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From the President, April 2000
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For many reasons I’ve been doing a lot of thinking over the past months about “client base.” I’ve been reading editorials and articles on how architects envision and develop theirs (See Architecture Minnesota’s July-August ’99 article on “Emerging Voices” for the comment: “The challenge for any small architecture firm is to build and sustain a client base-and that is often a balancing act between many voices.”). Religiously I scan the Internet and trade publications for tools to help me find and understand potential targets. And I’ve badgered friends and colleagues for their viewpoints and recommendations. And what it really comes down to is “Know thyself.” Because if a business person doesn’t know, first of all, what they’re good at, and, secondly, what they want to do, they’re behind the eight-ball from the start! Now, how does this apply to CSI, you might ask (since this column is supposed to have SOME connection!)? Well, I guess I’ve been thinking CSI is suffering from some of that same identity crisis attitude: “Who are we? – Who do we want to be? and What are we really good at? And so, I would challenge you to think very broadly about who our Mpls/St. Paul Chapter-CSI client base should be, and very specifically about who it could be. We have a little breathing space here in the next few months to mull over those questions. A time to reflect about the first half of the fiscal year; a chance to refocus for the last stretch on the goals we want to accomplish. The Board of Directors and the full Committees will be gathering in the first weeks of April to go through the yearly planning process and I would encourage those of you who are involved in a Committee to take time to participate; and for those of you interested in shaping or just discovering the Chapter’s direction, please make your voices heard. We just experienced another milestone in our organizational calendar year, the March Product Fair. The figures aren’t in, but I’m sure they’ll show it was another successful event. An especially difficult feat this year because its success relies entirely on volunteers, and we know how busy we all have been. I think we owe the Product Fair Committee, chaired by Kathy Wilson of BrailleTac – Advance Corp., a great deal of thanks for their efforts to pull it together, along with contributions by the Program and Education Committees and numerous other Chapter members. The sponsors and vendors who participated are to be thanked as well, as are all the members and visitors who took time out of their hectic schedules to attend. The Product Fair is an example of something we do reasonably well – but we can do it better with your help and ideas. And doing it differently might be even more interesting and fun! Over the past two years we’ve enticed students from local architecture and drafting programs to join us. We know that we need to work on professional firms to have more of their staff attend. We’ve made a few overtures to other organizations, with limited but hopeful responses. Where do we go from here? It’s all about “client base” – and knowing what we want and what we do well. We can let it be the voice of a few who determine that, or the voice of many that form the future of our Chapter. Let us hear from you! The Board and Committees will be holding the following sessions at Hallmark Building Supplies, 850 Taft St. Minneapolis, MN:
Rebecca Foss, President |
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