From the President, May 2001
It's Amazing What You Can Hear if You Listen

I was fortunate again to be able to tag along with Alana to attend a CSI Chapter event out of state. She has accused me of "cherry-picking" locations that appeal to my interests. I have to admit, her trips to some cities as a CSI Institute officer have held very little interest for me. So, when she was invited to speak at the March CSI Tri-Chapter meeting of the Fort Lauderdale, Miami and Palm Beach Chapters, I figured I should "sacrifice" my need to endure more cold and wet northern weather and I agreed to go with her. Who was I to say "no"? I have to admit, after the long Minnesota winter, my need for sunshine and warmth was way overdue.

Although I wasn't "required" to be present at any of the meetings scheduled for this special Tri-Chapter CSI event, I knew that other CSI members and staff would also be attending so I was confident I would not feel out of place. The chapters scheduled two events -an afternoon forum to update chapter leaders on the new CSI programs and how they related to the strategic plan, and an evening celebration to recognize the contributions of past Chapter presidents. Although I planned to attend the dinner, I wasn't going to attend the afternoon session. But when I was personally asked by the Fort Lauderdale Chapter President and offered lunch, how could I refuse?

Well, that afternoon session was outstanding, with presentations by various CSI Institute officers and staff. I learned more about CSI's new offerings than I ever expected. Even though Alana has talked about all these things, I guess that old problem about not listening to your wife is true. Regardless, that afternoon I received a full update on what's happening with our convention, our annual meeting, and how we plan to train our leaders in the future.

The two big items that interested me the most were the change of the convention format starting in 2003. Alana has received many calls from members regarding changes to these plans. Most of the callers are concerned that we are "messing" up something that seemed to be working well. Many of us have been attending the national convention for years and love to go. So, why would we want to change anything? CSI has sent out informational letters to the members explaining these new events but they didn't seem to answer the questions that members are asking. Since I have heard first hand about all the great plans that are being implemented AND THE REASONS WHY, I will try to answer the Minneapolis - St. Paul Chapter member's questions and concerns.

CSI is changing the convention format. We will now have a late winter-early spring Convention Exhibit with education sessions. This new event is planned to be the largest commercial building show in the US. The CSI Show, the National Glass Association and the National System Contractors Association (the low voltage product contractors) will co-locate "under one roof" but each will remain as individual shows. The event will be called CONSTRUCT AMERICA. Secondly, in late June, we will have a separate conference called CSI's Annual Business Conference that will contain a Strategic Leadership Academy to provide training for our all our CSI chapter and region leaders, the annual business meeting and member forum, the Honors and Awards ceremonies, the Presidential Gala, the Chapter President's Orientation, certification exams, and more.

After hearing about these great ideas, it sinks in… "WHAT HAPPENED TO THE JUNE CONVENTION? I GO TO CSI CONVENTION ON MY VACATION! WHY ARE WE SPLITTING THESE EVENTS? WHY ARE WE DOING THIS?"

After listening to the speakers at this meeting in Fort Lauderdale, it all made perfect sense to me. For the past several years, CSI has been tracking attendance and registration for the June convention. Here's a few statistics that really surprised me:

8% of the persons attending our convention are fully paid registrants (those who pay to attend the educational sessions)
6% are members, 2% are non-members
90% of those at the convention ONLY attend the exhibit
12% are members, 78% are non-members
85% of all attendees come from a 350 mile radius of the convention city

Now, here are a few more things that have come into play effecting our decision to change the convention format:

The national AIA Convention has always played a factor in having the many of the same exhibitors and attendees as our show. They moved their dates to within TWO WEEKS of the CSI Convention dates for 2004 and 2006.
BOMA's Convention was already two weeks before ours. Again, this was more competition in the June time frame.

As my dad used to say to me, "Pick your battles, son". With AIA making this aggressive move, and BOMA already positioned in this time frame, we had to make choices. Moving two to three months earlier and co-locating our CSI show with other industry partners makes us more attractive to attendees (who will NOT need to make a choice on which show to attend) and to exhibitors (who will not struggle with choices on where to exhibit). Also, the attendees will be able to visit the exhibits at both the National Glass Association Show and the National Systems Contractors shows at no additional cost - one registration fee will cover all exhibit areas.

What about the Annual Business Conference? That event will be held in the month of June when all the incoming chapter and region people are in place for the coming year and ripe for training. The difference between this event and CONSTRUCT AMERICA is that this will be an "all-CSI event" focused on leadership training for all levels of CSI involvement. It will provide uniform and detailed training for all CSI chapter and region leaders and give us an excellent way to network with other chapters and regions throughout the country. For years we have complained about how ineffectively we train our upcoming officers and chairs. Finally, we will have a national event where we will be able to get together, train for new positions, and share ideas with others. In addition, we will have the great social events, annual business activities, and the Awards and Fellowship ceremonies. Because the size of this event will be smaller, we will also be able to visit cities that in the past were too small for CSI Convention. In 2003, this will be held in Philadelphia, 2004 in San Antonio, and 2005 in New Orleans.

As Yogi Berra said, "It's amazing what you can hear if you just listen." I listened to a lot of new information when I was in Fort Lauderdale. At first, I was wondering why we were changing something that worked so well. Now I know we need to change to survive. In the future, I'd rather be growing, learning and sharing with CSI than wondering why the organization is dying and losing members. Change is like aging - it's tough to handle.

I think we're making some good choices. Everything may look rosy today, but we need to plan for tomorrow. An old friend of Alana's was a Vietnam veteran. He once shared some great advice with her. "In the jungles of 'Nam', if everything was quiet you knew something was wrong." Good advice. I'm glad we took it.

As always, I am eager to hear from you. Email me, write or call me. If you have ideas to share, please let me know.

John “Grif” Griffith, CSI
President, Mpls.–St. Paul Chapter, CSI
grif@empirehouse.com

From the President, May 2001 It's Amazing What You Can Hear if You Listen

From the President, May 2001
It's Amazing What You Can Hear if You Listen