Canadian boat builders and repair yard owners will find the American Boat Builders & Repairers Association (ABBRA) Annual Conference (also known as the “Summer Symposium”) as a potential source of information and ideas.

The 2011 Annual Conference will kick off with a keynote address from James Brewer of Derecktor Shipyard, the yard responsible for building and launching the 281’ superyacht Cakewalk. Brewer’s presentation at the conference, scheduled for July 18–19, 2011, at the Fairfield Inn & Suites in New Bedford, Massachusetts, will detail the process by which Derecktor Connecticut was able to build trusting and collaborative relationships with clients, employees, and subcontractors during the yard’s largest build to date.

ABBRA’s Annual Conference includes informative and timely sessions and panel discussions, such as Compliance & the Cost of Going Green, presented by Paul Kaplan of Keefe Kaplan Maritime, Bill Munger of Conanicut Marine Services, and Kellie Thornell-Crete of Ink, Inc., and Lessons from the Gulf Oil Spill: Legal and Scientific Views on a Natural Disaster, presented by John Fitzgerald of Saunders Yachtworks, a boat yard in the Gulf, and Dennis Nixon from the University of Rhode Island.

Additional highlights from ABBRA’s Annual Conference agenda include such built-in networking opportunities as luncheons and evening receptions and more sessions, including E-technology–How to Navigate the Information Super-highway, New and Revised ABYC Standards, Successful Strategies for Building and Retaining a Knowledgeable Workforce, new technology and training requirements for the Boat yard of the future and Business Management   systems in the Cloud, where panelists will discuss new web-based management software technologies.

The ABBRA Annual Conference full agenda including speakers and panel members is available on the event website, www.abbra.org/annual-conference.

Registration and information about hotel rates, event location, sponsor opportunities, and the annual field trip are available in detail by visiting http://www.abbra.org/annual-conference or by contacting Jessica Slemons at jslemons@abbra.org