RICOWI Seeks Speakers for 2016 Seminars

The Roofing Industry Committee on Weather Issues (RICOWI), Clinton, Ohio, is committed to providing in-depth and comprehensive education to identify and address important technical issues related to the cause of wind and weather damage to roofing systems. RICOWI’s research and education initiatives focus on providing a broad knowledge base regarding wind, hail, energy efficiency and durability effects; establishing new/improved consensus standard practices for weather design and testing; and providing an educational platform of roof design and weather concepts within the building community.

RICOWI is currently seeking speakers for its 2016 Seminars. This is your opportunity to showcase your research, lessons learned in the field and educate others about the effects of weather on roofing systems.

The seminars’ audience consists of architects/engineers, consultants, building owners/facility managers, manufacturers, distributors, foremen, superintendents, project managers, roofing contractors, code bodies and the insurance industry. Eight 45-minute education sessions will be chosen related to the following potential presentation topics:

• Weather Damage Case Studies
• Lessons Learned in the Field after Weather Events
• Innovative Roofing Solutions to Wind and Hail Issues
• Sustainable Roofing
• Green Building Codes for Roofing
• Design Details
• Mitigation and Loss Prevention
• Edge Metal
• Maintenance and Repair Solutions
• Green Detail
• Secondary Details
• Weather Modeling and Predictability
• Fasteners and Fastening Systems
• Above-sheathing Ventilation
• Lightweight Concrete
• Research and Development

RICOWI’s audience prefers presentations that are:

• Timely and will have an impact on the industry.
• Innovative solutions to problems.
• Forward looking to potential industry issues and threats.
• How-to classes that stimulate and provide attendees with a new skill, technology or process.
• Stimulating and cutting-edge for the construction and roofing industry.
• Proposals for a better understanding of processes and techniques.
• Solid research and data from case studies.
• Upcoming research.

Presenters should have strong speaking experience and in-depth knowledge of subject matter presented. Topics should be related to the audience and not generic in nature and should not be product pitches.

Submission forms with abstracts should be submitted no later than June 15, 2015, to the RICOWI offices. The forms are available online. The RICOWI Conference and Education Committee will review, and authors will be notified regarding the selection of an abstract by Sept. 1, 2015. Once accepted, authors for the Spring 2016 seminar will be required to have bios and finalized abstracts in by Nov. 1, 2015, for the preliminary agenda publication on the RICOWI website and for distribution. All presentations and handouts will be due from presenters no later than Feb. 15, 2016.

If you have questions regarding RICOWI’s Call for Abstracts, contact Joan Cook, RICOWI’s executive director, at (330) 671-4569, or email [email protected].