By Jose Rivera
I’m writing this message right before the U.S. Thanksgiving break.
What I’m Thankful For
I’m thankful for the following:
- The 2023 conference in New Orleans was a success again. This was the first time CSIA repeated a venue. CSIA had been here in 2003.
- The recession that was forecasted for mid to late 2023 fortunately didn’t materialize. While it is normal for economies to go periodically through slowdowns/recessions, most of us are grateful that we were able to dodge the bullet for now.
- The SI market has slowed down a bit but remains in growth mode. For many Sis, this is not necessarily bad news as the previous pace wasn’t sustainable. The continuous overall trend toward automatization remains a positive driver for SI and Partner members.
- CSIA recognizes the need to modernize. This means adjusting to newer approaches to learning. In September, CSIA invested in the role of Director BP and Professional Development.
During his first months, Eric Schaefer has been focused on the professional development part of his role. He has been working alongside the education team of Kellen, CSIA’s association management company.
BTW, we have included a few questions on this topic in the annual membership survey. Please take a few minutes to provide your input. (Note: The survey request goes to the primary contact on the account, so if you are the primary contact and did not get an email about the survey, check your spam folder. Or contact staff.)
We always leverage our survey to guide our decision making. In addition, some of you (randomly chosen) may be contacted to participate in a 1:1 interview with Eric. Thank you for your support. - As part of its modernization efforts, CSIA has started work on its new website that we plan to launch in mid-2024.
Looking Into 2024
You will see some changes to the conference. We dropped the “Executive” in the name following the recommendation by the Emerging Leaders Special Interest Group and approved by the CSIA board. The goal is to make our event more inclusive and encourage participation beyond the company owners / executives.
In New Orleans, we offered a one-day business value workshop on Tuesday before the conference kicks off. It was a success, and we plan to provide something similar in 2024. We are also working to deliver a marketing workshop pre-conference start in 2024. We continue our tradition by providing a 2-day BP workshop on Monday and Tuesday before the start of the conference.
By the time you read this we may have released our conference website and opened registration (or at least we’ll be very close to it). We have an exciting lineup of speakers and panelists. We look forward to seeing you in Dallas, Texas (April 15-19, 2024).
I wish you and your loved ones Happy Holidays and the best for 2024. We all have many things to be thankful for.
Jose Rivera is CEO of Control System Integrators Association.
