If there’s a lesson to be learned it’s that it gets published faster than you can read it. Keeping up with the flood of information propelled by the internet can seem like a hopeless cause, but you need to stay up to date on the happenings in the manufacturing industry.
Certainly there is no end of periodicals, websites, forums, and more to get news, product information, and even continuing education. What are some strategies to help you tame the flow of content and remain current while maintaining your sanity?
Zizinya is here to help you tame the paper tiger and the digital lion with some ways and means of finding out what you need in the time you’ve got.
News: Online and Print Publications
There’s no need to try to keep up with everything. Chances are you work with specific verticals or specialized industries. Maybe you build schools or churches. Perhaps the medical building industry is where you do most of your work. Are you a home-builder perhaps?
In any event, there is sure to be trade magazines and newspapers geared toward your interests. World-Newspapers.com has gathered together links to specialized periodicals for various markets, including construction. Most of these are online but also offer print subscriptions.
Some examples of the magazines on their list include:
- Builder News - covering the North American residential, mixed-use and multifamily building industries; news, and information on construction, tools, materials, management and governmental regulations
- CADInfo - This is a monthly global magazine for technical professionals widely referred to in industry and academia
- Journal of Light Construction - Practical construction information for home builders and remodelers about building materials, products, and business management
- Masonry Construction - Information and technical advice on masonry, repairing masonry and more...
Conferences
Conferences offer you the opportunity to network and hob-nob with other construction professionals. Here you can share and learn best practices related to your particular industry, register for classes and workshops and even make a presentation or poster yourself.
Conferences are great places to get the most up-to-date word on construction practices from those in the same industry as you. You can build onto your network of professionals across the country. Others who attend are part of important support services from legal support to consultants to insurance and banking.
For example, the Creative Construction Conference for 2014 is being held this June in Prague. The conference website provides information on topics, accommodations, travel and visa information and more. You can also learn about the experts who will be there.
Another is the Curt National Conference held in Phoenix, AZ in 2013. It included networking and educational opportunities along with ways to have fun in the sun.
Websites
We have uncovered some of the best construction websites for you:
- worldconstructionnetwork - Here you can search for news by category of region from across the globe. It also includes links to current and future projects, products, and services for construction professionals. Company press releases and archives are also available.
- Metal Construction News - Specializing in news for the metal building construction trade. From their website: “Devoted to educating building systems contractors, general contractors, suppliers, manufacturers and more, each issue features project overviews, field techniques, and technical issues dealing with the metal construction industry.”
- SchoolConstructionNEWS - If your interest is in school design, construction and operations, this is the site for you. It has suggestions for experts to follow on social media as well as current readings on the stock market.
- FORConstructionPROS.com - This site brings together everything from news about the industry to a buyer’s guide for equipment. You can find information on equipment rentals and announcements of conferences.
You can track nearly all online media by subscribing to an RSS feed or keeping up with their social media pages; most are on Facebook and Twitter.
Other Strategies
There are several ways to aggregate or track news about your specific industry. You can open your own Facebook and Twitter accounts and start following and friending important news sources catering to your interests. For professional interaction you can use Linked In where a variety of influencers post or have their columns and articles aggregated.
Another method of keeping up to date, not just with news, but with your competitors is to set up a Google Alert by keyword and receiving notices of anything found online by the Googlebot that has been updated since the last crawl.
Many construction websites include blogs written by experts like those in the construction trenches. You can also subscribe to a favorite blog by RSS or by email.
You have a million things to do but you can’t let current events pass you by. You need to keep up with what’s new because it’s part of the competitive landscape of doing business in the 21st century. With so much change going on all around you, this is not an area to neglect.
