Putting peer learning at center stage

By Jesse Sanchez. 

Contractors trade practical insights in a setting built to turn quick conversations into real community and stronger service teams. 

Dataforma is putting its long-running PSU user conference squarely in the hands of the contractors who use the platform every day, with a 2025 event built around peer learning, shared experience and practical takeaways that extend well beyond software screens. What started nearly two decades ago as a small gathering for presidential and super user attendees has grown into what Brian Cook, newly minted COO at Dataforma, describes on this Roofing Road Trips® podcast as “a great place for our contractors to get together.” Over the years, PSU has evolved into a relaxed day-and-a-half event where commercial roofing leaders compare notes on how they work and where they want the platform to go next. 

For Tracey Donels, founder and CEO of Service First Solutions, that peer-to-peer dynamic is the heartbeat of PSU. He remembers traveling to one of the earliest conferences in Scottsdale, the same city hosting PSU 2025, when he was a contractor looking to grow his service department. “Almost any software can be used in a myriad of different ways,” he said. “So, it's very beneficial to go and meet other people that have grown their departments and their companies by using the software.” 

Those early trips left a permanent mark on how he thinks about service. “Because no software is perfect. But it's about the question of, ‘how is it perfect for me?’” Tracey said. “And I know when I was first in the industry, I learned from a lot of powerful people going to those PSUs and learning from people who had bigger departments, bigger companies, than the one I worked at. And I'm lucky enough to still count some of those people as friends that I met at that very first PSU.” 

Brian and Tracey are channeling that spirit into a refreshed format that pushes attendees to learn from one another as much as what they’ll learn from event sessions. Brian pointed to the redesigned breakout sessions as an example, where operational topics like hiring, training and maintenance planning will sit alongside platform conversations. “In those breakout sessions, we're going to have tons of options for you to just work with other contractors, and it doesn't have to be Dataforma focused,” he said. “We want your business and your staff to grow from this, and we know that if you do that, it'll help Dataforma, too.” 

As PSU 2025 takes shape, the message to contractors is to show up ready to share, question, compare and contribute. The agenda is built so that every hallway conversation, breakout exchange and feedback session can translate into stronger service teams and smarter technology that reflects the real work happening on roofs every day. In putting peer learning at the center, Dataforma and its partners are betting that the most powerful innovations will come not just from what is presented on screen, but from what contractors choose to build together. 

Listen to the podcast to learn more about PSU 2025, its peer-focused agenda and how to register through Dataforma!