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During the week of Jan. 22-24, members of the AOE team traveled to Las Vegas for World of Concrete where we assisted several of our clients with their marketing efforts including hosting several press conferences. Here are some key highlights:
AMERICAN CONCRETE PAVEMENT ASSOCIATION (ACPA): ACPA held a press conference in which they announced new tools and resources for 2024 that help decision-makers meet global challenges such as rising inflation and new Federal funding structures while making dollars go further. These resources include release of a report titled, “How Agencies can Reduce Costs by Improving the Competitiveness of their Bid Environments;” participation in the Reduced-Carbon Concrete Consortium (RC3); as well as a growing library of long-life pavement case studies.
INTERNATIONAL GROOVING & GRINDING ASSOCIATION (IGGA): The IGGA announced a new white paper titled “Diamond Grinding: A Safe, Sustainable, Quiet and Cost-Effective Solution to Better Roadways.” The paper is an important contribution to the industry’s knowledgebase because it highlights the gains to be made, both in terms of sustainability and cost savings, using proper pavement preservation and maintenance. It assembles research results, case studies and more demonstrating how agencies and engineers can achieve long-lasting, efficient, comfortable and safe travel on highways—while also meeting the challenges of sustainability, noise levels, urban heat island effect and budget—through the use of pavement diamond grinding.
AMERICAN CONCRETE PUMPING ASSOCIATION: Cheers to 50! The American Concrete Pumping Association kicked-off their 50th year celebration with muffins and mimosas in their booth. They also highlighted the celebration at their annual meeting and AOE provided an update on the wearesaftertogether.com campaign.
C60: AOE assisted C60 in hosting a press conference highlighting how to improve your ready mixed concrete business in 60 seconds. C60's cloud-based software aggregates all the siloed operational data from ready mixed concrete producers under one umbrella to help users uncover actionable insights and optimize profitability.
NEU: AN ACI CENTER OF CARBON NEUTRAL CONCRETE AND AMERICAN CONCRETE INSTITUTE: At a joint press conference for NEU and ACI, NEU delved into an overview of NEU’s activities, including motivating participation in the recent COP28. Continued advances with NEU’s validation/verification program were also presented. The biggest news was the exciting reveal by NEU Executive Director Dean Frank of the upcoming ACI Code 323-24 Low-Carbon Concrete. ACI Code 323 is believed to be the first code on low-carbon concrete and is a fundamental steppingstone towards helping the industry lower its environmental footprint.
POST-TENSIONING INSTITUTE (PTI): Detailed at a press conference, PTI highlighted the new 2024 International Residential Code (IRC), which includes a significant update related to post-tensioned slab-on-ground design and construction. The newly added Section R506.2 “post-tensioned slab-on-ground floors" requires post-tensioned concrete slab-on-ground floors, on expansive or stable soils, to be designed in accordance with PTI DC10.5. In addition to the IRC code change, PTI unveiled the highly anticipated 7th Edition of the Post-Tensioning Manual. The Post-Tensioning Manual provides basic guidance and the essential principles for various uses of post-tensioning applications.
CONCRETE INDUSTRY MANAGEMENT (CIM): AOE assisted with CIM’s press conference where the state of CIM program for the 2023-2024 school year was discussed. The 2022-2023 annual report was distributed and information about the annual CIM Auction at World of Concrete was discussed. In the months leading up to CIM’s annual fundraising auction held at World of Concrete, AOE worked closely with the auction’s marketing chair, Brian Gallagher, drafting press releases, eblasts, designing featured item flyers and videos, social media content, web and print ads and much more. We were thrilled that this year’s event was successful, raising more than $1.75 million in gross revenue. We are so proud to be part of the success of this event!