2024 Congress Retrospective: What We Learned Last Year

As we near the six-month mark between this year’s and last year’s Congress, we’re revisiting highlights from the 2024 LCI Congress, held in beautiful San Diego, California. Enjoy this lookback as we gear up for the 2025 LCI Congress, October 20-24, in Arlington, Texas, where we’ll build on last year’s insights, connections, and excitement! Mark your calendar and stay tuned for more details.

The Video Highlights

From inspiring speakers to engaging sessions, the 2024 LCI Congress was truly unforgettable. The theme, Surfing the Wave of Lean Design and Construction, brought together industry leaders, Lean champions, and professionals across disciplines for fantastic networking, learning, and collaboration.

Check out these highlights to relive some of the best moments:

Jennifer Lacy, Lean Practice Leader for Robins & Morton, 2024 Congress Presenter, and 2025 Congress Co-Chair, shared her thoughts on the 2024 Congress: “What a week it has been! Summing it up into one word….Impactful! I use that word because I am witnessing, not just how what we are doing is impacting me, but I have a front-row seat watching the evolution and growth of those around us. Thank you to all of you who remind me every day why I love what we do!”

The 2024 Stats

Last year’s Congress reached an all-time high attendance of over 1,600 attendees, and we’re building on its success for an even bigger 2025 Congress!

The 2024 Congress included:

Attendees spanning over 225 owners representing 68 organizations, and hundreds of design community, trade partner, and general contractor attendees. Our attendees represented 47 states. 13% of our attendees travelled from outside the United States to attend.
Over 60 Core Program breakout sessions, 28 Learning Day courses, four Gemba Tours, networking events, general sessions, and more!
31 number of exhibitors

The Core Program featured stories from the field and exceptional speakers. Presenters shared their struggles and connected with attendees to drive progress together. Live labs provided an effective opportunity to witness, learn, and participate in Lean tactics in real time.

A Stand-Out Keynote

Jocko Willink took the stage to share his unique story of overcoming challenges and powerful insights on leadership. A retired Navy SEAL, Co-author of the #1 New York Best Seller: Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win, and Co-founder of Echelon Front LLC, a leadership consulting company, Jocko covered leadership, accountability, and more in his inspiring, impactful address.

Participants gained a deeper understanding of the fundamental leadership principles of Extreme Ownership and saw how these principles overlap and can have a symbiotic relationship with Lean construction methods.

Jennifer Lacy noted that “one of the 2024 Congress highlights was the keynote speaker, Jocko Willink. My takeaways were: building relationships within and between teams is crucial for effective teamwork and mission success; plans should be simple and clear so that every team member can understand and execute them effectively; and leadership involves balancing opposing forces, such as ownership and delegation, communication, and planning. Leaders must avoid extremes and strive for balance in all aspects.”

Session Feature: The National Owner Panel

The National Owner Panel also stood out as a highlight. It included a fascinating discussion between influential industry leaders, including Luciana Burdi, Director of Capital Programs & Environmental Affairs, Massport; Digby Christian, Executive Director of Project Delivery, Sutter Health; and Bill Seed, Consultant, Jackson Health System. They shared the owner’s perspective on eliminating waste from the design and construction process to improve project delivery in the context of their programs, backgrounds, and challenges.

Top Live Lab

Optimal Project Flow, Steve Moore, [Robins & Morton], Jared Wilson [Robins & Morton]

Jennifer Lacy shared, “I want to celebrate Steve Moore and Jared Wilson, as they were voted the top 2024 Lean Construction Institute (US) Congress Live Lab presentation. They presented on Infusing Innovation into traditional Takt Planning for Optimal Project Flow. Steve highlighted the takt planning basics referencing rhythm, continuity and consistency. I loved the comparison to a conductor keeping the beat. Jared shared his implementation on the Cone Health Cancer Center, with both the best practices AND the lessons learned for his next project. I cannot wait to see what this crew does for next year in Arlington, Texas.”

Exhibit Hall Highlights

The Exhibit Hall featured vendors from across the industry, providing valuable opportunities to learn about new companies and gain fresh ideas. Exhibitors brought new tech and tools to Congress and held engaging live demos.

The evening receptions in the Exhibit Hall, including the Congress Kick-off Social and Exhibitor Reception, offered rich networking opportunities. The Silent Auction, benefiting the non-profit Future Construction Leaders of San Diego, was also a big hit.

Don’t miss this year’s Congress!

It will be hard to beat the excitement, energy, and success of last year’s Congress, but we’ve got big plans for 2025! Mark your calendars for next year’s Congress, October 20-24, 2025, in Arlington, Texas. Registration opens soon.

Questions on the Congress program?

Contact Joan Piccariello with any questions about the Congress program.

Interested in sponsoring or exhibiting at this year’s Congress?

Email Ilene Goldberg or call (703) 785-9087 for more information.