DLN Community,
Whether your business is on a roll or feels the chill of a cooling market, your life is likely busier than ever. We hear it every day: “I just don’t have time for another meeting.” Often, we feel the same way—even when we know an engagement could be transformative, it’s just hard to find the time.
Because we’re listening, we know the DLN’s virtual programs need to be highly relevant, heavy-hitting, and time-efficient. That’s why we’re relaunching our virtual programs in 2024, making it easier for you to gain direct access to expert insights and opportunities for candid conversations around strategy, growth, management, and leadership.
Held on a Tuesday afternoon each month, Office Hours are drop-in style sessions where disciplinary experts—in finance, law, social media, and more—are on hand to answer your burning questions, which can be asked live or submitted ahead of time. Whether you save a few billable hours, find your next consultant, or simply find some direction with an unresolved question, you will leave Office Hours with concrete, actionable insights about the way forward.
A more intimate version of the DLN’s Community Calls, Community Roundtables—held on a Thursday afternoon each month—convene group conservations about a diverse range of subjects, with all attendees invited to participate. In addition to tackling big topics, Community Roundtables foster discussion among smaller affinity groups within the DLN: women architects, couples in life and business, regional cohorts, and more.
When our new website goes live in mid-2024, you will have a chance to carry these conversations into email threads and direct messages, making your affinity groups an important part of your DLN experience.
These sessions are live and driven by your participation, and we invite you to register for January, February, and March sessions today.
Very best,
Michael
Michael Diaz-Griffith
Executive Director & COO
FEBRUARY
Community Roundtable: Collaborating Across Disciplines
Thursday, February 8
How do you manage working with creative partners on a project? Set divisions of labor? Joint contracts? A Responsibility matrix? What about crediting when it comes to press? Get perspective from fellow professionals.
Office Hours: Legal & Contracts
Tuesday, February 20
Come armed with your legal queries and save a few billable hours in this live session with law professionals who specialize in design and creative businesses.
MARCH
Community Roundtable: Working With a (Life) Partner
TBC based on participants
Our community comprises several professionals who are partners in business and life. Get together to discuss effective teamwork, setting work/life boundaries, office dynamics, and more.
Community Roundtable: Managing Your Firm’s Growth
Thursday, March 14
What does responsible growth look like? When is the right time to hire, to open a new outpost, to reorganize? What should a scalable business look like? Join in a discussion on all these and more, with leaders from firms of all sizes.
Office Hours: Branding The Right Way
Tuesday, March 19
Your brand is your business. Join a team of branding professionals to discuss best practices for marketing your company through visual, written, and stylistic branding, from printed materials to social media presence, logo design, and more.
APRIL
Community Roundtable: The Cost of Construction Today
Thursday, April 11
Architects, builders, contractors, designers, and landscape professionals have a lot to learn from each other in managing inflated materials costs, renegotiating budgets, and otherwise adjusting business to the current cost of construction.
Office Hours: What Editors Want Now
Tuesday, April 30
Join an interactive discussion with Jill Cohen, Editor-In-Chief, Luxe Interiors and Design; Joanna Saltz, Editorial Director, Delish & House Beautiful; and Jacqueline Terrebonne, Editor-In-Chief, Galerie Magazine about the state of the industry and what they want now in terms of projects, pitches, and storytelling.
MAY
Community Roundtable: Optimizing Client Relationships
Thursday, May 30
Not every client can be perfect—so how do you take steps to optimize the relationship? Discuss boundary setting, contract details, and communication strategies that make for smooth relationships.
Office Hours: Buying Art
Tuesday, May 14
Art consultants discuss tools for sourcing for and with clients, commissioning custom work, and shopping fairs, galleries, or auctions.
JUNE
Community Roundtable: Managing a Retail or Showroom Space
Operating a retail store or trade showroom can be a fulfilling creative outlet or a way to diversify your business; but how do you balance it with your design work? Members with shops, showrooms, and e-commerce sites talk about the right way to manage them all.
Community Roundtable: What’s Happening Within the DLN
Join the DLN team for a dynamic update on what we’re working on, looking towards, and prioritizing right now and for the coming year.
Office Hours: Hospitality Design
Join an interactive conversation with hospitality experts to learn more about designing hospitality projects, the creative process, cost planning, securing jobs, sourcing and more.
JULY
Community Roundtable: Billing
There may be no hotter topic in the design industry than billing; it seems every firm does it differently. What are the benefits of hourly charges vs. project fees? How about markups? Talk to your peers about what has worked best for you–and what doesn’t.
Office Hours: Licensed Collections
What does designing a licensed line actually entail? Bring your questions to a team of experts from various areas of the industry to hear about strategy, process, and deliverables.
AUGUST
Community Roundtable: Benefits
In an industry with an abundance of contract work and a lack of standardized contracts, ascertaining what benefits to provide for employees can feel like a daunting task. Join your peers for a discussion on employee benefits, providers, and management.
Office Hours: Book Publishing
There may be no greater career bucket list achievement than a monograph. But what exactly goes into producing your own book? Bring your questions to a panel of book publishers, editors, and authors to hear their expert advice.
SEPTEMBER
Community Roundtable: Annual Partner Call
What’s the most important thing you’re thinking about? Investing the most capital in?
Office Hours: Working Abroad
With working in a new country comes a new set of regulations, taxes, and practices. Connect with Members who have spent decades working abroad to learn how they keep projects going across country lines.
Q4 sessions will be announced in Summer 2024.
Have an idea for a virtual program? Let Hadley Keller know!