January 20, 2012

International Builders Exchange Executives meeting attracts Canadian professionals

PATRICIA WILLIAMS

staff writer

Construction association executives from Canada are among those attending an upcoming mid-year meeting of the International Builders Exchange Executives (IBEE) in Arizona.

The Jan. 25 to 27 event feature sessions on the essentials of leadership, membership management and best practices in a variety of areas including BIM training. Participants will also be briefed on social networking tools and how to make them work for their organizations.

The meeting is intended to offer an opportunity for members to interact and network. The IBEE is a network of builders’ exchanges and construction associations as well as online and traditional planrooms throughout Canada and the United States.

Canadian member organizations include construction associations based in Kelowna, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Ottawa and Cambridge, Ont.

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One of the Canadians slated to attend the upcoming meeting is Martha George, president of the Grand Valley Construction Association. The Cambridge-based organization has been a member since George became president in 2006.

She believes membership in IBEE and participation in its events offers “tremendous value” given that advances south of the border either in technology or business practices tend to be duplicated in Canada.

“What happens in the U.S. will impact us here,” George says.

“The challenges, for example, that we have with access to plans and specifications from private and public owners were faced (there) a few years ago.”

George thinks the most important lesson to be learned from U.S. operators of builders’ exchanges “is that you can’t take anything for granted.

“Our associations used to be the only source for construction information and of course that has changed dramatically,” she says.

“We now have to be much more aggressive and competitive. If I was running this association the same way it was run even 10 years ago, we would be out of business.”

Another association executive who is bullish on the benefits of participation in IBEE activities is Debra Hicks, president of the Kelowna-headquartered Southern Interior Construction Association and a former IBEE director.

While Hicks is not attending the Arizona meeting, she has participated in numerous events in the past, most recently last June.

She agrees with George that the IBEE meetings provide valuable insight into emerging trends and issues facing the industry.

“Typically, what we say is ‘let’s see what they are doing in the U.S. and try to make sure that it either happens or doesn’t happen here,’” she says.

“If you know about something, such as BIM, before it crosses the border then you are better positioned to deal with it.”

One of the core services that the builders’ exchanges in the United States and their sister construction associations in Canada provide is data on project opportunities.

“The IBEE focuses precisely on the work that we do,” Hicks says. “Discussion is focused on real and practical issues, on the meats and potatoes of what people are doing.”

Hicks says a real boon of IBEE events is the fact that sessions are structured to encourage maximum sharing of information among participants.

“They really devote a great deal of time to this.”

As of Jan. 13, registrants from Canada included personnel from construction associations in Edmonton and Winnipeg in addition to George.

The IBEE holds two conferences per year for its members. Its 2012 annual meeting will be held in June in San Francisco.

IBEE members represent more than 75,000 constructing and construction-related businesses in the U.S. and Canada.

To apply for IBEE membership email inquiries to info@ibeeonline.com.

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