To say joining ArchiTeam in April was dropping myself into the deep end was probably an understatement! Upon joining the team, I found myself in the midst of the mammoth task of preparing and processing your membership and insurance renewals, whilst getting my head around the role as the CEO, getting to know my team, our Directors and some of you. On top of that I was told of the exciting development of the ArchiTeam office being refitted, the need to find a new temporary office, pack the office, organise removalists as well as all of those little things one needs to have in place when one moves……and then redo it all to get back in 2 weeks to our fabulous new office space.
Whilst straddling two offices, we managed to continue with the organisation of our inaugural conference and get a start on the 2017 Awards program. The success of our first ArchiTeam conference left many of you wanting more, so plans are already underway for the next one in 2019.
Once back in the office we saw a big jump in members, an increase in subscribers to DATUM and our social media (in particular the members-only forum Facebook page), promoted and assisted with The Naked Architect Workshops, coordinated the AGM, launched CPD Online and had the biggest Awards program yet, in which we’re all still basking in the afterglow, in part because of all the great publicity the members have received for your work.
So being asked to write a bit about my first eight months really is more about thanking a lot of people, whom without their time, generosity and humour, none of what we have achieved in this last eight months, could have been done. So here we go – Sarah Leighton (Administration & Membership) for speed learning about insurance and architects to answer most of your queries and always with a smile on her face, Katy Ong (Events & Engagement) for running our CPD program, pulling together a fantastic inaugural conference (with a 25th birthday party to boot) and building some great relationships with our sponsors, Nerissa Thompson (newly appointed Events & Engagement) who jumped effortlessly into managing our Awards events and has hit the ground running with organising our 2018 CPD events, and Margaret for her knowledge sharing, precise financial work, music and humour. The Directors (Rosemary, Barbara, Peter, Fooi, Zoe and Warwick), for being an inspiring powerhouse of professionals who I look forward to working with further in the future and you, our members for your support and passion for ArchiTeam.
In more detail Wesley Spencer (RaRaArchitecture) and Anne Hindley for having us in their studio at the Mighty Apollo building, Verity Campbell for her social media expertise, Thom McKenzie (and his team) for our fantastic office (ATeamers you have to come and visit), Peter Hogg, Doone Clifton, Robert Davidov and Lucinda Owen for sharing their wisdom and knowledge.
And last, but in no way least, our sponsors for supporting all of our activities mentioned above (logos/links below).
Phew…time for a little break now, see you in 2018 for more!
Phoebe