Location

Columbus, OH

Cost

$25

Program Overview

Early Professionals are invited to a workshop with AIA Ohio Fellows to simulate the fun, and challenge, of being a firm owner. Firm leaders—if you’re thinking about who might be partner material, or your successor as owner—send your EP staff to this event for a valuable experience.

Working with EPs from all over the state, your team will collaborate to create your firm—its name, mission, practice area, structure, ownership, workplace (remote? In a cabin in Hocking Hills? Or the heart of Over-the-Rhine?), all of the foundational information you need to start a firm.

Then, much like The Game of Life®, you and your team will face challenges from the dramatic—the untimely death of an owner or a severe weather event that destroys your office—to the expected problem of filling a vacant role. On Monday, your team (and fictional business partners) will share how your firm fared and get feedback from the Fellows.

Somewhere in there, you’ll hear from Evelyn Lee, FAIA, the Head of Workplace Strategy and Innovation at Slack Technologies and your 2025 AIA National President. You’ll also get dinner at Pins Mechanical.

If you have questions, or need assistance with accommodations, please contact Alex Oetzel, AIA.