The TIAC Innovators Group is set to officially launch at this year’s association conference in September with an ambitious mandate to evoke change, solve challenges, and bridge the gap between association members.
Shaun Ekert, vice-president of TIAC and founder of the Innovators Group, said the group will comprise four to seven TIAC members with an eye on the future and a passion for helping the association evolve to meet changing technologies.
“It is not about age or experience, but it will revolve around innovation,” said Ekert. “Whether people are changing some existing aspect of the industry, bringing technology to the forefront, building something new, or interpreting specs or best practices in a new an interesting way, the Innovators Group will reflect a fresh perspective and the most current voices in the industry.”
Its membership will draw on coast-to-coast experience and showcase various experience levels and facets of the industry, including myriad professional backgrounds ranging from engineering with contractors, contractors, distributors, and manufacturers.
Ekert hopes the group will morph the industry by changing TIAC from a traditional acting association to a platform for collaboration. The group will function as a brainstorming group outside the board of directors, but feeding information there so the board can analyze the information and subsequently continue to change and grow.
Shaun Ekert, Joey Fabing, and Mike Goyette will represent the board of directors on the Innovators Group, ensuring there is a clear transfer of information. Additional members will be announced in September.
The idea for the TIAC Innovators Group was developed because of the need for inclusion and collaboration, and to address the gap between long-standing industry members and how to recruit, retain, and improve junior membership. Once the membership and industry know about the Innovators Group, they could approach the group with ideas and challenges.
“There should be no fear of approaching the Innovators Group with any challenge, no matter how out-of-the-box or impossible it seems,” said Ekert.
The group will work on accessibility projects such as a chat option through the TIAC website that would immediately connect people with questions about specs or best practices to someone with the answers. It could host training about the Best Practices Guide, or take the document from a black and white PDF to an instantly available app.
“The industry has been using the James S. Denis formula for decades but maybe one task is going through the Denis Formula in detail and recommending revisions,” said Ekert. “Maybe we put it into an app?”
Because the board of directors only meets face to face three times per year, it can be difficult to move certain projects along. This group will be the catalyst for change and progress, bringing a breath of fresh air to the Association’s activities and some new members to the forefront.
“We have a gap between the people wearing work boots in the field and board members who are senior in their day-to-day company positions,” said Ekert. “The Innovators should fill the gap a little, and act as hybrids between both positions.”
The biggest challenge is the one in everyone’s world today: time, said Ekert. “There is the requirement to carve out time. It is an unpaid, volunteer position and we all have lives, but hopefully the Innovators Group will also use technology to streamline the communications.” He suggests video conferencing and creating YouTube videos of key messages to share information.
The TIAC Innovators Group will hold a soft kick-off, involving its members meeting via conference call to introduce one another and set goals for the group, over the next eight weeks. The group’s official kick-off will occur at the conference in Banff. TIAC president Bob Fellows will introduce the program in his opening remarks and the group will set a session aside to meet face to face and begin developing guidelines and initiatives.
It won’t be developed as a static entity, of course. “We will be adding to it, subtracting from it, and changing it all the time to reflect the interests and progress in the industry,” said Ekert.
