By Chase
Normally at this time of year, we would be putting the finishing touches on the Barrie Construction Association (BCA) annual magazine, booking travel dates and hotels for our fall planning session and preparing materials for the Buildings Show in early December. However all of these have been affected by COVID-19 this year.
The 13th Annual Barrie Construction News magazine has been delayed until November. We started promoting it two weeks ago and have just passed the 50 per cent sales target. We decided to delay the publication because the COVID-19 shutdown started just as we were preparing to follow up with members and industry partners in late March. The delay, however, worked out well, giving everyone a chance to catch up.
The goal is to have the magazine wrapped up in November and with copies arriving in time for the annual Buildings Show in late November. Show organizers indicate they plan a scaled back live event with social distancing, coupled with increased online experiences and remote workshops/speakers. It will be interesting to see how the final show will look for this year.
With our daily digital newspaper Ontario Construction News, we will be able to effectively report about the show, however it is structured, with daily updates for the nearly 20,000 readers the publication reaches each week.
As I write this column, early results are coming in from some association golf events, for which I hope we can provide coverage in upcoming issues.
Lastly, our annual company planning session has switched to a remote event with Zoom. In the past we have had some people successfully participate remotely by teleconference because of family commitment conflicts. This year should work out well as we’ll be able to see and interact with each other without needing to travel to Ottawa.
What industry events that you were organizing this year had to be switched to remote or online? I would be happy to promote these here, or in Ontario Construction News.
Chase is the director of marketing and client relations for the Construction News and Report Group as well as the associate publisher for the Ontario Construction Report, Ontario Construction News and several US magazines. He can be reached at (905) 341-8686 or by email at chase@ontarioconstructionreport.com.