There's no wrong reason to join a trade organization, however many miss some great opportunities for leveraging those memberships that really help make your company stronger.  Probably the most common reason for joining trade groups is for networking with our industry peers.  In the construction industry today, there are so many issues - from technical to organizational - that affect our business on several different levels.  Our trade associations help us to better understand these issues.

We see great advantages in having insights into what makes our industry tick, and what the coming trends are that may require a change in our business model.  This is probably the primary reason why we have become active in the local chapters of our trade associations.  To be sure, change is hard, but it's even harder after the fact if you're trying to catch up to a trend you weren't prepared for.  That's where we see the real value. 

There are many ways to keep abreast.  In the most prominent organizations, such as ABC, you'll find opportunities for training and education, and to increase your awareness in legislative, regulatory, and environmental regulations.  It's been said that the best teacher is experience, but if you've ever been blind sided by a regulatory or environmental violation in the middle of a project, you'll vividly remember that pain.

As an industry, we're faced with keeping up to date on all the latest external factors that affect our business.  Trade associations can provide a loud voice to influence the decisions legislators and public administrators make that will affect our business, whether it be indirectly or directly.  There's not only safety, but power in numbers when approaching these tough subjects.

We've found that our trade associations help us to solve problems quickly through various networking opportunities by tapping in to a large group of peer resources that are uniquely familiar with our situation.  And, believe it or not, we've actually found business that we can attribute to our trade association membership.  Educational opportunities at seminars and trade shows have made our employees more productive and willing contributors to our company's success.  Finally, and though it may seem a small thing, association publications have helped us see beyond our day to day focus on details to considering the larger picture of where our company is going for the long term.

We appreciate the opportunity to share with you in this forum our positive experience with the trade associations to which we belong.  As a capstone to what I've stated above, there have been some great and lasting friendships that have resulted from our involvement in chapter functions.  We just can't put a price on that, because it just adds immeasurably to our quality of life.