Kaley Fought, AIA
AIAO President
The Missing LINK
Have you registered for the AIA Oregon Conference June 1-3? ODC 22: LINK is ready to go, with a full schedule, health and safety protocols in place, and speakers that are equipped to elevate your practice. The 2022 ODC Planning Committee – a group of dedicated AIAO volunteers from our sections, committees, and firms of all sizes, has worked very hard for the last six months to bring you a full range of presentations covering equity, design, innovation, resilience, and more.
Registration has been open for a few weeks now, and the early bird discounts expire tomorrow. If you haven’t signed up, I ask you to do so today. Alongside our Sponsors and Allied members and AIA Oregon staff, I have created an affordable conference with all of the credits you might need to both meet your licensure and AIA membership requirements, AND also your 5-hour ADA / Accessibility credits for California licensure.
With all of those benefits, many of you still haven’t signed up – and I want you to know the experience won’t be the same without you.
I hope you’ll consider how YOU might be the missing link we’ll need to make this conference great.
We are purposefully holding our conference in Portland, both to reduce cost for many and to make the location more accessible and available to carbon-free transportation options. Hosting at the Sentinel Hotel was an easy decision – their COVID protocols for staff, cleaning procedures, and overall flexibility and understanding have us convinced that we are in careful hands. They will help us practice proper distancing, provide us with checked and cleared service staff, and help us encourage indoor masking in appropriate areas. We are committed to following all county and state regulations as we monitor our progression into the endemic phase of this most interesting time. I also hope you’ll do the same, obtaining a booster if needed, or taking your own steps of masking and distancing to keep yourself comfortable on site.
If you register and attend, you will have the opportunity to catch up with your colleagues from around the state for the first time in 3 years, while also having the chance to talk with our featured speakers at the receptions hosted all three evenings of the conference. If you register and view digitally, you will have access to featured speakers via live broadcast and the opportunity to chat with your colleagues in between. As a firm leader, I hope you all take advantage of this great opportunity to introduce new staff members to the design community.
Speaking of which, this will also be the first time many will have to meet our new EVP / CEO, Heather Wilson, in person. It’s been a little over a year since her arrival, and I expect she is also very eager to meet and greet with members from around the state. Let’s please make this the welcome I couldn’t offer last year!
Lastly, I hope all of our firm principals will extend to their their staff – especially the youngest and most talented – the opportunity to educate and expand their ideas around practice by hearing from our carefully selected featured speakers. If you have not yet, please see our lineup of speakers, all examples of excellence in the industry who are certain to give your firm’s talent powerful insights and new tools for the office.
Unfortunately, because of how we have to balance the affordability of broadcasting live and recording breakout sessions, there will be NO ON-SITE REGISTRATION and you won’t be able to access livestreams the day of the conference without registration. Conference offerings will not be available for free for another several months, but your registration will ensure access to it all, even after the event. THAT is a deal.
The committee and staff have worked hard, the sponsors have all stepped up and the Sentinel Hotel is ready to welcome us. We’re on the edge of creating something great together, if we connect the links - I know it. I am excited for ODC 22, and excited to have had the opportunity to work with these amazing professionals from around the state to bring it to you. Please register today!