Welcome to Vancouver! It is a wonderful change from the Texas heat. Unique venues such as Vancouver’s Pan Pacific hotel overlooking the harbor and a vista of coastal mountains is a great reason to attend AWCI events like this one—AWCI’s Industry Executives’ Conference & Committee Week, which is being held there this month.
I also recently had the pleasure of attending the Florida Wall & Ceiling Contractors Convention in Boca Raton, where outgoing President Nathan Ramsey (L&W Supply) and incoming President Neal Harris (KHS&S Contractors) teamed up to recognize several outstanding awards for construction. These projects should have a great chance of winning the AWCI national competition in the spring. View winners of this year’s Florida competition by visiting fwcca.com and clicking on the “Convention” tab. Great craftsmanship and leadership on these projects should be recognized and marketed all over the nation. Congratulations!
On the topic of craftsmanship, I am passionate about craft training and health and well-being of our workforce, and I will continue to speak on this topic until the cows come home. So today, I offer you some “inside intelligence” on educating a wall and ceiling project manager. In very simple terms, colleges and universities are great places to get a well-rounded general construction education. They address general construction topics and prepare a student with a basic understanding of the construction industry as a whole.
But up until now, the most common way to acquire a specific “wall and ceiling” education was by spending several years working in our trades. I am proud to say, though, that AWCI has created an inexpensive online course for members on project management called “AWCI’s Project Manager Development Course On-Demand.” Several leaders on our team at Marek who have taken the course can attest to its value. It shall be a part of Marek’s curriculum for advancement. I highly recommend you make this one of your best practices, because good guys do this while bad guys take risks.
On a brief but serious note, every AWCI member should be very proud to be a part of our association because of what AWCI Cares does for our industry employees. You can learn more from AWCI.org/foundation/awci-cares. I am honored to be a part of this great program.
In addition to being 2015–2016 president of the Association of the Wall and Ceiling Industry, Hinson is president of the Dallas division of Marek Brothers.
