The World's Greatest Region Conference -- in the World!

In less than two weeks, the Columbus Chapter of the Construction Specifications Institute will host the Great Lakes Conference. We've been diligently planning an outstanding event for over a year, and have conducted the Region's first Call for Presentations. The result will be three days of outstanding educational and networking opportunity from July 22 through 24.

The conference is open to all -- not just members of the Great Lakes Region -- not just members of the Construction Specifications Institute. The tracks include presentations on Building Information Modeling, sustainability, integrated project delivery, and basic design and construction.

Visit http://greatlakes.csinet.org/ for more information. We will be at the Hyatt Regency Columbus, adjacent to the Greater Columbus Convention Center at High Street and Nationwide Boulevard. Just north of downtown, south of the Short North, east of the Arena District, and west of the Discovery District, this location is uniquely positioned to provide access to some of the most interesting cultural activities in the nations' 15th largest city.

We've negotiated an incredible rate for the hotel. Just $115 a night gets you a great room in downtown Columbus that includes parking! We still have a few rooms in our block that we need to sell, so we encourage you to stay at the Hyatt. The hotel itself is an amazing example of Brutalist architecture that offers an amazing view of the city.

There are a number of outstanding activities going on during the conference. Just down the street, the Jazz & Ribs Festival will be going on in the Arena District. At the Center of Science and Industry is an exhibit where you can see artifacts brought up from the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean at the site of the Titanic. The Columbus Zoo, home of Director Emeritus Jungle Jack Hanna, has an amazing new Polar Bear exhibit. And The Ohio State University has one of the most amazing collections of signature architecture ever assembled in one location.

Our attorney didn't want me to use the title you see above, but since we're meeting right across High Street from an insurance company that uses a similar tag line, I hope they don't mind that we borrowed it. And since CSI doesn't have another region conference that weekend, we certainly will be the World's Greatest Region Conference going on at the time. We even have the word "great" in our name, so surely we in good standing. I considered saying that we were the World's Great Lakiest Region Conference, but it just doesn't have the same ring to it.