Convention 2011 – It’s a Wrap!
We have closed the books on another successful TCA Annual Convention. While attendance wasn’t as good as it was in “pre-recession” days, it was better than it has been the previous two years as we staged our most exciting and ambitious event ever.
Outdoor exhibitions and demonstrations were added back into the mix this year with great participation and attendance. The phenomenal Kansas City BBQ didn’t hurt. On a side note, if you were around on Friday night or Saturday and didn’t make it down to the American Royal Barbecue cook-off you missed an event of a lifetime. Over 500 BBQ competitors from all over North America gathered on the grounds of the Kemper Arena (totally filling the parking lots) – all of them cooking up some of the best BBQ you will ever smell (and taste). It was, after all, the World Series of BBQ. SpecChem invited us into their booth to sample what they were putting together and we weren’t disappointed. I hear it gets pretty crazy as the evening progresses with nearly 250,000 in attendance over the 3-day event (party) but I was long gone by then.
Seminars were timely and relevant with presentations on force protection, the Joplin Tornado, several great project profiles, government sales opportunities and David Whitlock’s presentation on LUZERS. Barclay again provided attendees with a series of tips and techniques, any one of which could return the cost of attendance. The 21st Annual Tilt-Up Achievement Award winners were announced with yet another crop of great buildings that dispel any reservations people might have regarding perceived limitations of Tilt-Up as a building system.
The most exciting thing, however, was the dedication of the Missouri Korean War Veteran’s Memorial. This was a Tilt-Up project designed by TCA’s Mitch Bloomquist with several other TCA members donating time, materials, and expertise. TCA was searching for a “real” project this year to highlight the capabilities of Tilt-Up and approached the Kansas City Parks and Recreation department about the possibility of building a park shelter or some other simple building. The next thing we knew, we were in the midst of a fast-track project (6 weeks of construction) of major significance to the State of Missouri and, in particular, the Veterans of the Korean War. The project made the front page of the Kansas City Star (the same publication that lambasted Tilt-Up as an unsafe building method) and attracted veterans, politicians, and dignitaries from across the State.
The project features angular shapes and edges, polished concrete, embedded photographs, exposed aggregate, form liners and a host of other techniques which Mitch carefully wove in to a memorial worthy of the occasion.
Make plans now to join us from October 2-4, 2012 as the convention returns to Amelia Island Plantation, Amelia Island, Florida and we attempt to outdo ourselves. Perhaps we will build a lifeguard tower to view the beautiful sunsets at Amelia Island (a very tall tower).