News Detail

Success of American Concrete Institute's First-Ever Virtual Convention

4/13/2020

Following cancellation of the ACI Concrete Convention in Rosemont/Chicago due to COVID-19, the American Concrete Institute transitioned its spring convention into a successful virtual convention – preserving the event’s long history as the world’s gathering place for advancing concrete. 

Beginning on March 28 and running through April 2, 2020, ACI hosted 180 virtual committee meetings with 1,500 attendees who met for a combined total of 350 hours.  The largest committee meeting, ACI committee 201 on durability, virtually convened 120 committee members and guests to update ACI’s concrete durability guide and begin developing requirements for a new ACI concrete durability code.  The ACI Foundation Scholarship Council held the convention’s longest virtual meeting – at 7.5 hours – to interview candidates for the Foundation’s coveted scholarships and fellowships.  The virtual convention culminated with the election of Jeffrey W. Coleman, PE, FACI, as the Institute’s 2020-2021 President. 

"There is no alternative to connecting with our community face-to-face, but this virtual convention allowed the important work of the Institute to move forward,” stated Ronald G. Burg, PE, Executive Vice President, American Concrete Institute.  “While several of our committees have been leveraging virtual meeting technology to progress their initiatives for years, this pandemic forced our community to embrace the virtual meeting format; and, I’ve received so much positive feedback on what our committees were able to accomplish"

The Institute is working with moderators and presenters who were scheduled to present in Rosemont/Chicago to explore delivery of technical presentations virtually this spring/summer, and plans to announce details shortly.  The next ACI Concrete Convention is scheduled for October 25-29, 2020, in Raleigh, NC, USA, featuring the Institute’s student competitions, popular exhibition hall, and the sixth-annual ACI Excellence in Concrete Construction Awards gala – alongside all of ACI’s popular technical, educational, and social convention activities.  Details will be posted to concrete.org as they are finalized.