Catalyst 2025 Held in New Orleans

NEW ORLEANS, LA — Quality Service Contractors (QSC), the enhanced services group of the Plumbing-Heating-Cooling Contractors – National Association (PHCC), recently concluded their annual conference, Catalyst (formerly known as the QSC Power Meeting), at the Monteleone Hotel in historic New Orleans.

This year’s conference featured the tagline, “Unmasking the Future,” which both underscored the Mardi Gras setting and highlighted the main aim of the event: delivering actionable insights and strategies to make the future more successful for attendees.

Sessions

A pre-event session from Jotforms, an online form-building platform, kicked off the conference. Speakers Laurie McGraw and Erica Barnes explained how the platform can improves access to resources for workers in the field, while streamlining workflows back at the office.

Steve Truett, President of Your Sixth Man, a consulting firm specializing in business coaching and leadership development—and former President of Aire Serv Heating & Air Conditioning in Waco, TX—delivered the conference’s keynote presentation, Getting Results Through Others. 

Other sessions covered workforce development (Never Hire Less Than a 5-Star Employee from Danielle Mulvey, Strategies to Connect and Engage a Multi-Generational Workforce from Ryan Jenkins), marketing (Building a Data Driven marketing Strategy from Matt Eckhart and Christian Dunworthy of Scorpion) and getting the most out of Artificial Intelligence (Elevating Your Business with AI: Best Practices, Ethics and Strategic Implementation from Colleen Keyworth).

Breakouts

Breakout sessions offered participants the chance to take a deeper dive on important topics, such as building meaningful business relationships (It’s All About Relationships from keynote speaker Steve Truett) and navigating change (From Resistance to Resilience: Navigating Change with Confidence from Ron Cerceo).

But if the Catalyst event had a can’t-miss session, it was probably New Congress, New Administration, New Priorities from Mark Valentini, PHCC’s Vice President of Legislative Affairs. The discussion touched on changes to energy policy, workforce development, and taxes, and what they all mean for plumbing, heating and cooling contractors.

Networking

Perhaps the highlight of any QSC annual meeting is the people you get to meet. Many networking events were on offer at Catalyst 2025, including breakfasts, lunches and coffee breaks.

The Industry Partner Exhibition allowed attendees to engage with industry partners, see product demonstrations, and get hands-on with new tools and materials. The exhibition also offered a scavenger hunt to make visiting the booths just that little bit more exiting.

Q-List Live was a chance to get one-on-one with QSC business coaches to brainstorm and exchange experiences. Discussion topics were offered by attendees during the registration process.

Mardi Gras World brought together teams of 8 to 10 to design and build their own float, assisted by local artisans. The event included presentations, awards, a mini-parade, as well as dinner and drinks.

The closing event of Catalyst 2025 was the  Ballads & Beignets Masquerade, an opportunity to mask up and enjoy drinks, desserts, and musical performances.

The next big event on the PHCC calendar will be CONNECT, the annual association conference, to be held in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Oct. 27-30 at DeVos Place. To register visit www.phccweb.org/phccconnect2025-save-the-date.