The Buffalo Chapter of the AIA had a booth at the Buffalo Home & Garden Show for 5 out of the last 6 years. We were able to convince the organizers that our presence warranted a free booth, where we displayed large images of residential projects designed by local architects, and handed out literature on how to work with an architect. Some years we also brought in a nationally recognized residential architect to speak, for instance, Sarah Susanka, though these talks were attended primarily by architects and not the general public as we intended. We actually got a fair amount of interest from the public at our booth. About 5 local AIA architects did most of the work as far as staffing and organizing the booth. I personally received a few jobs over the years from it. As my practice and family has grown, it's just to big of a commitment of time for me now. My biggest surprise is how few architects elected to pitch in and take advantage of what was essentially free advertising and exposure.
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David Fleming AIA
Registered Architect
DRF Design
Buffalo NY
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