Presidents Message - January 2013

AIA FORT WORTH What are we doing this year? My first task of this new year was to quell the anxieties of one of our new Committee Chairmen.  And the year was only a few hours old!  Primarily, I just needed to let him know that I had complete faith and trust in him, and he could manage the committee….easily. And that is the real story.  Most of the work that volunteer committee members, chairs and Board Members do is not that hard; especially for trained architects, or the allied members that also participate in our committees.  Most committees have track records, clear goals, and experienced people on the committee – basically, there is a “go by” way of getting the work done. I have been asked several times if I have a theme or goal for the year.  Well, I do.One of those goals is to make sure that all of our committees are well staffed, that they all build that track record, and that they start reporting back to the Board on their goals and results.  We do have some new committees (and I hope there will be more) and they will need help getting started, setting goals and creating a standard to be followed; and ultimately create a “succession plan”.Another goal is to increase participation in our events, meetings and parties by not only our chapter members and allied members, but also by the general public.  One cornerstone of the strategic plan is an outreach mission to the public, teaching them about good design and the value of good architectural practice.  It is what makes architects unique.The biggest goal of all is to reach out to the younger members, the women members and the minority members and give them a bigger voice in AIA Fort Worth.  That probably means inviting more of these groups into membership.  For some reason a large percentage of new graduates do not know that AIA membership is free for the remainder of the year and the next full year after graduation.  So if you know of a recent graduate, please let them know!  They also get a free entry to the convention. That reminds me of a big item for the year.  This year the Texas Society of Architects (TxA) annual conference/convention will be held in Fort Worth on November 7 – 10.  Fort Worth has always had one of the best attended conventions, and currently holds that record.  Paul Dennehy is chairing our Convention Committee, and with the urging of Larry Speck, is planning on a bigger and better convention than ever before.  There are goals for most attendees, most student attendees, more public visiting the convention, more tours than ever before, and to break the local chapter attendance record.  No host chapter has had 50% of their members attend the convention.  Fort Worth has been close to that level, but this year, we would like to beat it.That means about 230 members from Fort Worth attending the convention.  Can we do it?? Thank you,Jack