CEO Blog: Hey CEFPI, What have you done for me lately?
Hey CEFPI, What have you done for me lately?
CEO Blog: Vol. III
By John Ramsey, CAE
Executive Director/CEO
A Call to Get Involved
Greetings Colleagues! Sorry for the delay in my (almost) weekly blog, but we’ve been pretty busy at Headquarters these days with our Annual World Conference and Expo right around the corner. The CEFPI Strategic Planning Committee recently completed a series of meetings in Dallas which was one of the best organized and facilitated Strategic Planning sessions I’ve ever had the pleasure of attending. You’ll hear more on that later, but right now I want to push a subject out to you and hear your thoughts on the matter. What value do I get for my membership? If you have never asked this question, you are in the minority. The rest of us will always ask, why join? What do you do for me? What do I get for my hard earned dues dollars that I pay you each year?
All these are extremely valid questions for which you deserve answers. Not just one answer that comes out of an Association Management textbook, but frequent responses that evolve, just as CEFPI and the educational environment industry evolves. Allow me to discuss some of the things we have done over the years, some of the things we are doing now, and highlight some activities that we will do in the future. Here are some of the services we currently provide to individuals:
Education and training -- to meet the current and future needs of the knowledge, skills, and abilities to actively compete in the industry and to make sound business decisions within the educational facilities planning environment. We do this through conferences, Webinars, research, and professional publications.
Networking -- so that you can connect with your colleagues to exchange ideas, concerns, problems, solutions, and other tools that are exchanged through contact with fellow professionals in the industry.
Best Business Practices -- in order to provide you with critical and legitimate resources that validate the multitude of processes that encompass your business operation.
Standards and Recognition -- so you can have an organized and recognized body of knowledge and professional collaboration of individuals who plan, design, equip, and build quality educational facilities (such as the REFP and our SDSU Advanced Certificate programs).
That all sounds great, but is it enough? In the growing world of information flowing at light speed, the answer to that question is “no”. Information is quickly becoming ubiquitous as search engines and digital processing become the dominating force in how we get our information. That gets me back to you, the member. We can package and market information and knowledge in a variety of methods to attract and keep members, but we cannot duplicate the power of the “member”. Members are and continue to be our greatest strength. So, we have to find new ways to satisfy your needs. This involves change -- a very scary word, but a necessity for progress. For one, we are terminating the TTWWADI (That’s The Way We Always Did It) operating method. If we are doing something and we don’t know why we are doing it, its usefulness is long gone -- no matter how good of a purpose it once served. Our members need value, not tradition!
In coming months, you will see the inception of a wide variety of new beginnings that we have actually been working on since last fall. Most of them are technological in nature, but realize that technology is only the tool of delivery. The real value lies in the information that the technology delivers. We have told you about our new communications suite (you are using it right now!) with blogs, e-groups, and soon podcast and vodcasts. Those tools are merely the beginning.
Our upcoming conferences will offer you a 360 degree learning experience; you will see a truly “world” association that offers a knowledge sharing platform for members from different parts of the globe. Our flagship program, School Building Week will promote the unique role of the school as a prime driver for economic growth in communities everywhere. Our legislative efforts will make your voices heard among policy-makers in Washington, D.C and other national and provincial capitals. Not to forget, we will make every effort to be a truly “green” association, which will be reflected at our upcoming conference and expo in San Diego – September 29-Oct 2.
Its great to talk this talk and make everyone feel good about it but it is meaningless without some action. For that we need a competent staff, a number of contractors and consultants, but most importantly, we NEED YOU. You, the member, are the cornerstone of all that is valuable in our association. We need you to get involved. Get involved with your chapter, region, or on an international committee. Staff can provide tool after tool, but without your involvement, input, leadership, and commitment, we have nothing but a small condo office building in Scottsdale (and very soon Washington DC!).
Our mission is to take direction formulated at your strategic planning meeting and implement new programs and services that deliver the information you need, create the networking that is important, and promote the viability of CEFPI in a fashion that is relevant to not only to today’s educational facilities professional, but to the next generation that will continue to be the central force of CEFPI – you, the member. Let us hear your comments. So, stay tuned, for more to come...
This blog is a real contribution to the debate. I think you are right on.
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