Masonry Magazine April 1987 Page. 7
MCAA President Dee Brown and his wife Jody cut the ceremonial ribbon officially opening the '87 MCAA Trade Show.
'87 MCAA CONFERENCE REPORT
Dallas, Texas, March 12-18, 1987
MCAA's 37th Educational Conference was a busy one, with six full days of diverse business and social activities, from the opening educational seminars on Thursday afternoon on through to the Annual Meeting on Tuesday. Members had the opportunity to attend any or all 19 different seminars and sessions that were held at the beautiful Loews Anatole in Dallas, Texas. The entire mood of the convention was one of optimism. It seemed to reflect the current upswing in business growth that is developing in many sections of the U.S. and Canada. Attendance at the seminars, conference and trade show was one of the best in many years.
PRE-CONFERENCE PROGRAM
The Pre-Conference Seminars set the pace for the meetings that were to follow. Starting on Thursday afternoon the Stone Panel and Constructions Claims seminars convened. The seminar on Stone Panels featured six speakers, all with many years of experience in the masonry construction field. They were:
* Dee Brown, President
DBM Masonry, Dallas, Texas
* Robert V. Barnes, Jr., Executive Vice President
DBM Masonry, Dallas, Texas
* Turner Smith
Masonry and Concrete Consultants
Houston, Texas
* Gregg Borchelt. Executive Director
Masonry Institute of Texas
* Jim Amrhein and Michael Merrigan
Masonry Institute of America
Los Angeles, California
This seminar, attended by 70 persons, covered all aspects of Stone Panels from the quarrying, engineering and testing, shop drawings, estimating, on through to the fabrication and erection. In addition, a review of the final contracts and their pitfalls was presented. Panel moderator for this session was Lenny Pardue. Following the sessions in the Chambers Lecture Hall, the group boarded buses to make an onsite inspection of City Plaza, a 50 story Stone Panel project currently under way in downtown Dallas by DBM Masonry.
Concurrently under way was the Construction Claims Seminar, conducted by John C. van Dyk, construction consultant from Dayton, Ohio. Each participant in the Claims program received a manual, along with a variety of reference materials. Concluding the Seminar, the participants, under the direction of moderator Dick Matthews, con