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In 2022, I was walking back to my hotel from the CSI National Conference in Denver, the city where I grew up, when I suddenly realized just how much specifiers and the entire AECO profession have meant to almost every aspect of my life.
“My Matrix Moment” is how I describe it, referencing one of the penultimate scenes in the popular movie series when actor Keanu Reeves’ Thomas Anderson character famously takes “the red pill,” and sees a new reality everywhere he looks.
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Which is exactly what happened as I walked past the high-rise office building where my dad used to work as an attorney, where I would sometimes come to meet him for lunch. Union Station, where I used to ride the ski train to Winter Park. And Coors Field, where in 2007, the beloved but perennially under-performing Colorado Rockies won their one and only National League Pennant.
What I saw was that these are the central locations where people live, work, and create the memories that matter the most. I saw how CSI informs those lives.
A Sense of Place
Ask CSI who they are, and you can go straight to the boilerplate: “A national not-for-profit association of professionals dedicated to improving the communication of construction information throughout continuous development and transformation of standards and formats, education and certification of professionals to improve project delivery processes.”
And, “CSI members work tirelessly to effectively communicate the designers’ vision, the material producers’ solutions, and the constructors’ techniques to create outstanding facilities that meet facility owners’ objectives.”
Those “facilities” include the schools I attended, meeting my new best friends at every age, and eventually at a university in Upstate, New York, where I met my amazing wife. Also, it’s the churches we enjoyed with our two favorite families every Christmas Eve, changing the denomination each year based on who was hosting the dinner that night.
It includes the airport where I caught a flight home after that conference, to Santa Fe, where we fell in love with the adobe houses, the dry air, and that golden Southwestern light.
A Nationwide Network
What I like most about CSI, is how every member can have their own expertise, but still be dedicated to working together for the success of their colleagues and the project. This, “diversified membership base of allied professionals involved in the creation and management of the built environment.”
I like telling the stories of the certifications, chapters, and community involvement that make it so straightforward for members to steer their own professional development.
Most of all, I like hearing the stories of lifelong friendship, awards and achievements, personal breakthroughs or highlights, and what it is that members do best.
Please help me tell those stories, of you, your company, your chapter, or of someone who you feel deserves the spotlight. As the lead writer for CSI, I am here to celebrate this community and all of its great work. I can’t wait to talk.
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