Joe, I believe there is a right to redact any item in the minutes if publicly (for members) disbursing a portion might reveal trade practice secrets, or possible defamation. If you are talking about a member who might be under investigation, posting the info might come back to bite them.

Hey, I don't know, just speculating.

Oxley explained to me that you have to give Team ISSFA 72 hour notice and meet with them in Henderson, Nevada.  They will then go over anything you want with an ISSFA representative.  And it is member only.

Isnt 72 hours the exact time needed, to contact the Vegas Mob, negotiate a hit, withdraw money from the bank and arrange a meet?

Now you know why I just show up, with no notice. Joe ..do you tell them youre coming? Joe...Dude ....word....I dont think they changed the locks after I left, last time I cruised by, my skeleton key still worked.

All joking and kidding aside, It is every ISSFA members  right to inspect the books etc, you shouldnt need to give notice. Whats the 72 hours for? Do they need hire a chef to do some cooking? Cook book, hah hah hah.  Just wondering.

Lenny

I had to read it twice before I got the cook (the) book joke. Lenny, you're too funny!!

Hi Russ,

Im just joshing. But I do wonder what the 72 hours is for. A kinder gentler association would just say..ya all come around now for a visit, just drop on in..and we can chew the fat!

Just a country boy,





Lenny

Andy:

You or your representative do not have to go to Henderson, Nevada, trust me. No, don't trust me, trust the By-Laws.

Joe

That is actually ridiculous.  In effect, Oxley's interpretation means that no member may have a copy of the minutes without 72 hour notification, and flying in to Las Vegas.

If that isn't a huge red flag, I don't know what is.  That kind of a lack of transparency is dangerous.

I am just describing what was told to me.  I wanted the minutes emailed to me and was told what I said.  Now that was about two years ago so I could be mistaken on the exact details of what was said but that is exactly what I remember.

I am no longer a member so I have no right to request them now.

ISSFA did well with the training, and with getting AWI standards. But I have yet to see any public defense of solid surface from ISSFA in the SIPs. Is this not one of the major functions of a trade associtaion to actually PROMOTE the industry? I know I for one spoke with Oxley within days of him accepting the postion. I know others told him this was THE most important function for ISSFA to perform. Im waiting to open my newspaper and see an article by ISSFA regarding Solid Surface. I see MIA all over the place promoting stone.

What, other than being a source of income for a family has ISSFA accomplished in the last 4 or 5 years ?

To give fair credit, Bill Wolle continued with the excellent training cources.  They also built a website for the future and got the AWI standards in place.

Andy,

I agree, Bill is one heck of a talented teacher imparting his myriad of skills and plethora of experience and wisdom  to the industry at large.

Wags,

I loved the "family" comment. Made me laugh. I was starting to think Joe and I would be forever known as the sacastic duo. Welcome to the club, I guess its the 3 musketeers now!

Hmm, that Tom M fellow can be pretty sarcastic from time to time, geez, I guess its now the fantastic 4.

Hmm, upon reflection this site is a pretty sacastic bunch in general, which is a good thing. How about Legion of Sarcasm? That works for me!



Lenny

Hi Wags,

Just to set the record straight, ISSFA did mount an Industry Awareness campaign shortly after Oxley began his tenure. At the time I was with Fry Communications, which was under contract to create the plan and implement it. During that time we created a new visual identity for ISSFA and a number of other communications tools.

On the PR side we put a lot of effort into creating a press kit featuring solid surface that went out to over 50 trade and consumer publications across the country. Reed Fry also put the ISSFA awareness campaign at the top of his annual media tour of editors and publishers of top-flight publications centered in New York and other cities.

All ISSFA members were given the press kit, along with a set of talking points to use with the press and guidelines on how to approach their local media. Some fabricators used those tools to their advantage. Mory was probably the poster child for using the ISSFA press kit to further his business. He was able to get several newspaper articles published and even got some TV time using the materials in the kit. He could certainly give us more info on the specifics.

Some successes included an article in Architectural Record (this was about Lenny's own Lumistone glow-in-the-dark), a couple of columns on Bob Vila.com, articles in some high-end design and lifestyle magazines (there was even one in Phoenix, Wags, but I don't remember the name), and a smattering of newspaper articles in cities across the country. About that same time Andy had an entire section of the newspaper devoted to his business, which he negotiated on his own. If I remember correctly, he may have used some of the material in the press kit as well for content.

Eventually the BOD felt the return on investment for the awareness campaign was not there, so the program was discontinued. I can say from personal experience, that we had several opportunities to feature fabricators in their local newspaper or regional magazines and were unable to get them to respond to requests for interviews and/or photos. I'm not trying to point fingers at any group or individuals. The main point is it takes a lot of time, effort and money to blanket the country with PR. In my opinion it takes an energized fabricator community to really make it successful.

I hope this info is helpful as you try to assess the successes and failures of ISSFA in the past. Although they may not have been entirely successful in their awareness campaign, it wasn't for lack of trying.

Russ

I did a quick search on BobVila.com and came up with the following article, which I was surprised to find is still there:

http://www.bobvila.com/HowTo_Librar...A1973.html

The sidebar on page two also contains additional info as well as a link to the ISSFA website.

Sorry, as I go back in time I keep remembering details. I'll try to shut up after this.

When I talked with the folks at BobVila, they told me they were getting upwards of 3 million people per month visiting their site. So, for what it is worth, there were a lot of folks who got some pretty good info on solid surface at BobVila.com if they had the interest to search for it. It occurs to me that since the article is still there it might be a good resource for your current customers. Just a thought.

Here's a link to another article we contributed to at BobVila.com. Mory is quoted in this one.

http://www.bobvila.com/HowTo_Librar...A2324.html

Hi, Norm -

This may be non-sequitor, but I ceased to be ISSFA's Membership Manager on Friday, October 10th.

ISSFA's team isn't trying to hijack assimilate the BBS at FabNet, we're all just making use of all available technology to take a look at the larger picture. Examples: Russ is doing a great job at being the conduit between ISSFA's proposed changes and the fabricator community's needs, and FabNet is a place where more fabricators feel safe in their freedom of expression.  Bill is trying to gauge how well his services would be embraced by other organizations, as the direction for ITEC will no longer be an internally-based product for ISSFA.

As for me, I only recently "officially" joined up on FabNet to get to learn more about what fabricators were talking about, and what issues were important to them while attaching my professional identity to the queries/responses.  I suppose I felt it added a bit of legitimacy to my "being here". Too bad I won't have the opportunity to influence change anymore - teaching back what I learned from our members was one of the coolest parts of my job.  (BTW, I've been "lurking" on FabNet for a lot longer than I was employed with ISSFA.)

I'll be chiming in from time to time...

Zary, welcome to the posting side of the forum.
Sorry to hear about the ISSFA gig. I don't think we are at all concerned with assimilation at FabNet, as it won't happen, but everyone shapes the forum in their own way. It will always change, and that is how it should be.

Thanks, Tom.  I'm truly glad to be here.

The forums have swayed quite a bit over the years - people coming and going (maybe enjoying a real, actual "personal life" outside FabNet), with concerns and issues changing.  This BBS is a great place to get a handle on what currently aggravates or motivates our beloved fabricator friends...

Looking forward to having a beer with you as a "civilian" at our next run-in!

Zary...You are a cool dude and So is Mike L....Your attitude and enthusiasm will put you in somewhere very soon...but ya just gotta throw your hook in the water like your doing

whats dat saying... You will miss 100% of the shots you dont try or take...suntin like dat

Sunshine every day makes a desert is my favorite...i just hate it when my peers tell that back to me when im not at my best

Zary, well first I had to look up non sequitur

Sorry to hear about your job loss with ISSFA.  My post had nothing to do with you personally, I was just finding it strange that an organization whose policy was to have nothing to do with the Fabnet, was now having a change of heart.