Profit Motive & The Business of Design — Unpacking KPIs

Think Time Tuesdays+ [The Project Manager Edition]: Profit Motive & The Business of Design — Unpacking KPIs

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

Scheduled to raise the financial fitness level of your firm, this presentation offers learning objectives and the foundations of a strong project management practice.

What makes a successful A+D practice? Find out by taking a break from your daily grind and getting into active thinking mode with business strategy consultant, architect and SO|arch founder, Elisabeth Sporer, AIA, CIC.

Elisabeth works with A+D firms — from emerging studios to established practices and legacy firms — to create business plans rooted in the “Four Basics” of Brand, Finance, Operations and Design. Holistic in approach, viable and succinct, these business plans address a variety of goals — from long-terms ones like overall growth, market sector expansion, succession planning or ownership transition, to short-term ones like strengthening leadership teams, improving financial performance, establishing effective operational processes, or defining the firm’s culture.

Who manages the projects and how? This session focuses on how the approach to utilization, project metrics and team performance influence an A+D practice’s wellbeing and its success moving forward, as well as the firm culture and its bottom line.

Join Think-Time Tuesdays host, and SO|arch founder Elisabeth Sporer, AIA CIC for the “Project Manager Edition” a follow-up session to a 2021 presentation on the metrics behind the business of design. Elisabeth will provide an overview of what metrics a project manager needs to measure and how to influence the bottom line. This spans key performance indicators [KPIs] from staff utilization and billing forecasting to work and resource planning tied to financial performance. In interactive mode Elisabeth will create awareness on how these KPIs relate to the essential duties of a PM and show case studies of tools and best practices.

Presenter:

Elisabeth Sporer, AIA, LEED AP, CIC; A+D Business Strategist and SO|arch Founder
Elisabeth Sporer works with CEOs, founders and leadership teams to build successful A+D firms through an integral approach that combines business strategy consulting with leadership coaching. Based in Northern California, she has presented at major AIA chapters in the region, including AIA Los Angles, AIA SF, AIA East Bay and AIA Central Valley, on topics like international practice [“Unlearning the Metric System” in 2019], mentorship [“High Performance Mentorship” in 2020], entrepreneurship [“The Free Solo Practice” in 2019] and business strategy [“Blueprint for Success” in 2020 and “Think-Time Tuesdays: Inside the A+D Studio” in 2021]. She holds a Master of Science in Advanced Architecture Design from Columbia University in The City of New York and a Master of Architecture and a Bachelor of Architecture, both from TU Berlin.

Learning Objectives:
+ Participants will discern how project management practices can improve a firm’s bottom line and firm culture
+ Participants will gain an understanding of key performance indicators for A+D project management
+ Participants will add to their knowledge of best practices for finance, metrics and performance
+ Participants will be able to adapt best practices in project management for their business