National SDA always announces the location of the next EDSymposium at it’s annual awards/installation banquet. Next year . . . it’s in Spokane! You can bet the Seattle chapter will be pitching in to make EDSymposium19 a success! So, save the date, and make plans to be there.
Oh yeah—the date? Well, plan on it being held again sometime in May 2019 (as it has been for past years). As soon as we know the date, we’ll be sure to put a link on our website for you.
SDA National is at it again! Here comes another EDConnect—a convenient way to get continuing education credits in all things A/E/C. It’s a three-day webinar conference that you and others in your firm won’t want to miss. Stay tuned for more details/registration.
SDA members were recognized with a Star Award, at the national annual banquet held May 19 in Salt Lake City. We nominated Past President/Director Carrie Thompson (of Studio Meng Strazzara) as our chapter’s (super) star.
Pictured left to right: Debra Ellis (Denver), Cindy Leydet (Hampton Roads), Sandy Beckel (Minneapolis), Peggy McGrath (New York), Carrie Thompson (Seattle), Annette Scott (member-at-large). Other 2018 Star Award winners, not pictured: Nancy DeLoatch (Atlanta), Amber Slajer (Dallas), Maurina McClean (Houston), Francine LaRose, (San Francisco), Anna Kordik (San Diego), Irene Flores (San Antonio).
Congratulations to Carole Sanderson, SDA’s 2018 Lifetime Achievement Award winner! Carole was recognized at the national banquet awards ceremony, held May 19 in Salt Lake City, Utah.
If you think your interview team should be all serious and professional-like in front of the Selection Panel—think again. Well, of course you won’t want to show up in a clown’s suit, and you probably don’t want to launch with a joke, “An architect and an engineer walk into a bar . . .” either.
According to Scott Johnston, “A little bit of chuckle is a good thing” during your firm’s interview. Especially if you can tie the chuckle into the purpose for you being there. So yeah, you should be professional and serious about presenting, but you should inject some personality while you’re there.
Scott presented “Five Mistakes Selection Panels Say A/E/C Firms Make (and How to Fix Them) at our Seattle chapter’s business practice dinner this month. It was a good session—lots of great tips and examples, including Scott’s answer to the question, “We are the best firm; why do we keep losing?”
The number two mistake firms make? Speaking generally. Scott said that Selection Panels need to hear details.
More according to Scott (whose firm, Johnston Training Group, conducts in-person interviews with selection panel members from numerous public and private organizations, as well as helping A/E/C firms present powerfully):
Scott also talked about “creative brief.” Want to know more about that? Feel free to drop Scott a line.
Or in your home? There’s been a recall on Kidde fire extinguishers. Learn more here, and then check to make sure you don’t have one that’s been recalled.
We’re sending a big shout-out to Melodee Schultz (of the Houston Chapter), who was honored with the 2017 Lifetime Achievement Award at the SDA EDSymposium17 banquet. Congratulations, Melodee!
It’s a new year for the Seattle chapter. The 2017-2018 Board of Directors was installed May 18. Presiding over the installation ceremony was Tom Marseille, PE, Hon. AIA, LEED Fellow, of WSP USA.
Pictured, left to right: Director Laiisha Thomas (MG2); Past President/Director Carrie Thompson, CDFA (Studio Meng Strazzara); Director EB Meyer (Weinstein A+U); President-elect Carol Wanda Spradlin (WSP USA); President Judy Beebe, CDFA (WSP USA); Treasurer Kurt Wong, CDFA (Studio Meng Strazzara). Not pictured: Vice President Crystal Ray (Pennell Consulting, Inc.); Secretary Jim Gregson (Parker Smith & Feek); and Director Gretchen Renz, CDFA (Bernardo|Wills Architects).
Have you seen them? You can peel and stick a dry erase white board just about anywhere. At EDSymposium17 in Minneapolis, one of the vendors was Business Essentials, provider of office supplies. We walked away with a sample of the sticky-back white board. What an awesome thing to have handy at your desk (you know, when you don’t have your own office that comes with its own white board).
Just peel off the back and stick on your desk . . . instant white board! Grab some of the dry erase markers from the supply room or conference room and you have your own erase-it-when-you-want canvas.
Education. Networking. Raffle tickets. Business partners. Group activities. Humor (check out the name tags!).
That’s just some of what you get when you attend an SDA EDSymposium. This year it’s in Minneapolis/St. Paul, and OMG . . . you couldn’t ask for better weather! (There’s also a ton of construction going on—big time—right in front of the conference hotel; it’s the Nicollet Project, a revitalization of Minneapolis’ main street. But it’s cool; you just watch your step and follow the detours, and use the Skywalks to get to where you’re going.)
So what are Seattle chapter members Carol Spradlin, Carrie Thompson, Shannon Soady, Stacy Rowland, Gretchen Renz, and Judy Beebe doing in Minneapolis?
They are soaking up the education (so far, sessions on workplace ethics; ownership transition; the marketer and firm administrator; design risk; cyber challenges, and an NCARB session.) They are meeting other members from across the county and Canada. They are visiting the SDA business partners during the breaks (and picking up some awesome swag). They are buying raffle tickets to support the Past Presidents’ Council’s efforts to raise funds for EDSymposium grants. They are going to the Friday Night Dinner Rounds.
And then there’s Saturday to wrap things up: two educational sessions, a bus tour, the Annual Meeting, and the Awards Banquet.
At the Awards Banquet, the location for EDSymposium18 will be announced . . . and before you know it, Seattle chapter members will be gearing up for another great educational event by SDA national.
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