Think. Time. Tuesdays.
Returns as a series of online workshops for A+D leaders. Topics covered in this year’s series include the following:
Business development strategy and systematic BD processes
Financial management and operational optimization
Ownership transition and succession planning
Leadership development for emerging principals
Strategic planning and firm positioning
Virtual; Session will be held via Zoom.
TTT1: Blueprint for Success. The A+D Business Planning & Business Rhythm Workshop.
The complete framework for strategic planning and daily business management—designed specifically for architecture and design firm owners..
What are the “profiles of success” for A+D business? How are purpose, profit and portfolio interconnected? Why is a good business strategy dependent on financial health?
This fast-paced, one-hour virtual workshop is built for A+D firm leaders who are done with aspirational planning that evaporates by February. You'll work through four focused frameworks: where to point your business development energy, whether you actually have the capacity to grow, how to stay visible without burning out, and which operational bottlenecks are quietly sabotaging everything else.
Watch recording Here
TTT2: Passing the Torch. A Workshop for A+D Firm Leaders Thinking About Ownership Transition
The torch doesn't pass itself. And waiting until you're ready to leave is already too late.
This candid, one-hour virtual workshop is for firm leaders who know succession is coming — and aren't sure where to start. You'll run a quick self-assessment across the three dimensions that determine whether your firm is actually transferable: founder dependency, financial health, and leadership depth. You'll take an honest look at what's standing between your firm and a successful transition — gaps in your candidate pipeline, skill readiness, and the "no visible path" problem that makes even your best people appear uninterested.
Watch recording Here
TTT3: Follow the Money. A Financial Fitness workshop for A+D Laders.
Who deals with the money, and how?
Most A+D firms don't have a clear answer to that question — and it shows up in late invoices, unread P&Ls, and principals doing work that shouldn't be on their plate.
This session explores how finance, metrics, and performance shape an A+D practice's wellbeing, culture, and bottom line. Because staying financially fit isn't a one-time audit — it's an ongoing practice, and one that makes your firm more resilient to the pressures every A+D practice faces, from fee erosion and scope creep to staffing shifts and slow clients.
June 23, 2026 | 12:00–1:00 PM PST | Zoom [Register here →]
TTT4: You're Not in Architecture. You're in the Relationship Business.
A Business Development Webinar for A+D and Construction Firm Leaders
Every firm principal knows the work doesn't find you. But knowing that and actually building the relationships that bring it in? That's where most firms stall.
In this candid, one-hour webinar we talk about what actually works, clues taken form business development leaders — how they turn connections into clients, leads into projects, and one-off work into a pipeline that holds. No theory. No generic networking advice. Just honest conversation about the short game and the long game, and what it takes to play both at once.
Whether you're a principal who dreads BD, an emerging leader building your first client relationships, or a firm that's ready to get more intentional about how it grows — this one's for you.
August 25, 2026 | 12:00–1:00 PM PST | Zoom [Register here →]
TTT5: What It Actually Takes to Lead an A+D Firm
A Leadership Webinar for Architecture & Design Practice Leaders
Leading an A+D firm isn't just about great design. It's about knowing who you are, building the right team around you, and creating the conditions for your firm to thrive — with or without you in the room.
This candid, one-hour webinar gets into the mindset, mechanics, and real-world practice of A+D firm leadership. No generic management advice. Just an honest, experience-based look at what separates firms that grow intentionally from ones that grow by accident.
We'll cover the full picture: self-knowledge and leadership style, how to build and lead the four teams every firm needs — Brand, Finance, Operations, and Design — and what good firm management actually looks like in practice. Culture stewardship, leadership transitions, firm profiles and structures, and the processes and tools that keep it all from falling apart. Anchored in real SO·arch case studies and candid conversations with clients who've lived it.
Whether you're stepping into a leadership role for the first time or rethinking how your firm runs, this is the conversation you didn't get in architecture school.
Sign Up Here
TTT6: Who Gets the Work — and Why
A Brand & Business Development Webinar for A+D Firm Leaders
You can do great work and still lose the commission to the firm that tells a better story. Brand isn't decoration. It's how clients find you, remember you, and choose you.
This candid, one-hour conversation unpacks what brand actually means for architecture, design, and construction firms — and why it's no longer a taboo topic or a nice-to-have. Business strategy consultant Elisabeth Sporer gets into the real relationship between brand strategy and business strategy: how they reinforce each other, where firms get it wrong, and what it looks like when they get it right.
Through case studies and real-world examples, she covers the building blocks of a distinctive firm brand, the dynamic and static elements of both brand and business strategy, and the role of storytelling in turning visibility into work. Whether brand feels elusive, overwhelming, or just perpetually deprioritized — this is where to start.
Because the firms that get the work aren't always the best ones. They're the ones you've heard of.
Sign Up Here
2025 + 2026 IN-PERSON EVENTS
@AIASF’s CENTER FOR A+D
The Relationship Business: Turning Connections Into Clients.
Many business leaders and owners (whether they offer a service or a product) understand that at the end of the day, they are in the relationship business, and their company's success is built on practical, strategic and personal connections.
What does being in the relationship business mean to AEC architecture and design firms, and construction companies, particularly when it comes to business development?
Hear from a cross-section of architecture, design and construction industry business development leaders on how they turn connections into clients and leads into projects. The panel will share what works for them and lessons they have learned when it comes to getting work in the short-term and building a pipeline for the long-term.
Listen to Audio Recording Here
Storytelling at the Intersection of Brand & Business Strategy.
What goes into building an architecture, design, engineering or construction firm with a distinctive brand, and why does it matter? What's the relationship between brand strategy and business strategy, and how does this determine success?
Through examples and experiences from the professional world, construction industry executive Daniella Jimenez (Guzman Construction Group), Elisabeth Sporer (SOarch) and brand strategist Lisa Boquiren unpack these questions.
The group will discuss the basics of brand strategy and business strategy; dynamic and static components of these strategies; and the role of impactful storytelling. The group will also discuss what it means to successfully operate at the intersection of brand strategy and business strategy.
Watch Recording Here
It’s Your Move: A Conversation on Creating Your Future.
What does it take to shape your path in architecture—rather than just follow one?
Every practitioner inherits a trajectory. But the most compelling careers are built, not handed down. The difference is agency: the ability to recognize moments of change, seize new directions, and make choices that are unmistakably your own. To be both opportunistic and strategic—and to learn from every pivot along the way.
How do you navigate between what’s expected and what you actually want? Spot an opening before it’s obvious? Redefine leadership inside a traditional firm? Decide when it’s time to step off the path entirely and start something new?
Watch Recording Here
BUSINESS STRATEGTY + FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT
online events @ AIAEB / AIACV
Profit Motive & The Business of Design – The A+D Leader’s Edition.
Who deals with the money, and how? This session focuses on how finance, metrics and performance influence an A+D practice’s wellbeing and its success moving forward, as well as an A+D firm culture and its bottom line.
Staying fit is an ongoing goal, and a long-haul effort that focuses on all aspects—physical, mental, emotional, and even, creative – to the extent that mental fitness is integrated in my work with clients particularly around the area of financial fitness which is critical to their success.
Watch recording Here
Year-End Review: Beyond the Basics
Most A+D firms run year-end financial reviews — and most focus on the wrong things. In this one-hour interactive workshop, Elisabeth Sporer guided firm leaders through a practical framework for turning year-end data into real strategic intelligence, not just an accounting exercise.
The session covered the metrics that actually matter, how to run an honest assessment without blame, year-end financial strategies around taxes, bonuses, and reserves, and a live goal-setting exercise to translate numbers into achievable 2026 targets.
Participants left with a toolkit of ready-to-use materials: a Year-End Financial Review Checklist, a Key Financial Metrics Dashboard Template, an Honest Assessment Framework, and a 2026 Goal-Setting Worksheet.
Case Studies at the Intersection of Purpose, Profit & Portfolio
What are the “profiles of success” for A+D business? How are purpose, profit and portfolio interconnected? Why is a good business strategy dependent on financial health?
Watch an AIAU presentation [recorded at AIASF] rooted in case studies, best practices grounded in financial health and the lessons of entrepreneurship. Drawing from my extensive experience helping A+D clients successfully navigate the various phases of their business’s life cycles - from growth and expansion to restructuring, succession planning and ownership transition
Watch recording Here
LEADERSHIP
online + in-person events @ AIASF / AIAEB / AIALA
Principals’ MasterCLass.
What does it mean to lead an A+D practice today? And what does it take to be a firm leader? Who is part of the team leading the firm? What are the leadership team roles? What processes and tools do we need? Get into the mindset of success with me.
In this informative presentation, I discuss the skills an A+D practice leader needs to master—from knowing who they are with its limits and opportunities; to building and leading BRAND / FINANCE / OPERATIONS / DESIGN teams; to stewarding firm culture; and to staying on top of best practices.
I elaborate why personality tests matter, how to assemble BRAND / FINANCE / OPERATIONS / DESIGN teams [with individual’s roles and best practices on processes/tools] and how to create strategies around leadership transitions.
Watch recording Here
The Creative Leadership Workshop.
What does it take to be an A+D firm leader? Create your own path to success with business strategy consultant and leadership coach, Elisabeth Sporer, AIA CIC, whose approach rooted in mindfulness is influenced by psychology and neuroscience.
During this 90-minute, leadership-coaching-meets-personality-test interactive session, the various A+D leadership personalities are introduced and why personality tests matter; how values and communication styles influence firm culture and the skills an A+D practice leader needs to master—from knowing who they are with its limits and opportunities; to building and leading teams; to stewarding firm culture; and to staying on top of best practices.
Participants will explore how to better understand and manage their physical, emotional and mental reactions; and gain competence in shifting from a reactive mode to a creative way of meeting challenging situations; and gain competence in connecting with their core values; and learn practical tools to be present and to recognize the best path forward in the midst of challenging situations.
Watch recording Here
The Art of Collaboration & Getting Things Done – Unpacking Culture.
Who oversees the teams and how? What does collaboration really mean? This session focuses on how topics like thoughtful work and task planning, accurate job descriptions, leadership styles and team building influence an A+D practice’s wellbeing and its success moving forward, as well as the firm culture and its bottom line.
Join me for the “Project Architect Edition” a session on design culture that energizes the business of design. Elisabeth provides an overview of what a project architect needs to focus on to influence the office culture. This spans from job descriptions to the way staff is hired, trained and mentored to the way job responsibilities and deadlines are communicated and how projects are executed in a hybrid work environment. In interactive mode Elisabeth creates awareness on how these factors relate to the essential duties of a PA and show case studies of tools and best practices.
Watch recording Here
SUCCESSION PLANNING
online and in-person events @ AIASF / AIAEB / AIALA
Skin in the Game. Paths to Ownership.
As the architecture practice continues to evolve, so does the business of architecture, and more than ever, equity plays an important role, from the standpoints of social justice and business.
This panel discussion will focus on the business side of equity: how creating value in an A+D (architecture + design) practice not only helps to attract and retain staff, but also, more importantly, provides paths to ownership. By creating equity and viable pathways for others to share the responsibilities and the rewards of owning and running a firm, founders can grow their business; plan for succession (and eventually, retirement), and/or leave behind a legacy.
Hear from the panelists on why they joined forces with founders of established, boutique A+D firms, rather than start their own A+D firm. How did they arrive at their decisions, and what has that professional journey been like for each of them?
Watch recording Here
Metamorphosis: Legacy, Transformation & The Business of Design
What is the life cycle of an architecture and design practice? Why, and how do architecture and design firms evolve? How do firm leaders and owners navigate transformation, and keep the firm spirit alive during periods of transition?
In this candid and enlightening conversation, we discuss milestones, pinch points and opportunities from a variety of perspectives—respectively, as a firm leader-turned business strategy consultant and leadership coach; an owner who led the merger of his small firm with a large cross-border A+E firm; a new principal at a cross-market midsized sector practice; and the founder of a nearly 30-year-old residential design studio.
We discuss ownership structures, and strategies around succession planning and leadership transitions.
Watch recording Here
Ownership Transition in the Entrepreneurial Era of Gen X.
From going solo midcareer, to moving up the ranks to strategically merging with another firm - how are entrepreneurial firm owners leading their architecture practice? Are they delivering traditional design services, or are they exploring other venues in professional services to meet and exceed their client’s needs?
In this panel conversation moderated by Elisabeth, 3 small firm owners offered insights about their trajectories from designers to owners, about how their firms respond to changing skills, talents, interests, and perceptions, the culture [and values] of their organizations and their position on diversity and inclusion.
THINK-TIME TUESDAYS - Inside the A+D Studio
Events on BRAND / FINANCES / OPERATIONS / PRACTICE + DESIGN online @AIALA
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, leadership coach, architect and SO|arch founder, Elisabeth Sporer, AIA, CIC.
SEE SERIES DETAIL BELOW
Story-selling & The Freestyle Practice.
Who gets the work, and how? The first session [of four] focuses under the umbrella term BRAND focuses on how brand is tied to BD (business development), marketing and PR (public relations).
Once elusive-sounding concepts, perhaps even taboo topics, in A+D, "brand" and "marketing" have not only become part of the industry's lexicon, but can also be key influencers, along with BD (business development), of a successful practice. Think-Time Tuesday host, and business strategy consultant, Elisabeth Sporer, AIA CIC, engages in a dialogue with her guest, brand strategist and creative consultant Lisa Boquiren who unboxes each element through case studies and an interactive segment.
Watch recording Here
Leadership & Where the Buck Stops.
Who builds, manages, and supports the team and how? The second session under the umbrella term of OPERATIONS is centered on business strategy, culture and firm management - a presentation on the business of running an A+D firm.
Elisabeth provides an overview of firm profiles and firm structures, as well as leadership styles and firm cultures, then presents select SO|arch case studies in conversation with clients:
• Building teams with Rob Zirkle [brick]
• Improving overall performance for small and midsized firms with Cathy Merrill (Merrill Morris Partners)
• Leveraging niche services with Dong Kim (DIALOG)
Watch recording Here
Profit Motive & The Business of Design.
Who deals with the money, and how?
This session focuses on how finance, metrics and performance influence an A+D practice’s wellbeing and its success moving forward, as well as an A+D firm culture and its bottom line.
Staying fit is an ongoing goal, and a long-haul effort that focuses on all aspects—physical, mental, emotional, and even, creative – to the extent that mental fitness is integrated in Elisabeth’s work with clients particularly around the area of financial fitness which is critical to their success.
Why? Staying in shape financially is sustainable in the long-term and makes an A+D practice more resilient to internal and external pressures.
Watch recording Here
The Art of Collaboration & Getting Things Done.
Who does the work and how? What does collaboration really mean? This session focuses on how A+D founders and leaders create their own culture with impactful design, and how this is nurtured by design teams, leadership styles, new ways of working, and even, ownership transitions.
This presentation is about the design culture that energizes the business of design. The session provides an overview of the influencing factors of an office culture from the founder’s values and its impact on client and project selection to the way staff is hired, trained and mentored.
In conversation with Los Angeles-based A+D firm leaders Karin Liljegren [Omgvining], Georgina Huljich [P-A-T-T-T-E-R-N-S], Stephanie Ragle [office42], and Monika Haefelfinger [XTEN], who share stories that other founders and leaders of small studios and midsized firms in particular will find useful
Watch recording Here
Profit Motive & The Business of Design — Unpacking KPIs. [The Project Manager Edition].
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.
The “Project Manager Edition” is a follow-up session to the TTT3 event on the metrics behind the business of design. The session provides 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 the session creates awareness on how these KPIs relate to the essential duties of a PM and show case studies of tools and best practices.
Watch recording Here
The Art of Collaboration & Getting Things Done – Unpacking Culture. [The Project Architect Edition]
Who oversees the teams and how? What does collaboration really mean? This session focuses on how topics like thoughtful work and task planning, accurate job descriptions, leadership styles and team building influence an A+D practice’s wellbeing and its success moving forward, as well as the firm culture and its bottom line.
The “Project Architect Edition” is a follow-up session to a 2021 presentation on design culture that energizes the business of design. The event provides an overview of what a project architect needs to focus on to influence the office culture. This spans from job descriptions to the way staff is hired, trained and mentored to the way job responsibilities and deadlines are communicated and how projects are executed in a hybrid work environment. In interactive mode this session creates awareness on how these factors relate to the essential duties of a PA and show case studies of tools and best practices.
Watch recording Here
ENTREPRENEURSHIP + INTERNATIONAL PRACTICE + MENTORING
IN-PERSON EVENTS @ AIASF + AIAEB
The Free Solo Practice. Entrepreneurship & Roadmaps to Future Practice.
Small businesses form the backbone of communities, an integral part of a vibrant business ecosystem. How do locally-based firms help shape the regional economy, culture and society? What does it take to be an entrepreneur? How do local entrepreneurs benefit their communities and activate the urban fabric?
The panelists – who have in common big firm experience – shared their motivations for working outside a corporate structure, from the need for creative expression and experimentation to a desire for life-work balance and meaningful social impact as well as the realities, risks, rewards and responsibilities of having a locally-owned business.
Unlearning the Metric System. International Perspectives on Re-thinking the Practice
A candid, cross-generational conversation on shared experiences, challenges overcome and lessons learned appealed to anyone with an entrepreneurial approach, a success mindset and a pioneering spirit.
The panel shared best practices for each career stage including, licensure, advanced education, networking, communication skills, community involvement, advocacy, mentorship, leadership coaching and others.
High Performing Mentorship Groups.
One of the extracurricular activities I’m proud to be part of was the AIA SF’s mentorship program where I was the “senior level professional” of a group of 6 international professionals. My client work puts me in the thick of the business of design, so I saw my role for the yearlong program as helping designers, architects and leaders successfully bridge theory into practice. The profession has evolved – some might even say, stalled and stuck in the past – and I think “diversity” is no longer about a checklist on RFQ’s but a mandate for culture shift.
Who better than to help hit the re-set button and imagine a new paradigm than young professionals? Together we ventured on an open-minded, curious and inventive journey and visited topics and point-of-views relevant for all design professionals seen through the lens of an international background.