Masonry Magazine February 2007 Page. 57
The Association Website
The Association website, www.masoncontractors.org, is also an industry leader, with more than 24 million hits each year from across the globe. After several months of planning, designing and coding, a new design for the Association's website was launched Aug. 15, 2006. The new site is crisper, cleaner and more informative than ever, acting as a strong method of communication between the Association and our members, their customers and the masonry industry as a whole. Several new features have been added to the website, including a Premier Supplier listing, a blog and RSS feeds, as well as an expansion on member profiles.
Membership Stronger than Ever
MCAA IS USING NEW METHODS for recruiting new members, and seeing great results! In total for 2006, the Association added more than 100 new companies to its membership roster. These new contractors and suppliers are important to help maintain the Association's perspective in the industry, and to further its efforts in marketing, legislation, technical arenas, education and workforce development. Many of these new members plan to attend this month's Masonry Showcase, and we look forward to their participation in the Association events.
MCAA is continuing its Premier Suppliers program to recognize our industry's best suppliers. This program is now in its second year, and industry suppliers have had a great response to its results. In this program, we reward suppliers for advertising, sponsoring, exhibiting and being members of the MCAA. At the 2006 annual convention, we presented our first Supplier of the Year award to the Quikrete Companies for their leading contributions to the MCAA.
Workforce Development Impacting the Industry
WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT has been very busy with its annual programs and new initiatives to help recruit and educate the future of the industry. The Association's efforts continue to make an impact within our nation's high schools.
Every quarter, more than 1,200 high school guidance counselors and educators receive the "Masonry Careers" newsletter. This quarterly communication serves to keep our industry in their minds as an option for their students' career paths. The newsletters often address the opportunities for the schools to participate in career days and establishing vo-tech programs locally. It also reminds the counselors to replenish their career kits if they have run out of brochures. Most importantly, the newsletters further inform them of the benefits that masonry careers provide, and suggest that they and their students visit our website for more information. The career day effort of the Workforce Development committee is one of the Association's most successful ventures MCAA received more than 90 requests for career days.
The Masonry International Skills Challenge and the Fastest Trowel on the Block contests are the highlighted competitions at the Masonry Showcase, and these contests work to encourage contractors to hire and train quality masons. The 2006 events were as exciting as ever, as both contests reached a record number of participants. The industry also understands the effectiveness of these contests: Quikrete sponsored the Fastest Trowel for a second year in a row, and we had 10 co-sponsors for the Skills Challenge.
The Association website, www.masoncontractors.org, is also an industry leader, with more than 24 million hits each year from across the globe.