EMSI Conference Recap

Last week EMSI held its first annual user conference in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, which is 90 minutes north of the company headquarters in Moscow, Idaho. We had a wonderful time and really enjoyed being able to connect with clients who traveled from all over the nation to be with us. We learned a ton and came away with useful feedback on how we can improve our products and services.

Our hope is that clients walked away feeling more confident and better equipped to use the tools and data to help their communities.

Here is a quick recap of the conference. We have also included links to the presentations.

THURSDAY

Things kicked off with a roundtable discussion.

• EMSI clients took turns introducing themselves and discussed how they use the tools and data.
• Bruce Evans, EMSI’s VP of Product Development, gathered feedback from users on our current products and the beta version of Analyst 3, a web-based labor market and economic analysis tool.
• Finally, in this session users got to voice their interest and desire for future enhancements and new products that would help them fulfill information and data requests by their communities.

FRIDAY

Friday was a busy day that included a very solid plenary talk, interesting breakout sessions, a learning lab, and discussions about data and Analyst 3.

1. Opening Plenary — Working Together: How Colleges, WIBs, EDCs Use Data for Common Goals

(pictured left to right) Michael Corbit, Workforce Solutions and Florida’s Research Coast,  Rebecca Metty-Burns, College of Southern Nevada, and Deidre Myers, Oklahoma Department of Commerce.

The expert panel discussed and answered questions about how labor market information helps them in their business processes and how it can be used to support a broad range of workforce and economic development goals.

Download their presentations here: (Michael), (Rebecca), (Deidre)

Breakout Sessions

2. How to Develop the Right Programs During a Time of Rapid Change, Growth, and Expansion

Dr. Bert Glandon, the President of the College of Western Idaho, discussed how his college is managing its rapid growth during a time of decreasing budgets and increasing demand. Dr. Glandon is a fantastic speaker and had some very inspiring lessons. We will be sure to call on Dr. Glandon again in the future.

Note: No PowerPoint was used

3. How to Foster Entrepreneurs

Dr. Norris Krueger, Entrepreneurship Northwest, spoke about how public organizations like colleges, universities, workforce boards, and economic development agencies can locate and support entrepreneurs in their communities. Norris brought some very interesting figures and emphasized how development professionals really need to immerse themselves in their communities and identify the job creators and not worry so much about the job destroyers.

Download his presentation

4. What’s New With EMSI’s Data

EMSI CEO Andrew Craphuchettes (pictured) and Deacon James, EMSI’s Data Department Manager, discussed some of the latest developments with the data. EMSI’s current datasets can be divided into two main categories: “covered” and “complete.” Covered is largely based on QCEW and includes workers who are covered by unemployed insurance. Complete, or non-covered, refers to data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, Nonemployer statistics, American Community Survey, and County Business Patterns. EMSI is looking to expand its datasets to include four classifications of data: QCEW, Non-QCEW, Proprietors, and Extended Proprietors.

5. Analyst 3

Bruce Evans, VP of Product Development, and Josh Stevenson (pictured), Analyst Product Manager, provided an introduction to Analyst. If you would like to set up a demonstration of Analyst for your organization or are interested in being a beta tester, please contact us.

Download Bruce’s presentation

6. Learning Lab/Networking

Clients were then invited to participate in a learning lab where they could discuss Analyst 3 and Career Coach, and learn more about consulting services from EMSI and Thomas P. Miller and Associates.

The evening rounded out with a dinner cruise on the lake. The weather was FANTASTIC.

SATURDAY

The conference concluded with a series of breakout sessions by some of EMSI’s best users:

1. The Future of Program Demand Analysis

Tom Prendergast, Director of Institutional Research and Grants at North Central State College in Ohio, showed how to quickly produce analysis of new or existing programs.

Download his presentation

2. Labor Market Outlook

Idaho LMI Director Bob Uhlenkott discussed what his shop is up to and how LMI is changing these days, including updates on SOC 2010 and NAICS 2012.

Download his presentation

3. The Importance of Business Services

Scott Sheely, Executive Director of the Lancaster County (Pa.) Workforce Investment Board, focused on successful business service models and how they can be used to support local employers.

Download Scott’s presentation

4. Getting LMI In Front of Students

Linda Mannering (pictured), Director of Institutional Research at the University of Nebraska at Omaha and Wayne Brown with the Avenue Scholars Foundation discussed how they have implemented Career Coach in Omaha and the impact it is having on students. Check out a neat video from Avenue Scholars here.

Download Linda’s presentation

5. Career Coach 2.0

Rob Sentz, VP of Marketing, and Larson Hicks (pictured), Career Coach’s Product Manager, discussed new developments with Career Coach. If you would like to learn more about Career Coach or set up a demonstration, please contact us.

Download the presentation here

6. Establishing the Education-Workforce Link

VP of Consulting Annike Crapuchettes (pictured) and Hamilton Galloway, Consulting Manger, discussed the role of education in workforce development, how to identify workforce needs, and creating the foundation for employers and education providers to discuss workforce skills.

Download their presentation here. If you would like to set up a call with them about their work, please contact us.

We will be announcing plans for our 2012 conference soon. Stay tuned!

Read more at Economic Modeling Specialists (EMSI blog)