May 2011

We Value the Volunteers

Just think of all the production in a typical year in ACI: two large conventions convene, 630 committee meetings are conducted, and an average of 800 chapter meetings take place with at least an equal number of chapter officer planning sessions. A typical year also sees one international and two regional Chapter Roundtables and 60 ACI educational seminars. Something like 2000 pages of new or updated ACI documents are reviewed, 1500 sets of meeting minutes are approved, 20,000 new certifications are issued, and the ACI Web site is visited 2.2 million times. Codes and specifications are initiated and updated; guides, state-of-the-art reports, and educational and certification materials cumulate to about 250 ACI-approved documents currently available. Many of those documents are included by reference in public and private contract documents, and some are included by law in state and model building codes or other Federal standards.

Our primary work products contribute heavily to the governance of concrete construction in the U.S. and in many other nations. Contracts are won or lost, work is accepted or rejected, and legal arguments are debated on the basis of ACI documents. How do we get so smart to write all of this stuff? First, ACI membership represents somewhere around 200,000 person-years of professional experience expanded by listening to some of the 200 technical presentations offered in an average year and reading some of the 300 papers typically provided in CI, our two journals, and symposium publications. We also interact with other national and international organizations. Add to that the growing international bibliography cataloged on our Web site plus the new videos and synched audiovisual presentations, and as Kramer would say, "We're out there!"

One thing that has become more apparent to me in the last couple of years (since I strayed from my comfort zone on several technical committees) is that our dedicated ACI staff works very hard behind the scenes to facilitate all of this activity. But it's ironic that the staff's success is often measured by the degree to which the membership is unaware of staff involvement. And while the staff is perhaps the lubricant for our ACI engine, and even sometimes the timing sequence or diagnostic software that keeps it running smoothly, the engine itself is clearly "Volunteer Powered." ACI committees and chapters work so professionally and productively that every now and then we have to step back and realize, "Hey, those hard-working people are volunteers! They aren't paid to do all of this!"

Ron Burg, our talented and insightful Executive Vice President (that is, "Chief of Staff"), has taken the time to estimate the fair market value of the volunteer contribution to the Institute, and he has come up with about $35 million a year, give-or-take a million or so depending on the ratio of meeting-to-mixer participation. Wow! That means that ACI's audited and board-approved annual budget of about $15 million is not even half of the story. Your participation is not only wanted—your participation is essential and truly appreciated!

The first memo of an ACI President's elected year is supposed to be about the President; but I have chosen to turn that around and talk about you and to thank you for your past, present, and future hard work. No rush to talk about me—I'll be here all year. But, if you want to know my first priority as the President of ACI, it is to say at every opportunity that we could not do ANY of this without you!

Given all that you do for ACI and how generously you give of yourselves, the Board of Direction, its Executive Committee, and I have the responsibility to not only gratefully acknowledge your contributions but also to make your time spent on the Institute's behalf as efficient and satisfying as possible. ACI sets a high bar for quality of our finished product. In our business, shortcuts are usually counterproductive; but if you see a way to make your ACI time more productive, we really want to hear your idea.

You are invited to e-mail your comments to: suggestions@concrete.org.

Kenneth C. Hover
American Concrete Institute
kch7@cornell.edu

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