PITTSBURGH FORUM SOCIAL WRAP-UP
By: Amanda Messa
While Pittsburgh may be commonly referred to as the “Steel City” for its dominant role in the history of the U.S. steel industry, from October 23-25, 2024, Pittsburgh became known as Division 11’s “Social City” providing us unique and memorable experiences as part of the annual Fall Meeting. For many of us, it was our first trip to Pittsburgh but I feel confident after experiencing all the city had to offer in terms of food, drinks and even a little last minute sports entertainment, it won’t be our last. We certainly started things off on an elevated note with our Division 11 dinner at Monterey Bay Fish Grotto where we experienced the most scenic Pittsburgh view paired with an outstanding culinary experience. We left dinner full – not only from the unique seafood dishes served – but also, the meaningful and interesting discussions we got to have with our fellow Division 11 members that evening. We covered everything from legal department structures to artificial intelligence. And to top it all off, we got to celebrate when I got the exciting news at dinner my son made the middle school basketball team.
In addition to our Division 11 dinner, there were opportunities throughout the week for networking with Division 11 members at the hotel bar – During some of those networking sessions, I was even able to elicit some “fun facts” about our members. As it turns out, we have a former college mascot among us (Geaux Tigers!) – we’ve got a member who grew up with lions, a member who can ski 34+ miles at over 58 mph and someone who has literally saved two lives. Rumor has it if you come to our next meeting in Tampa, you can meet these fascinating members too.
On our second day in Pittsburgh, we attended sessions and got to cheer on two of our very own Division 11 members – Jimmy Germano’s plenary panel educated us on approaches for design professionals providing Construction Administration services and Shelby Skeabeck brought industry experts together at our lunch meeting to discuss a Davis-Bacon related app that helps contractors with compliance issues. Later that evening, thanks to a last minute suggestion from Jon Walden, a small but mighty group of Division 11 members (and some additional recruits from other Divisions) got to cheer on Pittsburgh as they pulled off a huge win against Syracuse.
If you missed out on Pittsburgh, don’t worry because there are more great opportunities to socialize with Division 11 just around the corner- we can’t wait to see everyone in Tampa and Austin!
