05.19.21

Strengthen. Promote. Flourish. A Recap.

Last Fall, a committee of Southern California Chapter Board members worked together to develop a seminar series in response to the shifting needs of our membership over the last year.

The program began with a mini-version in the Fall of 2020 entitled S.P.F. 15: Strengthen. Promote. Flourish. A 15 minute session. This was a series of 15-minute videos aimed at empowering our members to put their best foot forward in the challenging job market that we were being faced with. In case you missed any of these sessions, or would like to re-watch, click the following links:

Resume Tips and Tricks
Virtual Interview Hacks
Tips for New Graduates
Portfolio Storytelling (designers)
Portfolio Storytelling (students)

With the success and positive feedback received from SPF 15, we proceeded to develop an expanded seminar series offered this Spring entitled S.P.F. 60: Strengthen. Promote. Flourish. A 60 minute session. Held from March through May, five sessions were offered on the topics of mindfulness, networking, portfolio, resume, and branding.

Mr. David Singer kicked off the expanded series by equipping attendees with a bag of tricks that help to remind us all to be present and mindful. Setting goals and sticking with them (21 days is all it takes to form a habit!) remembering to take care of our minds, bodies, and souls, and most importantly, to be kind to ourselves, were key takeaways from this first session. In case you missed this session, check it out here.

Our second seminar was presided over by Margo Jones, FIIDA. Margo shared her knowledge as a business and professional coach (as well as interior designer and professor) by touching on topics such as making an introduction, marketing yourself online and in person, and getting involved in professional organizations. This session can be revisited here.

A group of panelists including designers Mr. Bill Bouchey, FIIDA, Meghan Woodcock, and Ashley Casatelli, IIDA were guided through our next session: a discussion of the purpose-driven portfolio by Kelly Brucher of Herman Miller. The group had a colorful conversation that touched on formatting, content, presentation, as well as do’s and dont’s for dusting off (or polishing up) our portfolios. In case you missed it, check it out here.

In the following session, we were joined by panelists Courtney Kirian, Industry IIDA, Crandon Gustafson, IIDA, and Lisa O’Brien to talk about how to artfully craft a resume. Each panelist brought an interesting take on what a successful resume should (and should not) look like, including length, style, and content, along with input about whether headshots or objectives should be included. For a catch-up on this segment, go here.

The final seminar in the S.P.F. 60 series was led by Sumara Fireside from IIDA headquarters. She equipped us with all kinds of ideas and skills developing our personal brand and guess what‽ It doesn’t start with the logo! She shared insight on several successful brands and why they are successful, boiling it down into digestible portions that those of us who are working on, or perhaps just starting to develop, can incorporate. This session can be found online here.

A special thanks goes out to all of our speakers and panelists as well as the committee who worked to make this series a reality. Last but not least, a huge thank you to our event sponsors, without whom this offering could not have been possible: Tangram, Crossville, Pivot, BKM, SmithGroup, Think Office Interiors, and Wolf Gordon.

If you enjoyed this programming and would like to see more like it, or if you’d like to be involved in developing offerings like this for our Chapter, please drop us a line at [email protected]