President's Message 

Dear Members of the Interior Designers of Alberta, 

December 2022 is upon us and although it is typically a very busy month for us all, we would like to encourage you to take the time to consider the past year. Reflecting helps you to develop your skills and review their effectiveness, rather than just carry-on doing things as you have always done them. It is about questioning, in a positive way, what you do and why you do it, and then deciding whether there is a better, or more efficient, way of doing it in the future. The IDA is also pondering the past 12 months. We are contemplating what we did well and want to continue to do, what we can do better and improve on, and what new initiatives we might want to contemplate. 

The success of our CEU Education Series this year has been fantastic. We brought a variety of learning topics to our membership and have seen a real interest in this benefit for our members. We are taking this win and building on it to provide even more offerings in 2023. Our Communications & Marketing Committee has been doing an excellent job in updating our communications both graphically and in content, and there are plans to refresh our website in 2023. We had very successful Urban Encounters trade shows in both Calgary and Edmonton, with good numbers of attendees coming out of isolation to re-connect in person. 

We have also been effective in balancing our budget, despite not having a Treasurer, and are currently tracking to be slightly ahead at the end of the year. In addition, our members won a high number of MASI awards, and we will continue to encourage and celebrate our members through this design competition. These are all great wins that we are proud of. 

There are a few things this year that provided us with learning opportunities. The IDCEC platform keeps track of our CEUs and 2021 was the end of our 3-year reporting cycle. This brought to light a few glitches in the system, and we have had to put in extra effort to correct these errors. We are identifying how to improve this system and looking to the other provinces to compare their systems. We have also had to accept the stepping down of our Registrar, Melinda Richardson. She has done an exceptional job in this position, and we will miss her dearly. This has shed some light on the amount of work involved in our current registration process and we, as a council, are planning to find efficiencies to streamline this process.   

This past year has also highlighted the need to prioritize. Many of us are facing burn-out due the current and constant uncertainty of how to proceed in our new world of work. Our dwindling number of volunteers has made it difficult to implement any new initiatives, but we are hopeful for 2023. Our efforts will be focused on creating efficient policies and procedures for all council tasks, and helping to clarify the responsibilities required from our volunteers. An influx of new members with new ideas will help to boost our ability to take on new ways to support our industry.

I have hope and sincerely believe that we are all working towards living a better life for all. The pandemic has initiated many conversations about our culture and behaviors, not only at work but in general. We are all learning and striving to improve. I truly believe everyone is doing the best they can and if we can keep talking, communicating, and growing as people, we will be taking steps in the right direction to living a joyous and peaceful life.