Coming to a show for the first time can be daunting. This session will give you one-on-one time with other first time attendees, the GFX show organizers, and magazine writers. Get an inside look at the schedule and show highlights. Think of us as your personal tour guides for the show.

This event within an event will be a mix of ride and drives, hands-on training, experiential learning, and a technology showcase. Plus, a fun street fair atmosphere with food, drinks, games and prizes.

The Municipal Equipment Maintenance Association (MEMA), an association with chapters in California and Ohio, returns with educational sessions focusing on fleet operations and best business practices.

What is the path to fleet leadership — and beyond? Two department directors with different backgrounds — one “rising through the ranks” and the other “an outsider with transferrable skills” — discuss their journeys to fleet leadership positions and explain why it’s essential to broaden knowledge beyond one’s key responsibilities and the factors that affect professional growth. Learn how to assess the leadership opportunities around you and those you may need to create for yourself, frame a conversation with your manager about the tools you need to get to the next professional level, and prepare for the unique challenges in your journey toward leadership.

Keynote Speakers: Mario F. Guzman, Director of Support Services, City of West Palm Beach, FL; Chichi Nyagah-Nash, Director of General Services, City of Baltimore, MD

Join us for small bites, drinks, and conversation with your peers.

Body language expert, Janine Driver, shares secrets on how to use body language to enhance your leadership and human connections to build stronger teams, hire and retain employees, and effectively engage your customers.

Presenter: Janine Driver

Public fleets often serve as a change model for private fleets and the general public when they incorporate new technologies, such as connected vehicles. Connected vehicles can communicate wirelessly with traffic signals, taxis, work zones, trucks, and even pedestrians. Learn about the USDOT’s projects with two different government fleets (New York City and Wyoming) to create real-world environments that will test this technology, and actions you can take today to ensure your agencies are prepared for the fleets of tomorrow.            

Presenter: Mike Pina, Program Manager, Communications & Outreach, U.S. Department of Transportation, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Development

To achieve fleet excellence, fleet operations must have the right customer service tools to exceed customer expectations. Learn about these simple tools to improve your operation and your relationship with customers, while also boosting performance, quality, professionalism, and teamwork.

Presenter: Keith Marian, Fleet Superintendent, City of Orange, CA, Public Works Department

What’s new with law enforcement vehicles? Learn from OEM representatives about the latest updates to law enforcement vehicles and motorcycles, details about upfitting, and new safety updates. In addition, attendees can ask questions in an extended Q&A.

Enjoy a buffet lunch in the Exhibit Hall from 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm.

How does your fleet compare to others in the industry? In this presentation, Utilimarc and AssetWorks team up to share valuable insights from their government fleet benchmarking data, including technician productivity, maintenance costs, fuel spend, fleet mix makeup, staffing ratios, and more.              

Presenters: Debra Wolfe, Director of Product Strategy, AssetWorks; Chris Shaffer, CEO, Utilimarc

Labor rates vary wildly from fleet to fleet, and factors affecting this rate include regional pay scales, what’s included in the rate, and productivity standards. So, when it comes time to benchmark, especially with local private-sector providers, the numbers aren’t quite accurate. Join this discussion about shop productivity and billable hours, what to include in your rates, what affects these numbers, and how to talk to executive leadership about billable hours and rate comparisons.

Moderator: Kevin Devery, Fleet Manager, City of Tempe, AZ
 

Some fleet managers cringe at the idea of starting a shared vehicle fleet. Common concerns include “we won’t have enough vehicles,” “people don’t like to share,” or “it will be difficult to manage.” How do fleet managers address and overcome these concerns? Get advice from fleet managers who have “been there and done that” to reduce costs, save time, and improve service.

Moderator: Ed Smith, President & CEO, Agile Fleet

Presenters: Dennis Falconer, Vehicle Maintenance Manager, City of Boise, ID; Kevin Myose, Fleet Manager, San Joaquin County, CA

Municipalities and state fleets often set fleet cleaning goals, and it’s up to the fleet manager to implement them. Learn about San Diego County’s roadmap to 500 electric vehicles (EVs) by 2027, its challenges and solutions in reaching this goal, how it set realistic year-over-year increments for conversion, and how the county is preparing charging infrastructure for its growing EV fleet.

Presenters: Bradley Northup, Fleet Manager, City of Carlsbad, CA; Charles Marchesano, Chief Departmental Operations, Energy & Sustainability, County of San Diego, CA; John Manring, Chief Departmental Operations, Fleet Management, County of San Diego, CA

The technician shortage is not going away, and new recruiting methods and increasing technician compensation are two ways fleet managers are combating this problem. Join a discussion with your peers about proven techniques for getting good applicants, building pathways for promotions in your shop, and how to convince senior management and elected leaders that you need to increase your team’s pay scales.

For every fleet problem, there’s likely a solution. Learn about how fleets around the nation have solved their problems with new technology, innovative service providers, and new ways of doing business. Our vendor partners will be presenting case studies of solutions their clients have implemented, as well as actual results and data.

Following a 25-minute reception, Government Fleet magazine will recognize the 50 Leading Fleets, announcing rankings for the top 20, and the top fleets in three size categories. The magazine will also honor the Public Fleet Hall of Fame inductees, and announce the Legendary Lifetime Achievement Award winner and the 2020 Public Sector Fleet Manager of the Year.

Leading Fleets Award 

Sponsored by

Public Sector Fleet Manager of the Year

Sponsored by 

Public Fleet Hall of Fame + Legendary Lifetime Achievement Award

Sponsored by 

We invite all awards recipients to join in a photo shoot for the magazine immediately following the Honors Celebration. 

Join us for an evening of networking, food and festivities.

A full continental breakfast will be served from 8:00am - 8:30am.  

Heavy equipment, such as construction and off-road equipment, can be costly and time-consuming to procure. Whether it’s writing the right specs, or using cooperative or pre-existing contacts, or obtaining no- or no-cost surplus equipment, learn best practices for streamlining your equipment procurement process from fellow fleet managers.

Data from telematics, fuel management systems, fleet management systems, and from other sources can be overwhelming — especially for small fleet operations without a data analyst. What should you be paying attention to, what can you ignore, and what can you do with the data you do collect? Learn from a leading consultant some of the top data points to collect and what decisions you can make from the data to enhance your operation.

Presenter: Brad Kelley, Sr. Vice President, Mercury Associates, Inc.

Although many public agencies set their sights on electrification when it comes to sustainability initiatives, there are more alternative fuels to choose from. Learn proven sustainability strategies from fleet managers using different alternative fuels — including electric and hydrogen-powered vehicles, renewable diesel and renewable gasoline, natural gas, and heavy-duty EVs — what applications these are best used for, costs and implementation, and how to establish a compelling business case for your alt-fuel program.

Moderator: To be announced

Presenters: Philip Saunders, Green Fleet Program Manager, City of Seattle, WA; Mark Stevens, Fleet Manager, City of Sacramento, CA

Enjoy a buffet lunch in the exhibit hall.

What Fleet Managers Can Do About Risky Driving
Some government fleet managers leave driver behavior to other departments, but there are things they can do to improve driver safety. Learn the riskiest behaviors exhibited by government fleet drivers, what to do about them, and how the fleet department can actually influence and improve driver behavior to protect employees and vehicles. 

Presenter: Rob Donahue, Sr. Director, Government, Lytx

7 Design Principles of Highly Effective Fleet Repair Garages   
Many fleet operations are working in crowded and outdated facilities. Learn the seven core design principles of fleet maintenance facilities, including the recommended design standards, actual field applications and their results. Additionally, attendees will learn about small changes they can make in their existing facility to comply with these design principles to improve efficiency, safety, and security.   

Presenters: Jeff Tews, Fleet Manager, City of Milwaukee, WI, Public Works; Norman Barrientos, Principal Architect, Barrientos Design & Consulting, Inc

What are your biggest challenges? Whether it’s fuel management or budgeting concerns, this interactive session gives you a chance to discuss these topics and more with your peers and brainstorm solutions. Then, learn from the rest of the group as other fleet managers share the best solutions their groups found.

Ice cream will be served.

Before you say goodbye, join us for good conversation and drinks to round-out your GFX experience.

Learn about the latest features in AssetWorks’ FleetFocus fleet management software, as well as the FuelFocus fuel management system, KeyValet automated motor pool solution and integrated GPS. AssetWorks senior project management staff will review all the great features in the current release, discuss what is in the pipeline for the next release, and help with all functionality questions. Interact with other AssetWorks users to learn how they cope with the business challenges you face every day. Lunch will be included.

This session will include an overview of FASTER Web including the business intelligence and FASTER’s Web add-ons including: motorpool reservation and dispatch; VIN decoder; inventory import utility; and more. Then the session will include an overview of FASTER Win including reports and system switches, and we will remind users of general tools that are often forgotten.