{"id":901,"date":"2024-03-27T20:34:43","date_gmt":"2024-03-27T20:34:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aiadallas.org\/columns\/?p=901"},"modified":"2024-03-27T20:36:09","modified_gmt":"2024-03-27T20:36:09","slug":"the-coordination-meeting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aiadallas.org\/columns\/the-coordination-meeting\/","title":{"rendered":"The Coordination Meeting"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cThe contours along the north elevation would be six inches below finish floor blah blah blah blah blah blah blah.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The voices blur into babble as you struggle to maintain concentration. The words have long lost their meaning and become just a drone of sounds, almost like the wind around the door of the Uber ride that you took to this office hours ago. Your thoughts focus on a word or two here or there, and then your mind drifts away into a dull consciousness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBlah blah blah \u2026 soil test \u2026 blah blah blah \u2026 subsoil \u2026 blah blah blah \u2026 site drainage \u2026 blah blah \u2026 geotechnical report.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Only the client and two of your consultants still seem engaged in discussion about something that you\u2019ve lost the point of long ago. You can tell that many of the others around the table are tiring as well. Some just stare into the screens of their laptops, and others are look toward the conference room windows at the growing evening darkness. Only a couple of the \u201cmeetingeers\u201d glance up at the discussion and back to their keyboards, appearing to be typing notes. But you suspect that they are faking interest and actually checking their email \u2014 again!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your project manager had promised you that this would be a junket. You were assured that after the flight and a short but effective project coordination meeting, the two of you would have a quick dinner in a bistro near the ocean and then catch the early flight home. Well, the flight in the morning was uneventful, although you couldn\u2019t imagine getting up much earlier without taking a tackle box and a fishing pole.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBlah blah blah \u2026 beam deflection \u2026 blah blah blah \u2026 joist hangers \u2026 blah blah blah \u2026  floor slab.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, there was no time for breakfast, except for some sort of packaged cracker, or maybe it was a cookie, and a foam cup of lukewarm coffee on the flight. You knew there was a time when airlines offered TV dinner-like meals. You remember your father talking about how the flight attendant would push a cart by your seat and pass out little trays with small portions of an entr\u00e9e and side vegetables. You recall how he would laugh and say that it tasted a lot like green cardboard, yellow cardboard, and brown cardboard. Of course, today you were lucky to get that mystery cracker with any sort of drink on an airline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u201cBlah blah blah \u2026 air handler\u2026 blah blah blah \u2026 reheat \u2026 blah blah blah \u2026 fan coil.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As with the airlines, the increasing costs of almost everything has caused most companies to be more careful about expenses. But there were times in the past when a meeting host might provide some morning refreshment. It could be bagels and cream cheese on the East Coast, yogurt and brand muffins on the West Coast, mostly doughnuts in the Midwest, and egg and sausage burritos with hot sauce in the Southwest. Occasionally those little hot dogs baked in biscuit dough were served. You\u2019d sometimes heard them called kolaches, which from your experience was Polish, or maybe Czechoslovakian, for, \u201cThis\u2019ll give you heartburn<\/a>.\u201d This morning, your host had provided only a pot of coffee and some logo-branded coffee cups on the conference room credenza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Blah blah \u2026 beam interference \u2026 blah blah blah \u2026 columns \u2026 blah blah blah \u2026 roof penetration \u2026 blah blah blah \u2026 rooftop units.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Working lunches have never been considered an opportunity by a host office to expand the culinary experience of the meetingeers. No matter what part of the country you meet in, working lunches usually consist of sandwiches. Mostly chicken or tuna salad on white bread, possibly smoked ham or turkey on wheat, occasionally a club sandwich on sourdough. Also, lunch always includes the obligatory canned soda, personal-size bag of chips and a packaged cookie, with your meeting agenda serving as the placemat. Today you successfully talked the host\u2019s project secretary out of a Rice Crispy treat, although it was a true test of your negotiation skills. But you know that triumph comes with a price, so you\u2019ll have to watch this consultant\u2019s invoices to see if the treat appears as a reimbursable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBlah blah \u2026 floor plans \u2026 blah blah blah \u2026 door schedule \u2026 blah blah blah \u2026 finishes \u2026 blah blah blah \u2026 specs.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your hopes for a dinner along the beach have long since died. You can tell by your project manager\u2019s grimace that he, too, has given up hope. Images of honey roasted peanuts and a luke-cool soda on tonight\u2019s last flight home have replaced your dreams of salmon with black bean soup and a dessert of tiramisu. You promise yourself that the next project coordination meeting held in your office will end at a decent hour and be celebrated over an early dinner in a nice restaurant with witty conversation and heartfelt toasts to the success of this and future projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBlah \u2026 action list \u2026 blah \u2026 distribution \u2026 blah \u2026 drawings \u2026 blah \u2026 project manual \u2026 blah.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, finally, mercifully, the pace of the discussion slows, and it appears the meeting is finally drawing to a quiet close. You notice your project manager inconspicuously closing his laptop and collecting his notes and papers. His face shows a faint expression of relief. Despite the long and tiring day, a sense of satisfaction settles over you as you mentally chalk up one more project coordination meeting without tense arguments over major design issues and a list of requested changes that will add hours to the already tight schedule.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, as your client sums up her final thoughts, you know that short of a final controversy, you are just minutes away from a quick cab ride to the airport.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBlah<\/em> <\/em>\u2026<\/em> <\/em>blah<\/em> <\/em>\u2026<\/em> <\/em>errors and omissions and the architect\u2019s guarantee of a 100% complete set of contact documents!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWell, crap!\u2019 you sigh.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cThe contours along the north elevation would be six inches below finish floor blah blah blah blah blah blah blah.\u201d The voices blur into babble as you struggle to maintain concentration. The words have long lost their meaning and become just a drone of sounds, almost like the wind around the door of the Uber […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":true,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-901","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-practice"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe Coordination Meeting - Columns - AIA Dallas<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aiadallas.org\/columns\/the-coordination-meeting\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Coordination Meeting - Columns - AIA Dallas\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u201cThe contours along the north elevation would be six inches below finish floor blah blah blah blah blah blah blah.\u201d The voices blur into babble as you struggle to maintain concentration. The words have long lost their meaning and become just a drone of sounds, almost like the wind around the door of the Uber […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.aiadallas.org\/columns\/the-coordination-meeting\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Columns - AIA Dallas\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-03-27T20:34:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-03-27T20:36:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Conleigh Bauer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Conleigh Bauer\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aiadallas.org\\\/columns\\\/the-coordination-meeting\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aiadallas.org\\\/columns\\\/the-coordination-meeting\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Conleigh Bauer\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aiadallas.org\\\/columns\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/99bbd0ffb39edeb3cec493b4b9a7ad2b\"},\"headline\":\"The Coordination Meeting\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-03-27T20:34:43+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-03-27T20:36:09+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aiadallas.org\\\/columns\\\/the-coordination-meeting\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":971,\"articleSection\":[\"Practice\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aiadallas.org\\\/columns\\\/the-coordination-meeting\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aiadallas.org\\\/columns\\\/the-coordination-meeting\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Coordination Meeting - Columns - AIA Dallas\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aiadallas.org\\\/columns\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2024-03-27T20:34:43+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-03-27T20:36:09+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aiadallas.org\\\/columns\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/99bbd0ffb39edeb3cec493b4b9a7ad2b\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aiadallas.org\\\/columns\\\/the-coordination-meeting\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aiadallas.org\\\/columns\\\/the-coordination-meeting\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aiadallas.org\\\/columns\\\/the-coordination-meeting\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aiadallas.org\\\/columns\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Coordination Meeting\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aiadallas.org\\\/columns\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aiadallas.org\\\/columns\\\/\",\"name\":\"Columns - AIA Dallas\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aiadallas.org\\\/columns\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aiadallas.org\\\/columns\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/99bbd0ffb39edeb3cec493b4b9a7ad2b\",\"name\":\"Conleigh Bauer\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/6d2fada0b8eacca3973a24ed55e6a47d4fe262ef3ea65062f7dcc495ca8a404a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/6d2fada0b8eacca3973a24ed55e6a47d4fe262ef3ea65062f7dcc495ca8a404a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/6d2fada0b8eacca3973a24ed55e6a47d4fe262ef3ea65062f7dcc495ca8a404a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Conleigh Bauer\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aiadallas.org\\\/columns\\\/author\\\/\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Coordination Meeting - Columns - AIA Dallas","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.aiadallas.org\/columns\/the-coordination-meeting\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Coordination Meeting - Columns - AIA Dallas","og_description":"\u201cThe contours along the north elevation would be six inches below finish floor blah blah blah blah blah blah blah.\u201d The voices blur into babble as you struggle to maintain concentration. The words have long lost their meaning and become just a drone of sounds, almost like the wind around the door of the Uber […]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.aiadallas.org\/columns\/the-coordination-meeting\/","og_site_name":"Columns - AIA Dallas","article_published_time":"2024-03-27T20:34:43+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-03-27T20:36:09+00:00","author":"Conleigh Bauer","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Conleigh Bauer","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.aiadallas.org\/columns\/the-coordination-meeting\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aiadallas.org\/columns\/the-coordination-meeting\/"},"author":{"name":"Conleigh Bauer","@id":"https:\/\/www.aiadallas.org\/columns\/#\/schema\/person\/99bbd0ffb39edeb3cec493b4b9a7ad2b"},"headline":"The Coordination Meeting","datePublished":"2024-03-27T20:34:43+00:00","dateModified":"2024-03-27T20:36:09+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aiadallas.org\/columns\/the-coordination-meeting\/"},"wordCount":971,"articleSection":["Practice"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.aiadallas.org\/columns\/the-coordination-meeting\/","url":"https:\/\/www.aiadallas.org\/columns\/the-coordination-meeting\/","name":"The Coordination Meeting - Columns - AIA Dallas","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aiadallas.org\/columns\/#website"},"datePublished":"2024-03-27T20:34:43+00:00","dateModified":"2024-03-27T20:36:09+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aiadallas.org\/columns\/#\/schema\/person\/99bbd0ffb39edeb3cec493b4b9a7ad2b"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aiadallas.org\/columns\/the-coordination-meeting\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.aiadallas.org\/columns\/the-coordination-meeting\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.aiadallas.org\/columns\/the-coordination-meeting\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.aiadallas.org\/columns\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Coordination Meeting"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.aiadallas.org\/columns\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.aiadallas.org\/columns\/","name":"Columns - AIA Dallas","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.aiadallas.org\/columns\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.aiadallas.org\/columns\/#\/schema\/person\/99bbd0ffb39edeb3cec493b4b9a7ad2b","name":"Conleigh Bauer","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6d2fada0b8eacca3973a24ed55e6a47d4fe262ef3ea65062f7dcc495ca8a404a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6d2fada0b8eacca3973a24ed55e6a47d4fe262ef3ea65062f7dcc495ca8a404a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6d2fada0b8eacca3973a24ed55e6a47d4fe262ef3ea65062f7dcc495ca8a404a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Conleigh Bauer"},"url":"https:\/\/www.aiadallas.org\/columns\/author\/\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aiadallas.org\/columns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/901","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aiadallas.org\/columns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aiadallas.org\/columns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aiadallas.org\/columns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aiadallas.org\/columns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=901"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.aiadallas.org\/columns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/901\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aiadallas.org\/columns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=901"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aiadallas.org\/columns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=901"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aiadallas.org\/columns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=901"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}