What we are looking for 

Nexus is not a contract management conference. Topics that are a great fit at World Congress may not be a fit for a multi-functional acquisition team. We are looking for topics that cut right to specific challenges that buyer-seller acquisition teams face with an intent to leverage NCMA’s neutral forum and tackle them head on. 

• Sessions that provide a strong foundation and meaningful practice on essential acquisition skills: 
  • Requirements development– How to ask the right questions up front and involve the right team members, at the right time. 
  • Selecting a contract type – not just for contract managers, the type impacts all team members driving the requirement and monitoring success. 
  • Data rights and intellectual property 
  • Market Research that leads to real solutions. 
  • Quality assurance – how do we make sure we got what we paid for and translate that information into smarter buys?

• Sessions on the big, challenging compliance requirements all team members need to understand – how to comply while driving mission success:
  • Cybersecurity 
  • Supply chain 
  • Small business engagement 
  • Etc. 

• How to attract and retain the right talent. How are agencies and organizations dealing with the workforce shortage? 
• Buyer and seller culture changes around communication, demonstrating an understanding of current challenges and landscape of buyer-seller communication. 
• Understanding pricing and profit from a seller’s standpoint. 
• How customers can bring solutions to their buyers. 
• Translating real buyer-seller conversations into executable invitations to industry. 
• Success stories that share what worked and how others can replicate it. 
• Leadership sessions geared toward how leaders can empower teams and drive innovation. 

Topics to avoid 

• Sessions that are geared toward contracting professionals or center around contract management-specific topics. 
• Sessions that are a high-level briefing on a topic but do not tackle a challenge head-on. 
• Fireside chats, panels and keynotes geared toward sharing perspectives out, that do not heavily engage participants in tackling challenges.  
• Lengthy slide deck-driven presentations. 
• Sessions that specific to one agency or are Department of Defense-centric. 
• Sessions that do not recognize both industry and government acquisition team perspectives (may be geared toward one or the other). 
• Sessions that are too specific to one type of procurement, for example, construction. 
• Sessions that try to tackle too much, i.e. “fix the whole process from A to Z.” 

Session Types

• 1-hr Conversations: A session with round tables designed to get people talking and sharing ideas across functions and across buyer-seller roles. Conversation sessions are facilitated, not presented and capture new perspectives and ideas brought forward. Session proposals should share how facilitation will drive meaningful discussion, share out takeaways and create a sense of safety and/or anonymity in sharing candid viewpoints. 
• 1-hr Training: Sessions with round tables designed to provide meaningful information and practice on an important acquisition skill or challenge. 
• 2.5-hr Workshop: Sessions with round tables designed to have participants tackle a real-world or close-to-real-world acquisition challenge, leveraging the roles and functions of each team member

If selected for further review, NCMA may ask you to consider a different format for your topic, pair with another presenter, or otherwise tweak your content to complement the intent of the event and other sessions on the agenda. 

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