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April 18, 2005
A Reminder About Why CAI Is a Good Thing
The local chapter of the Community Associations Institute (CAI) had its annual conference and trade show a short while back and it helped remind me of what the organization is capable of. The homeowners loved the education that was available, as well as the access to professionals and vendors beyond the few they normally deal with. Managers who hadn't talked to each other in years attended sessions run by competitors, asked good questions and complimented people they'd been trying to run out of business the day before. People who had most recently seen each other at opposite tables in a courtroom engaged in civil conversation about the state of the industry. Speakers gave away information that they could have charged significantly for. An excellent keynote speaker challenged the attendees with new and exciting concepts to think about. In other words, this was what a good conference should have been.
This was CAI's original goal, to bring all of the interested parties together to inform and learn. It's had its ups and downs through the years, but the people kept the exchange of information going, either formally, through the organization, or informally, through a network of friends or professional acquaintances they had developed over years of attending conferences like this one. This was always the underlying strength of CAI.
I don't know what actual changes will be occuring with CAI's new structure, but the local chapter conference reminded me that it's the people, not the structure, that make an organization worth belonging to.
Posted by joewest at April 18, 2005 3:29 AM
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