Wednesday, May 23, 2012

HELP PRESERVE FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT'S LAURENT HOUSE!

 If you're in Rockford, Illinois on June 1, consider attending this event which will benefit the effort to preserve Frank Lloyd Wright's 1949 Laurent house, which was occupied by the Laurent family from it's construction until just recently. The home and it's Wright-designed furnishings are said to be in original condition. 

I live about a mile from the Laurent house and I've viewed it from the street many times.

Help preserve this great work of art in Rockford, and mellow out with a glass of wine.

I'll see you there.
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Friday, May 18, 2012

THANKS TO JOY DAVIS AND THE CSI SOCIAL MEDIA COMMUNITY!

Yesterday evening, May 17, 2012, Joy Davis and a panel of CSI social media users across the country presented SOCIAL MEDIA FOR CONSTRUCTION PROFESSIONALS by webinar to our Northern Illinois CSI Chapter meeting in Glen Ellyn, IL.

Thanks to Joy Davis and the panelists for generously sharing your time, and your experiences with social media, with us in the Northern Illinois Chapter.

We had 21 people at the actual chapter meeting at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, and at least one member who tuned in to the webinar from his home.

Your efforts made a difference in persuading several people to try social media.  Here's a little feedback:

  • Dewain Peterson and I followed the accompanying Tweetchat #SMarchitect.  Looking out at the audience, I saw several people working their smartphones from time to time, presumably following the Tweetchat.  (I hope they weren't just idly surfing the web or checking email.)
  • Several people approached me after the presentation, and told me that they were going to try Twitter, and/or expand their current activity on Twitter, now that they can see it's not just a way for teenagers to convey personal messages.
  • This morning, I got an email from an experienced product rep who attended the meeting in person last night. He indicated that he, too, was going to try Twitter out, and that he may be contacting me for help occasionally.  If he asks a question I can't answer, I know I can call on the CSI social media community for help.
  • We didn't convince everybody, though.  After the meeting, one person, obviously agitated, told me that social media "just delivered too much information", and that he was concerned that he couldn't keep up with the flow. I tried to reassure him that he didn't need to read everything that he gathered in a social media feed, and tried to draw an analogy between reading a newspaper and using a social media feed.  He didn't buy it.
Personally, I'm just using Twitter and Linkedin currently.  As I get more proficient, I'll probably expand to use more social media platforms.