CONSTRUCT 2014 and the CSI National Convention ended last
Friday and I'm exhausted but incredibly happy with the week I spent at the
convention center in Baltimore. When a large convention you regularly attend is
in your town, it’s a bit of a different experience. You've got your usual
carpool activities with your children and you feel like certain business
meetings should be attended, but then you are at the convention and want to do
all the things CONSTRUCT has to offer. I loved hosting all of my friends and
colleagues in my adopted city, but I will be glad to go to St. Louis next year
and be able to better focus on CONSTRUCT!
There were so many great things about this week and so
many exciting moments from CONSTRUCT.
•
Tuesday's
90-minute education sessions were fantastic! The 30 minutes between sessions allowed
for follow up and networking opportunities.
•
The
Welcome Reception was held outside in beautiful weather.
•
Each
new Fellow was welcomed by three of the endorsers reading from their own
endorsement letters; a very touching tribute!
•
The
Fellows Reception at the Top of World in the World Trade Center had breathtaking
views of downtown and the harbor and very tasty champagne!
•
Pablos
Holman offered us a glimpse into the mind of the hacker and how that affects
all of us - not just as construction professionals. Give him a look @pablos on
Twitter.
•
Our
bloggers panel offered a "Just Do It" pep talk on how to get started
expressing yourself through that medium and offered opinions from 5 different
bloggers plus our moderator, a talented blogger himself.
• The Exhibit Hall was a great spot for discussing new products, greeting old friends and learning in several different venues on the show floor.
•
The
Baltimore Chapter's Tall Ships Dinner Cruise offered a beautiful cruise through
Baltimore's Harbor on a glorious evening of networking and fun.
•
Tweet
Ups occurred in the manufacturer's booths and in the CSI booth while those
adept in the use of social media tried to show others the magic and benefits of
using it to better our businesses and our industry.
•
The
CSI Annual Meeting and Members Forum gave us the opportunity to come together,
discuss the future of our organization, hear from our leaders and honor those
who won awards this year.
Hanley Wood and our CSI leaders and staff proved once
again that they are a formidable pairing that puts on a fantastic convention.
Over the past eight years, I have attended CONSTRUCT each year but I have also
attended several other national conventions and conferences. I can say without
question or hesitation that every construction professional should attend
CONSTRUCT. The other conventions that I attended fell short of CONSTRUCT in
some critical area. Maybe they had great education, but their show floor was
thin. Maybe they were a niche organization good for professionals engaged in
that work, but not everyone in construction. Maybe they offered heady, academic
learning but little in the way of nuts and bolts offerings that help you every
day in your job.
CONSTRUCT offers it all. The education every year was
great, but this year's education sessions were definitely a notch up from
recent years. If you wanted technical seminars on air barriers, glazing systems
or engineering systems, you were covered. If you wanted to learn more about how
to specify certain systems or write a better Division 01, you were covered. If
you wanted to do your job better or grow into a leader in your chapter or firm,
you were covered. In one week, there was great education, presented by industry
leaders that will help you do your job better. I sat in the final session of
the week and learned how to better organize my project information to make our
projects more efficient in managing information and distributing it to the
project team. I used that knowledge first thing Monday morning when I returned
to my office. I cannot say that after attending other conventions, only after
attending CONSTRUCT.
The CONSTRUCT Exhibit Hall had every facet of building
material and software development covered, along with trade organizations that
support our industry. I needed some information on windows and spoke with
several different manufacturers on their offerings. If you needed information
on coatings or waterproofing or finish materials, you were covered. If you
wanted to see the latest ways to organize and edit your firm's master guide
specifications, you were covered. Combine that with the best exhibit hall food
I've had recently and the myriad opportunities to compare notes on practice
with other like-minded professionals and CONSTRUCT's show floor had it all.
And, you could find ice cream and beer by visiting the right booths!
Combine all of that with the evening activities -
fellowship induction, host chapter dinner cruise and CSI Night Out - CONSTRUCT has
the best balance of learning, networking and fun. New this year, the CSI Night
Out was the exclamation point on a great week. The food was good, the band was
great and the venue offered several different areas where you could dance or
listen to music, socialize in comfortable seating or watch the Ravens-Steelers
football game. CSI staff outdid themselves in planning that event!
This year was my ninth consecutive CSI National
Convention and tenth overall. I have attended every year that the CONSTRUCT
Show has existed and this was the best yet. I know I am biased, but I honestly
believe that every construction professional should attend CONSTRUCT. I've
attended other conventions and conferences and you cannot find the same the
education, networking and exhibit hall anywhere else for the impressively low
price of CONSTRUCT. You will learn things you can use at work next week. You
will meet people who can help you do your job better. You can get answers to
your questions about products from the people who know them best.
Make plans now to attend CONSTRUCT 2015 in St Louis, MO
on September 30 through October 3, 2015. Visit CONSTRUCTShow.com and sign up
for alerts.
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