HeavyBid Monthly Webinar January 2024

Welcome to the estimating monthly webinar series. This is the webinar for January, our first estimating webinar for twenty twenty four. My name is Aaron Allshouse. I'm your host today. I am the technical product manager for HeavyBid. Joining us today, to help fill the questions and answers is Amanda Ayles. She is the product manager for all of estimating. To go along with question and answers, For anyone who has not used Zoom before, in your menu panel, there is a q and a icon. If you click that, that will present the question and answer section where you can go ahead and key in any questions that you might have, and we're gonna do our best to answer them. If for any reason we can't answer them, we'll get your contact information, and we'll follow-up with you afterwards. Alright. So the topic of discussion today is UGM 2024. So UGM 2024 is going to be a little bit different in the sense that for all the years prior, we've had two UGM sessions. We've had a UGM a and a UGM b. UGM a typically was either the last week of January or the first week of February, and then we had a UGM b following that, a couple weeks later. This week or this year, we're doing things a little different. We're gonna have one massive UGM. So the purpose of today's conversation is basically to let everybody know what the differences are and how the estimating portion of UGM is going to flow. So first thing we wanna take a look at is the map of UGM. So you'll see I have three buildings here, essentially highlighted. First one you're gonna notice is Minute Maid Park. We're gonna get to that a little bit later, but keep that keep that in mind. So Minute Maid is, for anyone that's not a Houston native, is the home of the Houston Astros. That's gonna play a big part in UGM this year. Right in the center, we have the Marriott Marquis. Now the Marriott Marquis is where we've been housed, where we have been having UGM for, I think, the last six years. Amanda will correct me if I'm mistaken on that, but I believe it's the last six years. So if you've been to UGM, fairly recently, that is where we have housed it. Because UGM is so large this year, we've actually had to move it into a second hotel. You'll notice the second, or the third box that I have towards the bottom of the screen is the Hilton of the Americas. That is the building that is gonna house all of our estimating discussions, throughout UGM. They are separated by, a community park called Discovery Green. Now, anyone might be wondering, how am I gonna get to and from each of those? Well, you're absolutely welcome to walk. There is a sidewalk that everyone has access to, but we're also going to be running courtesy shuttles, to and from each hotel throughout the entire event. Now the main, item of attraction for UGM has always been town hall. For anyone unfamiliar with town hall, town hall is essentially where Amanda, and myself, as well as Paul Lambert, who is the technical product manager for Preconstruction, will get up in front of everybody, usually around four hundred or so, people, and essentially talk about three things. We'll talk about what's new in in our estimating products, what features have we come out with over the last year, year and a half, and then we're gonna talk about what our plans are for the upcoming year. And then we essentially open it up to a question and answer section where customers are allowed to essentially talk about any problems they're having or any features they would like to see added. Now because HeavyBid is or because UGM is so much larger or is planned to be so much larger this year in comparison to what we've had Okay. So Amanda just, did, let me know. The first UGM at the Marriott was UGM 2018. But getting back on track, because town hall is expected to be so much larger this year, we physically can't put that many people in one room, so we've decided to break it up into three separate events. What everyone should have is the very first session on Tuesday is the what's new in heavy bid and Preconstruction. This is typically the first section of the town hall, and this is where we're gonna show off the latest features, that we've been working on over the last year, year and a half. Another thing to note for this, aside from heavy bid one zero one, this is the only class during session one on Tuesday. So you don't have to worry about missing something else if you're not already scheduled for a heavy bid one on one, by attending this session. Now along with this webinar, we're also going to be doing some housekeeping items in that session to give everybody some additional information about the layout of the event, and basically letting anybody know anything that we feel is important. So what I would suggest now is if there's anything that you want us to specifically address in that, what's new session, please make sure to let us know during this webinar. We can do our best to make sure that that's included in our topics of discussion. Now the second part of this is our focus discussion classes. These sessions are gonna cover part of the town hall where we talk about the features we're planning for in the upcoming year, and this is where we talk about the features and we get feedback from y'all, the customer. The big topics we have, or we have planned to talk about are how are you all the users feeling about doing more work online? How are you doing more of your job online? How we can improve the experience, for our customers working together in owner contractor, joint venture, or contractor slash subcontractor relationships. So, basically, how can we prove that experience between you and, whoever else you're working with on this particular project? And then how can we bring or how can we better bring the estimating and operations data together in a way that improves your workflow and gives you better insights? So those are the topics, that we're planning to discuss. If you feel that you want to contribute to those conversations, I highly suggest signing up for those focused discussion classes. And then we have the ask the expert. This is the heavy bid q and a section. This is that last, part of the traditional town hall where we open the floor and give you, the customer, the ability to ask questions or give product feedback, and where you can get, basically, input from other customers as well. This session is gonna start right before lunch on Wednesday. Or the first session of this is starting right before lunch on Wednesday, and we're gonna have a different session, happening basically throughout the event, every session for the rest of the event. So if you miss one session, excuse me, if you miss one session, it's not the end of the world. You can still attend other classes, but then still make time for a heavy bid q and a session. Big difference between last year and this year is the heavy bid and the pre con q and a sessions are separated. Last year, they were combined. This year, they're going to be separated, so each discussion is going to be focused on one product or the other. The q and a sessions are also going to be hosted by contract trainers. So for anyone unfamiliar with the way HCSS works when it comes to estimating is all of our trainers are estimators by trade, and they're not estimators with six months experience. They're estimators with, twenty plus years of estimating, chief estimator or chief estimating or running an entire company, experience under their belt. So when you ask them a question, they're going to be able to respond with an industry standpoint point, or point of view. Now because we do expect these, classes to be pretty large, one thing we're looking to try and utilize is the Cvent app that everyone's gonna have access to to help field some of those questions so that we can display them up on the screen so everyone, knows exactly what has been asked so that we can do our best to answer those, to the degree that is, sufficient for whoever is asking the question. To break that all down for everybody, instead of one large four hour session for the town hall, we've broken it out into three separate sections. So we have the what's new for heavy bid and precon. That's where we show off all of our all of our, new features and functions that we've been working on over the last year, year and a half. We have our focus discussion, which is discovery of features that we're planning on implementing in the next year and make sure that we're on the right path, that's best for for our customers. And then we have the ask the expert q and a sessions. That is the open floor discussion with our contract trainers that, has traditionally been the last part of the town hall. Moving on, the estimating tracks. So for UGM this year, the theme is for estimating is to break the courses down into tracks. Basically, instead of having courses all over the place, we have different tracks. So the courses within that particular track of courses are all relevant to what we would consider for that type of estimator. So we essentially have, five different tracks within the estimating scope. The first one is the heavy bid one zero one. That is for anybody who is new to heavy bid. It is a one zero one level course that essentially will show a new estimator how heavy bid functions and leaving that class, they can go in and they can build an estimate. The next track is a lecture style track for newer estimators. So someone who is not one zero one level, not someone who or someone who has already taken the heavy bid one zero one or someone who is competent enough to complete a heavy bid one zero one, but still needs to learn the basics beyond what you would learn in a very basic one zero one class. We have a lecture track for our experienced estimators. This is essentially where we're gonna be looking at some of the more advanced functions and features and automations that HeavyBid has to offer. And then we have our chief estimator track. This is where we're gonna have some lecture style classes. We're gonna have round table discussions and panelist q and a sessions for those chief estimators. And then for our preconstruction, we have lectures, roundtables, and panels specifically focused on preconstruction. So once again, that's five tracks in the estimating block. We have our one zero one level track. We have a new estimator track, an experienced estimator track, a chief estimator track, and then we have a preconstruction track. Now a little more detail for, the newer estimator track. It's a total of ten topics that are gonna be covered by our contract trainers, Arthur Nicks and Preeelle Shah. Preeelle Shah, you might not have heard of her before. She is a a new contract trainer for us before she was a a granite estimator, and she's currently working as a consultant with Dynamic Preconstruction Services as well as Kyle Brundage. Kyle Brundage is a sing a senior technical support analyst. So if you have ever called in support, there's a good chance you've spoken to him on the phone. Arthur Nicks has been with HCSS since the very beginning. He worked in the construction company, with Mike Ryden when the software was just getting written. So he's been with HeavyBid since Dawson before. Now the idea behind these classes are they're also going to be they're going to be repeat taught a second time. The idea behind that is to give every attendee a chance to attend at least one of those sessions without the chance of missing something else they might want to attend in that same time, time slot. And, again, the content for here is specifically targeted for estimators who are past the one zero one level, but still have a lot to learn about HeavyBid. It's not getting into some of the automations or some of the more advanced functionality, but it covers more than what you just more than just the basics. Yeah. Our track for our experienced estimators, it's gonna have a total of eight topics, and it's covered by Gary Kircher and Jesse Espinosa. Jesse Espinosa is also a newer contract trainer, but he was a former Granite estimator, and he was the founding principal consultant with Dynamic Preconstruction Services. Gary Kircher has been a contract trainer with, HCSS for almost twenty years now, I think, or just over twenty years. He's been with the product for I mean, focused on HeavyBid that entire time and was a user of it and an estimator by trade before that. The classes are gonna be designed, again, with repeat sessions. So every class will be taught twice, giving everybody ample opportunity to attend any other session they might want to attend. Now in in this particular track, the classes are targeted, for estimators that want to dive deeper into the ins and outs of costing, pricing, and automation, those quote automations, some of the ins and outs and whys of how we do summary and spread, and, some of the advanced functions that we have in the bid pricing screen. And then, again, this track is going to include a q and a session with Gary and Jesse as well. Now the track for the chief estimators is gonna be a total of nine topics. This one is gonna be, all contractors. You got Roy Huemer, Hugh McCullough, Tony Rollins, and Ray Zannen. Every one of them has been a contract trainer for years and years as well as an estimator and chief estimator by trade. The chief estimator, track is a really diverse mix. It's gonna have lecture lessons. It's going to have roundtable conversations. Those roundtable conversations are basically designed to get you to talk to other people in the industry about different topics of conversation so that not only are you learning from us, you're learning from other people in the industry about how they might accomplish a similar task that you might be struggling with. And then we're also having panel discussions from industry experts where they share their experiences about, specific topics of conversation. Some of those, are gonna be coming from Access Construction, Diamond Materials, Landmark, AECOM, Balfour Beatty, Granite, CMES, Western Refinery, and HCI. So all of those companies have been gracious enough to lend us one of their experts to join those panel discussions. And then each of those trainers are gonna be hosting q and a sessions of their own. Now in this track, we've also lined up some cross product sessions. So what do we mean by cross product? So in this instance, we've got two of them. Estimating with safety in mind. Basically, we're bringing in some of our safety experts, our HCSS safety program, and how do these two products work together to increase, productivity and safety out in the field. And then estimating and takeoffs with HCSS plans. How does plans help, HeavyBid, and how does HeavyBid help plans? Attract for preconstruction, we're gonna have five topics focused on pre con. They're gonna be covered by Andrew Falcon, Christian Montelongo, Tyler Jones, and Paul Lambert. Paul Lambert is the technical product manager at Preconstruction. Andrew Falcon has been working with the product since its absolute infancy, and he is a product expert. Christian Montelongo is one of our business solution specialists in support, and Tyler Jones is one of our developers who's developed, has been working on preconstruction, the product developing it, I believe, since its infancy as well. Again, this track's similar to the the chief estimators track. It's gonna have a diverse mix. So it's gonna have lectures. It's gonna have round tables, and it's going to have, panel discussions. The panelists are gonna be coming from Anchor Construction and Pyle. And once again, this track is also gonna have q and a sessions. Those q and a sessions are all from every track are going to be attended not only by the contract trainers, but they're also going to be attended by product development and QA so that we can take notes and we can bring those back, to the product managers so we can make the product better for you in the future. Now one more way to give this kind of a visual representation is not only do we have the one zero one level data, but we have our junior estimators. We have our experience estimators, our chief estimators, and precon. All of those together, those five tracks present the entire scope of the estimating circle. Now, one other one other thing that's gonna be going on during all of these sessions are what we call PM office hours. This is something that's a little bit different that we haven't necessarily done in the past. They're going to be twenty five minute sessions that you can sign up for with any product manager that you want. So that's Amanda. That's myself. That's Paul. That's, Frank over in heavy job world. That's Andrew over in plans. That's Hayden in three sixty. You can pick your product manager, and you get a twenty five minute session to talk with us about whatever it is that you want to talk about. The only thing that I ask is when you fill that appointment out, please fill in the description of what it is that you would like to discuss so that if it is about a specific feature or a function or you wanna know call data or something along those lines, we can have that information prepared so that we're spending more time discussing it versus looking up the data for you. Now to to register for those classes, you're gonna go to the Cvent, website where you register for classes currently. You won't see that just yet. The registration for the office hours is going to begin on January twenty ninth. Now I did say Minute Maid was gonna play a big part in UGM this year, and that is where we're hosting the party. In years past, we've we've hosted the party at various locations. We've had it in the hotel. We've had it at Saint Arnold's Brewery. We've had it, I think we had it at Eighth Wonder Brewery one year. We've had it at Topgolf. We've had it at all different kinds of locations. This year, the after party is at Minute Maid Park. If anyone's curious about how to get to Minute Maid Park, it's literally walk across the parking lot from the Marriott. It's extremely close. I could throw a baseball from the Marriott and probably hit Minute Maid. Slight exaggeration, but it's very, very close. Now for anyone curious on any additional information on these estimating tracks, we do have a blog article on h g s s dot com covering some of the classes that are gonna be available for those, estimating tracks, giving you the ability to to make a more informed decision about what classes you would like to sign up for and attend. When I did say that this UGM is projected to be extremely large, in the past, the average UGM was somewhere in the seven hundred or so participant range. So far this year, we have over eight or we have over fifteen hundred attendees registered for UGM so far, and we still have a few weeks left to register for the event. So we expect this to be the largest UGM we've ever had. Does anybody have any questions they'd like to ask? I know that was a lot of information to cover. I'm happy to talk about anything over again, or answer answer any questions specific to UGM that we didn't necessarily cover in in this discussion. Again, if you have any any questions, make sure to go to the q and a tab, on your menu panel so that, we can we can see it and we can answer it appropriately. How soon will this webinar be made available? Usually, they take about a week or so to Amanda, if you'd like to go ahead and answer, you're absolutely welcome to unless you want me to No. I was just marking we're we're all learning a new system. I was just marking that you are answering it live right now. Oh, okay. Usually, the webinar is about a one week turnaround. So once we complete this, it goes to, it goes to our education services team. They edit out kind of the dead space between before the meeting actually starts and the meeting actually ends. They edit that out, and then they'll post it on, help dot h g s s dot com. Alright. I'm gonna leave the q and a open for another couple minutes, and then, we don't have anything. I'll let everybody go, and I'll see you at UGM. Oh, for anyone curious, next month's webinar is going to be a UGM recap. By UGM recap, I mean, we're gonna chat about some of their requests that came out of UGM and get, all of our participants' feedback on some of those requests. Alright. I'm not seeing any other questions. I'm gonna give it another minute here, see if anything comes up. Alright. I'm not seeing any other questions. If anyone has any questions, you're welcome to to give us a call. One eight hundred four four four three one nine six. That'll take you to the to the general line. You're also welcome to email me personally at aaron, a a r o n, dot allshaus, a l l, s as in Sam, h o u s e at h c s s dot com. And you can, email me with any questions related to the webinar or heavy bid in general. If it's something that I can't answer, I will get an answer, and I will get back to you. But thank you everybody for attending. I'll let you go, and y'all have a good rest of the day. Okay?