Last month, CONSTRUCT 2016 and CSI’s 60th Annual Convention welcomed more than 2300 industry professionals and 200 exhibiting companies to Texas and the Austin Convention Center. Gensler, Gould Turner Group, HDR, HOK, NBBJ, and Perkins + Will were among the architectural firms represented by attendees. This event, which ran from September 7 to 9, fostered education, networking, and development for members of the commercial building team.
Building on the success of previous years, show-organizers Informa took extra steps to enhance the experience of attendees. Delegates were presented with a plethora of networking opportunities, from a new sponsored coffee lounge in the exhibition hall to daily happy hours to events like the CSI Austin Chapter host event and the CSI Night Out.
“CSI Night Out was incredibly fun and Maggie Mae’s was the perfect spot to end a great week,” said Night Out sponsor, and The Construction Specifier author, Chris Bennett. “Tao Group was proud to sponsor an opportunity for CSI friends and family to unwind, reconnect, and mildly misbehave.”
CONSTRUCT also featured a Young Professionals Mixer. In fact, young professionals had a whole day to network and learn from one another at the second annual Young Professionals (YP) Day, which featured opportunities like panel discussions, speed mentoring, and a networking lunch. This year’s YP Day was led by Cherise Lakeside, a specifier for Ankrom Moisan Architects.
“Helping YPs set themselves apart as well as setting themselves up for a successful career is a true passion of mine,” she said, explaining she looks forward to “watching this talented group go out and take over the world.”
One participant, Jeffrey Parnell (Hnedak Bobo Group) described the event as an “absolutely fantastic” opportunity to “meet some wonderful emerging leaders from around the architecture, engineering, and construction industries and the country.”
For all attendees, there was also chances to meet leaders from outside the building community. The kickoff speech was given by keynote speaker Larry Winget (“The Pitbull of Personal Development”), and he had an inspirational focus very different from the industry-focused talks of previous years.
The show also gave CSI a chance to celebrate the achievements and contributions of its members, who continue to improve construction documentation and push forward related aspects of design, building, collaboration, and education. Catherine Houska, a regular contributor to this magazine (her most recent article can be read here) received the Technical Document Award, while editorial advisor Sheldon Wolfe was one of two new Distinguished Members. Further, The Construction Specifier Magazine Article of the Year Award was presented to Ray Coulombe for his excellent, well-received feature, “Remaking Division 28: Specifying electronic safety and security with MasterFormat 2016” from the May 2016 issue.
Aside from numerous technical sessions in seminar rooms, CONSTRUCT’s 2600-m² (28,000-sf) exhibition hall featured 20 exhibitor-led accredited programs in various locations on the show floor. Sessions held by Allegion, Firestone Building Products, and Sherwin Williams could be found in the Learning Pavilion, while Benjamin Moore and Huber Engineered Woods conducted sessions in their own Learning Lounges.
In total, the event offered more than 40 educational sessions, giving participants the opportunity to earn up to 18 American Institute of Architecture (AIA) Learning Units (LUs)—including 16 in Health, Safety, and Welfare (HSW)—and up to five Green Business Certification Inc. (GBCI) CEs. Learning even took place outside the exhibition hall altogether, with a technical tour of the Austin New Central Library led by Jonathan Smith of Lake | Flato Architects. (The library will not open to the general public until next month.)
These enhancements pushed CONSTRUCT 2016 in the right direction. One exhibitor, Jeremy Douglas (Hohmann & Barnard), describes the event as “by far the best opportunity I have to get my products in front of the best decision-makers in the design process.”
Many exhibitors seem to be acting on words like those—before the 2016 show even closed, over 40 percent of the 2016 exhibitors had booked booth space for 2017. Already, 50 percent of available booth space for 2017 has been sold.
CONSTRUCT 2017 will take place from September 13 to 16 in Providence, at the Rhode Island Convention Center. Hotel reservation for the event has already opened, and a call for presentations has been issued. Registration for the event itself will not open until late May.
