Pre-Conference

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Wednesday, October 15, 2025

Stronger Together: Navigating the CSI Ecosystem to Lead with Confidence

8:00 am – 12:15 pm

(Note: This session is open to all attendees, but is free for any current CSI chapter or region leader. Contact your Region President for a discount code prior to registering. If you have questions, reach out to ChapterRelations@csinet.org.)

Whether you're stepping into a leadership role for the first time or bringing years of volunteer experience to the table, understanding how CSI National, regions, and chapters work together is key to your success—and your members' experience.  

This highly interactive session is designed to demystify the CSI component ecosystem, highlight available support systems, and surface shared challenges and solutions. Through a blend of peer learning and generative discussions, you’ll explore what makes CSI’s structure unique and how to tap into it to strengthen your local impact. 

Participants will engage in thought-provoking conversations, peer-led brainstorming, and hands-on activities that help identify real-world strategies for chapter and region success. You'll have the opportunity to co-create tools and ideas with fellow leaders, learn from multiple perspectives, and walk away with actionable solutions that can be immediately applied in your component. 

By attending this session, you will be able to:

  • Explain the distinct and interconnected roles of CSI chapters, regions, and National in supporting member success. 
  • Identify key resources and support available from CSI National and the broader leadership community. 
  • Analyze challenges and opportunities in their local contexts to develop realistic, collaborative solutions. 
  • Develop an action plan to implement a new or enhanced program, initiative, or resource-sharing strategy within their chapter or region.

Lunch is provided.



Demystifying Specifications

8:30 am – 11:45 am

There are numerous questions that the design, technical, and supplier teams need to coordinate and address during the development of the construction documents.

What decisions are involved when selecting products for a construction project? What type of information is used? When is the best time to gather this information? What is the role of the designer, specifier, and product representative in this process? How is the final specification developed?

In this hands-on session, you’ll learn how to navigate all of these questions. You’ll walk through the process of decision-making and the incorporation of information into the specification. 

By attending this session, you will be able to:

  • Understand the decisions that are made at different phases of the design and construction documentation process, including what types of information are required at each point, and how quickly decisions can change.
  • Identify the location of information within a specification section by understanding SectionFormat® and the importance Division 01 plays in defining administrative and procedural requirements. 
  • Evaluate products using product data sheets, guide specifications, matrices, and manufacturer’s support to make product decisions.
  • Review and edit a specification to meet project criteria and develop a specification Section using a guide specification.

Bring your laptop so you can fully participate!

Speaker: Sherry Harbaugh, FCSI, CCS, Specifier, TRC Inc.

This session has been approved for 3 AIA LU.