I'm a fan of the NRMCA and the work they do to provide our industry with knowledge and resources to succeed. Each year I attend their annual convention and walk away with valuable information.

We've mentioned many times the threat from the wood industry and their WoodFirst Initiative. NRMCA, and other national and regional associations, recognize this threat, monitor it closely and are putting solutions into practice. Florida faces a very real threat from the wood initiative. The threat is not down the road or in the future...it's here and now! Just drive down I-4 and view the multi-level commercial structures with concrete on the first floor and wood on the remaining. The most offensive is in downtown Orlando. Makes me want to join the sales force on the front line and convince the developers and designers they are nuts.

This is Florida. We have hurricanes, bugs, mold and various other issues to deal with, so building with a product that burns, attracts bugs and encourages mold is ludicrous, right? Why are some turning to the inferior structures; to save a few dollars; because they've been sold a bill of goods?

In one of the meetings I attended last week, the conversation pertained to the value of concrete and how it's the best product in the Florida marketplace. A participant in the conversation, an attorney from another industry and not part of the construction industry, admitted that he doesn't understand the value of concrete. He's just a citizen of Florida who would purchase what the builder recommends because he has not been educated on the benefits and value of concrete. He has nothing against it; he just doesn't understand why he should use it over another product.

Another benefit of the NRMCA is the State Congress. The Executive Directors from each state association participate in the Congress and we share ideas and experiences from each state; the issues we face and the solutions we implemented. An issue brought to the table last week was the lack of promotional materials/website available to counter negative publicity from the consumer.

One state faced an avalanche of negative publicity when one of their members was approved for a new batch plant. It appears that the imaginations of Twitter users are extreme and if enough of them tweet it then the local news will report on it. At no point were facts reviewed or stories substantiated, but a lynch mob mentality took the lead. We've seen it happen in Hollywood and major news stories, but this is the first time it was used against our industry. Attorneys and the State Association nipped it and stopped it from going any further, but it revealed a weakness and an area in which we need to be prepared.

What are the facts about Concrete? Does living with Concrete cause cancer? Of course not! We have 3rd, 4th, 5th generation concrete folks (we won't in this article tackle the Romans and such of 2000 years ago) who not only work with concrete, but live with it every day.  I could ramble about this and stay on my soap box, but I will wrap things up with this thought: If concrete is bad for you, then why did the EPA just publish an updated list of their top 70 Performing Energy Star Manufacturers and most of them are Cement producers?

The NRMCA is taking the lead on creating a website for the sole purpose of promoting the benefits of concrete; a resource the nation will be able to utilize and share with the general public. This site is not for the purpose of educating our industry, but for sharing the benefits with the average consumer, such as the attorney mentioned above. Just another useful tool in our arsenal.