I'd agree NFPA was not the windfall associations generator that AFSA & NFSA were. And don't think that having 30 employees makes it easier to take off without making up the work I do, have you seen what time I send emails out regardless of convention or not?
Realize the AFSA convention is a bit of a vacation for me in that I don't mind spending time with friends discussing sprinklers. But from what you describe, you've carved out a niche that allows no week-long vacations, two-week vacations, just an occasional 3-day weekend with prior ok from customers. I see several of your peers annually. Maybe you could ask them how they pull it off? Ken Wagner (sp) presents a full-day plan review seminar for AHJs each year, also has time to attend other seminars. Heck, he even found time to spend a morning watching us write #3 when we were in his area for a mtg last summer. Guess we all make our own choices and opportunities, priorities, choose left or right forks in the road, and sleep in it. Rowe Sprinkler survived without me almost 10 weeks last year between AFSA, IFSA, NFPA, & NFSA conventions, #3 meetings and some vacation. Survived? Staff reports it thrived. Financials back them up. All the best, glc -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Todd Williams Sent: Tuesday, June 16, 2009 1:24 PM To: [email protected] Subject: RE: Earthquake Bracing segue When you are a one man band, as I am, the cost is a lot more than an airline ticket and a hotel. Lost revenue from no production, lost opportunities from not being available, damage to customer relations, the panic two weeks before and two weeks after to make up for the lost time, etc can add up. That all needs to be considered. Sounds like you've had a good ROI from your travels George, but I've been to a couple of NFPA's (admittedly for a day only), got good info, but haven't been able to justify it from a financial standpoint. At 12:32 PM 6/16/2009, you wrote: >I've attended AFSA, NFSA, NFPA and IFSA conventions/conferences. No regrets >at all on ANY of the $ investment made. > >Was bidding a $5.5m unusual project, outside #13. Heard same building >erected in UK couple years earlier. Went to IFSA in Copenhagen. 3 weeks >later I had AutoCAD files of the original building installation. If they >built the original building, and if we got permission to use Section 1.4 >Equivency for the criteria applied, we literally could have changed metric >to imperial and gone to fab. What's that worth? PRICELESS. > >I've done projects with people we've met at conventions, have some in the >works now, and have made more than all our conventions cost us in total. > >Some people don't read the Forum, bid street work to the same GCs, and never >differentiate themselves from the other non-Association members down the >street chasing the same cheap jobs. They save money by not taking time to >read the stuff here or ask questions, they save money not going to seminars, >they save money installing all steel pipe and not having insurance coverage >for CPVC. In short, they maintain the status quo and wonder why things never >get better for them. > >I'm excited about diving into the Best Practices Paul is assembling and >applying them to improve our operations and lessen our risk. Yea, it might >cost us a few bucks. But a lawsuit averted, a lesson learned applied, and >learning from the mistakes of others- PRICELESS. > >The seminars at AFSA are great, learned a lot, and discovered what turned >into Quell by attending James' CMSA Seminar and it applied to a $2m job we >ended up with and made some $ on. But I have always learned MORE in the >corridors from other attendees, and hope I've returned the favor by helping >others. You can't get that web-based and I have met literally dozens of the >great people in this industry by attending in real life. > >BTW, if you're a contractor and you don't use air mile cards to charge your >material, you're missing a free RT ticket to convention. Our R/T to IFSA in >Copenhagen would have been $17,000 for British Airways First Class- and >worth it- but 360,000 miles and under $900 for two made it a "no-brainer", >cheaper than coach. > >The sooner you think outside the box and learn from others, the sooner you >find yourself competing on other than a level playing field. > >It's a long weekend in a nice city with a lot of great people talking about >sprinklers. > >Glc >Soapbox <OFF> > >-----Original Message----- >From: [email protected] >[mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Thom McMahon >Sent: Tuesday, June 16, 2009 12:02 PM >To: [email protected] >Subject: RE: Earthquake Bracing > >$318 Round trip on delta or check out Southwest for $99 one way. >When it's important to us we all find a way. My air tickets form here will >cost more. > >Thom McMahon, SET >Firetech, Inc. >2560 Copper Ridge Dr >P.O. Box 882136 >Steamboat Springs, CO 80488 >Tel: 970-879-7952 >Fax: 970-879-7926 > > >-----Original Message----- >From: [email protected] >[mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Russell >Sent: Tuesday, June 16, 2009 5:51 AM >To: [email protected] >Subject: RE: Earthquake Bracing > >Thanks Thom. Being that I'm hugging the East coast makes it a tad out of my >monetary reach. > >Russell Rewis >Brown Automatic Sprinklers, Inc. >107C Hemlock Street >Valdosta, Georgia 31601 >229-244-8130 >[email protected] > > > ><AFSA San Diego Oct. 2009, has classes for Seismic by Ken Wagner, worth the >trip.> > >Thom McMahon, SET > >_______________________________________________ >Sprinklerforum mailing list >http://lists.firesprinkler.org/mailman/listinfo/sprinklerforum >For Technical Assistance, send an email to: [email protected] > >To Unsubscribe, send an email to:[email protected] >(Put the word unsubscribe in the subject field) > >_______________________________________________ >Sprinklerforum mailing list >http://lists.firesprinkler.org/mailman/listinfo/sprinklerforum >For Technical Assistance, send an email to: [email protected] > >To Unsubscribe, send an email to:[email protected] >(Put the word unsubscribe in the subject field) > >_______________________________________________ >Sprinklerforum mailing list >http://lists.firesprinkler.org/mailman/listinfo/sprinklerforum >For Technical Assistance, send an email to: [email protected] > >To Unsubscribe, send an email to:[email protected] >(Put the word unsubscribe in the subject field) Todd G. Williams, PE Fire Protection Design/Consulting Stonington, Connecticut www.fpdc.com 860.535.2080 _______________________________________________ Sprinklerforum mailing list http://lists.firesprinkler.org/mailman/listinfo/sprinklerforum For Technical Assistance, send an email to: [email protected] To Unsubscribe, send an email to:[email protected] (Put the word unsubscribe in the subject field) _______________________________________________ Sprinklerforum mailing list http://lists.firesprinkler.org/mailman/listinfo/sprinklerforum For Technical Assistance, send an email to: [email protected] To Unsubscribe, send an email to:[email protected] (Put the word unsubscribe in the subject field)
