Become a business partner with your clients and keep in especially close touch with your bankers. If you can make your client’s business healthier, that will make your practice healthier. These were all messages that came out of an all-day pre-convention session in San Francisco April 29.

“Business Planning in a Weak Economy: Blueprints for Brighter Tomorrows—The Upside of the Downturn” included presentations from AIA Chief Economist Kermit Baker, PhD, Hon. AIA; Business Consultants Karen Compton, CPSM, and Val Dantzler; AIA Federal Affairs Senior Director Andrew L. Goldberg, Assoc. AIA; GSA Procurement Officer Charles Hardy; and Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Managing Partner Robert G. Packard, III, Assoc. AIA. The end of the session was an intense workshop, which Compton led, at the end of which AIArchitect asked:

What was the most compelling lesson you took away today—what was your “aha” moment?

Kathryn Berry, AIA, New York City
The most important lesson for me from today’s session is that I should focus on speaking about the projects I’ve done in a way my perspective client will find positive, keeping in mind the phrase: “This project was published because of this or that specific client benefit. I need to concentrate on presenting real accomplishments in a clear, positive way from my client’s perspective and approach getting business in a lot of different ways—many, many different angles.

Paul Davis, AIA, The Paul Davis Partnership, Monterey, Calif.
It was an encouragement just to have a view from the overall profession on what is going on, which we got from the AIA chief economist’s presentation. It’s also valuable to be jogged in terms of tools that I need to work on, such as developing a marketing plan, a business plan, and not just fall back on people coming in the door automatically, like it has been for the last 40 years. I need to work at it, but it’s good to have somebody help me find the tools I have to work with.

Felino A. Palafox Jr., International Assoc. AIA, Palafox Associates, Makati, Philippines
I work in the Philippines, and we’ve done work in 33 countries. We are a globally connected but locally operated firm, and we have worked with a lot of architecture firms in the rest of the world. For us today, there was a lot of good information on what we’re already doing and also a lot of new things, such as business planning is more than measuring the quantifiables of architecture. There are also the unquantifiables—such as the perception of value. And to help us in our practice in many countries, I learned about a lot of new tools. Connect globally, even if you just operate locally. I’m an international associate, and the AIA has been very helpful to me. I went to Harvard GSD, and this experience is an update of many years away from school. I’m glad to be here.

Eduardo Cervantes, AIA, YWS Architects, Las Vegas
A valuable lesson from today is the concept of developing an association with our clients as business partners rather than merely as service providers. I agree with the concept that expanding our services to accommodate their needs and improving their business health, which ultimately improves our health, is the right way to go. It’s not just self-preservation. It’s the right thing to do.