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CSI's new Chapter and Region Spotlight series celebrates the interesting, innovative ways CSI chapters across the country are welcoming new members, providing value, and creating communities in which architecture, engineering, construction, and owner (AECO) industry professionals can thrive. This spotlight focuses on the Middle Atlantic Region, where the region’s certification chair, Winnie Sung, worked with individual chapter leaders to create a region-wide education event to help more than 150 CSI members study for the Construction Documents Technology (CDT®) exam.

The online exam prep class took place over nine Tuesday evenings last fall, from September 13 to November 8, 2022. Here, Winnie shares the details of this successful collaboration, and why the region is already planning to host it again this fall.

The Idea
During one of the Middle Atlantic Region monthly conference calls, Katherine Good, Vice President of the Mid-Atlantic Region and President of the Baltimore Chapter, and I suggested we should have a CDT exam prep class online for the entire Mid-Atlantic Region. It was mainly due to the reduction in chapter members and volunteers throughout the region. With a virtual meeting format, this was a good opportunity to spread out the volunteer load and select the expert lecturer. As the region certification chair, I recruited the presenters, and we met monthly to work out the issues with the online platform.
 
What It Achieved
We had over 150 people sign up for the online exam prep class. It was a great advertisement opportunity to reach out to people in different construction industries, and to share information about the resources and expertise within the CSI organization.
 
What Made It Special 
This event was special for our chapter because we got to know the presenters and attendees from various regions. The presenters were very creative in sharing their work experience and making the exam topics come alive. The attendees were appreciative. Some of their quotes include the following:
 
“The sessions were helpful in my exam preparation. The presentation and discussion during these sessions helped lift the words from the PDPG [Project Delivery Practice Guide] and aided in digesting the topics in a memorable way.”
 
“I took the CDT exam and passed. I greatly appreciated the prep class as a free resource that you and your team provided!”
 
“I passed the CDT and I know that the prep course was the reason why. Great job and thanks to the whole team of instructors.”
 
How This Could Benefit Other Chapters
The virtual meeting could help reduce some of the volunteer burnout, and it could reach out to other construction professionals to learn about CSI. Managing 150 people in a virtual meeting was overwhelming. Having less people might allow more discussions and opportunities to get to know one another.

It was a group effort and I greatly appreciate the work of the volunteers to make this event successful.

Connie Owen spent a lot of time in various technologies behind the scenes to ensure the weekly presentations and communications went smoothly.