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Eliminating Barriers to Engagement

Español | Translation Sponsored by TCA

Have you noticed that you don’t need a password to register for the Tilt-Up Convention and Expo? More on that after a quick story. . . .

This August, our family traveled to Cincinnati, Ohio, because one of my kids was competing in the USA Triathlon (USAT) Youth and Junior Nationals. It’s roughly an 8-hour drive from Iowa and we arrived two days before the race as there are a variety of auxiliary events. On the day before the race, we made our way to the race site to pickup his registration packet and, to my horror, they have no record of his registration. After feverishly searching my email for confirmation (I was sure I registered him), I came to the realization that between signing kids up for a handful of other triathlons, basketball tryouts, fall football, and tennis tournaments, I had missed this one. The initial response from registration personnel at the event was that registration was closed and onsite registration was not allowed. After some begging and pleading, he got his race number and timing chip, and we were golden.

It wasn’t until the drive home that I remembered that I had in fact started the registration process, but gave up with the plan to come back to it. The reason? Their form was not working in my Safari (Mac) web browser, and I didn’t have my USAT password saved in Google’s Chrome web browser.

Maybe it was a self-fulfilling prophecy or confirmation bias, but I have long held the position that any barrier to register for an event or join an organization causes 10% of would-be attendees or members to vanish. Not because they’re too unorganized to keep track of a password or too busy to fill out a long form—because there are certain windows of opportunity, and once they are passed, the odds of another one coming along diminish with time. In those moments between times, once something disrupts the intention to take action, things happen. People reconsider, new priorities arise, they simply forget, their schedule gets booked, airfare goes up, etc. “Strike while the iron is hot” is the expression. . . .

Some assets of the Association need to be behind a pay gate of sorts—members only. Some things need to be accessible to the industry at large. In both cases, we have been working hard to make access to Association resources as user-friendly as possible. You will read in this issue about our new transcript page and streamlined recertification processes. Hopefully you’ve checked out our new online learning tool (Tilt-Up Academy) that is styled like popular television streaming services. And, in this issue, you will be introduced to the new and improved technical hotline tool: the TCA Cyber Roundtable. Where you need to sign in for access, you will use your new TCA ID. Where it’s not necessary for you to use a password, we’re not going to ask you to. We know you are busy, and we understand your time and focus are constantly being pulled in multiple directions. We strive to be part of the solution and work to eliminate barriers to engaging with our resources wherever possible.

Oh, and if you show up to convention without a confirmed registration, we will take care of that too.

Best regards,

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TILT-UP TODAY, a publication of the Tilt-Up Concrete Association, is THE source for Tilt-Up industry news, market intelligence, business strategies, technical solutions, product information, and other resources for professionals in the Tilt-Up industry. A subscription to TILT-UP TODAY is included in a TCA membership. Subscriptions for potential TCA members are also available. If you would like to receive a complimentary subscription to the publication, please contact the TCA.