TIPAS - 2011
First TIPAS meeting successfully co-organized by CPI and BIBM
On Oct 6/7, 2011, the first international precast associations’ summit took place at the occasion of SAIE Precast/ICCX Europe, in Bologna, Italy. 22 participants coming from 16 different countries represented precast associations from all five continents, which reflected a really international presence.
BIBM, the European Association for Precast Concrete, is frequently organizing international events for the precast industry. However, most of the participants so far were coming from Europe. Jointly with CPI worldwide trade journals, the idea of organizing a real international event was created and executed now – with huge success and outstanding positive results for all participants.
In the morning of the first day many of the participants met each other for the first time personally, although they were already in contact since long through email and telephone communications. So finally this first TIPAS enabled such personal meetings that already were reason enough for many par- ticipants to attend as they confirmed later.
Exchange of successful activities and demanding challenges
The topics were selected in a way that all participants could learn from each other and also were able to contribute with their own experiences. How important this was became clear looking at the numbers of members the different countries have in their association. While some countries provide services for 10-20 member companies, others are having more than 3.000 members in total in their membership list. Also the age of the attending associations was quite different, and thus the exchange and transfer of experiences was very valuable especially for younger and smaller associations.
Presenting their most successful activities for their members, items ranged from handbooks, brochures and journals to events and certification programs. While most of the associations were already familiar with such activities, the presentation of an association website in Facebook or Twitter as well as special group tariffs presented through the association to their members were quite new to many attendees.
While some countries could benefit from existing campaigns of others’ concerning fighting substitute materials, also cooperation regarding common R&D projects was discussed.
It was very interesting to learn about different financing models of the associations, which led finally also to the topic of the second day.
How to grow an association
After a memorable dinner in Bologna in the evening of Oct 6, the topic of the second day was presented by a professional speaker who is experienced since decades in membership activities. Sue Froggatt from UK presented in the morning the basics of this constantly ongoing challenge for every association, providing effective recruitment approaches, fee structures & categories, communication strategies and aspects of how to manage existing membership.
Four workshops in the afternoon led to fruitful discussions amongst the participants, which confirmed the interest of the topic.
Continuation of TIPAS decided
After this successful premiere event it was decided that the idea of TIPAS shall be continued, most probably every year or every two years. Updates on TIPAS activities can be found on the website www.tipas.org. Precast associations who not yet took part in the meeting are invited to register themselves on this website, to ensure that the next TIPAS will have even more attendees from a rising number of countries.
