This month is jam packed with opportunities to improve personal knowledge and skills. This underlying theme is the same for all for all three.
Two down, and one to go. Traveling is disrupting the normal schedule. So I will be posting a summary of the Practice Group a bit later; stay tuned. The retreat will happen later this week. Meanwhile here is a report of the Academies.
Nearly 150 people trekked to beautiful San Diego, CA to attend the Academies this year: Product Representative, Specifiers, and Construction Administrators. Each group had their own track of education sessions stretching over three days to earn 14.5 education credits. I was honored to serve as an instructor for three sessions.
Social Media ROI
The program started with a joint session about the ROI of Social Media presented by Joy Davis @CSIConstruction. It was all about social media and a sharing community, so during the presentation Brent Williams @Brent_Williams1 led the TweetChat #CSIAcademies. By the end of the Joy's presentation the TweetChat had 345,000 impressions reaching 36,000 people. But the chat continued throughout the event.
ROI is nearly impossible to measure with social media. Joy featured one of my tweets as an example. I tweeted about a document offered by Universal Design that gave technical assistance on accessible pool entry and exit. Universal Design's website was shared with my 350 followers. Some, like Joy, of those retweeted the message reaching thousands more. All essentially free advertising.
According to Joy, if you plan to be working in ten years, you must embrace social media, now.
By the end of the Academies, the TweetChat had 750,000 impressions on 39,000 people. There was an opportunity to learn without the advantage of attending in purpose. CSI members embrace "community." They willingly share what they know. The TweetChat and all the Academies' volunteer instructors are great examples.
Join the Community
Here is a list, in no particular order, of those that contribute to the CSI Twitter community. I recommend you follow them all. And of course follow me @dstutzman and @Conspectusinc.
@Brent_Williams1
@CSIConstruction
@Hal_Good
@MetalEraInc
@NPI_procurement
@SpecmonkeyNorth
@LizOSullivanAIA
@TJMcCue
@thegainesgroup
@EricDLussier
@TomHopkinsSales
@perspectivearch
@CSICincyChapter
@PaDutch_descent
@csiallentown
@swolfearch
@NPI_Conference
@SmartBidNet
@AGWilsonBS
@builderpro
@m2architek
@Archathome
@jnmob2
@vivianvolz
@DenverCSI
@johndanes
@geverding
@dtrconsulting
@JWMollohan1
@Heitert16
@AssuranceScreen
@dmwfitzhugh
@EnovativeGroup
@jamiill
@collier1960
@VCLD_TomD
@archfan
@sellrunrest
@SB_AEC
@CentralPennCSI
@LynnJav
@CSIWillamette
@HuttonArch
@LoriGreeneAHC
@ViridianSystems
@JonCarter1989
@LizLenox_IR
@JaniceKrieg
@MeetMeme