MF04 - a gold mine of opportunity

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Author Message Sheldon Wolfe Senior Member Username: sheldon_wolfe Post Number: 168 Registered: 01-2003 Posted on Saturday, October 08, 2005 - 11:00 am:    The advent of MasterFormat 2004 provided a unique opportunity to promote CSI in many ways. Aside from the obvious potential for talking to engineers and landscape architects about the changes resulting from implementation of MF04, it provides a way to begin conversation about membership, education, and certification - and the principles of writing specifications as described in the PRM. CSI's Audio Exchange program provides an excellent way to bring together not only our own members, but engineers and others involved in construction. An Audio Exchange can also be the center of a chapter meeting or a for-profit seminar, with a question and answer session following the Audio Exchange program. All that is needed is a conference room with Internet access and a speakerphone. An AudioExchange-based program can be a chapter activity, but it can also be done by your members in their own offices. In the past year, I have twice invited consultants to my firm's office for an Audio Exchange program. In each case, I was able to provide a great program for our consultants, and for our own staff, as well. Below is an e-mail I recently sent to several consultants. It was tailored for each group, the message varying slightly for mechanical and electrical engineers, civil engineers, and landscape architects. It is an example of a simple way to invite people to participate in an Audio Exchange seminar. (Your message may differ; we have had three MF04 presentations in the last year.) And don't rely on e-mail alone! Pick up the phone and talk to them! It was through a combination of e-mail and phone calls that I was able to get a large number of local engineers to attend our first MF04 chapter meeting. Remember, even though our members are notified of these seminars, engineers and others who would benefit from them may not know they exist. We can't wait for them to find out about them, and hope they decide to come to a chapter meeting, we must take it to them, in their offices if necessary. During the many years I served on the Institute Technical Committee, the most common complaint from chapter and region technical chairs was that there was nothing for them to do. MasterFormat 2004 is a potential goldmine not only for technical committees, but for programs, education, and certification committees, as well. Unfortunately, it won't last forever. I suspect that within a few months, as MF04 becomes the accepted standard, this opportunity will fade away. I encourage all of you to consider the many ways that we can take advantage of MF04, and take action as quickly as possible. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Wolfe, Sheldon Sent: Wednesday, September 28, 2005 4:11 PM To: Subject: MasterFormat 2004 web seminar If you missed the MasterFormat 2004 presentations at CSI and AIA meetings in the last several months - or if you did attend and want to go over the information again - you can learn about MasterFormat 2004 in the comfort of your own office by attending an online web seminar. More information below; if you have questions, please feel free to call or e-mail. Sheldon Wolfe -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- “MasterFormat for Engineers” Web Seminar Scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 4 “MasterFormat for Architects” Web Seminar Scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 25 [the remainder of the e-mail was copied from CSI Audio Exchange promotions, and included links for registration]