The Spec Shaman Summit • San Antonio, Fall 2026

The Spec Shaman Summit is a networking and education event for building product industry sales representatives and managers, marketing teams, and top executives. In addition to peers in your industry, you will meet and learn from top sales and marketing strategists, specification writers, architectural specification representatives, design professionals and other experts in the building product specification industry.

This exceptional gathering aims to empower manufacturers like you with invaluable insights and proven tactics to successfully get your products specified, reach decision-makers, save time and money, and unlock opportunities for your company. During this engaging event, you will learn how to reach decision-makers, enhance your product visibility, and streamline the specification process. Our distinguished speakers will share their success stories and reveal the key strategies they have employed to secure specifications and establish their products as industry leaders.

Moreover, you will have the unique opportunity to gain insights into getting specified for LEED projects, aligning your products with sustainable building practices. Understanding the specific requirements and nuances of LEED projects is crucial in today's environmentally conscious landscape, and our event will provide you with the necessary knowledge to excel in this domain.

The event will feature a series of enlightening presentations, thought-provoking panel discussions, and interactive breakout sessions. Additionally, there will be ample time for networking, allowing you to connect with like-minded professionals, forge new alliances, and expand your business network. We eagerly anticipate your participation in this transformative event, where you will gain the necessary knowledge and strategies to excel in the realm of building product specification.

All attendees receive a copy of our book: Built To Last: Specification Secrets By Industry Giants

• Learn proven strategies for reaching decision-makers and enhancing product visibility/
• Gain a comprehensive understanding of the specification process and explore ways to streamline it for maximum efficiency.
• Discover techniques to save time and money throughout the specification journey.
• Acquire insights into the intricacies of getting specified for LEED projects and leveraging sustainable documentation including HPDs, EPDs, and Declare Labels
• Engage in interactive discussions with industry experts, exchanging ideas and receiving personalized advice.
• Expand your professional network by connecting with fellow manufacturers, industry leaders, and decision-makers.

8:00 am - 8:30 am

8:30 am - 9:40 am • Presentation
The Care and Feeding of Product Reps

Learn how tried and true techniques can increase your effectiveness when working with design professionals.

What you will learn:

• It is all about relationships- Knowledge, Service, Reliability, Quality Follow-Up

• How to Reach the architect? Communication and Continuing Education

• How to Call on an Architect- Appointments and Opportunities

• Lead Generation and Manufacturers support

• Independent Reps, Traveling with a Manufacturer?

Roy Schauffele, FCSI, CCPR, FABAA, LEED Green Assoc., CABS
Division7 Solutions

9:50 pm - 12:15 pm • Presentation

Product Specification Essentials

This session is designed to help building product manufacturers navigate the commercial construction market by securing their products in project specifications. This class covers the key decision-makers in the design process, the challenges manufacturers face, and the factors that influence product selection. Attendees will gain a deeper understanding of construction documents, submittals, and the most effective ways to present technical information to design professionals. By mastering these essentials, manufacturers can improve their outreach strategies and increase the likelihood of their products being chosen for commercial construction projects.

What you will learn:

• Understanding Design Professionals

• Issues you will face

• Types of representatives that work with design professionals

• Factors affecting product decisions

• Understanding construction documents

• Why products are selected

• Effective product information
• Understanding construction submittals
• Reaching the design professional
• Effective technical assistance
  

Matt Johnson, Director of Manufacturer Services
BPM Services / RIB Speclink

12:15 pm - 1:00 pm

1:00 pm - 2:30 pm • Presentation

A Practical Guide to Sustainability for Building Product Manufacturers

Environmental Product Declarations (EPD) are showing up in project specs, procurement requirements, and sustainability frameworks across the industry. However, for most manufacturers, the process of understanding and obtaining one remains unclear. This session walks through the what, why, and how of EPDs in plain language, giving manufacturers a practical foundation to take action and put their EPDs to work and create new opportunities.

What you will learn:

Why manufacturers are central to the embodied carbon conversation, and how the materials you produce account for the majority of a building's embodied emissions.

• What LCA and EPDs actually are and how lifecycle assessment works

• What is driving EPD demand across the industry

• The regulatory landscape shaping EPD adoption today and what's coming including LEED v5, Buy Clean, and CalGreen

• How EPDs are made, step by step including what the process involves, what you as a manufacturer need to provide, and how to evaluate your options for getting it done.

• How to use a published EPD as a marketing and sales asset, from responding to spec requirements and supporting LEED credits to communicating your environmental performance and opening new commercial opportunities.

Presentation Agenda

EPDs for Manufacturers — Workshop

A practical session that runs from "why should I care" all the way to "what do I do with this."

1. The Environmental Impact of Construction & the Role of Manufacturers — Why manufacturers are directly in the sustainability conversation, whether they're ready or not.

2. What is LCA & EPD? — The tools for measuring environmental impact (LCA) and communicating it in a standardized way (EPD).

3. What's Driving Demand for EPDs — Specifiers, AEC carbon targets, owners' embodied carbon thresholds, competitors, and tightening regulations.

4. The Regulatory Landscape — LEED v5, Buy Clean Act, CalGreen and more: what's required today vs. what's coming.

5. How to Get an EPD — The Process — Each step from data collection to publication, what the manufacturer actually has to do, and how to choose between consultants and software platforms.

6. What To Do With Your EPD to Maximize ROI — Using it in bids and RFPs, earning LEED credits for your customers, sustainability marketing, and a foundation for future product improvement.

7. Q&A — Open floor, closing with a clear suggested first action.

Aida Mollaei, PhD - Business Development Manager, Sustainability - BIMobject

2:40 pm - 5:00 pm • Presentation

In a world where budgets are tight and resources limited, the quest to not only be listed in specifications but to get the order can often feel like a high-stakes game. Building product manufacturers understand that newer construction methods and higher quality products are often at a disadvantage when viewed through the limited lens of specifications. Discover how to decode the unique challenges each product faces when it comes to adoption and learn how to craft a focused strategy that not only conquers the market but also fits comfortably within your budget constraints.

What you will learn:

• How to break down the unique product adoption challenges different categories of products face and the strategies that best address each.
• Provide an overview of different specification and technology trends observed across hundreds of building product manufacturers.
• Track the shift in how products are specified in the growing owner's market, and how the firm you’ve targeted for a large upcoming project may not be making the product decisions (but won’t tell you).
• Understand how changes in project information data collection methods affect the types of projects you’ll see on platforms like Construct Connect and Dodge, and how this directly affects effort to secure basis of design and sole source work.
• Set realistic expectations for your organization regarding ROI related to BIM and product selection, and see why many firms are pivoting to a 2nd phase BIM strategy.
• Review sustainability benchmarking and the shift to carbon lifecycle (EC3). Is it time to invest in a EC3 rating?
• Discuss the rise of Collaborative Design as the primary strategy for obtaining basis of design projects for complex assemblies and premium products.

1. The good, the bad & the ugly; Assessing 3rd party programs and technology that promise to help get your products specified.
2. Why is our industry data so disconnected? What new efforts to break through siloed product data are in the pipeline?
3. Learn to separate which specific AI construction technologies are safe bets from those that have high failure rates and be able to explain these factors to other key stakeholders.
4. How to utilize the Gartner Hyper curve as a tool to explain technology investment risk to your company principals.

Matt Johnson, Director of Manufacturer Services
BPM Services / RIB Speclink

5:30 pm - 7:30 pm

8:00 am - 8:30 am

8:30 am - 10:20 am • Presentation

• BIM Basics - Review for newbies
• BIM Workflow - Understand how your design customers work with BIM
• BIM Content - Explore the different types of products and how they fit in BIM
• Open Discussion with the experts

Jim Conger, Director of Strategic Alliances • BIMobject

10:30 am - 12:00 pm • Presentation

Building product manufacturers have access to more market information than ever before, yet much of it remains fragmented across websites, project databases, specification systems, CRM platforms, sustainability resources, and internal knowledge repositories. As AI capabilities continue to evolve, firms that can systematically collect, organize, and enrich this information will gain a significant advantage in identifying opportunities, supporting sales teams, and responding to competitive threats.

This session explores how building product manufacturers can create an AI-powered market intelligence pipeline that transforms fragmented project, firm, product, and specification data into actionable business intelligence. Participants will learn best practices for developing AI-ready datasets, deploying agentic AI tools, and implementing effective methods for data collection, aggregation, normalization, and enrichment to support reliable analysis and reporting. The session will also demonstrate how natural-language AI interfaces can enable sales teams and product representatives to interact with complex datasets using simple prompts and questions. Finally, attendees will learn how AI can potentially support the identification of product substitution opportunities at scale, creating a framework for more effective opportunity identification and prioritization.

Matt Johnson, Director of Manufacturer Services
BPM Services / RIB Speclink

12:00 pm - 1:00 pm

1:00 pm - 2:30 pm • Panel Discussion

Panel consisting of a n Architect/Specwriter, Engineer, Interior Designer & Contractor

More details coming soon...

2:45 pm - 3:45 pm • Presentation

• Learn how to develop powerful AIA and LEED podcasts and distribute them on major platforms like Spotify, Amazon, and Apple to reach specifiers.
• Explore how AI tools can save time, cut costs, and create compelling content for engaging design professionals.
• Discuss how to use data, surveys, and lead generation tools to drive product specifications and save your team time and money.
• Review best practices to engage audiences, avoid common mistakes, and increase product specifications via webinars, podcasts, and media campaigns.

3:45 pm - 4:00 pm

Moderated By:

Ron Blank, CSI, CDT • Ron Blank & Associates, Inc.|

Landon Boone, CSI, LEED AP • Ron Blank & Associates, Inc.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Drury Plaza Hotel San Antonio Riverwalk, 105 South Saint Mary's Street, San Antonio, United States

Concerts, fests, parties, meetups - all the happenings, one place.

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