Messaging Essentials

Graphic design by Michael Armado 

Telling Tales & Selling Stories: Messaging Essentials

This is a virtual event. Zoom log-in information will be emailed to registrants 24 hours in advance from events@aialosangeles.org. If you do not receive a confirmation 24 hours prior to the event, please email events@aialosangeles.org.

CES Learning Units: 1 LU

If a picture is worth a thousand words, and a word can paint a picture, how can you make your presentation decks priceless?

Join former CNBC and Emmy award-winning news anchor Sydnie Kohara and brand strategist Lisa Boquiren for a presentation on how to make your message land well with your intended audience. Sydnie and Lisa will demonstrate how you can draw in your audience by painting a picture with words, and visuals, in conversation with their guests: Matt Bowles, AIA, co-founder of amlgm; Henry Gao, architectural illustrator and founder of 16×9; and photographer Paul Vu, director and founder of HANA.

Learn to hone the “phases of architecture” and photography techniques to tell a compelling story for your next presentation or client interview. By using what’s already in their design and business development tool kits, architects and designers–and the marketers who work with them–can polish their storytelling techniques for an online audience.

Presenters:

Sydnie Kohara – Media Strategist, Kohara Studio
Sydnie Kohara is the founder of Kohara Studio and an Emmy award-winning broadcast journalist helping entrepreneurs, corporate leaders and legends tell their stories, and build their presence in the digital world. No stranger to AIA community, she has hosted AIASF’s annual Design Awards, and moderated “The Divergent Practice,” and “The Resilient Practice,” important conversation starters on women and the architecture practice. Most recently, also for AIA SF, she moderated “Flight Path: Designing New Airport Experiences,” a conversation about the future of airports in the age of a global pandemic.

Lisa Boquiren – Brand Strategist and Marketing Consultant
Lisa Boquiren provides insight, ideas and strategy for creative businesses. She oversaw major rebranding initiatives at architecture and design firm EHDD, and at San Francisco Design Center. She is co-creator with business strategist Elisabeth Sporer, AIA of Think-Time Tuesdays, presented online at AIA Los Angeles. As a regular events contributor at AIA San Francisco, Lisa produces and moderates panel discussions, including “The Equitable Practice” (March, 2021), and “The Life Compatible Practice” (May, 2021), the latest in her on-going “Practice series” (2012-present).

Matthew Bowles, AIA – Founding Principal, AMLGM
Matthew Bowles, AIA is a founding principal of AMLGM, a graduate of the College of Environmental Design at U.C. Berkeley, and a licensed Architect. Matthew’s work has been widely recognized, and published in media outlets such as CityLab, Metropolis Magazine, and the New York Post. Matthew’s passion for design started at an early age in an industrial design studio where he learned craftsmanship and to grapple with complex problems via sketch and model. This early introduction to design has propelled Matthew into a career spanning over 10 years, including formative work in the cultural, commercial, and residential vanguard. His entrepreneurial personality and inventive mindset drive forward a practice that balances proposals for the future of the built environment with exciting, yet functional built work. He is an avid pianist, guitarist, and surfer.

Henry Gao – Founder, 16×9
Henry Gao is a San Francisco-based architectural designer, illustrator, artist, and photographer. With his design studio 16X9, Henry combines his lifelong immersion in the fine arts with a commitment to excellence in design and drawing, working with architects, interior designers, and development groups on projects ranging from single family residences to large industrial projects. 16×9 brings spatial narratives to life through provocative graphic representation and design drawing.

Paul Vu – Director and Founder, Here And Now Agency
Paul Vu is an award-winning, internationally published photographer and designer. Having trained and worked as an architect, he is highly sought after for intersecting pragmatic design thinking with a rich and nuanced narrative sensibility. In 2020 he launched Here And Now Agency to help designers share impactful work through photographs, short films and renderings.

Learning Objectives:
+ Participants will gain insight into how to create stories that resonate, edit to engage, and can seal the deal.
+ Participants will gain insight into effective use of visual presentation tools through before-and-after examples.
+ Participants will learn how to use presentation programs as a messaging tool instead of a presentation crutch.
+ Participants will take-away best practices that are quick and easy to implement for their next online presentation.