October 6

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7:00 - 8:00 AM  |  Breakfast

+ Breakfast with Sponsors

Grab your breakfast and mingle with the sponsors! This is a great time to browse their Resource Center tables in the area where breakfast is served and thank them for their support of the event.

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7:00 AM - 2:30 PM  |  Registration Open

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8:00 - 8:30 AM  |  Annual Business Meeting

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8:00 AM - 1:00 PM  |  Headshot Hub

+ Professional Portrait Studio

Put your best foot forward with a free professional photo. Stop by the Headshot Hub for a new picture to use on your CSI Profile or your LinkedIn profile.

Sponsored by   RIB Logo

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8:30 - 9:30 AM  |  Keynote

+ Leveraging Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for Business Results

Speaker: Dr. Brandi Baldwin

The future of work is now, and businesses that want to remain competitive will have to incorporate diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) into their strategic business objectives sooner or later... whether they like it or not.  In this high-impact keynote, Dr. Brandi Baldwin will set the record straight about the business advantages of diversity, equity, and inclusion, how companies are leveraging DE&I to win the talent wars, and why companies who want to succeed should ditch divisive DE&I for a truly inclusive approach. 

Contrary to popular belief, Dr. Brandi doesn't believe that "passion" is a prerequisite for embracing DE&I. With a specialty in helping companies who are new to DE&I get major results, she doesn't shy away from acknowledging the somewhat warranted resistance that companies have to embracing DE&I. Get ready to hear cutting edge insights that will help you get clarity about how DE&I is relevant for you as a construction professional.

Learning Objectives:

  1. Understand the current diversity, equity, and inclusion landscape as it relates to the business world. (macro)
  2. Learn the top mistakes that companies make when implementing DEI strategies. (meso)
  3. Develop clarity around how to include DEI as a part of your professional brand. (micro)

Sponsored by   LiftMaster Logo

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9:45 - 10:45 AM  |  Breakout Sessions

+ Write Now: Generative AI and Successful Technology Driven Project Outcomes

Speaker: Richard A Ruppert

At some point every technology we now employ to see a building project through to successful completion was at first ‘emerging’. The relative value and shared adoption of these advancements were only realized through our collective genius and a wholly human touch. Generative AI may be no different in capable hands. Making things easier is an oft repeated mantra within our business, but are those things being made better and more effective as a result? This all points toward immediate opportunities for thoughtful, reliable, informed communication of intent realized as exceptional outcomes. Who better to deliver this message than the people that have weathered it all, specifying professionals.

Join us as we footnote the past, try to explain the present, and herald an optimistic future for technology enhanced building project delivery processes featuring the written word.

This session is approved for: 1 CSI LU and 1 AIA/HSW LU

Learning Objectives:

  1. Identify contemporary forces impacting project specification delivery that directly address design intent, building codes, healthful standards, and often times gauge environmental responsibility.
  2. Recognize the interplay of mostly digital technologies and programs that make your individual contributions to team efforts most impactful and enforceable.
  3. Implement a methodology using a shared platform that addresses engineering, environmental, and economic issues driving more successful building project outcomes.
  4. Describe the reciprocal relationship between humans and technology that can respond and support each other safely and in a situationally correct manner.

+ Understanding Paint, Coatings and Sealants in LEED v4.1

Speaker: James Bergevin

Since the launch of the first LEED® certification program in 1998, the U.S. Green Building Council has led the drive for more sustainable and environmentally responsible buildings. With the recent introduction of LEED v4.1, the Council placed an increased emphasis on transparency of product-level decisions. The intent of these requirements is to better understand the life cycle impact of building materials on the well-being of those who work, learn, and live in LEED-certified buildings.

This challenge means that design teams must figure out how to navigate different types of claims and certifications on a myriad of products for each project. In this session, you will learn how to simplify the process of specifying low-emitting materials that help to maximize points for paint, coatings, and sealants in three credit areas within LEED v4.1 for new construction.

This session is approved for: 1 CSI LU and 1 AIA/HSW LU

Learning Objectives:

  1. Establish how design teams can make informed decisions and help achieve sustainability goals and/or LEED certification when specifying paints and coatings throughout a project.
  2. Discuss the importance of specifying 3rd party certified low-emitting paint and coating products, and how they contribute to the well-being of the end-user.
  3. Explain how 3rd party validations for paint and coatings bring transparency to material ingredient reporting, which means that owners can be certain that they are using products that will support the best interests of the end-users.
  4. Learn about coating technologies that provide proactive solutions to address indoor air quality challenges, such as mold and mildew and disease-causing bacteria on painted surfaces as well as off-gassing of formaldehyde from other business materials.

+ So, You Want to Start Your Own Girls Camp

Speaker: Minnie Robles

With growing need to introduce the next generation to the opportunities the construction industry, creating a Girls Camp in your area, is an innovative way to introduce the young women to endless careers the construction field has to offer while offering your chapter a rewarding experience to give back to their communities.

This session will review the basic components of a Girls Camp, speed bumps you may encounter along the way, and help you gather information to take back to your chapter.

Learning Objectives:

  1. Why promote and host a girls camp
  2. Basic components of a girls camp
  3. What information to gather, obtain and record and safe keep
  4. Possible speed bumps during planning, hosting camp, and after camp

+ Commercial Door Operators

Speaker: Corinne Furfine

This continuing education course covers the installation requirements of a commercial door and operator that will ensure that the installation will be in compliance with UL 325. UL 325 is a human safety standard that has been written to protect the health, safety, and wellness of any employee, guest or pedestrian who would be positioned near such an installation, and it is important for architects to understand these requirements to insure that they are properly designing and specifying their projects so that they are code compliant.

Learning Objectives:

  1. Describe the types of commercial door operators.
  2. Explain the requirements of UL 325 and how it contributes to the safe operation of commercial doors and list the devices that meet the UL standard and describe their features.
  3. Compare the functions of various styles of commercial doors
  4. Discuss the features of reduction systems and solenoid brakes, as well as the NEMA ratings for enclosures

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10:45 - 11:00 AM  |  Break

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11:00 AM - 12:00 PM  |  Breakout Sessions

+ Thermal Bridging Tools to Optimize Large Passive House Buildings

Speaker: Cody Belton

Participants will gain new insight on how to decrease construction costs by eliminating conservative thermal bridge assumptions at high impact thermal bridges for projects using performance-based energy codes or standards. The design team can leverage thermal simulations at optimized high impact thermal bridges, such as window installations, as an effective strategy to reduce wall thickness, reduce embodied carbon emissions, meet low thermal energy demand targets, and potentially provide cost-effective solutions for the developer/owner. We will share a post-construction research study to prove how thermal simulations can be used to improve the overall building enclosure design.

Improving critical thermal bridge locations with high impact to energy demand targets can result in better buildings, lower risk of interior mold/condensation, and enhance energy modelling as an optimization tool. The transition towards performance-based energy codes is coming, and use of 2-D and 3-D thermal simulations will be imperative for resilient building enclosure design.

This session is approved for: 1 CSI LU and 1 AIA/HSW LU

Learning Objectives:

  1. Define thermal bridge simulation requirements at project conception when issuing request for proposal for architectural and engineering services by enforcing use of appropriate thermal simulation standard.
  2. Learn how status quo use of inaccurate conservative assumptions for thermal bridges at high-impact locations leads to excessive insulation at external walls, increasing embodied carbon/diminishing marketable floor area.
  3. Understand benefits of accurate 3-D thermal simulations at high-impact thermal bridges to assess thermal transmission and surface temperature to evaluate mold/condensation risk, leading to better buildings that cost less.
  4. Learn about innovative window installation design – finding balance for constructability and maximizing performance in a site-built opaque building exterior wall system suitable for high-rise passive house buildings.

+ Unlocking the Metaverse: What It Means to You

Speaker: Paul Doherty

When the physical built environment intersects with the digital world, it is a moment to pay attention.  Welcome to a journey of unlocking the mysteries of the metaverse for the built environment and how these technologies, processes, workflows, and experiences will affect you, your business, and your lifestyle. This session explores urgent questions such as: What is the Metaverse? Who uses it? How do you measure success? Where are examples of the Metaverse and the workflows of Web3? When can you expect the Metaverse, Web3, and Blockchain to affect me and my business? Join us for an interactive experience of visiting the industrial metaverse while witnessing how the AECO community can embrace this transformative medium with value.

This session is approved for: 1 CSI LU and 1 AIA LU

Learning Objectives:

  1. Recognize the purpose and advantages of using the metaverse.
  2. Identify new processes and innovations that focus on metaverse solutions.
  3. Use the metaverse for your company’s market differentiation.
  4. Understand the difference between the metaverse and the industrial metaverse.

+ Green Roof Design: A Sustainable Approach to Waterproofing

Speaker: Allison Verley

The U.S. population is forecast to increase by 50% over the next 50 years, yet cities are already struggling to cope with growth and economic development. Open space and undisturbed land have given way to buildings and roads. Sealed with concrete and asphalt, these surfaces no longer allow water to infiltrate to the ground. And, dark rooftops and pavement absorb and store energy from the sun during the day and reflect it at night.

The results are increased stormwater runoff, increased urban temperatures, altered weather patterns, and the loss of pollination and greenery in metropolitan areas. “Green” roofs can provide a solution to all of these problems. This session provides a comprehensive overview of how green roofs improve community spaces in a sustainable approach, designing with the future of our world in mind.

This session is approved for: 1 CSI LU and 1 AIA/HSW LU

Learning Objectives:

  1. Recognize different technologies and waterproof membrane products that can be utilized under growing vegetation.
  2. Describe methods for stormwater management and how to remove and/or store excess stormwater water through different drainage and water retention designs.
  3. Review the different systems of green roof designs and differentiate between extensive, semi-intensive, and intensive systems.
  4. Review best practices for waterproofing inside and outside corners along with the vertical and horizontal transition detail of a structure.

+ Protective Design Concepts and Standards: Navigating Product Solutions

Speaker: Robert A Miller

This session will review the most current concepts and standards used in the protective design marketplace. We use these standards to best determine product choice in our fast-changing world, where navigating new challenges and staying informed has never been more critical to ensuring a safe and secure environment.

Innovation has led to several new standards and products in the protective design marketplace. By establishing a baseline understanding of those requirements we can better decide on what product to specify to ensure performance and compliance. Climb resistance, vehicular crash resistance, ballistics rating, and other physically defining features of these products are now commonplace in the planning discussions for every facility, from critical infrastructure to educational and public spaces. This presentation will take you through the critical standards we use to navigate the challenging realm of the protective design industry.

This session is approved for: 1 CSI LU and 1 AIA/HSW LU

Learning Objectives:

  1. Understand current vehicular force protection standards for fences, barriers, and other products.
  2. Know baseline criteria for ballistic ratings of various protective design products.
  3. Learn about blast-resistance measures and how they can be applied to various products.
  4. Understand forced entry resistance standards.

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12:15 - 1:00 PM  |  Lunch & Certification Celebration

+ Lunch & Certification Celebration

Sponsored by   FiberTite Logo

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1:00 - 2:00 PM  |  Closing Keynote

+ Mastering Change in our Daily Lives: Embracing Robotics & AI, to Diversity, Equality and Inclusion

Speaker: Mark Matteson

The construction industry is experiencing an exciting evolution as it seeks to master change, embrace robotics and artificial intelligence (AI), and incorporate much-needed diversity, equity, and inclusion at all levels. Yet the ability to attract and retain employees is still the number one challenge for employers. Research tells us that over the next five years, 27% of the labor in this country will retire. How do we prepare for that transition? What are the best practices of the top firms that manage to continually attract and retain good people? As Henry Ford once said, “If you keep doing what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got.” In other words, it’s change or die. The good news is that if you are willing to innovate, try new strategies, and get out of your comfort zone, you can attract and retain good people.

Don’t miss this compelling keynote presentation on what you can do now to sustain, motivate, and retain your most important asset: your workforce.

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2:30 - 5:00 PM  |  Offsite Tours

+ New Metro Transit North Loop Bus Garage with Solar Air Heating Panels Tour

The attendees will be interested in the design and construction of the facility, reasons materials were chosen, the sustainability of the facility (including materials used, the solar air heating system), energy efficiency, etc.), and talk about the planned rooftop solar array on the building.  Join the experts and learn about how they “mastered change” in a creative and environmentally respectful way. Photography is allowed at this site and roundtrip transportation is included.

Participant Limit: 20 attendees
Cost: $50 includes roundtrip transportation

+ Mall of America Tour

Enjoy a 4 hour round trip shopping trip to the famous Mall of America to get your “shop on.” We’ll pick you up right in front of the hotel and whisk you off for an afternoon of fun! Join us!

Participant Limit: 20 attendees
Cost: $85

+ Minneapolis Public Services Building Tour – Civic Engagement and Sustainability by Design

Completed in 2021 the Minneapolis Public Service Building serves as a new home for local government in the City of Minneapolis. The building has been designed to create an inviting space for the public that encourages personal connections, open dialogue, and civic engagement. On the tour of this building, you’ll learn how sustainability and health features were integrated into the design to create an ideal occupant experience for both city employees and visitors. In particular, attendees will learn about how material choices were made that support transparency and healthy outcomes.

This tour has been submitted for AIA credit.

Participants: Will meet in the lobby. About 20-30 minute walk from hotel.
Cost: $35

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