportunities that are right around the corner. The Communications and Administration Workshop includes a set of roundtables where you’ll get to cover up to four issues in just 90 minutes, taking away ideas and how-to’s that you can begin implementing as soon as you get home.

Roundtable options include:

·       Soft Skills Training that helps your team communicate more clearly and boost customer satisfaction

·       Why Facebook is still the top social media platform for reaching customers

·       How Virginia’s Toll Relief Program serves lower-income customers

·       How employees can be ambassadors for new programs and deeper engagement

·       Training and development as an essential employee retention and recruitment tool

·       On the Record: Best Tips for Media Relations

·       Working with Small Businesses Enterprises

Register today for IBTTA’s 2017 Communications and Administration Workshop, March 12-14, 2017 in Tampa, Florida. The hotel is filling up, so book your room now.