Making its debut this year will be “Little and Large” a speed-dating event on 17 November. Sixty small practitioners will have the opportunity to pitch their unique selling point to fifteen of the UK’s most prestigious practices. The event aims to encourage future collaboration between small and large architectural practices and will be chaired by Judith Gilmore of Effective Communications.
CPD Day, 17 November
During the CPD day, delegates will benefit from the advice of established industry peers who started their professional life as a small practice, and from a range of the top industry consultants and advisors. A series of seminars will provide delegates with practical advice on all aspects of running a successful practice. Issues covered will range from tackling contract administration challenges to marketing and promoting the work of your practice. In addition to this, architects attending the conference will gain 16 hours of core curriculum CPD.
Speaker highlights include: Caroline Cole of Colander presenting a business plan specifically for small practices and architect Paul Scrivener discussing the benefits of greening your practice.
Conference Day 18 November
The emphasis of the conference day will be on creating a strategy for the future of running the smaller architectural practice. There will be sessions on creative collaboration, dynamic diversification and the future of fee negotiation. Each session is tailored to offer insightful advice to inspire and nurture the entrepreneurial side of each delegate.
The final session of the day will be a live pitch entitled Space Invaders where three practices, Piercy Connor Architects, Feix and Merlin and Birmingham based Khoury Architects will present their responses to a creative brief in front of both the delegates and a panel of judges.
The live pitch brief is based on the Arts Council’s £500,000 ‘Art in empty spaces’ initiative that was set up to help artists and arts organisations turn vacant high street shops into vibrant artistic places.
Judges include: Amanda Baillieu, editor BD (Chair); Bennie Gray, developer; Mark Davy, Futurecity; Andrew Brown, Arts Council England; Dan Thompson, Artists and Makers and Rebecca Johnson, Head of Arts Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery.
Conference speaker highlights include: a keynote speech from creative entrepreneur David Kelly, CEO of mydeco.com, previously of ebay and lastminute.com and Ruth Reed, President of the RIBA.
As part of the UKTI’s support of Guerrilla Tactics 2009 it will be hosting free drop-in surgeries for delegates to provide support on how small practices can to internationalise their business. The UKTI is the Government organisation that helps UK-based companies succeed in an increasingly global economy. Its range of expert services is tailored to the needs of individual businesses to maximise their international success. They provide companies with knowledge, advice and practical support.
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