After returning from Construct 2015 last week, I asked one of our younger employees what she liked about the conference, and she didn’t hesitate to respond “The people”. I pressed her a little further and asked if she had learned anything, and her response was that the education sessions were great, but the people she met were the greatest value to her. I was pleased to hear this, because I owe so much to my CSI friends all over the country.
I should clarify that even as a seasoned professional, I still run across questions
for which I don’t have answers. This is particularly true in this day and age that there is so much new technology out there and so much new information. I consider myself fortunate that when I run across something I don’t know related to the AEC business, there is generally someone in my professional network who knows the answer. That professional network includes the trusted advisors I know through CSI.
My network of professional peers includes, of course other architects, but it goes much further than this. I consider design professionals in other disciplines, product representatives, contractors, subcontractors, independent specifiers and other allied professionals to be my peers and trusted advisors. It is through CSI that I know hundreds of these folks and have access to thousands of others through their contacts.
I have often said that my CSI membership pays for itself every day, because rarely does a day go by that I don’t communicate in some manner with other CSI members outside of our firm. Sometimes, it is as simple as a “good morning” on Twitter, but often it will be a personal e-mail or telephone call with a pressing technical question. Over the years, the answers to these questions have at least made me a better architect and specifier, and perhaps, they have kept me out of court.
So this is only a small part of my CSI MVP: Member Value Proposition. There are many other opportunities that membership presents. These will be the subject of future posts.
Charlottesville Architect 
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