From the President

We need you. Whether you are a member, an affiliate, a sponsor or maybe even a skeptic. Your local chapter needs YOU. We need your membership or sponsorship, but more than that, we need your participation. We need your help with our outreach programs and we need your feedback to ensure our organization provides real value to you. We need you to join us at our monthly chapter meetings.

Membership renewals have been sent out and for most of us, it can be tough to write one big check to the AIA. We encourage you to look at the payment plan as an alternative to spread that cost over several months. Our industry has suffered over the past three years, but our chapter has worked hard during that time to avoid cutting valued programs and we’ve made some great progress raising awareness of good design and how that can positively impact our communities. We need your membership.

Soon, we will launch our sponsorship campaign and we hope to see some new faces alongside our current sponsors. Please tell our sponsors how much we appreciate their help to improve the quality of design. Encourage others to join in sponsoring our chapter. Not only is it a great way for folks to network with architects and stay in touch, it also contributes to our many outreach and service programs. We need your sponsorship.

You may be wondering “What’s in it for me?”. My response is you’ll never know until you get involved. It really is the best way I know to get back more than you invest. I have no doubt you can find something that matches your passion, whether it be design awards, golf, dreamArchitecture, N2Architecture!, AIA4Shelter, ACE, government affairs, disaster recovery or something else. Read more about these on our website or ask someone. We need your participation.

We already have some great chapter meetings lined up for 2012 and I hope that you will add these to your calendar and make a point to join us. A great deal of effort is spent finding interesting venues, intriguing speakers, great food and needed CEU’s. We need you to join our chapter meetings.

We need you... to have fun!

“Iron rusts from disuse; water loses its purity from stagnation... even so does inaction sap the vigor of the mind.” Leonardo da Vinci

Many thanks,

David A. Blackmon, AIA
YOUR 2012 AIA Birmingham President