Breakout Sessions

Fat-Free Gracewriting
Wimpy writing just doesn’t get results! Gracewriting® teaches you to write with power by being clear, concise and correct. We help you write with grace by putting your reader’s needs first.
Fat-Free Gracewriting is our module that focuses on writing clearly and concisely. In today’s lightning-fast business environment, no one has time to read wordy emails, letters, or proposals. Murky writing certainly isn’t going to get us from the RFP to the shortlist. It’s time to put our writing on a diet!
Our workshop involves a lot more than putting pen to paper. We play games. We compete. We make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches! What does that have to do with better writing?  Everything! Be ready to be big and bold as you experience Gracewriting®.


Key learning points 
•    Make the Human Connection® by putting your reader first. It’s not about you; it’s all about them!
•    Tap into the power of the English language by replacing weak verbs, nouns and adjectives with strong action verbs. Powerful language is persuasive language.
•    Write to express ideas in a simple, clear manner by eliminating time-wasters like unnecessary words, stuffy clichés, and unfamiliar jargon.
•    Convey specific details so that your reader can easily and quickly absorb information.
 
Speakers 
•    Jen Hebblethwaite - Graceworks

SunTrust Transforms: “Aligning with the Speed of Business"
In 2012, SunTrust Corporate Real Estate (CRE) was given three mandates by the CFO:
1. Re-engineer the CRE organization to lower cost through outsourcing and shift the focus from
tactical (transactions, projects) to strategic (alignment with business strategy)
2. Optimize the real estate portfolio to significantly reduce on-going expenses
3. Reinforce SunTrust's culture and help teammates do their best work by redefining the workplace to make what SunTrust cares about visible by redefining the workplace, supporting the new culture and helping our teammates shine!
Adopting the guiding principle that "Speed trumps Perfection", the SunTrust CRE team was able to make bold strategic moves in months where others take years. Our panelists will share what SunTrust has been able to achieve over a short time horizon, how they did it, and discoveries they have made along the way.
Participants will learn:
1. How to align CRE priorities with the company vision through improved relationships with the Csuite.
2. How to partner with service providers to make CRE operations more effective while reducing the cost of the CRE function.
3. How to expedite delivery of significant contributions to the bottom line. In just 18 months, CRE
developed and implemented a strategy that reduces real estate expenses by 15% and rolled out a
new “Productive Mobility” workplace strategy.
4. How to effectively manage a transformational real estate change. Aligning with company goals, developing strong partnerships and making the business a part of the change are 3 major
components that CRE leveraged to effect organizational change that drove fast and effective
results.
A panel of SunTrust executive leadership and service provider partners will reflect on critical success factors, lessons learned, and what is next on the horizon in SunTrust's journey to reinvent the Corporate Real Estate function and the Workplace in months where others take years. With the vision to drive teammate satisfaction and productivity, influence business real estate strategy, and support growth, new success factors for CRE have emerged. These include greater integration with Human Resources and IT, a stronger focus on Line of Business relationship management, and a growing need for visible C-suite endorsement.

Key learning points
•    Participants will be able to value aligning CRE priorities with the company vision. SunTrust’s “Purpose” is a client commitment to Lighting the Way to Financial Well-Being. CRE contributes to Purpose by making what SunTrust cares about visible by driving the new culture through workplace innovation.
•     Participants will be able to apply the value of executive sponsorship to supercharge and expedite
delivery of significant contributions to the bottom line. In just 18 months, CRE transformed, developed a strategy that reduces NIE 15% and rolled out a new Productive Mobility workplace strategy.
•     Participants will be able to consider 3 methods of owning a transformational change. Aligning with
company goals, developing strong partnerships and making the business a part of the change are 3 major components CRE leveraged to effect organizational change that drove fast and effective results.
•     Participants will learn about transformational real estate change within an organization.
 
Speakers 
•    Bryan Berthold, Sr. - SunTrust Bank

Utilizing Brand Power to Transform the Workplace
While planning for a transformation of their world headquarters, The Coca-Cola Company recognized that the most important asset to a thriving future is their flagship brand – and is ensuring that all planning has the Brand identity at its core.  What does this mean in regards to space?  Since beginning renovations in the Summer of 2013, every renovated setting unveiled to the fully-occupied campus is being built with consideration around how best to represent Brand Coca-Cola and promote innovation, connectivity and productivity for The Coca-Cola Company’s ideal current and future workforce.  

Key learning points 
•    The brand is more than its literal interpretation:  consider the deepest meaning of your Company’s brand and how to reflect that inside.
•    The space enables the work:  respond to how employees work today, rather than prescribe how they must work
•    The campus fosters ambassadors:  the full employee and guest experience are critical to planning managed like any brand, the space can create business advocates and draw out desired behaviors   
•    The office environment needs to attract tomorrow’s leaders today:  the space must resonate with young people coming from today's innovative high school and college classrooms
 
Speakers 
•    Julie Seitz - The Coca-Cola Company
•    Kate Culver - The Coca-Cola Company

Lease Accounting Rule Changes Are Coming! 
​Accounting for leases has remained relatively unchanged in the United States since 1976. Not anymore.
This session will provide you with detailed explanations of proposed changes to lease accounting, focusing primarily on the lessee’s perspective. Participants will discuss the proposed alternative approaches considered by the FASB and the IASB, how to measure the initial and subsequent values of lease assets and liabilities and how to evaluate the impact of the proposed alternative approaches on their financial statements.

Key learning points 
•    What companies will be affected by the new accounting rules? (Hint: All of them).
•    All Leases will be Capitalized on the Balance Sheet – Learn how.
•    Learn the New Proposed Classifications of different lease types
•    Learn how we will transition from the current rules to the new rules and the effect it will have on real estate portfolios and decision making.

Speakers 
•    Justin Kuczmarski, MBA, CPA, CVA, CIRA, ABV - Crowe Horwath LLP
​•    George Azih - LeaseQuery