I hope you are planning to attend the 2016 NCSEA Structural Engineering Summit. I think it is going to be great this year, and I know it will be our highest attendance ever! The dates are September 14 thru 17 at Disney’s Contemporary Resort at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida.
The official start to the Summit will be Wednesday evening, and we plan on starting with some fun! We will have a welcome reception at the Contemporary sponsored by the Young Engineers, followed by a special dinner at the Orlando Museum of Art. The dinner will be hosted by our Platinum level sponsor, Computers & Structures, Inc. (CSI). It promises to feature endless food, bottomless champagne, open bar, and unforgettable entertainment. Anyone who has attended an event sponsored by CSI can attest that this promise will be met.
Given that NCSEA focuses on the practicing structural engineer when planning the program for the Summit, you can be assured that Thursday and Friday, September 15 and 16, will provide outstanding educational opportunities for learning from, and interacting with, leaders of the structural engineering profession. On Thursday morning, our keynote speaker will be Kent Estes, an Imagineer with Disney, who will tell us his remarkable story about Structural Engineering for Walt Disney Theme Parks. Then, since we will be in Florida, our program will highlight wind design with featured speakers Don Scott, discussing ASCE 7-16 Wind: How it Affects the Practicing Engineer, and Emily Guglielmo, discussing Wind Loads on Non-Building Structures for the Practicing Engineer.
Subsequent programming at the Summit will include two concurrent tracks of sessions on Thursday afternoon, as well as all day Friday, featuring both technical and non-technical topics. Each of these tracks will provide information that practicing engineers can take back to their office and use.
Technical topics will include discussions on a wide variety of materials and loading conditions. A panel from the Structural Engineers Association of California will discuss the SEAOC Structural / Seismic Design Manuals, Thomas Mendez will present Strut and Tie Design: What they Didn’t Teach You in School, Michelle Kam-Biron will discuss 2015 / ASCE 7-10 Special Design Provisions for Wood Construction, Gene Stevens and Chuck Larosche will present New ACI Standards and Repair of Existing Concrete Structures, Ed Huston will talk about TMS 402-13, The Masonry Design Standard, Donald Harvey will discuss Great (and Horrible) Masonry Design Practice, Kirk Harman will present So you Want to Delegate Connection Design – How to do it Right, and Jim Malley will discuss Upcoming Changes to AISC 341 – Seismic Provisions for Structural Steel Buildings.
Non-technical topics will include information you can use to improve your practice. Annie Kao will present Becoming a Trusted Advisor: Communication and Selling Skills for Structural Engineers. The NCSEA Young Member Group will have a panel of engineers who will discuss an array of technical and non-technical issues in a presentation titled Has THIS Ever Happened to You? It will be presented via the short, fast-paced and automated PechaKucha style that limits presenters to an allotted amount of time and number of slides. Then Tom Grogan will discuss Florida SE Licensure: How the Bill was Created and Almost Became Law and Larry Novak will present Top 10 Useful Lessons for Structural Engineers.
Also starting Thursday morning will be our Trade Show. Each year, we have an impressive number of exhibitors who are there to discuss their latest products and answer any questions you may have. It is an excellent opportunity to keep up by obtaining the latest manuals and product literature in one location. Thursday night, there will be a reception on the trade show floor, and Friday night will be the awards banquet.
The NCSEA Banquet and awards presentation on Friday evening include the transition of officers, followed by awards that will be presented to individuals who have provided outstanding service and commitment to the association and to the structural engineering profession. Then, structural engineers will receive awards for projects that highlight some of the best examples of structural ingenuity throughout the world. The NCSEA Excellence in Structural Engineering Awards have been presented annually since 1998, and competition for the awards has continued to improve each year. I encourage you to come see the awards and be inspired!
The NCSEA Summit also serves as an Annual Meeting of NCSEA’s 44 Member Organizations. Each of NCSEA’s Member Organizations has a delegate that represents their structural engineering association. The delegates will meet for breakfast on Thursday morning and then during a delegate collaboration session on Friday morning. The Summit concludes with NCSEA’s Annual Business Meeting on Saturday morning, September 17. This is an open meeting and includes reports on the activities of NCSEA’s committees and Member Organizations. These updates will highlight all of the hard work everyone is doing to enhance our profession further.
I hope you agree that the outstanding technical program and exciting activities make this year’s NCSEA Structural Engineering Summit a “can’t-miss” event. For more information, including special offers for Disney Park tickets, please visit www.ncsea.com and select the Meetings tab. I hope to see you in Orlando!▪
