Last night, I was honored to be invited by our local AIGA to join six other designers (and one photographer) in a round-table discussion about the chapter’s programming. As you may know, I’m a crusty old hermit: I don’t get out much and I don’t know as many of my colleagues as I should, especially the younger ones. At any rate, charming folks, lively talk, and of course once I warmed up I was delighted to be among peers. Much love to Volunteer Chair Ryan Patrick Smythe for organizing, incoming president Johnny Levenson for keeping a calm hand on the till, and Dave Selden, who opened Pop Art’s community room to host the meeting, and who made sure I was nicely marinated in cabernet.
Here’s my takeaway: the chapter needs greater involvement from everybody, including old farts like me and ancient farts like my pals Tim Leigh and Thom Smith. In fact, the absence of older folks, even (or perhaps especially) those of the retired variety are robbing our community of continuity. Programs like dMob, which are by default geared around professional development for young folks, need to be expanded to include others. But that’s not AIGA’s fault. It’s mine.
I’m also interested in knowing what other folks are up to: maybe a social event like dMob could be tweaked to offer short Powerpoint (excuse me: Keynote) presentations from individuals or studios as well as boozing. There are a lot of peckers out there who want to keep everything secret, but if you’re not NDA’d, you should be able to share. Paranoia is not good for business, and it’s deadly to community. I’m not worried about people boosting my clients; I don’t think it’s gonna happen. Anyway, you poachers can go ahead and take your best shot. There’s work for everyone, as we’ve said elsewhere.
There were plenty of other good ideas to which I hope to help give form in the coming year. It’s gonna take sweaty work. Meetings like last night’s are great to stoke up enthusiasm, but enthusiasm is never in short supply in professional organizations. It’s effort that’s rare: that means I have to sack up and take off my shirt, just like my Pappy did when he was chopping wood.
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