Year of Participation
June 24, 2019
At this midway point during my term as PDCA president, it is always good to reflect on the past in preparation for the second half of this adventure. This has been a busy first half of the year both difficult and exciting.
We welcomed Frank Peters into our group of pile driving enthusiasts and said good-bye to our longtime friend, Steve Hall, as he moved into retirement. Our committees and chairs are running double-time to stay on top of everything that PDCA has on the go: conferences, educational programing, new building codes all while getting to know an almost completely new PDCA office team. Our board is committed to fully engaging and taking an active role in the daily actions of PDCA.
For me, personally, I chose to get involved with and learn about the Education Committee as a board liaison. In this transitional year, with many new PDCA team members, there was some concern about the tremendous amount of work placed on the shoulders of the Education Committee to plan and execute a successful annual conference. However, the committee and the PDCA staff washed away that fear within the first couple of meetings. I am very impressed with the Education Committee's dedication to tirelessly prepare for our conference. This team has created outstanding educational programming and speaker schedules for all PDCA members to enjoy at the PDCA 22nd Annual International Conference and Expo this July in Orlando, Fla., at the Four Seasons Resort Orlando at Walt Disney World Resort.
Other PDCA officers and directors are also actively engaged. For example, Jason Moore, PDCA vice-president, is focusing on PDCA membership. Moore, along with the PDCA secretary on the board, Karl Higgins, and Matt Bisbee, PDCA's director of member services in the national office, are actively promoting PDCA to prospective members while benchmarking our current membership.
As much as I want to make this message about accolades to these committee members, there is something weighing heavily on my mind. I have learned over the past few months that we absolutely need more members to become involved on our committees. I have personally called and spoken to members of the Education Committee, asking them to re-commit and re-engage. If you are a member of a PDCA committee, I ask you to please re-commit to your committee and be an active member. Your committee needs your energy, your suggestions and your ideas to create outstanding programs for today and tomorrow.
Getting involved is your first step to becoming part of the action and ideas. We need members not only paying dues, but also becoming part of the transformation of our deep foundation industry as our committees make it safer and more technologically savvy, in order to surpass other deep foundation methods and trends. However, you have to be involved walk the talk to have a real influence.
Please consider "walking the talk" with me and joining one of our committees or recommitting to the committee you are already a member of. With your engagement, you can positively influence our driven pile industry.