Other than bills, this is the second communication I have received from the AIA in 10 years. If you can't communicate to your membership how can you expect to communicate with the public?
—Jon Coddington, AIA

I wish the AIA would do more to increase pay among its members and a lot less "save-the-world" idealism. I enjoy discussing various ways to "save the world" with friends and peers, but I really believe most clients are turned off by this. So, please focus on increasing revenues and increasing membership credibility. Thank you.
—Andrew C. Hausler, AIA

I personally have not seen nor heard any of the advertising efforts the AIA has supposedly produced. I can safely say that in my association and discussions with persons most likely to use architects, they have not either, and therefore, I question to what audience the AIA has reached in its multi-million dollar spending spree. I believe that the advertising campaign is not reaching our audience.

If the AIA wishes more architects to join and actively participate, then dues towards its marketing efforts ought to be re-examined and improved . . . with no additional cost to me since the current expenditures have been wasted.
—Carl C. Lubawy, AIA

I think that the advertising campaign should concentrate on advertising on HGTV, and sponsoring PBS shows dealing with building, etc. For the PBS shows, the architect for the project could be included, rather than just the builders (I have seen the architect mentioned). Having the AIA sponsor the show, with a blurb in the beginning and end, would show our support of those programs, and let homeowners know that architects do home additions and alterations.

As for advertising on HGTV, I find that almost all of our residential clients (65 percent of our practice) watch this show and are able to understand the complexity of a project. The AIA advertisement (maybe more on a residential theme) would be a great tie-in, along with the 1-800 number or Web-site address.
—Don Passman, AIA

As many of the respondents to the prior poll suggest, this particular poll—while easy to complete—probably doesn't begin to address the real views of the membership. For each question you offer, I easily could think of several appropriate responses that were not listed. In many cases, there were further thoughts that would be important for me to share in order for you to really understand how I feel about that particular issue.

Clearly, what I suggest above complicates the process whereby AIA gathers information and compiles results. But, just "getting answers" doesn't necessarily provide useful information. It's good that AIA is asking our opinion. However, I fear that you really aren't getting the information AIA needs to improve the value of membership. Sometimes "ease of use" does not necessarily translate into "valuable information."
—Robert P. Smith, AIA

I think that this is one place where the organization has really improved immensely. Probably one reason I'm stronger in my opinions about the AIA is because of that fact, which makes it a two-edged sword, I'm sure. If anything, the membership gets more communication that it can process, perhaps, but that's just a clear indication of its abundance and accessibility. Nice!
—Chris Williams, AIA

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