INSIDE CSI
Matthew Fochs, CSI
It never fails. Get a few professionals together and within minutes they will start to share ‘war stories’ about a recent project or client. There is something special about sharing experiences with peers—the process often leads to new insights and learning. Reviewing past mistakes, former projects, and sharing lessons learned is one of the oldest and most fruitful ways to connect as a professional. With that in mind, CSI looked to offer structure to the informal story-sharing process by launching the Practice Group Program in 2008.
Initially a single, member-driven group focusing on building information modeling (BIM), CSI began hosting free monthly webinars where anyone who was interested in discussing their experiences or learning from their peers could meet up. The early sessions were often informal in nature and focused on sharing stories about past projects or asking one another about something that may have been overheard on the job. Within a matter of months, the informal meetings matured into formal educational webinars with topics and facilitators. CSI also began to look at other topics that may offer the same level of interest.
Over the past eight years, the CSI Practice Group Program has grown to include groups on Sustainability, Specifying, Construction Contract Administration, and also Product Representation, along with two off-shoot groups dedicated solely to CSI Leaders and Emerging Professionals. From every corner of the globe, thousands have now taken part in more than 1500 free webinars, and thousands more have also logged into CSI’s YouTube Channel to watch the archived recordings of nearly every session since 2012.
The five Practice Groups
Since the groups are community-driven and rely on professional volunteers to facilitate sessions, not all have monthly meetings. Some have even morphed into completely different programs, such as the Emerging Professionals Practice Group, which is now part of the new Young Professional Series (yps.csinet.org), while other groups have taken time off as volunteer leaders step down or the main focus of the program shifts due to changes
in the profession.
Two such groups, the Sustainability and BIM Practice Groups, have not met for over a year as a handful of professionals have worked with CSI to refocus the vision for their respective practice groups. Relaunching this year as the High Performance Building and Information Management Practice Groups, CSI’s portfolio of active practice groups is now back up to five.
Construction Contract Administration
This group regularly meets from 12 to 1 p.m. ET on the fourth Tuesday of the month. The group is led by Jim Rains, CSI, FAIA, and Douglas Freeman, RA, JD, and focuses on the frequently forgotten, but vitally important, aspects of the construction project between design and occupancy.
High Performance Building
Just starting out, this new group is currently asking for input and suggestions from professionals who want to push the idea of sustainability beyond the oft-discussed aspects of green certifications and red lists. (Please contact me if you have a topic or session you feel the group should address—my e-mail is below)
Information Management
The other new group this year is Information Management, and CSI is currently asking for input and suggestions from professionals who understand that Information Model and Building databases go far beyond the specific BIM software package being used. (Again, send me an-email if you have a topic or session that you feel the group should address.)
Product Representation
Over the past few years, this group has joined forces with CSI’s Trusted Advisor campaign and offered a handful of useful sessions on topics ranging from studying for the CCPR Certification to tips on how to be the ‘Golden Rep’ for your community. The group does not have a regular meeting schedule, but a more active schedule is planned for the coming year.
Specifying
The most active of CSI’s practice groups, the SPG meets regularly from 3 to 4 p.m. ET on the first Thursday of every month. Lead by the dynamic duo of David Stutzman, CSI, CCS, AIA, SCIP, and Louis Medcalf, FCSI, CCS, the group has touched on nearly every aspect of specification writing imaginable. With a meeting attendance that often surpasses 100 professionals, the discussion, questions, and information shared is something from which every architecture/engineering/construction (AEC) professional can benefit.
Conclusion
The CSI Practice Group Program was created with the goal of professionals having a place to share experiences and information. With each new member, the ability to meet that goal grows. Every session and group email is completely free and made available to all professionals. If you or someone you work with finds any of these groups interesting, please sign up now and join the discussion—visit portal.csinet.org (Update Your Profile > Practice Groups).
Matthew Fochs, CSI, is the association’s community development manager, responsible for services and programs with a focus on training leaders and volunteers to better serve CSI and the design/construction industry. After receiving his degree in architecture design from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 2005, Fochs served as national vice president for the American Institute of Architecture Students (AIAS) and on committees or the boards of all five architectural collaterals. He can be reached at mfochs@csinet.org.
I have participated in several practice group web conferences (CCS and CCCA) which have been very informative and enlightening. The depth of audience knowledge and experience adds to the inactive learning experience.
I’ll mention again that a similar type of volunteer practice group could really help newer volunteers learn about how to do the jobs that make chapters operate, exactly how the practice groups help people learn how to do their job at work. The sessions could be posted for viewing later, just like the practice group sessions. CSI has very knowledgeable members in every area of chapter jobs. in a different way than the practice groups, run by the same panel of two (which works fine because they are full-time specifiers or contract administrators), I envision a committee that composes panels of members experienced in different areas of expertise, from every key chapter officer, director, and committee job to broader topics like budgeting, board empowerment, marketing, business development.
Not everyone can make it to the conferences and convention to get some volunteer training. A centralized learning forum would help us a lot at the grass roots level of CSI, where the CSI Experience predominately happens in almost 130 cities every month. As the library of saved programs is developed, member volunteers will have more tip-of-finger resources to use, at times when it’s convenient for them.
The national organization can enhance service and support to chapters, through mostly member-volunteer knowledge and expertise, just like the how the practice groups are operated.
Matt and I have discussed this idea. I agree with him that a different name than leaders practice group would better distinguish its identity and purpose.
I remember when I was just getting involved in my mid-30s. I was a cross between an eager beaver and a sponge. One of my mentors, John Taylor, encouraged me to attend conferences, where he said I would learn more from other experienced volunteers who have different experiences than the members running my home chapter. he was sure right. With the internet and web conferencing, I think CSI can do way, way better today. (The canned programs could also be used at the region and chapter level to customize and expand on the training.)
CSI as a membership and chapter based organization is under some stress. Membership has been steadily declining since the late 1990s. Some inactive chapters have had their charters revoked. Do we want CSI to remain member and chapter based? (If the near 20 year trend continues unabated, what will CSI be in 5, 10 years?) Do we need to change anything about how we are operating, at all three levels, to reverse this long trend? What can the top level staff and volunteer leadership do to improve support and service to chapters and grass roots volunteers? With our change in staff leadership my hope is that some truly innovative initiatives will be forthcoming.