News Detail

The Power of Connection

8/2/2021

As the global pandemic recedes and we slowly return to normal life and business operations, it‘s important to reflect on the lessons we can learn from the adversity we all endured. How can we strengthen ourselves, ACI, and our industry? And how can we leverage any valuable insights we may have gleaned for our lasting, shared benefit?

Admittedly, positive takeaways from COVID-19 are hard to find—it‘s like looking for the proverbial needle in a haystack. There ARE bright spots, however. One of the most significant of these is the enhanced digital communication skills we developed because of our need to stay connected.

Many of us—perhaps most of us—are now much more adept at using digital communication platforms and can move adroitly, or nearly so, from one platform to another. Further, the expanded use of these tools helped improve communication between people and organizations around the globe, including ACI. Connecting with our ACI colleagues in the next town has never been a problem. Connecting with our colleagues on another continent, however, has been, and digital online meetings have become a powerful and effective tool for facilitating these connections.

As ACI President and a member of the ACI Executive Committee, I have had many recent opportunities to participate in online meetings with our ACI partners and other international colleagues. For instance, in early July, I spent 90 minutes in one of these international meetings. In addition to the ACI Executive Committee and ACI staff members, participants included Asian Concrete Federation (ACF) representatives from Korea, Japan, Mongolia, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam. Had the meeting been held at ACF headquarters in Bangkok, Thailand, the ACI Executive team would have logged round-trip travel of more than 75,000 miles! Was our online meeting with ACF as impactful as meeting face-to-face? No. Nevertheless, the online meeting platforms currently in use and the improving audio/visual quality of contemporary hardware and software makes online meetings more engaging, efficient, and effective all the time.

Among other topics on our meeting agenda was the need for global cooperation in dealing with global challenges. Achieving carbon neutrality is one of these challenges, and confronting it globally is becoming steadily more urgent. We need to create a more sustainable future, and cement and concrete are critical components in that effort. As a result of our meeting with ACF, international cooperation in achieving carbon neutrality moved one small step forward, thanks to the power of connecting online.

The attendees at this meeting would likely not have met were it not for the new habit patterns now established throughout ACI, other organizations, and elsewhere that grew out of the pandemic. And as we all continue emerging from the pandemic, our enhanced skills in using online meeting technology will facilitate further cooperation. This may become one of the most valuable legacies of COVID-19. Most of us are now much more comfortable and conversant with online meetings, which should act as a catalyst for continued and enhanced use of virtual meeting platforms.

Of more immediate benefit will be the continuing adoption of an online component for ACI‘s semiannual conventions. Our convention in Atlanta, GA, USA, this October will, for the first time, include an option for online attendance at technical sessions during the in-person event. This is a major step forward and is the direct outgrowth of the experience ACI gained in conducting online conventions during the pandemic. International attendance increased during our virtual conventions, allowing ACI‘s work and activities to engage a larger and more diverse audience. Going forward, we can expect the same benefit as we continue to offer the option of attending conventions online. For the upcoming ACI Concrete Convention—Fall 2021, full details including a comprehensive schedule are being finalized and will be posted to www.ACIConvention.org soon.

Certainly, we can all agree that no one will miss COVID-19. It was a global catastrophe that we hope is never repeated. As with any problem, however, opportunities for growth can be found if one commits to searching for them. We need search no further than our computer screens for a COVID-related growth opportunity. ACI is now more internationally connected than ever before, which is in the best interest of all of us.

Cary S. Kopczynski

ACI President