John Flynn, AIA
AIAO Director At-Large
Chair, Communications Committee
Hello, Colleagues –
This is John Flynn, AIA Oregon Board of Directors (At-Large), coming to you from my dining room table. My focus on the AIA Board is Communications and I’m writing to give you a bit of an update on our continued work to improve our outreach and engagement with membership across our statewide community.
When I last wrote a T@3 message, I mentioned our Fall 2019 work session – a gathering of architects from a wide perspective of involvement within AIA Oregon – where much of the strategic initiative discussions turned towards two essential member services within our organization: Programming and Communications. As we have moved into our new structure as a statewide chapter, we have committed to building a strong and united architecture community across the state. From a communications perspective, this means improving our means and methods of reaching out to membership with the objective of providing the best services to you.
Have you noticed the recent changes in our website? We have been responding to member suggestions for more resources and content, more insight into programs and committee work, and a more dynamic interface. Allow me to highlight a few of these recent changes and preview some of the improvements to come.
Our Resources page has developed into a well spring for professional practice support, educational opportunities, and general information to help you navigate your career. We’ll continue to provide new resources and links to relevant information as part of our continuing communications efforts. And yes, there is a substantial Covid-19 resources page specifically crafted to be relevant to the architecture community.
Programming and event planning continue to be a primary vocation for AIA Oregon. In the Events tab of our website, we’ve added an Event Schedule for 2020. This graphic is a master planning diagram that functions as an overview for our statewide programming efforts. It’s a living document that we’ll continue to update as we refine our programs for the months to come. In our new social-distanced community, events are virtual and internet-connected. AIA Oregon has responded, through its committees, by hosting weekly “Happy Hours” focused on getting members together around topics of common interest. The Events page lists the current schedule for these informative gatherings.
We are in the process of reconstituting our website’s home page. We’ve already made some modest changes and more changes are in the works to create a more dynamic and easier-to-navigate user interface. Another page that is in development is “Find an Architect” – a statewide resource providing introductions and contact information for member firms. This page will allow visitors to filter their searches by location, project type, firm size, and several other parameters. We expect both these pages to launch in the near future.
Other ideas AIA Oregon’s Communication Committee is pushing:
Expanding our website’s News offerings to include more content from Committees and members – look for “Forum” in the months to come.
Continued refinements to all our weekly missive, Thursdays @ Three
Expanded coverage of events and programs in our social networking platforms – Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram
Now, I’d like to address the topic of the day-week-month-year. (I only touched on it briefly above. Imagine that!) We’ve paid particular attention to making sure that membership can find, through our communication platforms, relevant information that informs their business practices, professional interactions, and opportunities going forward during the current pandemic. Who knew, six months ago, that we would be self-isolating, working from home, and video conferencing all day long? Personally, I’m four weeks into a corona-beard, our daughter’s college commencement has been cancelled, and the highlight of my week is a trip to the grocery store. This is new common ground for all of us but, as challenging as it is, we will support one another going forward. For those of us engaged with AIA Oregon, our focus will be on helping to find that path forward. A shout out to AIA Oregon staff, who have done a terrific job addressing the current pandemic landscape on our communication platforms.
Thanks and best of health to everyone!