NSA Designer Tony Lopez recently had the opportunity to attend the annual Emerging Professionals (EP) Summit for the North Central States Region (NCSR) in collaboration with the American Institute of Architects (AIA). The Summit was held in Madison, Wisconsin in partnership with the AIA Wisconsin Fall Workshop: Practice Innovation for Architects. Below is his summary of the experience. 

Day 1 – AIA Wisconsin Fall Workshop – Practice Innovation for Architects

The workshop:

The workshop was focussed on the future of architecture and how innovation, technology and future business models can progress the industry forward. The workshop was broken into two sessions; The morning session started with presentations from Chandra Miller Fienen, executive director of StartingBlock Madison and Thomas Fisher, director of the Minnesota Design Center and a professor in the School of Architecture at the University of Minnesota. The afternoon session followed with participants breaking up into groups based on related topic areas to discuss and construct a solution to a growing problem within the profession. The idea was to identify strategic goals and communicate a plan of action, shark-tank-style, to a group of judges. 

The tour:

Following the results of the presentation was a tour of the Spark building. The building is home to StartingBlock and gave the attendees the opportunity to see how architects and entrepreneurs worked together to solve their problems of flexibility and innovation in a changing startup culture. 

Day 2 – EP Summit for the North Central States Region

The summit:

The summit on day two gathered EP’s from the NCSR; Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota, and South Dakota. There were representatives from every state except North Dakota present to discuss the regional and local challenges and issues specific to their communities. The Summit was led by Katie Kangas, Young Architects Regional Director and Kyle Palzer, Regional Associates Director. Throughout the five-hour morning summit invitees were able to cultivate leadership skills, get updates on regional and national initiatives supporting EP’s and young professionals, discuss state challenges and culture, and ended the day with actionable ideas to bring home to our respective states. There were also pizza and cookies involved. 

Day 1 & 2 – Supporting Activities 

The drive:

When we attend summits, conferences, lectures, and related events we often miss out on the conversations and dialog that go on while traveling to the events. For an Emerging Professional this could be just as important as the classroom time, if not more. The four-hour drive from Minneapolis to Madison was populated with ice-breaker-style small talk at one end of the conversation to the question of how we justify our own existence at the other end. Safe to say it got deep. We also explored midwestern culture and customs like Culvers, a family-favorite restaurant known for their local ButterBurgers, Fresh Frozen Custard & Wisconsin Cheese Curds. * 

(*- Editors Note: Tony is from California)

The happy hour:

We were able to meet up with EP’s the night before the Summit for a happy hour hosted in the bar of our hotel, Hotel Indigo. As the alcohol slowly became consumed, we naturally started to open up about our backgrounds and our experiences within the profession. Too many words were spoken to precisely convey the breadth of our conversations in this post but lots of connections and similar experiences were shared through informal discussions. Discussions that would later become part of a structured conversation during the Summit which allowed us to better address the issues we each shared and build on them.

The morning activity:

The morning of the Summit also gave the invited EP’s an optional activity to connect through similar hobbies. One group of EP’s went for a run around the capital building and along the lake, the second group started their morning sketching, while another group decided to get a good start to the day at the breakfast line. These are all excellent ways to begin integrating what you love to do in life with what you chose to do as a profession.