Join AIA Central New Jersey for this virtual presentation:

Progress Through Storytelling: Small Firms Winning Approvals for Innovative Design

The most creative, promising and forward-thinking design innovation still has to win approval from preservation commissions, planning/zoning boards, neighborhood organizations and other stakeholders. In this session two architects, each a practice founder and leader, share effective communication strategies based in principles of storytelling and graphics that win approvals from decision-makers, turning NIMBY into YIMBY. Examples and lessons learned are drawn from adaptive reuse, expansion, and new-build projects in localities where sensitivity to historic preservation and existing neighborhood character creates challenges for firms with limited name recognition who are championing unfamiliar approaches.

VIRTUAL
1 LU (pending)

Learning Objectives:

1. Identify and anticipate the concerns and objections of individuals and entities with decision-making power over approvals for adaptive reuse, expansion and new construction projects in historic (or otherwise sensitive) cities, towns and neighborhoods. 
2. Evaluate an innovative design concept to determine its assertible value for the proposed site and surrounding community, and its sensitivity to historic and architectural context.
3. Structure a narrative that draws the attention of the stakeholder audience and decision-making authorities to the proposed benefits, and to how the project aligns with the community’s shared values, while alleviating anticipated concerns and heading off potential objections.
4. Improve their external communications efforts, by crafting more effective presentations with constructive graphic elements that steer the audience through the narrative, and respond authoritatively to questions and unexpected objections with sensitivity and appreciation.