NCMA World Congress 2024: Celebrating Silver and Going for the Gold
Written by: Vera Medici
Management Concepts was proud to be a bronze sponsor of the National Contract Management Association’s (NCMA’s) signature annual event, World Congress. Over 3,000 attendees gathered together in Seattle, Washington, with an additional 1,500 joining virtually during the four-day event, which took place July 21–24, 2024. This year, World Congress was celebrating a milestone anniversary, with the theme, “25 Years Strong! Better Contracting. Better Outcomes.”
The opening general session began with introductions from NCMA leadership, including CEO Kraig Conrad and CLO Michelle Currier, with additional remarks from Heather Gerczak, chief administrative officer at Integral, and Will Roberts, director of acquisition solutions for ASI Government LLC. But the true headliner was an apt keynote speaker for a conference taking place during the Summer Olympics. Charles Clark, a mental wellness and resilience expert, began his journey as a USA Track & Field silver medalist, the sixth-fastest man in the world at IAAF World Championships, a three-time NCAA National Champion and 10-time NCAA All-American. Tuesday’s general session featured Dan Thurmon, president of Motivation Works Inc., an award-winning keynote speaker, author, performer, and podcast host. The closing keynote speaker Deedre Daniel, founder of The Interesting Conversations Company®, kept the audience laughing throughout her presentation, “How to Be More Interesting Than a Cell Phone.”
Breakout sessions and workshops offered attendees a variety of topics to choose from while earning their professional credits. Contract management skills such as proposals, conflicts of interest, other transaction authorities, and acquisition life cycle, audit, and negotiation were covered as well as hot topics in artificial intelligence and cybersecurity.
Management Concepts presented a session in the virtual Learning Pavilion, “Preparing the Next Generation of Government Leaders,” led by Scott Boozer, director, School of Federal Leadership Excellence at Management Concepts. This interactive session explored what skills and capabilities leaders need to thrive in the future, traits of effective government leaders, the paradoxes of leadership, and immersion programs built on developing the whole person. Learn more about the School of Federal Leadership Excellence (SoFLE), a cohort program just released by Management Concepts that takes these principles and puts them into practice. Increasingly, outcome-based learning emphasizing a student-centered approach has proven to achieve optimal results in career growth, as in Management Concepts’ Career Gateway: Acquisition program for new contracting professionals. Learn more by watching “Outcome-Based Learning (OBL): Enhancing Educational Effectiveness.”
With the many changing certification and continuing education requirements in the contracting field, Management Concepts leverages 50 years of experience to provide training and workforce services that are relevant, specific, and convey the skills and knowledge critical to the acquisition and contracting community and navigating the federal landscape. Seasoned professionals visiting the Management Concepts booth learned about earning continuing education credits and building skills through targeted Certificate Programs. During the career fair times in the exhibit hall attendees were able to pick up information regarding instructor and subject matter expert opportunities at Management Concepts.
Congratulations to NCMA on a silver anniversary, and best wishes to go for gold. Check out photos from the event on our Facebook page, and stay up to date on Management Concepts events and activities with NCMA on our partnership page.
