President’s Message - July 2015

Welcome to the new fiscal year at CSINext! If you’re not familiar with us, we are CSI’s virtual chapter – a group of construction industry professionals who happen to live and work all over the world. We share an energy and enthusiasm for what we do in our paying jobs and for what CSI has to offer the construction world.

Why a virtual chapter? I was asked recently what makes a virtual chapter different from webinars on topics that interest architects, engineers, or product manufacturers. After all, we at CSINext don’t have in-person meetings, with the exception of informal chats at CONSTRUCT. We get to sit at our desks and watch slide shows and hear an expert speak with webinars presented by a variety of organizations, of which CSI is one. What makes CSINext different? I can tell you that over the past year, we’ve participated in monthly programs on such topics as cavity wall design, paints and coatings, electronic bidding, and historic preservation, a presentation focused on a restoration project in Poland. But is that so different from the other offerings found all over the internet?

The answer is yes. If I didn’t strongly believe that, I wouldn’t be here. We are a chapter, even if we don’t see each other in person every month or drop by a designer’s office occasionally. In addition to interesting and educational programs we also enjoy a networking platform similar to those seen in physical chapters. We get to know each other, find out who is the expert on what topic, learn who to call for specific product information, or who might be knowledgeable about a delivery method that’s outside our own comfort zone. Have a project in another state and want to chat about door hardware with somebody in that location? There’s probably a CSINext chapter member who will be more than happy to help. Working on something in another country? Quite possibly there’s a chapter member who’s worked there, or who even lives there. This networking advantage is particularly advantageous for those CSI members who live too far from a physical chapter to belong to one. It’s still CSI, there’s still the camaraderie, there’s still the opportunity for collaboration on things miniscule to massive.

CSINext may or may not be the wave of the future – I believe there will still be a need for physical chapters and regions to exist, because we’re human beings. But, if you want to broaden your CSI horizons, join us. We welcome your participation in our chapter. There’s never a bad seat at our meetings.

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