The Season of Thanking Words: Todd FredrickDan Kamys, Editorial Director - dkamys@masonrymagazine.com The late Fall season is my favorite time of year. Being a food enthusiast, it has a significant amount to do with the business of cooking and eating. There’s also a big part of the season associated with remembering your blessings and being thankful for them. So, I’d like to use this space to let you know that the entire team at the MCAA is thankful for your support and readership. It’s hard to believe this November 2019 issue is also our 35th since bringing the magazine back in-house for the 2017 year. We have no intention of letting up on the quality of content we bring to you, and are always open to suggestions on what you’d like to see. In case you haven’t heard, we are significantly increasing the volume of our content for the 2020 year and taking a Digital-first approach to publishing for the first time. If you’re a fan of the print version of our magazine, not to worry. We don’t see MASONRY’s traditional print presence going anywhere for a long time. However, you will begin to see our print content supplemented by a large amount of web, social, and video content in the new year. Our approach is to present this industry in new ways intended to grow our audience, which in turn can increase our membership and overall influence. I may sound like a broken record, but masonry is a $22.7 billion force within the overall $1.3 trillion construction market. On Facebook alone through our targeting, we’ve identified approximately 2 million professionals affiliated with the industry. Their average age is 18-44, which means this is the group of people who will be coming into middle and leadership roles within the industry. In 2020, our plan is to aggressively promote our content to people on social media, which should be exciting to see. In this issue of our magazine, we recap our Midyear meeting at the Omni Mount Washington in New Hampshire. The scenery was absolutely beautiful, and the discussions were productive. The Speed Dating returned for another year, and contractors got to see some of the latest and greatest from suppliers. The Contractor Round Tables also returned, and issues pertinent to the industry were discussed. Make sure to take a look at our recap. Additionally, we also have our second State of Masonry industry whitepaper, this time focusing on the Capital Expenses of mason contracting companies. Some of the numbers surprised us as we were collecting the data, and you may find some useful “soft” benchmarking information in there for your own business. From all of us at the MCAA and MASONRY Publications, a big thank you and we wish you and your family the best during this holiday season.
