continuing education credits

huangyhg

continuing education credits
we have many vendors that arrange to come into our office to give presentations. it seems like most presentations offer aia credits for continuing education. it seems like aia is on the ball in helping out its membership obtain continuing education credits. more than not there are often no credtits for engineers.
is there something that we or a professional organization like asce, etc. should be doing to help us attain continuing education credits for these presentations. if so, what can be done?
if the presentation applies to structural (masonry, stamped concrete, pre-mixed grout, brick, brick ties, archtitectural precast concrete, metal deck, etc.), i attend the presentation and consider the credit to be applied.  ultimately it is up to the state board (if i get audited) whether or not these credits are applicable.
however, the majority of my credits come from events sponsored by the engineering organizations that are presented locally.  usually worth 6 to 8 hours because they go all day.  these are more easily distinguishable engineering topics (precast concrete bridges, aci 318 review, lrfd review, connection/bolting seminar, self consolidating concrete, etc.)
professional organizations already do help with continuing education credits- look up websites of asce, asme, aws, etc., and you'll find quite a few classes available through them.
i'm licensed in ny, which requires 36 hours over three years. the local asce section offers as well as other professional societies offer lectures that award pdh's. it's usually one hour per lecture.
at the office, we've also had trade organizations and product suppliers give presentations that award pdh's.
both have been inexpensive (the company doesn't pay for seminars and lectures, although it pays for   
here is a site that might interest some.
pdhcenter.com & pdhengineer.com & redvector.com are other websites that offer pdh's at a reasonable cost. (usually about $20 per pdh)
my expericence with asce and the other big organizations is that they are much too expensive for your basic engineer or small company.  the local chapter of the asce doesn offer pdh opportunites at a reasonable cost, including an annual 2-day conference, though.
i was audited by the state board (sc) a few years ago. just a matter of mailing in documentation of participation in suitable presentations, events, etc. there was no problem "proving" that the pdh's claimed were credible, just common sense (all that i submitted were acceptable). use good judgment, make reasonable claims and it was not a big deal. routine programs at professional society meeting, such as ase, were fine.
an ironic twist was that one of my pdh's for that year was a local ase sponsored briefing by the state board's chief investigator - subject: audits.
that should be "asce", not "ase"
now that i re-read the question, i see that maybe i missed the point of it- "to help us attain continuing education credits for these presentations."
you'd have to start with the state rules on that.  i think in most cases, the continuing education can be in-house training programs, so it'd probably be a matter of creating a paper trail to go with the presentation, to show (engineering) content, duration, etc.  it would have to actually be educational, as opposed to "buy my product for this reason" type stuff.
i use the continuing education articles in architectural record magazine for some of my pdhs. these are available online and cost $10 per pdh (as long as you correctly answer the questions). many states accept aia credits for engineering as well as for architects.
in florida, only pre-approved vendors or ceu providers can grant acceptable to the board ceus.
the registration rules out unacceptable ceus and providers. please do not misunderstand the importance of learning new products and their applications. i just think some of them offer no engineering value.
i attended simpson’s strong tie seminars for two days at their facilities in jacksonville. i thought the seminars were excellent and they were supplemented by nice handouts and hands on testing of their products. they also were educational on applicability of building code to their products.
frankly, i do not think that listening to vendor’s presentation for one hour should qualify for ceus!
the intent of ceus is to learn and stay on top of new technological engineering advancements. i thins code seminars (be it building code, aisc, aci, asme, or similar codes) should be considered acceptable. in one state i am licensed in, attending professional organizations such as asce grants you pdh hours!
regards,
lutfi