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AIA New York State Small Firm Symposium – Day 1
November 13, 2020 @ 8:00 am - 3:00 pm
Schedule of Events
Friday, November 13
8:00AM – 9:00AM: Welcome & Breakfast with the AIANYS Discussion Group Leaders & Sponsors
Join the AIANYS Discussion Group leaders as they discuss the best practices in their respective areas of Sustainability, Technology, Practice and Culture. Each leader will touch on how they’ve disseminated information to the AIANYS membership, what they’ve taken away from this year and what the future holds for their topic. Say hello to our Sponsor’s virtual booths to check out their products and services.
9:00AM – 10:30AM: Opening Session: What’s Next for Small Firms in 2020 and Beyond
Content Leader: Simon Goodhead, PE | Principal, The Coxe Group, Inc. Submitted for 1.5 LU’s
2020 has shown us in very complex terms: what got us here, won’t get us there. Regardless of what your strategic objectives are for your firm, we have to do things differently to achieve those end points. That being said, some of the fundamentals have not changed. This presentation will explore employee engagement, client connectivity, and how project leadership needs will be needed to deliver design work with efficacy. Participants will hear strategic choices successful firms are making of what to do, and just as importantly, what not to do. We will also touch on how small firms can be well placed to compete in tomorrow’s market for talent and for clients.
10:30AM – 10:55AM: Live Meet Up with Simon Goodhead and Sponsors Didn’t get your question for Simon answered? Head over to talk to him yourself for our content leader meet up! Be sure to visit our Sponsor’s virtual booths to check out their products and services
11:00AM – 12:30PM: Making the Right Decisions in Small Firm Dynamics
Moderator: Bob Stanziale, AIA | Owner, Robert Stanziale, Architect, PC Content Leaders:
John Frye, AIA, LEED AP BD+C | Principal, Nexus Creative
Beth Lacey, AIA | Partner, Lacey Thaler Reilly Wilson Architecture & Preservation, LLP Roxanne Button, AIA, LEED AP, MRAIC | Principal, design synergies architecture | sustainability
Kelly Culp-Burton, AIA, LEED AP, DHT | President, KCB Architecture Submitted for 1.5 LU’s
The session will dive into the decision process of taking on a new project. Panelists will discuss business factors and the mechanics of the Small Firm practice, required resources for taking on new projects, and the challenges and successes of working with municipalities and other firms. This group of dynamic Small Firm professionals will give their own experiences and advice for how to make the right choice that honors your firms mission and culture.
12:30PM – 12:55 PM: Lunch Break & Live Meet Up with Bob, John, Beth and Kelly and our Sponsors
Didn’t get a chance to have your question answered during the session? Visit our content leaders here to discuss further. Take a break to talk with our sponsors at their virtual booths.
1:00PM – 2:30PM: Working with Clients in a Multicultural, Multi Generational Environment Panel
Content Leaders:
Baani Singh, AIA, NCIDQ, LEED AP, LFA | Principal, D2D Green Design Tonja Adair, AIA, NOMA, LEED AP | Principal, Splice Design, Inc.
Kirk Narburgh, FAIA, LEED AP BD+C | CEO & Managing Partner, King & King Architects, LLP
Submitted for 1.5 LU’s
We are in a transitional workplace where small firm leaders are working with a variety of generations, diverse cultures, genders, personalities with their own needs, backgrounds, beliefs, communication styles and most importantly definition of ethics. This session teaches you how to embrace multi-cultural and multi-generational marketplace to create a successful business practice.
2:30PM – 2:55PM: Live Meet Up with Multicultural Panel and Sponsors Now’s your chance to address the panel with any questions you still have after their session! Visit the Sponsor’s virtual booth to preview their products and services.
Saturday, November 14
8:00AM – 9:00AM: Breakfast with the AIA SfX Network and Sponsors Content Leaders:
Venesa Alicea-Chuqui, AIA, NOMA, LEEP AP | Founder/Principal, NYVARCH Architecture Matthew Clapper, AIA, NCARB | Founder/Principal, Modern Architecture and Development
Christopher Toddy, AIA | President, Christopher @ Architects LLC
Submitted for 1.5 LU’s
Maintaining firm prosperity, relevancy and resilience in a changing social-distancing, economic, staffing, and technological environment are paramount for architectural firms, especially those with one-to-nine staff. AIA can be most important resource for professional resiliency and advancement, and the AIA national member group – AIA Small Firm Exchange (SFx) – works on your behalf to communicate needed resources to firms. Join us in a conversation to discuss small firm resiliency and to discover new resources and initiatives that support your firm’s success.
9:00AM – 10:30AM: Day One Takeaways & High-Performance Productivity for Architects
Content Leader: Dr. Stevie Dawn | CEO & Founder, Stevie Dawn Inspires, LLC Submitted for 1.5 LU’s
We live in a fast-paced ever-changing world. We are being asked to do more with less and in less time than ever before. It is a workplace imperative that we become efficient and effective in all our tasks. However, we do not need another way to create a to-do list. We need instead to focus on improving prioritization and eliminating distractions in our daily work. In this workshop, we will discuss the importance of focusing on the tasks that truly matter, the importance of delegation, and how to prioritize our tasks. Participants will be introduced to the SHARK Method as a productivity tool useful for professionals at all levels of an organization. It is time we stop feeling overwhelmed and start feeling in control of our calendar.
10:30AM – 10:55AM: Live Meet Up with Dr. Stevie Dawn Blake and Sponsors Want to ask Dr. Stevie more questions? Join her for a meet up to get your burning questions answered. Talk with our Sponsors and thank them for their support.
11:00AM – 12:30PM: Satisfied Clients, Engaged Architects & Cash Flow: A Crash Course in Small Firm Management
Content Leader: Russell Davidson, FAIA | Managing Principal & President, KG&D Architects
Submitted for 1.5 LU’s
It’s hard for clients to select the right architect for their project. It can be even harder for the design professional to explain their fees or contracts. Learn how to determine the appropriate percentage fee for each of the various contractual phases of a project— from pre-contract site investigation all the way through the post-construction phase.
This session will help architects working in small firms define the value of exactly what it is you do and communicate that value to your clients. You will learn how to present these costs to the client, how to talk about it so that they understand how the fees are determined and what formula to use depending on the project.
12:30PM – 12:55PM: Lunch Break & Live Meet Up with Russ Davidson and our Sponsors
Don’t let your questions go unanswered! Visit Russ for his live meet up. Preview our Sponsor’s virtual booths.
1:00PM – 2:30PM: Raising and Maintaining Standards of Quality in a Small Firm
Content Leader: Andrés U. Cortés, AIA, NCARB, LEED AP | Partner, Agencie Architecture & Engineering,
Submitted for 1.5 LU’s
This presentation focuses on lessons learned and best practices towards changing the Quality Control processes to account for distanced collaboration between experienced architects and engineers with early to mid-career small firm designers. The session will illustrate a case study whereby our firm participated as a sub-, working with many other sub-consultant teams, real time in BIM360 and other crowd-based platforms for the development of a project. Added to the complexity of individual Team members working remotely, is the fact that many individual Team members where located across multiple time zones, and in some cases did not possess the full technical or administrative training required to perform tasks effectively. Challenges the firm encountered will be reviewed and speak about the attempts at meeting these hurdles.
2:30PM – 2:55PM: Live Meet Up with Andrés U. Cortés and Sponsors It’s the last meet up of the symposium. Be sure to stop by to talk to Andrés Cortés before you leave! One last time to talk with our Sponsors. Be sure to thank them for supporting the Small Firm Symposium.