A Designer's Guide to a BOND Event
Your community comes together just 3 days out of 365. That’s not a lot, is it?
If you’re a first-time attendee at a BOND Event, it’s normal to feel unsure about stepping away from the day-to-day. But this isn’t just time out of the office—it’s time well spent. A BOND Event is your once-a-year opportunity to connect with peers who truly get it: those facing the same challenges, chasing the same breakthroughs, and striving to elevate every project they touch.
For many Principals, it’s also the only time they meet with suppliers face-to-face all year. Here’s why it matters—and how to make the most of it...
There’s the seminars – AIA-accredited so you can get a quarter of your annual CEUs in one hit and get that much needed life-affirming feeling that only genuine inspiration and learning new things can bring. You’re also extremely likely to have some fun along the way.
But you need to be invested. You need to prepare so your time with us is the best it can be. So, please make some time for the tasks outlined below and you will be rewarded with the best event experience possible and leave inspired, better connected and better equipped to meet and manage your project challenges.
Did you know that there are two equally important parts to a BOND Event?
- Preparation
- The event itself
And, if you give each of them some love, great things can happen. Read on.
1. Preparation
Tell us who you’d love to see
This is your event, your time away from Zoom and the knocks on the door to sit down with the people who make the things that could be a great fit for future projects. So, if you have any manufacturers in mind who you’d like to meet at the event, please let us know who they are and we will do our best to get them there for you.
What are you working on and what do you need?
The more information you can provide us with about your current projects and the type of products that you’re interested in seeing, the more likely you are to find them. Because this information is our guide to seeking out those manufacturers who are most likely to have that thing you’re looking for.
Get your profile right
Your profile you build within the Delegate Portal is what the Suppliers will see when they are deciding who they most want to meet so the more specific you can be about your remit, what you’re interested in and what you're working on, the more likely you are to get the meetings you need.
The suppliers that have impressed me the most are
the ones that have reviewed our portfolio/website
and try to directly relate their product/service to the
work my firm produces.Keith Kobin, Principal,
Hord Coplan Macht, Inc.
Make every meeting count
4 weeks before the event you’ll be asked to select the supplier companies you most want to meet. This is an excellent opportunity to wander out of your comfort zone to potentially discover new solutions and technologies for your team and your clients so make the most of it!
You will have a week to make your selection so please put some time aside to read up on all the attending suppliers and select those you’re genuinely curious to find out more about. We encourage you to choose companies whom you may not have met before as this makes for a more interesting experience all round.
I really like when the supplier has read up on our firm and knows what type of projects we do and in which locales. If they have done this, it becomes much easier for me to see how their products can translate into our projects and gives me something tangiblethat I can communicate to my teams in the office
Stephan Dallendorfer, Principal,
FXFOWLE Architects
Take the Tour!
Before the event even starts, you'll get the chance to hang out with some of the other architects and designers who are here for the same reasons as you, on the Pre-Event Tour... Look around, see where you are, settle into your surroundings and meet some of the suppliers who you'll be getting to know over the next couple of days... gets your event experience off to the best start possible.
2. At The Event
Your meetings
Much of the two full ‘business days’ of the event will be taken up by your meetings, before and after lunch. This is where we turn the whole trade show thing on its head and give you, the architects and designers your own table for the suppliers to meet you at, according to your schedule. Two things we ask:
Don’t disappear!
The Suppliers will be expecting to meet you at your table at the appointed time and they’ll be looking forward to spending 30 uninterrupted minutes with you so please be there when you’re supposed to be. Thank you!
Be generous.
You’ll be meeting solutions experts who are, in the main, architectural sales specialists who want to help you to help your clients so they’ll need to know how best to do that and not just launch straight into a 30-minute pitch… So, hopefully, they’ll have some pretty open questions for you that will lead to some interesting conversations for both of you. And, we are delighted in how generous, helpful and open our attending architects tend to be so thank you in advance for keeping that up – it’s genuinely appreciated.
The Networking - don't be shy!
With the rare luxuries of time and space to catch up with your peers at other firms and to get to know some of the suppliers on a more personal level, the networking holds much potential hidden treasure. So, we encourage you to simply be yourself and don’t be afraid of sitting or standing next to a stranger, simply saying hello and see what opens up.
Remember, the most pro-active, well-connected and helpful project community in your sector is only together for three days of the year and then they’re gone – so, please make the most of it and enjoy it.
AIA-Accredited Seminars
Another trusted source of inspiration at the event is the seminars: Four AIA-accredited sessions, uniquely curated for busy Principals and practice leaders like you, each presented by leaders and innovators in their respective fields to give you food-for-thought and a quarter of your annual CEUs in one hit. You just need to find a seat and enjoy.
The Value
It’s easy to get stuck in the office, convinced you’re ‘too busy’ to leave. And, until you attend your first BOND event, we will continue to struggle to convince you otherwise. But, over the past 20 years, we have learned a thing or two about making our events uniquely worthwhile: it’s a combination of who you’ll meet here, the quality of time you’ll share and the things you’ll discover and learn. And, if you prepare well and arrive with an open mind, a generous spirit and a pro-active attitude, you’re all set to have three of the most useful, life-affirming and downright fun three days of the year.
Thanks for listening.
“Through BOND's events, I've gained access to what I consider "best in class" manufacturers that I would not have had an opportunity to develop a working relationship with otherwise.”
Director of Specifications, RDG Planning & Design
I think I am typical of a lot of the architects and specifiers in being relatively introverted. So, suppliers may want to be a bit more socially outgoing during meals and social events to compensate. Not to necessarily push their products but to help everyone feel more comfortable and connected.
Greg Soyka, Principal,
LS3P Associates