Monday, September 28, 2020
6:00 PM - 7:00 PM

Networking Cocktail Reception

We gather for a low-key “get-to-know-you” cocktail party tasting some of my favorite wines and meeting and networking with other forum attendees in a casual setting.
Tuesday, September 29, 2020
7:30 AM - 8:30 AM

Breakfast

8:30 AM - 12:00 PM

Morning Group Session

After breakfast together, we kick off by comparing your firm’s COVID-related experiences with what other peer executives are revealing on PSMJ’s A/E/C Senior Executive Briefing broadcasts, where I get first-hand reports from top-performing firm leaders. How is the COVID crisis driving numbers up or down, and where does your firm stand in relation to industry trends? What’s working? What’s a dead-end? This is “No B.S.” stuff firms are doing NOW to get through this and back to business!

We move quickly into an intense study of your firm’s vision for growth and map your future direction. You learn how to develop a powerful mission statement that WORKS IN THE NEXT NORMAL for delivering sustainable stress-tested impact and growth.

12:00 PM - 4:00 PM

Free Time

6:00 PM - 8:00 PM

New England Clambake

We ease off and have a New England Lobster Clambake and enjoy the best cuisine Martha’s Vineyard has to offer. You end this first day energized and surprised at having addressed so many issues. While you’re sleeping, some good “night thinking” on key points will produce independent thought and put real value into day two.

Wednesday, September 30, 2020
7:30 AM - 8:30 AM

Breakfast

8:30 AM - 4:00 PM

Group Session (includes breakfast and lunch)

Now we enjoy breakfast together again and then tackle the financial aspects of your growth planning. We see how we can get your numbers above and beyond industry norms. We discuss how to value firms for acquisition, how to structure acquisition offers, how to best finance acquisitions, and what payback period top firms seek to achieve. Then, we wrap up by focusing on the transition of leadership within your firm, taking stock of your current leadership strategy and discussing new approaches to governance, pros/cons of outside directors, and optimum ways to structure your charter and bylaws for growth.

After lunch, we talk about getting your staff involved in growth planning. We talk about implementation and follow-up. We find ways to translate the plan from thought to paper to action. We talk about logistics. Who should be involved in planning? Where and how should you hold planning sessions with your team? Do you need a facilitator or can you run a growth planning session yourself? How can you measure the results? How ambitious should you be when setting growth goals?

After two intensive days, you walk out energized, exhilarated and eager to go, with the framework of a written growth plan in your hands. It won’t be perfectly typed, bound and tabbed. But it will have substance and meaning for you and your firm. You’ll have the tools, the insight, the information, the data, the ideas and the assistance of the best the world has to offer…and the opportunity to discuss it all with other design firm executives, just like you!

Thursday, October 1, 2020
7:30 AM - 8:30 AM

Breakfast

8:30 AM - 12:00 PM

Morning Group Session

12:00 PM - 5:00 PM

Free Time and Optional One-on-One Discussions

I insist that you do not leave Martha’s Vineyard with a single unanswered question. So, I set aside additional time on Thursday morning for more confidential one-on-one discussions around any of your lingering questions, thoughts, or ideas.

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