Next Week’s Online Classes: Better Websites, Climate Change, and Improving Your Documentation

ACEC News / Education

March 4, 2021

Next Week’s Online Classes: Better Websites, Climate Change, and Improving Your Documentation

Are You Building The Right Website?
Tuesday, March 9, 1:30 – 2:30 PM (Eastern)

A website redesign is one of the most involved and expensive marketing endeavors an A/E firm can undertake, but it’s also the one that could create the greatest positive impact on your firm’s overall marketing effort.

Join Ida Cheinman, principal/creative director, Substance151, Benefit LLC, to learn how you can successfully navigate your firm through the website redesign process, including how to bring together strategy, design, and technology to ensure that the end result meets the firm’s current and future needs.

Using industry examples to illustrate today’s web design and development standards, Cheinman will also demonstrate to drive new business opportunities and identify the best marketing tools available.

Climate Change and its Implications on the Design Professions
Wednesday, March 10, 1:30 – 2:30 PM (Eastern)

In the U.S., buildings consume 39% of total energy used, as compared to 29% for transportation and 32% for industrial. The cement industry alone contributes 5-7% of global carbon emissions. As a result, Cambridge, Massachusetts has initiated plans for all new buildings to be “net-zero” (generating as much or more energy than they use) by 2040. The Minnesota legislature is also considering a bill that would require P.E.’s to earn development hours focused on the impacts of climate change on the engineering profession.

In this online program a panel of experts will address the ethical obligations and the business opportunities that exist for firms that acknowledge the implications of climate change.

Participant takeaways include:

• Increase awareness of adaptive engineering and vulnerability assessments
• Review examples of firms having successfully leveraged “Adaptive Engineering” in their marketing efforts
• Examine the importance of documentation, training, and due diligence to avoid or defend allegations of having failed to adequately anticipate impacts of climate change

The Engineer’s Guide to Effective Communication & Documentation
Thursday, March 11, 1:30 – 3:00 PM (Eastern)

Engineers are judged by documentation: proposals, contracts, CDs, reports, email, and more.

In this fast-paced session, Diane Mika, director of risk management education at Berkley Design Professional, will demonstrate how proactive communication and consistent documentation can help you manage risk and deliver successful projects.

Learning Objectives include:

• Understand, through real-life examples, how poor documentation and breakdowns in communication can lead to disputes and claims.
• Establish a proactive project communication plan that can be tailored for varying projects; and review documentation triggers in key areas throughout the life-cycle of projects.
• Create a library of project management templates to establish a consistent documentation management program within their practices.

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