For the past nine years I have had the opportunity to share my thoughts with you each month. There have been some interesting and I hope timely subjects that I have been able to talk about. This column is the harder to write than any of the previous columns. Mostly my columns have been put together in a stream of consciousness usually based on a conversation or a news article that involves our industry. The early columns followed the style of my predecessor in the form of a Q-and-A, with questions received from AWCI members and from the general public.
As I became more comfortable and gained more knowledgeable of member needs, I changed the format to more of an opinion style. The result was telling you a story. I believe it worked based on the comments I received via email and conversations. One of the more interesting exchanges was from a member comment who had complimented me for a timely and informative column. I thanked him and told him it was emails like his that helped me come up with 800 words a month to fill a magazine page. He responded by saying he was impressed because he did not know 800 words.
Now why I am telling you this? Because the time has come for me to retire. This will be my last Wachuwannano column as an employee of AWCI. Hopefully in the future I will have some things to pass on in the form of information through the pages of AWCI’s Construction Dimensions. I do not intend to disappear totally, and of course, after I finish the Honey-Do List (Yeah, right. Dream on.), there will still be time to fill with other endeavors and opportunities to share my knowledge and experience. Sharing my knowledge in the form of a column in a trade publication with the status of AWCI’s Construction Dimensions has been one of the highlights of my time at AWCI. To me, the interesting thing is I never considered myself a writer. In discussing this with my wife, she bluntly told me that a writer is only as good as his or her editor. I have indeed been fortunate in having the best editor in the business. Laura, thank you very much for your great job in making me look good.
The past nine years have been a great ride. When I first came onboard I was impressed by the atmosphere in the office—just a great place to work. I was greatly impressed by the attitude of the staff when convention time rolled around. From a stint at a trade association before coming to AWCI, preparation for convention had been very stressful and discouraging. This stressful situation did not then nor does it now exist with Team AWCI. Many of you have seen and experienced to work of Team AWCI and have strongly and clearly expressed your feelings to the staff. We appreciate that recognition very much. I was also impressed that the members treated the staff as equals.
I treasure my relationships and friendships I have developed over the years with many of the members of AWCI. In the years to come I look forward to maintaining those relationships.
In his wisdom I am sure AWCI Executive Vice President/CEO Steve Etkin will have a few things for me to do. One of which is maintaining involvement in ASTM. It is an activity I thoroughly enjoy and look forward to. While my successor will be involved in ASTM, I will be adding my abilities and voice to ensuring the standards-making process is fair to the construction industry.
It has been my privilege to serve AWCI and its members as your technical director. My goal has always been to provide technical help to members in the most expeditious manner and time possible. I hope I have upheld the expectations of the members and upheld the tradition of past technical directors in serving you. My successor, I am positive, will continue that tradition.
In parting I want to thank Steve for providing me with the opportunity to have shared the last nine years as a part of the amazing and talented AWCI family.
Best regards,
Don
Donald E. Smith, CCS, is AWCI’s director of technical services until March 29.
