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Ron Blank -- Our Business is about Building Relationships
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RBA History |
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Since 1985 Ron Blank built his business around
educating the design community. Ron perceived a need to unite
the disparate entities of the design and construction industry
-- product manufacturers and design professionals. Ron recognized
that the best way to help people build relationships is by teaching
them about each other. He also knows that the people best suited
for communicating design professional's needs are design professionals
themselves. So he employed design professionals (architects,
engineers and specification writers) to travel across the country
to teach other design professionals about building products.
The RBA education team also hosts educational seminars to teach
product manufacturers about design professional's needs and
building AIA continuing education courses. |
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RBA Service Goals |
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Architectural Specification Program Goals
The goal of RBA’s ASP is to directly educate the design community about new and innovative product technologies. We help manufacturers get the word out to the design community about how their products can be integrated into projects and ultimately improve the built environment. As we educate and equip the design community with new knowledge, we also increase the selection and specification of our partner’s products. RBA’s architectural staff screens the products and companies we choose to partner with to insure that we only promote high quality products from reputable organizations.
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Continuing Education Program Goals
RBA’s CEP has grown far beyond it’s initial conception and has continued to accede its goals, which include: the increase of awareness in the design community about, new building industry trends, code updates and changes, general product awareness, and sustainable product technologies and applications. Millions of hours of continuing education are required each year for design professionals; RBA serves this community by providing an abundance of course offerings on a variety of topics at no charge to the design professional, as we have always done. Our courses are sponsored by manufacturers and trade organizations, which benefit through the exposure of the course content to the design professionals. We strive to make all course content educational and valuable to the design professional and not serve as a “sales pitch”, but rather provide the knowledge base needed to correctly specify products or services. The courses are currently available in the delivery methods of: online, face to face, webinar, trade show format, and factory tours. RBA has always, and will continue to raise the bar for providing continuing education in whatever methods are the most effective and desirable for the design community.
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Continuing Education Academy- RBA’s CE Academy, launched in 2006 seeks to facilitate the organization and planning of multi hour continuing education events. We partner with Local AIA, CSI, and USGBC chapters all over the U.S. to provide these sessions for design professionals the opportunity to earn several hours of continuing education credit at one event. Our goal is to take on the burden of organizing and promoting the event and provide quality education sessions to design professionals within their community so they don’t have to travel far to get their CEU’s.
Guide Specification Writing- The goal of our guide spec writing program is to help manufacturers develop the necessary tools that design professionals need to appropriately specify their products. We work with highly regarded spec writers to develop these specifications to guarantee high quality documentation that is easily transferable into master or project specifications.
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RBA Staff |
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Ron Blank, CDT, CSI: Ron
is CEO of Ron Blank & Associates, Inc. and ronblank.com.
Ron has been teaching design professionals about building
product systems and technology via distance education and
by personal visits to their offices since 1985. Ron and his
staff make face-to-face building product presentations to
2,800 architectural firms across the country every year. He
is an AIA Associate, a Professional Affiliate of AIA, the
AIA Provider Council chairman and is past president of the
San Antonio CSI chapter.
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Brittany Watts: Brittany
manages the Continuing Education Academy. RBA hosts over 50
CE events annually across the country with AIA components.
The program includes subject matter experts who deliver five
to eight hours of AIA HSW learning units during one seminar
day. For more information on the CE Academy,
Jim Reynolds, CSI, Senior Account
Manager: Jim is an AIA Associate
and the senior professional education consultant at RBA. Jim
has 6 years experience making product presentations for architects
throughout the US. He is a mechanical engineer with 30 years
experience in design and manufacturing.
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David Morataya, Continuing Education
& IT Director: has a Bachelor's
degree in architecture from the University of Texas at San
Antonio and has 10 years of experience in the field of architecture
and graphic design. David has been the Director of continuing
education as well as the I.T. and website administrator at
RBA for the last 4 years. He develops and oversees the production
and design of continuing education courses at RBA.
Jennifer Phelps, Continuing Education
Development:
Lou Ann Medina, Marketing:
is RBA's CE marketing contact. She stays
on the telephone all day answering questions about how to
get involved with the CE Program. She coordinates meetings
of course writers and technology experts to develop course
materials.
Brad Blank, Account
Manager-Texas: has a Master's
degree in Communications. He travels Texas, Louisiana and
Oklahoma about 25 weeks out of the year introducing continuing
education information to over 600 architectural firms. He
attends the AIA national convention and CE Marketplace as
well as other major trade shows to give architects resources
to get their CE.
Landon Boone, CSI,
Account Manager: has an eight
year background in the field of architecture with both a Bachelor's
and Masters degree from the University of Texas at San Antonio.
He has been working with Ron Blank and Associates for the
last three years. Landon's job is fulfilling the service end
of RBA's architectural specification program across the U.S.
When he is not traveling, he is in the office doing marketing,
business development, and developing continuing education
courses.
Carol Davis, Office
Manager:
Carol is the miracle worker behind the RBA success. Carol
uses her years of experience in the insurance industry to
organize our critical activities. For RBA, Carol handles all
project lead reports, finances and travel schedules for the
entire staff.
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Architectural Specification
Program |
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Product manufacturers are the heart of Team
RBA. Manufacturers who join our Architectural Specification
Program (ASP) hire us to visit 40 US
cities to teach 600 design professionals (annually) about
building product technology. |
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What We Do: |
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Give face-to-face product presentations
to teach designers about building products. Generate reports
for follow-up and binder requests.
Build product name recognition.
Process product binder requests to update design firm libraries.
We are the manufacturers
"eyes" and "ears" in the industry.
We develop relationships with the senior design professionals
and specification writers in the firms we visit.
Download
a brochure (Adobe Acrobat) for more information.
To request specific information about the ASP program.
WE CAN PRESENT YOUR PRODUCT FOR SPECIFICATION
TO THE TOP 600 ARCHITECTS IN THE COUNTRY:
I. QUESTION:
WHO IS RON BLANK AND ASSOCIATES, INC.?
II. QUESTION: WHAT DOES RBA DO?
III. QUESTION: HOW DOES THIS SERVICE BENEFIT THE MANUFACTURER?
For further Information or answers these three questions click
HERE. |
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Online Continuing Education |
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As an extension of our face-to-face educational
calls, we offer an online continuing education library for design
professionals to satisfy their AIA and state mandatory continuing
education (MCE) requirements. RBA is an AIA Cornerstone Partner
(executive level provider). We develop quality Health, Safety
and Welfare (HSW) continuing education programs using manufacturers
existing programs, product literature and industry research. |
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What We Do: |
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Build your continuing education
program
Develop learning objectives (what you want to teach)
Involve you in course development (script, graphics, exam)
Promote your course to design professionals nationwide
Register your course with the AIA
Process your credits through the AIA transcript office in
Norman, OK.
We develop courses in different formats to serve your budgeting
needs and educational objectives. Click the links to see example
courses: example
1, example
2 , example
3 , example
4 .
Download a flyer to see the quantitative differences.
Download a brochure (Adobe Acrobat) for more information.
To request specific information or continuing education pricing. |
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Specification Consulting |
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We partner with specification consultants to
develop 3-part CSI product and project specifications. We critique
manufacturer's product literature and web sites to explain what
design professionals need. One of our specification consultants
publishes an exemplary specification manual also available for
individual resale. Our publication titled "Reference
Workbook for Construction Product Representatives"
outlines the design and construction process and methods, explains
the complexities and roles of the individuals from designer,
specification writer to construction contractor and includes
an explanation of professional liability. Click Here
to read excerpts from the most requested manual in our "How
To" seminar series. If you want to order any of these
manuals
. Quantity discounts are available. |
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Visit RBA |
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Click image to download a printable version
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