DFI Magazine May/June 2020 - 27

DFI leadership at the WPM

Planning to Strengthen and Improve the DFI Community
Just before large gatherings became prohibited, DFI's leadership
gathered in La Jolla, California, and was fortunate to enjoy each
other's company and spend time strategizing to create the
organization's 2020-2024 Strategic Plan. During this February's
winter planning meeting (WPM), 40-plus trustees and committee
chairs broke into groups to identify ideas, opportunities and actions
with respect to five different topics: technical committees, media,
events, outreach and membership. Each group explored and
discussed the current situation or status of their topic, what changes
they foresaw in the next five years in that area, and what DFI should
do to prepare or lead such change.
Each group converged on two actionable items and shared the
reason these items were identified within their group as top
priorities to strengthen and improve DFI's benefits to its members
and the entire deep foundations industry. After much discussion,
the full group was able to synthesize these high-priority items into
four main strategic goals, which are to:
1. Raise awareness of DFI's value proposition
2. Improve the DFI member experience
3. Improve DFI event experiences and interactive activities
4. Improve technical committee efficiency and broader
dissemination of deliverables
Each goal above has specific activities and plans that were identified
to assist in achieving the objective over the next five years. An
enhanced digital presence and use of various web- and app-based

tools are at the center of these goals, a focus that has become more
important now that we are practicing social distancing and
innovating new ways to bring DFI's valuable content to our members
in new ways. Task forces and working groups comprised of the
trustee and chair leaders in concert with DFI staff will ensure these
goals are met in a timely fashion and are brought to our members as
quickly as possible.
In addition to these strategic planning sessions at the WPM
held from February 19-21, the DFI Educational Trust board met to
discuss the state of Trust finances, celebrate the successes of the
past year's fundraisers, discuss future fundraising and marketing
plans and scholarship and grant disbursements, and announce the
establishment of the Clyde N. Baker, Jr. Foundation Engineering
Scholarship Fund (see the Trust update on page 65). The DFI board
also met to close out the three-day event with reports from the
following groups: the regional chapter chairs on their 2019
activities and 2020 plans; staff directors on membership, events,
publications, industry outreach, website redesign/association
management system recommendations and technical activities;
and from the treasurer on the state of the Institute's finances. Also,
funding was approved for four DFI Committee Project Fund
proposals (see page 25).
Besides meeting and discussing DFI's strengths and future
goals, there was also time at the WPM for deep foundation industry
leaders to get to know each other better through social activities
and to enjoy the beauty of the La Jolla/San Diego area. Participants
didn't realize how precious that face-to-face time was until now.
DEEP FOUNDATIONS * MAY/JUNE 2020 * 27
DFI Magazine May/June 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of DFI Magazine May/June 2020
