AIA Northeast Texas - Tyler, Texas

Well here it is gentlemen; it is my turn to take this job. I can only hope that I can do as good a job as my predecessors to help our chapter stay aware of what is going on around us and create benefits for the members who want to be reassured that their investment in our organization is money well spent. I am not going to talk about the economy, not because it is not important, but because we just have to deal with it. The AIA though is aware and is willing to make our dues as manageable as possible by providing a Deferred Payment Plan. This plan must be applied for though the requirements are not extensive. I am offering this information because one of our goals this year is to have our membership levels maintained and our memebers involved in meetings this year.

This newsletter will be distributed both by e-mail and by regular mail this time in order to insure that all of the membership gets a copy. Please, either by e-mail (president@aianetx.org), mail (AIA NETx, P.O. Box 1397, Tyler, TX 75710-1397) or a phone call ((903) 663-5533) indicate your preference as to whether you continue to receive the newsletter electronically or by hardcopy through the regular mail. Those of you who want a hard copy particularly need to let us know. It seems that there are some of us who have given up on e-mail items because of the huge volume of stuff we are beginning to get electronically. However, realize that the electronic distribution saves the chapter expense.

As soon as I understand the website (fortunately Brian Phillips has volunteered to help), the opportunity for response to the questions in this letter will be available. Another item of importance is to make sure that we have published important information about you and your firm correctly. If there is any item not correct on your information let us know so that it can be corrected. We also need to know about your interns. Have your interns check the website and insure that their contact information is posted.

I would like the chapter to consider holding a couple of meetings located closer to membership in Texarkana and Lufkin. Maybe we could hold a meeting in Jefferson and maybe Nacogdoches where we provide a bus from Tyler and one from Longview to encourage more of those members to attend. I definitely need to have input of the membership concerning this and perhaps suggestions of places of historical importance where we might have the meetings and meals.

Another goal this year will be to acquaint more of our small and mid-sized firms (which include most of us) with the software sales people who, in the last three years, have products that are worth looking at again. I realize that most firms have dealt for years with programs that never do all that we hope and require multiple licenses to function. Your attitude is that, “I sure don’t need that product or expense.” That is no longer true. The BIM (Building Information Modeling) software does more than just make models. They now provide for complete working documents. Both Graphisoft’s Archicad and Autocad’s Revit have the ability to produce a complete project from model to working documents with one seat. Revit so far, requires an additional software seat to provide renderings. The abilities of the software reduce staff requirements and lead to better profitability. “Profitability”, yes that word that a lot of us have always had problems with. We need to talk to fellow firms and see if they will show us their success with the software.

And the third goal for me is to insure that our access to CEU’s remains easy and, as much as possible, free. There are concerns by executive members of other chapters that CEU’s have a value and part of this is due to the investment of the staffed chapters in creating meeting rooms and maintaining staff to provide CEU programs. Now, there is no question that some programs are better than others, but if the requirement of CEU’s is followed by a required fee to gain them, it becomes one more expense for us. We need to maintain the access to programs that can even include lunches as provided by many of the product manufacturers in our industry who are willing to train us in aspects of current construction as well as provide information about the free offers available.