Megavention 2010

On August 25, 2010, the first Mid-Atlantic MEGAvention, an exhibit/expo-type event, is being hosted at the Virginia Beach Conference Center. It is organized under the auspices of DBIA (Design-Build Institute of America) in anticipation of this becoming an annual multi-organizational event. The Steering Committee for this first event is comprised of representatives from each of these cooperating associations:

• American Institute of Architects-Hampton Roads Chapter (AIA-HR),
• Associated Builders and Contractors-Virginia Chapter (ABC-VA),
• Associated General Contractors of Virginia (AGCVA),
• Builders and Contractors Exchange of Virginia (BCEVA),
• Commercial Real Estate Women-Hampton Roads (CREW-HR),
• Design-Build Institute of America, Hampton Roads Chapter (DBIA-HR)
• Hampton Roads Association for Commercial Real Estate (HRACRE),
• Hampton Roads Utility & Heavy Contractors Association (HRUHCA),
• Professional Construction Estimators Association (PCEA),
• The Blue Book Building & Construction Network (GC Blue Book),
• U.S. Green Building Council-Hampton Roads Chapter (USGBC-HR), and
• Urban Land Institute (ULI-HR).

The luncheon will feature Virginia Lieutenant Governor Bill Bolling as the Keynote Speaker. It is recommended that everyone pre-register by midnight on August 19th in order to be guaranteed a seat at lunch.

Schedule of events:

10:30 a.m. – 11:15 a.m. On-site registration open

11:15 a.m. – 1:45 p.m. Luncheon

2:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. Exhibit Hall open and Breakout Sessions

4:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. Cocktail Reception in Exhibit Hall

Three tracks of concurrent educational sessions will occur after lunch and include:

• Track 1 – Military and Hampton Roads Economic Development
• Track 2 – Energy and Transportation
• Track 3 – Facilities

Confirmed speakers include:

• Amy Parkhurst – Hampton Roads Economic Development Alliance and Dana Dickens – Hampton Roads Partnership
• Warren Hammer and Brian Kroll- Virginia Economic Development Partnership and Russell Held- Virginia Port Authority
• Paul Wang – NAVFAC Mid-Atlantic
• Josh Prueher – Virginia Offshore Wind Coalition
• Bob Fenning and Russ Pearson – Old Dominion University and John Massey – Tidewater Community College
• Jorge Nadal – Division of Army Corp of Engineers Mid-Atlantic
• Thelma Drake- Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation

The Exhibit Hall, open after lunch for everyone to visit booths, had over 125 exhibitors scheduled to participate as of the beginning of August.