Miamiblog

So, it's now Saturday and it's really quiet from Miami. I know that it can't be THAT boring there. What is happening? Give it up, please!

Yeah - what sort of blog is this? ;)

OK…. The retreat was back-to-back…. We had an incredibly busy schedule and hardly any time to report live. In fact, I didn’t laid eye on the beach until Saturday night, three days into the retreat. Those who attended will do a little post-posting in the coming hours…

The Miami retreat was cool, though not in the climatic way...muggy and moist outside. And folks on the street dressed accordingly.

Inside, air-conditioning blasted everywhere...it was like that Scandinavian practice of swimming in the freezing cold and then hitting the sauna.

But it was really cool to be with designers, educators and others from 57 chapters, all coming together to learn and share.

We got updates from the national staff and national board members on a couple of interesting projects. The one that resonated most with me was the Design for Democracy initiative. I was mighty proud to know that AIGA is taking a lead in recommending standards for election design that will be sent to every Secretary of State of every state in the union. No more hanging chads, and all that brought about, I hope! It was a perfect example of how design shapes our lives in events both big and small.

Another project we learned of, this one out of Boston, brought high-schoolers and working designers together in an internship (a year long, I think) that was coordinated and funded by the chapter and the city of Boston. Great little film that captured how the internship changed these kids lives.

I hope that LA can get something like this going with high-schoolers. I'm certain we can put together a coalition, and what with the state of LA public schools, we've got a real opportunity to do something positive. I'll raise a hand for Metro to host an interested high-schooler, that's for sure.

Our group also helped to craft the beginnings of a solid outreach effort to in-house designers. I think this is an excellent growth opportunity in terms of membership numbers, and of diversifying our member base. And if done on a national scale, we can all be instrumental in achieving AIGA's goal of doubling membership in 10 years.

We certainly spent lots of time in sessions...I got into the Atlantic for just one 5-minute swim during four days. But no complaints...

All in all, a great way for me to get my feet wet as a new Board member. I was proud to represent LA, and we've got lots of challenges to tackle this coming year.

Learning about AIGA's national/global initiatives was a real eye opener for me. I've always believed that my membership has value beyond sweet Adobe discounts and lower event rates, but at the retreat I realized how little I really knew about the programs and initiatives that provide this value.

Without going too deep into analyzing the situation, it is obvious to me now that there is a problem in how we are communicating our efforts to the deign community, and the world. Solving it is the key to advancing our membership numbers and influence by leaps and bounds.

Fortunately, with all of the amazing people I met in Miami, I think we stand a good chance of figuring it out.

A Review: ONE. No offense to anyone who loves Bling, wears Bling, designs Bling, or knows a different characterization of Miami, but my first impression of Miami was all about Genetically Modified Bling. It was literally everywhere. And grossly exaggerated. Well, maybe that's the point. But they seemed to take it seriously.

TWO. Mojitos. The good, the bad and the ugly. We tried to conduct a serious Mojito review from our Miami travels. But serious and drinking don't really mix. Our note taking got sloppy. Our ability to form sentances failed. And most importantly, our memories failed to remind us that we were supposed to be drinking to provide you with a great review of Miami Mojitos, not drinking for drinking sake. Well, from our meager attempt, here's what I can tell you to look for in a good Mojito: Tart, long citrus finish, ample minty flavor, complex rum notes and high alcohol strength. Bonus if they include a sugar cane stick as decor and as a useful something to chew on while you're trying to remember to remember...

THREE. The Leadership Conference highlights for me. This may be a bit of a repeat of what has already been said, but it is just so inspiring to see what other peeps around the country are doing to spread the juice. You have national initiatives that are very cool and have strong intention. We'll be sure to let people in LA know more about some of the good stuff coming out of National. You also have local chapters feeding the karma fire with some amazing initiatives. LA will be spending the coming year on a Scholarship initiative and we got some great ideas from other chapters to build upon the program. So, again, stay tuned. But as important as the feel good initiatives, it was great to see how other chapters are aiding the cause to promote the communications design industry with credibility, honor and respect. We must have a strong voice in our communities to raise the awareness and reach of what we do as a professional craft.

FOUR. Sean Adams rocks and is going to be a great national president. LA representin!!

FIVE. I guess I have a call to action. I've met tons of dynamic, talented, multi-dimensional creative and designery people in Los Angeles. But our chapter is still relatively small for the number of designers that exist in LA. So I hope we can gather more designers and marketers from across design genres to join AIGA Los Angeles and contribute to raising the bar for design in LA. Anyone taking the time to read this blog, please reach out to us, and to your friends and colleagues and bring them to events or invite them to join the organization at an executional level to be more involved with the board. Your juice for design makes us all more clever and creative. And dammit, we need you!

As an AIGA dork that I am, I printed all the materials from chpaterworkroom beforehand to take with me on the plane. As I was reading the materials on the plane, I was genuinely impressed with what AIGA represents nationally; what they are trying to achieve in a larger scale; the extensive planning they have done, etc. Just like Michael indicated above, it made me feel proud to be a part of AIGA overall and on many efforts--initiatives to approach the government, creating a chapter/relationship in China, Scholarship program, etc. So I was pumped up for the retreat already.

Overall I met so many enthusiastic and energetic members from other chapters who are working so hard to raise the bar within their community. Even with 3-4 hours of sleep every night, I was energized by being surrounded by so many people who are doing the same all over the country and aiming for the same goal. I’ve collected many great initiative ideas for upcoming year for our chapter and I will do my best to have our chapter’s VOICE be louder than ever.

Sean Adams indeed rocks, as Bonnie stated. His charisma is utterly immeasurable and I’m so happy to see a west coaster representing the national. Goodtimes.

The most inspirational moment came around on the final day where a few of the chapters made presentations on what they have achieved last year. It actually moved me and I got all teary. The Boston chapter's Mentoring Program hit home as that is something I personally wanted to do, since I joined LA chapter. And the film they showed was utterly touching and moving. Kudos for the Boston chapter! Also when Agustin made his presentation, I was so proud not only to be AIGA member but also a LA chapter representative who achieved such a grand event.

Here is my very subjective review on the retreat: I had some doubts on the effectiveness of the programming overall. Right away, I felt that large scale chapters face such different issues compared to smaller chapters and I thought that the programming should have been geared to each group more separately at times. I think it would have been more effective and productive to have sessions where we could connect with other similar scale chapters to tackle issues + solution together.

On a less serious note, the social events at the retreat was not super, I thought. For the last night gathering, the barbeque-themed party was a poorly executed event and it was questionable that we somehow ended up having a barbeque party in a city that already has a flamingly hot weather already? I also thought that the retreat didn’t reflect much of Miami’s characteristics, which could have been much more fun.

Overall I’ll do another retreat in a second. And as this was my first time, I enjoyed every minute of it.

Thanks for the "Sean Adams rocks" comments, but I think I'm more "easy listening." For me, the retreat was incredible. Meeting leaders from all of the chapters and hearing what their chapter chellenges were, as well as their personal and professional issues made a huge impact on me. The common theme of the vast amount of work being done by the chapters, national staff, and national board is remarkable. Now we need to make sure everyone knows about it. Like Nat, said, we need to sharpen our communications strategy.

Aside from the busy retreat activities, on a lighter note, I was especially pleased to see the national board and chapter leaders mixing at the pool at the end of each day. Bathing suits are a great equalizer, except for Nik, who clearly spends too much time working out. And in defense of the Nebraska chapter's barbeque, imagine how difficult it is to plan a local event, and they did it from 2000 miles away. But there were some great photos from the school bus ride.

Many thanks to all of the AIGA Los Angeles group. You made our chapter shine. Agustin's presentation definitely opened minds ina ways I've never seen before. I couldn't have been more proud to be from Los Angeles.