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From the President, November 1999
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It is always a pleasure to be able to start off any form of communication with a positive affirmation. I was able to do that for September and this month’s column will continue the tradition as I say a tremendous “THANK YOU!” to all who participated in the October meeting. We had an incredible turn-out for the presentation on “Sustainable Design in Construction Documents” at the Minneapolis Athletic Club, with over 140 reservations (about double our normal number!) for the luncheon format. The bus trip for some of those coming from St. Paul helped bring us all together, and it was wonderful to see some members who have a difficult time making the evening meetings due to family or other commitments. This was an experiment in many ways, including “Bring a Potential Member For Free”, which brought in about 20 additional guests, and some great publicity (emails, faxes, and our trusty postcard reminders) to associated organizations who sent about 20 individuals. Even with the unforeseen late delivery of SPECIFICS, “What a Success!” The presenters from LHB Engineers and Architects and Cuningham Group had 3 hours’ worth of information packed into 70 minutes, and I want to thank all the committees and members who worked so hard to make this happen. Look for some more alternative opportunities as we seek ways to reach more of our members and those in related organizations. I’d like to carry through with the thank-yous as I tell you about some of the other accomplishments our Chapter achieves on a yearly basis. One of my duties as President is to sit in on the Audit Committee which reviews the past year’s financial statements, making certain that all of our documentation is accurate. For this “finance-challenged” individual, it was a very enlightening experience. I came away with a great appreciation for the abilities of our members who devote their volunteer hours to ensuring that our organization is well-run, well-managed, and has the capacity to provide some pretty advanced services to our members. Many of you are aware (and everyone will be when they receive their membership renewal) that we have increased our chapter dues for fiscal year 1999-2000. This increase is to cover the costs of providing meals at meetings at no charge to members, to encourage attendance, and give the Chapter a working base to provide the best programming and educational opportunities we can. But this increase alone doesn’t cover the operating expenses of the Chapter, and we have always relied on income-generating activities like the Product Fair and the Golf Tournament to bring in additional funds. The work that goes into these affairs is stupendous—time-consuming and very demanding, and we have been blessed with some really dedicated individuals who are willing to commit large blocks of their time and talents to making these events a success. On the average, we have added $6,000 to $11,000 to the yearly budget because of the hard work of these individuals and their committees. This past year we hosted the North Central Region Conference, and because of the hard work of both the Region Conference Committee and the Product Fair Committee, we offered incredible programs, a great venue for the Product Fair, brought in 75 students to attend and participate, and provided an exceptional experience to those who visited from other region chapters, and made money for the Chapter, which you as members will see in increased programming, outreach to educational institutions, and better communication tools within the Chapter. So, once again, Thank you to all who have worked so hard and so long. At the end of last month’s column, I made reference to a comment Institute President, Alana Griffith made: “Remember that old commercial “When E. F.Hutton speaks, people listen”? What if we heard? “When CSI speaks, the construction industry listens!” Daily, I come across requests that construction documents be prepared according to “CSI” standards—RFP’s, owner’s design standards and guidelines, product literature, labels, hundreds of different applications are stating point-blank and up front that the approved method of communication will follow the “CSI” established formats. This level of demand for CSI standardization is one of the finest achievements our organization has made and an indication of the power of quality we can bring to any undertaking. What I hope for the future is that we can broaden and deepen the perceptions of that quality by educating individuals and their organizations, whether commercial, governmental, institutional, or private, to the real content. It’s not just enough to tell someone to “follow the CSI standards.” As with anything of quality, you have to know the content, to have an understanding of the interrelationships, and the reasons for the standards before they can truly be of benefit. Our charge as members, chapters, and international organization, is to bring that quality content to all we come in contact with on a daily basis, so that when we, as “CSI” talk, the industry listens! Rebecca Foss, President |
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