News Detail

First Contact

6/1/2011

ACI is always on the lookout for new members to not only share the load but also to bring new ideas, experiences, energy, and motivation to the work of the Institute. Membership and leadership in all of the progressive groups within the Institute are frequently refreshed whether we're talking about committees, task groups, the Board of Direction, the Executive Committee, or chapters. So where does the "new blood" come from?

Some folks meet us because they've read or heard about one of our conventions coming to town. Others connect through the certification program, face-to-face seminars, or online educational programs. Many find out about us and decide to check us out because they're familiar with our documents and are curious about how those things are developed or want to participate. Those with a story to tell or an article to write see us as a forum for displaying and transferring ideas. Others come to our meetings to hear the stories, to see where their industry is headed, catch late-breaking news, or acquire our publications to read the articles.

Our chapters play a critical role in recruitment through monthly meetings, hot topic speakers, award programs, and social events. My own involvement in ACI began with membership in the Greater Miami Valley Chapter in southwestern Ohio, and when I became a chapter officer I was required to join "National." (Little did I know what excitement that would lead to!)

But even more important than my official local, national, and now international ACI membership was development of the network of personal connections that started to grow from the local chapter. I met the trendsetters in the local design, build, and materials industries, and enjoyed contact with my fellow alums and faculty from the University of Cincinnati. When I became program Chair for the chapter, I coordinated with our visiting speakers and had the honor of meeting luminaries like Bill Phelan at the airport and escorting them to the meeting venue. In fact, it was local chapter member John Ashby who advised me on graduate programs specializing in concrete materials study that set me off in a different career direction. (During a monthly dinner, John wrote a list of 10 international universities, literally on the back of an envelope, including schools in his native Australia.)

A few years later when I was tentatively exploring participation at the national level, it was once again the local chapter crew that showed me the ropes, especially Boyd Ringo, my mentor and academic advisor in Cincinnati, OH, who showed me that sitting in on an ACI committee meeting is not nearly as scary as it looks and that actually joining an ACI committee can be downright exciting! That same local-national connection is obvious at all of our conventions, where many of the local hosts are already known to the rest of us from their valuable contributions at the national level.

ACI's Construction Liaison Committee, a.k.a. "CLC," recently conducted an impromptu survey and found that each of their committee members owes their ACI connection to at least one other trusted colleague who initially got them involved. Even though ACI has a well-developed "mentor" and "convention guide" program for some of our younger members, we all need to recognize our role in helping those "first timers." A person's first experience with ACI might be at a convention, be it a technical session, a committee meeting, or the mixer. (The green "Convention #1" ribbons help you to spot them.) Or it might be a person's first ACI chapter meeting or certification program.

But becoming a mentor or, shall I say, "friending" a visitor is more than just giving directions to a hard-to-find meeting room at convention. Help them get what THEY want to get out of ACI and, by all means, make sure you wear them out by introducing them to everyone you know who is within reach or shouting distance.

To us insiders and veterans, ACI is a wonderful, rewarding community—we listen, we speak, we argue, we relish our arguments as well as our resolutions, we learn, and we enjoy our social events and our camaraderie. Most of us wouldn't have it any other way. But to an outsider looking in, quite frankly, it can appear a bit overwhelming. So whatever our roles in ACI, let's help the next wave of new folks make (and enjoy) "first contact."

Kenneth C. Hover
American Concrete Institute
kch7@cornell.edu

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