A Fantastic, Bouncy Event

Pittsburgh-- Tony Shoemaker
I know it is now nearly two weeks ago that we had our Mideast District Conference right here in Pittsburgh, but I felt it was important to do a report on our event.

First off I want to thank our entire chapter for being such gracious hosts- we really had a great event especially considering the current economic state. I know that many of our members are tightening their belts, but regardless attended the event and helped make it such a great success. Our Open House night was really a fantastic way that we showed off the vibrancy of the Pittsburgh design community. Many thanks to everyone at Bally Design, Bright Innovation, Daedalus Excel, Carnegie Mellon University, the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, and Thorely for opening their doors and creating such an exciting kickoff to the conference. So many designers from outside our fair city had wonderful things to say about all of the hosts and their locations, not the least of which was their surprise as to the strength of design in Pittsburgh. And a special THANK YOU! to Dexter Stoltz for getting the conference totes for our event. He even paid for them himself! Please make sure you thank this very selfless man for his support of our event. We owe him a lot of rounds of drinks!

If you didn’t get a chance to attend the presentations, let me tell you that you missed a real treat. Our planning committee worked hard to insure the content was on point with the theme of our conference; bouncing back from an economic hit. We were all quite pleased that all of our presentations really stayed true to this message. When designers are asked to deliver, they do. There were great messages for both the seasoned professional and the graduating designer. Generally speaking the overall message orbited around the idea of hard work. If you are willing to do the hard work, you create great relationships with those that you work for, and they will go out of their way to make sure you are rewarded, regardless of economic conditions. Another solidly emphasized message was the idea of getting back to basics. No matter if you are designing interfaces or instruments, the basic skill set of critically thinking, and using visual skills to communicate the thinking process and test new ideas, is ALWAYS the basis of our profession. New tools may come and go but the real core of design stays the same, research, concepting, prototyping and implementation. Finally, that idea of “being good at everything” seemed to echo through the venue. We are in that unique position to know how to do many things, or find someone to help us do the things where we are not strong, and offer this as a service. Which brings us back to point one- be valuable.

The students, their work, and their attendance was a very big part of our event. As always a portfolio review was held on Sunday morning to end the event. Despite some challenges with some of our local volunteers not being able to get past the Pittsburgh Marathon blockades (oops!) we had a great turn out of reviewers and students looking for input.

The merit award winners were again a fantastic selection of all of our districts schools, showcasing the best of the best. We are fortunate to have one of the most solid districts in terms of design education, and that was proven once again with not only the merit winners but all of their peers as well. I personally believe that the most talented designers are educated right here in our district, and are the best equipped for the real world upon their graduation. (Full disclosure: I am slightly biased, having attended University of Cincinnati- go Bearcats!)

Lastly I want to mention the really fantastic presentation by Tim Cunningham and Alex Bally. These two gentlemen have been central to the design community in Pittsburgh here for years, and were able to tell us about their professional and personal journey. The entire audience seemed to thoroughly enjoy their conversation, and loved seeing “how it used to be” in contrast to today’s design world. Actually, while the tools may have changed, not much else has! For me it was an honor and a privilege to moderate their “panel discussion” that felt more like a visit to an old friends living room.

While the conference was wonderful, all good things must end, and we can look forward to doing it all over again at next year’s District Conference. Thank you again to all those who attended, helped, suggested, commented, advised, listened, worked, and supported this event. It was a wonderful experience for me, and I hope we did a good job of making it a wonderful experience for you as well.

One last thing- I know that there is no way to really capture every moment from this conference, and many of you may be able to share stories of that which others may have missed. So please comment on this article and share your experience. If you have photos, send them to us and we will get them on our Flickr page too.

Okay a second and very important last thing- I want to thank the rest of our chapter officers for their support in keeping the chapter on track while I was distracted for the last four months planning this event. Please join me in thanking Josh Greenberg, Vice Chair, Julia Frederking, Secretary (extrordinaire), and Matt Sass, Treasurer. Cheers All!


See more pictures on our Flickr Page!