Value of NFPA & other memberships?

[bobcatarts]

One of my many hats for my day job is consulting for Arts facilities we help develop; because I'm the "technical guy" to our non-theater people, I'm asked about everything from ventilation, power requirements, lighting, plumbing, IT, Audio/visual- you name it- that artists or venues use or need. I was looking up NFPA information the other day and they just sent me an application for membership.

Is it worth it? How many of you here have experience with NFPA membership, and have you found it a good value? I'm asking my employer to consider buying the membership for me, but I wanted to mine the wisdom of the CB boards first.

Also, are there other organizations (not including Unions, that's a different discussion) I should consider joining? What do you recommend? What should I avoid?

 

[museav]

Lots of related trade and professional associations if you include all the areas noted - USITT (theatre tech), ASHRAE (HVAC), IEEE (electrical engineering), BICSI (IT), IES (illumination), InfoComm (AV), ASPE (plumbing), PMI (Project Management), IFMA (Facility Managers), IAVM (Venue Managers), AES (audio), CSI (Construction Specifications), USGBC ('Green' buildings), ASTC (theatre consultants), NCAC (acoustical consultants) and many others.

One thing to possibly consider is that some of those areas (mechancial, electrical, plumbing and so on) are associated with licensed Professional Engineers and Contractors. Being a member of the related professional groups does not affect the need to use properly licensed professionals but can be beneficial in terms of the educational and informational resources that may be available through them or the discounts they offer on related technical information (handbooks, Standards, software, etc.).

 

[BillConnerFASTC]

I'm a 25+ year NFPA member. Joined when I became a committee member - though NFPA membership is not required to be on a committee. What services would you expect membership to provide? If you would attend a conference or class, or buy books very often, the member discount is worth the price or membership.

I get the most out of ATSC, but that is restricted to basically full time theatre consultants. You would benefit from the ITEAC and NATEAC conferences - much more than USITT or LDI imho - for what you describe as your responsibilities.

 

[bobcatarts]

Thank you all for the very useful info! Most of my need for these groups is educational - I have no desire to try and circumvent licensed professionals who can it legally, safer, faster and cheaper than I could hope to. Do it right the first time, etc. This is a bit of a brave new world for me, professionally.

 

[museav]

AIA also has Associate memberships. The direct value of that may depend on the local Chapter but I believe it gets you discounts on all of the AIA publications and documents such as the various Standard Owner/Architect/Consultant/Contractor/etc. agreements often used as the basis for related Contracts.