Speechwriting

As a fiction writer, I bring an ear for dialogue and tone to speechwriting. Every speech should be driven by the authentic voice and point of view of the person giving it. It should be them. But elevated and amplified.

I provide end-to-end speechwriting services, including coming up with concept and theme options, researching supporting data points and anecdotes, and writing the full speech. I also do more abbreviated speaking points that highlight key issues and facts for less formal occasions. For the last five years I have written the keynote speech on innovation and the future of the industry for a Fortune 1000 CEO and for the last two years I have written the speech for the same event for the COO. I take it as the highest compliment that in the most recent of these keynotes (below) this exacting executive changed only two words when delivering it.

Sample speech:

Conference Introduction and Keynote

“Building for Tomorrow”

· Welcome, everyone, to the 19th annual KB Home Suppliers’ Conference. I want everyone to stop and take that in for a moment: each and every year for nearly two decades, we have all taken a pause from our busy professional lives to come together. We are here to think, celebrate, innovate, have some fun, and create the future of homebuilding together.

· I want to thank every one of you for your commitment to collaboration and excellence. I am proud of the relationships we have built over that time — and the exceptional personalization, quality and affordability they deliver to our homebuyers every day.

· My keynote today is all about “Building for Tomorrow.” However, in many ways I could say that is the topic of our Supplier Conference every year — this is truly one of the most critical meetings of the year at KB Home. From this meeting we strengthen our partnerships that are the foundation of our success. Together, we establish the framework for the coming year and launch long-term initiatives.

· It is here that we uncover new innovations to take out cost, reduce labor and waste, and increase sustainability. We work together to improve your bottom line and ours. We continuously improve our ability to provide our customers the homes they dream of at a price they can afford.

· The business of building homes has always been about Building for Tomorrow and creating the future. We literally build the future in the form of homes that stand the test of time with quality construction and flexible design. At the same time, we're building the places where people envision their dreams, create the lasting memories of their lives, and put down long-term roots in their communities.

· As the speed of the digital age has impacted everything in our lives, however, the need to design and build homes that are intentionally designed with the future in mind has become increasingly important.

· It has been said that humankind has advanced more in the last 150 years than in the previous 10,000 years—and that the pace of innovation is accelerating. Few people anticipated the fundamental societal changes that have unfolded in just the last decade. In 2007, when we launched our long-term sustainability commitment, the first iPhone had just launched. Today, the smartphone is an indispensable tool for daily life.

· In this environment of exponential change, building a home — a product that has a life span measured in decades or even centuries — that is sustainable and adaptable over the long term presents a unique challenge and opportunity.

· Today, homes cannot be designed for just one moment in time. They must adapt and grow with their residents and work in harmony with our environment. Likewise, we must balance the need for attainable homeownership with the desire for homes that contribute lasting value to the communities in which we build.

· For nearly two decades, many of the innovations that have been foundational to KB Home’s momentum have originated right here at these annual conferences. Our partnerships with each of you have provided the framework for forward-looking thinking. From sustainability to design innovation to operational excellence and efficiency, we have upended old ideas and brought the best of technology and materials science to bear on building for tomorrow.

· It is a testament to the power of collaboration and the depth of the partnerships in this room today. It is a literal demonstration of how KB Home is Built on Relationships.

· Building for Tomorrow means we must pay attention to the signals pointing the way toward the future of the American home, from demographic trends and cultural shifts to emerging technologies and industry evolutions.

· Everywhere we look, industries are being disrupted, technologies are upending traditions, and societal norms are evolving faster than ever before.

· Our household structures are changing. Traditional nuclear families of mom, dad and kids now make up just 20% of American households, while multigenerational living, single buyers, aging in place, right-sizing and even intentional communities are all on the rise.

· The Sharing Economy is causing people to look at the potential of their homes differently, as vehicles for extra income as well as greater engagement with their communities, from Accessory Dwelling Units to Airbnbs.

· There is an increasing focus on wellness that goes well beyond traditional definitions of health care. Our homes are becoming “health hubs.” As the places where we spend the majority of our lives, we are seeing how the health of our homes may in many ways dictate our own health. In fact, two-thirds of home buyers now believe the right housing environment could cut their annual medical costs by up to 40%.

· Of course, any discussion of the future must include our shared future: sustainability. But we believe it is important to look at this term far more broadly and systemically than just energy efficiency. It is about creating truly sustainable lives, both personally and in the world around us.

· We believe that sustainability is built on one simple idea: balance. For us at KB Home, that means making sure today’s homeowners are able to create a personalized home that fulfills their dreams, while being mindful of the needs of the next generation to fulfill theirs as well. Sustaining the dream of homeownership both today and into the future is what we do every day.

· Behind all of these advances in our society and our homes is the movement toward Everything Digital, allowing us to leverage technology to make our daily lives simpler, more intuitive and more efficient with an integrated network of IoTs that create seamless Smart Home living.

· And of course, close to the hearts — and businesses — of many of you here today, advanced materials and construction methods that are reducing both cycle times and costs while improving quality. The record shortage of skilled labor across our industry and its impact on affordability is also leading to additional automation and robotics solutions. Materials science and manufacturing advances are offering us new ways to build a better home more efficiently and with greater predictability. From integrated off-site fabrication to Transformer-like furniture and moveable walls, technology is enabling smart homes that go well beyond connectivity and integrated devices.

· Together, we are leveraging these new technologies to innovate and create a “win-win-win” to the bottom lines for partners, trades and KB Home while improving quality, affordability and customer satisfaction.

· All of this change is unfolding faster than at any time in human history.

· Our lives are changing at the speed of the digital age. Our homes must too.

· At the heart of all this rigorous examination and brainstorming is the core focus that we bring to designing and building every KB home: the people who will live in it. How to build a structure that is a vehicle for creating a lifestyle of joy, ease and satisfaction, now and for years to come. We are in the business of building dreams.

· For more than six decades, understanding people and what they want from a home has been at the heart of our business—and that will always be part of our future.

· Perhaps the clearest example of Building for Tomorrow and the power of the collaboration with all of you has been KB Home ProjeKt, which has created a compelling vision for Where Tomorrow Lives.

· ProjeKt is a living, evolving experience of Building for Tomorrow. It’s an R&D lab for the future of the American home, an integrated, immersive experience of next-generation technology and sustainability.

· With ProjeKt, we challenged ourselves — in collaboration with many of you here in the room today — to create a home that can truly evolve with the people who live in it and the society around them.

· The result is a home that lives beautifully today and is designed to stand the test of time — as well as the pace of innovation. At its core are four foundational principles that we believe will be essential to Where Tomorrow Lives…Sustainable, Flexible, Healthy, and Smart

· In awarding KB ProjeKt the Environmental Leader Top Project of the Year, the judges said, “This product has the potential to change the way we think about home ownership, leading to happier and healthier communities.”

· You’ll hear a lot more about ProjeKt and the principles behind it from Dan and Jacob later today

· As we look ahead over the next two days, we will be challenging ourselves to build on this dedication to innovation in 2020 and beyond.

· The key messages for today begin with the framework for the future we’ve created in our business today to continue to innovate with purpose. We have sharpened our focus on our proprietary KB Edge business model and our four key differentiators: Design Innovation, Personalization, Partnership and Affordability.

· Over the next two days we will be building on this framework, collaborating to find ways to deepen these differentiators to further reduce costs and waste, improve quality and cycle times, and simplify the process in order to provide an even stronger value proposition and customer satisfaction.

· Then I’d like to share a bit about the foundation of strong fundamentals we see in the macroeconomic and housing market conditions.

· And, finally, I want to share my goals and expectations for our next two days together.

· It is precisely because tomorrow is not a far-off dream, but something we are building today, that we have created a strong framework for this future throughout our business.

· We are innovating with purpose on a daily basis to meet the needs of today’s homebuyers — and tomorrow’s. Matt and Dan will have a lot more to share and challenge us on this topic later today as well.

· Our strategies capitalize on today’s market conditions and opportunities, while also identifying emerging shifts in the market and homebuyer preferences and moving to meet those needs.

· It begins with the fundamentals of homebuilding: great land positions in a strong geographic footprint targeted to the largest customer demand segment.

· Our existing geographic footprint offers potential for substantially larger scale in some of the best housing markets in the U.S. We are leveraging our current footprint to increase community count in our served markets.

· We also look for opportunities for targeted expansion of that footprint, as in our expansion into the Seattle market last year. The Seattle market shares many of the fundamental dynamics of our other served markets, making it a natural fit for our business. In April we successfully opened our first Seattle community with product targeting first-time and first move-up buyers and priced well below both median new home and existing home prices.

· We also continue our long-term objective of striving for a Top Five position in each of our served markets. I remain committed to advancing our market share, recognizing the benefits of local scale. We are achieving this through targeted submarket growth, powered by our proprietary market research and strong local relationships.

· With strong execution on this plan, we currently have a top five position in about 70% of our served markets, as compared to roughly 50% when we launched our plan.

· By investing in land positions in prime growth submarkets and positioning our products to target the median household income in each submarket, we primarily cater to the first-time buyer. These buyers are not only the largest demand segment and represent 55% of our Q3 deliveries, their needs and desires are what we have built our business around for 60+ years. Our deep knowledge of these homebuyers is demonstrated in the fact that first-time and first move-up homebuyers represent 75% of our annual deliveries over the past 10+ years.

· At the heart of our framework for the future is our flexible and powerful business model. We believe our core business strategy is a key differentiator driving our success. This data-driven model moves with the market and allows us to identify emerging trends and adapt to capitalize on them.

· With our business model, we sell and build the home the customer values. This personalized approach provides flexibility to move with demand, which drives absorption. With a large backlog of sold homes, we can manage starts to achieve even-flow production at the community level, driving efficiencies in overhead and cost to build.

· This approach creates compelling value that’s personal for each homebuyer rather than price-driven.

· This model has been at the heart of our business for over two decades now, but this year we updated and refined it and rebranded it as KB Edge. This new name sums up what is so powerful about this model: it drives a cutting-edge, evolving approach that moves with the market.

· I’d like to take a few minutes today to really dial into what makes KB Edge such a core differentiator for our business, especially for the new faces in the room.

· KB Edge is the data-driven, operational expression of our Built on Relationships customer approach. It drives every aspect of our business, from customer to land to product to operations, allowing us to offer a compelling combination of affordability, choice and personalization. It is truly the engine that drives our business and keeps it evolving to meet the future coming toward us.

· Flexibility is built into KB Edge. It is designed to move with the market, driving us to continuously evolve our product, pricing and locations to meet the needs of today’s homebuyer — and tomorrow’s as well.

· All of this drives efficient, low-cost production using a built-to-order model that offers even-flow production, reduces speculative inventory and margin variability, and provides greater predictability on deliveries. Customers then experience exceptional personalization and choice in lot, floor plan and elevation, as well as interior finishes.

· The heart of our business model has always been the Design Studio. These consumer-centric studios offer a retail-like experience with personalized customer choice. While other builders have been moving away from design studios and offering limited, pre-packaged design selections, we create an exceptional experience of personalization and value for our customers.

· Our KB Home Design Studios are also laboratories for today’s consumer preferences. They offer us —and each of you — real-time consumer data and perspective on what products are gaining momentum.

· This model puts choice and personalization in the hands of every KB homebuyer — while driving exceptional satisfaction.

· Central to this purpose-driven approach to innovation is our longstanding industry leadership and commitment in sustainability.

· Sustainability is much more than a program; it’s an inherent part of our DNA and a key component of the differentiated value proposition we offer homebuyers.

· Sustainability is not only good for the environment, it also increases efficiency, driving down the cost to build while lowering the total cost of homeownership for our customers by lowering utility bills. This makes sustainability a central strategy in keeping the dream of homeownership affordable and attainable.

· As you can see here, the results are far more than theoretical. We are making a real-world positive impact on the environment, our business and our homeowners’ wallets.

· Our consistent commitment and ongoing industry leadership and innovation in sustainability have added up to undeniable results, as you can see.

· The 135,000 ENERGY STAR homes we have delivered have saved our homeowners a cumulative $780 million on utility bills, making homeownership more affordable.

· Cumulatively, these homes have also reduced CO2 emissions by an estimated 4.8 billion pounds.

· We have built more WaterSense and Water Smart homes than any other builder, conserving 1.5 billion gallons of water annually.

· Healthy Home and Smart Systems continue to grow in importance, as demonstrated with the new Darwin Home Intelligence Network and Google KB Smart Home pilots.

· As a result of our consistent and industry-leading commitment to sustainability, KB Home remains the only builder to have been recognized by EPA with their highest major national awards, including nine ENERGY STAR® Partner of the Year – Sustained Excellence Awards and nine WaterSense Sustained Excellence Awards.

· All of this drives an exceptional customer experience and satisfaction that is the cornerstone of our Built on Relationships branding.

· Built on Relationships is based on our 60+ year history of unparalleled focus on homebuyers and innovating to better serve their needs.

· We believe the best homes start with the people who actually live in them. So before the first nail is driven or foundation poured, we get to know our customers on a personal level. We learn how they live, what they want, what they absolutely need and where they see themselves in the future. It’s important to us because we want all our customers to know they have a real partner when buying a home. It’s all part of our unrivaled approach to making sure our customers are able to bring their vision to life. So once their home is built, they don’t just see a house. They see themselves.

· Our vision is to be the most customer-obsessed homebuilder in the world.

· We are moving toward that vision with a daily focus on our core mission to build a personalized home that’s within reach of every buyer.

· Later today Matt will share with you how we measure our performance on this path; he has a clever shorthand for his approach to this: Measure Three Times — Cut Once.

· We’ve just come off a good quarter and Jeff Kaminski will be sharing more detail about those results and overall financials later today.

· However, I’d like to provide you with our high-level perspective on the macroeconomic environment and current housing market conditions.

· In this Economic Indicators slide, which I have shared with you over the last few years, the colors symbolize a “stop light” rating – with green representing healthy, yellow - caution, and red - a point of concern. The “plus,” “minus,” or “the same” labels show how the index compares to the previous quarter.

· As you can see, market conditions remain favorable as the key drivers that fuel housing demand are still in place:

– The economy is healthy and growing.

– Consumer confidence is at its highest in nearly19 years.

– We are at or near full employment with wage growth accelerating, and household formation is continuing at a steady pace.

– At the same time, the supply of both new and existing inventory remains insufficient to satisfy this demand, underscoring the opportunity for higher levels of new construction to bridge the gap.

· Taken together, these dynamics continue to support solid market conditions.

· As I look at the business climate today, both at the wider level and for KB Home, I see tremendous opportunity. Market conditions remain favorable, supported by low mortgage interest rates, steady economic growth, high consumer confidence, and positive demographic trends.

· We are in one of the best times to be a homebuilder, with key economic indicators establishing a strong foundation for continued growth and innovation in partnership with all of you.

· In evaluating the health of the market, I utilize a topline list of indicators — and I feel good about every one of these marketplace positives today.

· First, our most important indicator of market health: consumer confidence remains high despite slight declines in recent months. In the market, as in our business model, everything revolves around the customer, so this is a critical measure.

· Second, our markets are underserved. While demand is healthy, supply continues to be insufficient to meet homebuyers’ needs, particularly at the affordable price points where we operate, which is a key element of our success.

· We continue to experience steady economic growth.

· In addition, consumers continue to demonstrate a preference for choice, fueling strong demand for a built-to-order product.

· Our strategy of selling to the medium band, bracketing against median household income, continues to serve us well.

· We are at or near full employment with wage growth now accelerating and household formation continuing at a steady pace.

· At a market level, interest rates are trending lower and we are not hearing hesitation from homebuyers due to interest rates.

· Last but not least, working closely with all of you, KB Home’s focus on innovation continues to drive cost out of our operations and support our focus on margin improvement independent of market conditions.

· However, we have to balance these marketplace positives against some of the challenges of the current buying landscape.

· Central to everything we do is affordability, so continuing to innovate to keep homeownership attainable is essential to continued growth. We are looking to you to help us identify and implement cost management innovations.

· In addition, rising construction costs for both material and labor place additional pressure on affordability. When scenarios like the current tariff situation arise, how can we work together to mitigate and manage the impact? How do we make products simpler to install and therefore reduce costs?

· We need to focus on training to increase the pool of qualified trades, which remains challenged.

· Low inventory is increasing demand for new homes, but it’s also driving up prices.

· We are also seeing existing homeowners staying put for longer, eroding at the move-up market while also placing increased pressure on inventory levels.

· Tariffs and other economic forces continue to put pressure on our supply chain, making affordability an important discussion topic for this conference.

· Over the next two days, we will be building on this framework to create the future. Because tomorrow is truly built on today.

· We have the right business model, the right strategies, the right product, the right locations and — most of all — the right partners in all of you to make this future a reality.

· I’m looking to every one of you in this room today to bring new thinking, new innovations and a groundbreaking attitude to maintain an edge and continuously lift all our brands up together.

· Let’s demand more from ourselves in the quest to become the most customer-obsessed homebuilder in the world.

· Let’s create the future for our customers, one that puts them and their needs at the center, that imagines the way they’ve always wanted to live and puts it in reach at a price they can afford.

· Let’s expand our thinking, get engaged with our teams and innovate our approach to build on the 39 Give Me 2s we implemented last year with a new list of groundbreaking ideas and actions we can implement together today to create the future for all of our businesses.

· I challenge every one of us in the room today to discard your old ideas and bring a new focus and a new lens of innovation to the way we do business. To take out cost, take out labor, take out waste. To improve customer satisfaction, sustainability, cycle times and quality. All while improving your bottom line and ours. Let’s drive our collective competitive edge to create a new future for ourselves and our customers that won’t wait for tomorrow.

· Let’s do this because Building for Tomorrow means partnering today and in the future to keep housing attainable, while giving our customers the exceptional experience, quality and satisfaction that define our brands. Because taking care of our customers and exceeding their expectations is never optional.

· Thank you. I look forward to connecting with each of you over these days and hearing your vision for our shared future.

· Remember, we are here to think, celebrate, innovate, have some fun, and create the future of homebuilding together.

2018 Keynote for the same event:

Conference Introduction and Keynote

“Elevate”

· Welcome, everyone, to the 18th annual KB Home Suppliers’ Conference.

· This is an important event for our company, and one that means a lot to me personally. As many of you know, we recently launched a rebranding under the banner of “Built on Relationships.” It is much more than a tagline; it’s a way of doing business. I consider the relationships with all of you in this room to be vital to our success over the past 60 years — and, most importantly, to the incredible future we are collaboratively building.

· This conference is one of the most important tools we have in creating that future, bringing together and harnessing the collective expertise and imaginations of all of you in this room today. It is a testament to the power of collaboration to lift all of us to greater heights than any of us could achieve alone.

· 2018 is all about elevating our vision and execution and take our business to the next level of excellence. We have the right home designs in the right markets with the right business model. Our challenge today is to fine-tune and maximize each component of that approach to create a truly exceptional homebuying experience for every one of our homeowners and deliver value across every one of our relationships.

· That means raising the bar for our performance, our vision for the future, and the personalized value we deliver for our customers.

· We are constantly striving to lift our sights higher, whether that is related to our internal performance standards, our financial targets through our returns-focused growth plan, or externally by creating an exceptional, personalized customer experience that we believe is unparalleled in our industry.

· We cannot do any of this without you. The relationships in this room are among the most vital assets we have as a business. Together, we elevate our collective vision of what homebuilding can be — and then challenge ourselves to implement that vision with peerless execution. In addition, we look to you to bring us innovations that help contain costs and reduce complexities.

· In 2018, just a handful of the ways we are elevating our business include:

– Geographically, with our expansion into the Seattle market, which has long-term potential to meaningfully contribute to our business;

– Capturing additional market share in our existing markets, most recently with our acquisition of Jacksonville-based Landon Homes, which moved us up to #4 in that market and provides a complement to our existing footprint; and

– Maximizing our value proposition to our customers to deliver strong financial performance across our markets, including right here in Las Vegas, where had the Company’s highest absorption rate in the third quarter.

– Raising the bar on innovations leadership with our 2019 ProjeKt concept home, which expands on the incredible success of our first ProjeKt home — and an incredible model for collaboration — to create a new address for “where tomorrow lives.” As many of you know, this year, we are focusing on the intersection of health and sustainability, expanding the reach of technology, and what the home of tomorrow will look like for the growing 50+ homebuying market.

· A key component of all of those achievements is elevating our partnerships for peak performance and maximum synergies that benefit the businesses of everyone in this room today.

· Our supplier relationships are enduring and substantive, with several of our strategic suppliers having worked with KB Home for over 20 years. To recognize the value of your contributions to our business, this year we have established a new award category for our partners who embody and exemplify Built on Relationships.

· Our Suppliers’ Conference has become an opportunity for developing new initiatives, such as the 500+ “Give Me 2” ideas from recent conferences, which have enhanced the value, operations, and sustainability of the homes we build. Later today, we will showcase 3 examples of valued contributions that came out of last year’s conference and our work together this year:

– Moen’s collaboration with us on new designs and finishes

– Off-site manufacturing pilots with Entekra and Raney Construction; and

– Carrier’s work with us to optimize their systems for California and rollout new value-engineered thermostat.

· Many thanks to each of you for your special partnership and efforts with us. You are outstanding examples of leaders, innovators and collaborators.

· I’d like to begin my remarks with an overview of KB Home today, where all of the work we have done together over the past 18 years has taken us.

· The keynote portion of my presentation today is about mastering excellence, how we are utilizing our sharp focus on execution to reach higher, utilizing our distinctive brand differentiators of a premier personalized experience and integrated sustainability to elevate our business and challenge ourselves to invent the home of the future.

· I’ll also provide you with an overview of the macroeconomic environment and housing market conditions and our perspective on the road ahead.

· I will close by sharing my thoughts on the thing that brings us all together today — building strong partnerships. The productive, long-term relationships represented by the people and brands in the room right now are key to positive, rising momentum into 2019 and beyond. I will challenge all of us to bring our most innovative thinking to the table over the next two days and search for ways to elevate our level of operational excellence.

· Our 60-year history of customer-centric innovation and growth provides a strong and stable foundation for a thriving, diversified and differentiated business that stands out from the competition.

· That foundation for growth includes:

– Designing, building and delivering over 600,000 homes since 1957;

– A diversified geographic footprint in markets with strong long-term economic and demographic growth potential, with the goal of establishing Top 5 position in our served markets;

– Our unique Built-to-Order™ business model that allows our customers to co-create a home with meaningful, personalized value;

– Consistent execution on our returns-focused growth plan with the strategy and roadmap in place to achieve it;

– Innovation and leadership in our industry, particularly in the area of sustainability and putting environmentally responsible living in reach for more homebuyers; and, last but never least;

– The partners here in this room today, without whom we would not have been able to build this foundation and achieve these results. Together, we challenge conventional thinking to create the next-generation American home and lead the way for the homebuilding industry.

· We are consistent in our approach and have a clearly differentiated story to tell in our geographic markets, product and buyer segment.

· Our geographic footprint is diversified and offers potential to increase scale. Our expansion into the Seattle market is a good complement to our existing markets and has some of the same underlying dynamics.

· The first-time buyer continues to be our largest demand segment, making up over half our buyers.

· A home is more than just a place you live your life; it’s an expression of who you are and what matters most to you. Every day homebuyers place their trust in us with this decision. Delivering on that promise with exceptional value is what we do.

· But value is about much more than price; value is personal.

· Our homebuyers are invested in the home they create with us and it delivers much higher perceived value and satisfaction.

· That’s what our Built to Order personalized approach to homebuilding is all about — giving homebuyers the opportunity to create value for themselves.

· Instead of the forced value many of our competitors offer through high base price and incentives, our Built to Order approach offers high experienced value through choice and personalization in combination with a low base price.

· We have a business model that we know works — not just operationally, but financially and, most importantly, in creating exceptionally satisfied homebuyers.

· My dream is that we become the most customer-obsessed homebuilder in the world — and this business model gives us everything we need to achieve that dream.

· Creating an exceptional customer experience with high perceived value demands that we continuously focus on mastering excellence.

· That begins with a sharp focus on execution.

· Our data-driven, disciplined business practices stand behind everything we do, from land purchases to quality operations to even-flow production to consumer-focused innovation.

· For every function in the company, we are digging deep and elevating our execution within our proven model. We are rigorously examining every facet of our operations and raising our standards for excellence.

· Our strategic partnerships are an essential asset in that quest. They allow us to address the design and building challenge holistically, leveraging opportunities for integrated efficiency and potential innovations and disruptive solutions throughout the supply chain.

· We are continuously reaching higher, setting new bars and continuously challenging ourselves to find innovative ways to express the core of who we are and what we do to our customers, partners, employees and shareholders.

· As I mentioned earlier, one of the most significant milestones this year has been the launch of our brand repositioning, with a new logo and the tagline “Built on Relationships,” which speaks to our connection with homebuyers in our Built to Order process and our commitment to customer satisfaction.

· This new logo and tagline were developed based on extensive customer feedback as to what the KB Home brand represents to them. While the values underlying our brand remain the same, we have modernized its look and feel to further strengthen our engagement with customers in a way that emphasizes their choice and personalization in the homes they purchase.

· Our new branding is warmer and more contemporary — as you can see here — which also helps us to leverage it more effectively on a variety of platforms, including social media.

· This is much more than a tagline or a new ad campaign; it is a distillation of everything we’ve been leading up to for 60 years, an opportunity to harness our unique differentiated offering and elevate our business.

· Our brand itself has not changed and our values have remained consistent throughout our history, but this new look and language elevates our message and our commitment to our customers, brings our brand up a notch and gives us even more to reach for.

· It also goes beyond our customers to emphasize the importance of all our relationships, including the enduring relationships we’ve built over time with our national partners and suppliers.

· KB Home Design Studio has always been the heart of our Built to Order process, a consumer-centric studio that offers a retail-like experience with personalized customer choice.

· In addition to creating an exceptional experience of personalization and value for our customers, KB Home Design Studio operates as a consumer lab for us and for all of our suppliers, offering all of us in this room real-time data and perspective on what products are gaining momentum.

· The Design Studio and overall Built to Order approach also provide the flexibility to move with consumer trends. Rather than us deciding what they want and building it into the home, buyers choose what they value most and we are able to learn from it while also minimizing risk. Working closely with all of you, we then utilize both demographics and technology forecasts to stay ahead of demand, to anticipate what homebuyers will want before they themselves have imagined it, with pilots and limited rollouts to provide a feedback loop.

· In 2018, we continued our Studio simplification process. Working closely with many of you, we continued to refine our product offering to hone in on the right product mix to yield an improved customer experience and a streamlined process that reduces costs.

· Sustainability is much more than a program; it’s an inherent part of our DNA and a key component of the differentiated value proposition we offer homebuyers.

· Our consistent commitment and ongoing industry leadership and innovation in sustainability have added up to undeniable results, as you can see.

· The 124,000 ENERGY STAR homes we have delivered have saved our homeowners a cumulative $680 million on utility bills, making homeownership more affordable.

· We have built more WaterSense and Water Smart homes than any other builder, conserving 1.4 billion gallons of water annually.

· Healthy Home and Smart Systems continue to grow in importance, as demonstrated with the new ProjeKt concept home and our new Google partnership.

· As a result of our longstanding, consistent and industry-leading commitment to sustainability, KB Home remains the only builder to have been recognized by EPA with their highest major national awards, including eight ENERGY STAR® Partner of the Year – Sustained Excellence Awards and eight WaterSense Sustained Excellence Awards.

· Our most recent announcement in the area of innovation and sustainability is our partnership with Google — the first-ever partnership for Google in homebuilding.

· Our new KB Home Smart System utilizes Google Assistant to integrate compatible devices and features, enabling a higher degree of functionality and automation of smart home features and elevating the performance of homes in a personalized way. We were excited to launch the program last month at our Stapleton Starlight community in Denver where it was well received by attendees who toured the home.

· The Smart System will initially be offered as standard in select communities in Denver, Las Vegas, Jacksonville and Orange County with additional components available as options in our Studios. Over time, we expect to roll the system out to all of our markets.

· We are excited about this partnership with Google. Our goal is to establish a leadership position in smart home technology, just as we have in sustainability and healthier homes.

· Looking ahead, with our new ProjeKt concept home, KB Home and our partners are once again inventing the future.

· ProjeKt is an innovations lab for the future of the American home. It elevates not just our company, but also our industry, challenging all of us to rethink our assumptions and break free of old ideas to create “Where Tomorrow Lives.”

· This new evolution of ProjeKt takes the concepts of the first ProjeKt and extends them, focusing particularly on the important role that our homes play in our health — and how our homes can play an active role in actually improving our health in the future.

· It also spotlights the role that flexible architectural plans can play in creating a home that can adapt to a variety of life stages for a household, with a particular emphasis on the 50+ homebuyer and how their lives — and their needs — have changed.

· Many of you here today are among the key collaborators who saw the opportunity in 2016 to reimagine the future of homebuilding, and who continue to guide us in sparking wonder among homebuying consumers and inspiring our industry as we continue to invent the future in 2019.

· Now I’d like to provide you with our high-level perspective on the macroeconomic environment and current housing market conditions.

· In this Economic Indicators slide, which I have shared with you over the last couple years, the colors symbolize a “stop light” rating – with green representing healthy, yellow - caution, and red - a point of concern. The “plus,” “minus,” or “the same” labels show how the index compares to the previous quarter.

· As you can see, market conditions remain favorable as the key drivers that fuel housing demand are still in place:

– The economy is healthy and growing.

– Consumer confidence is at an 18-year high.

– We are at or near full employment with wage growth now accelerating, and household formation is continuing at a steady pace.

– At the same time, the supply of both new and existing inventory remains insufficient to satisfy this demand, underscoring the opportunity for higher levels of new construction to bridge the gap.

· Taken together, these dynamics continue to support solid market conditions.

· Building on this strong foundation of macroeconomic conditions, we are elevating our business. Looking ahead, we are well positioned with a strong backlog for Q4 and creating momentum into 2019.

· As I look at the business climate today, both at the wider level and for KB Home, I see tremendous opportunity. We are in one of the best times to be a homebuilder, with key economic indicators establishing a strong foundation for continued growth and innovation in partnership with all of you.

· In evaluating the health of the market, I utilize a topline list of indicators — and I feel good about every one of these marketplace positives today.

· First, our most important indicator of market health: consumer confidence is at an 18-year high. In the market, as in our business model, everything revolves around the customer.

· Second, our markets are underserved, with the supply of both new and existing inventory remaining insufficient to satisfy demand, underscoring the opportunity for higher levels of new construction to bridge the gap.

· In addition, consumers continue to demonstrate a preference for choice, fueling strong demand for a built-to-order product.

· Our strategy of selling to the medium band, bracketing against median household income, continues to serve us well, with inventory shortages particularly notable at the affordable price bands.

· We are at or near full employment with wage growth now accelerating and household formation continuing at a steady pace.

· At a market level, interest rates remain relatively low and really haven’t moved that much this year, despite media stories to the contrary. We are not hearing hesitation from homebuyers due to interest rates.

· However, we have to balance these marketplace positive against some of the challenges of the current buying landscape.

· We need to focus on training to increase the pool of qualified trades, which remains challenged.

· Low inventory is increasing demand for new homes, but it’s also driving up prices.

· [Demand at higher price points…]

· We are also seeing existing homeowners staying put for longer, eroding at the move-up market while also placing increased pressure on inventory levels.

· Finally, while interest rates remain low historically, there is increased fear about potential rising rates and consumers may begin to grow cautious.

· This conference is all about elevating all of our thinking, challenging expectations and demanding ever-greater heights from ourselves to support our customer-driven culture.

· Over the next two days, let’s create the future for 2019 and beyond. Let’s examine every one of those marketplace positives and buying challenges and find the opportunities within them to elevate what we do and how we do it. Together.

· Many of you kicked off the day with the Early Bird Champions Forum, collaborating with division leaders on the remainder of 2018 and into 2019.

· You’ve also had the chance to reflect on what Built on Relationships means to you and our business together in the interviews conducted earlier today.

· Last year, we were privileged to have the Whalen family join us to talk about their experience buying a KB home. This year, we are doubling the insight and fun, with two sets of homeowners joining us to share their Built to Order KB homebuying experience.

· So let’s elevate our thinking, get engaged with our teams and innovate our approach with Give Me 2s.

· Let’s do this because our upward trajectory into the future requires both wise cost management and insightful innovation. That is what creates value both for our homebuyers and for our businesses. Success today and in the future means partnering to keep housing attainable, while giving our customers the exceptional experience, quality, and satisfaction that define our brands.

· I look forward to spending time with each of you to continue to elevate our vision and create this great American future, and together drive leadership and history for all our organizations.

· Thank you.