6.10 Membership Committee

Good afternoon Board. I have a few specific items to report on in this report, as well as a topic or two that should be considered for new business.

Report: I tasked myself with reaching out to some members that have participated in either one of my Members Helping Members webinars, or one of my Member Roundtable discussions. Participation in my ad-hoc survey was voluntary, and promised to remain anonymous for Board discussions. I will summarize for the board my findings.

First, the AIBD Professional designation. Many, if not all of those I spoke with are unhappy with the lack of recognition that being a professional member brings. Using me as an example that fits this situation. When I became a member, being accepted into the AIBD as a Professional meant that there was work to do on my part to prove my worth. I submitted letters of recommendation and examples of my work to be reviewed to prove that I was, in fact, a professional. Currently, one only needs to send a payment for that moniker. In this current system of membership, a junior draftsman that does no real design work, just draws what he/she is asked, can be called a Professional Building Designer. No real work experience in design, no secondary education or training, just a fee. This is rubbing our membership wrong. I know we have the CPBD designation to help separate some of the draftsmen from the designers, but in the open book format without needing to problem solve with a pencil and paper (or mouse and keyboard for the newer generation), this designation is simply not what it used to be, and not what some feel, is living up to the potential of what it was meant to be.

I knew that would not go over well with Board members that have put so much into the CPBD, and I am in no way downplaying the role of the CPBD, but opinions from members are what they are. Reporting them isn't easy, and certainly not fun. The opinions of those with CPBD that I spoke with felt, in many ways, there is "unfinished business". In that, some felt the promise of CPBD being worked into the IRC would be coming at some point. I did reach out to Bernie to discuss this aspect further, as I don't ever remember there be a "promise", and that was confirmed during my conversation. Many simply asked that there be a more public from the NCBDC to it's members discussing

*Where are we?

*Where are we going?

*What is a CPBD going to help me achieve moving forward?

New Business: Overwhelmingly, the members that I spoke with wondered aloud, "Is it time to change?" We are Professional Residential Designers, yet the designation needs to be explained to our clients. My ask of the Board is to discuss the name change to better reflect what our members are. Professional Residential Designers. I am not sure what that means, or where the conversation goes, but it needs to be discussed in detail and a report filed, by me, to our membership talking about the pros and cons of such a change.

New Business: Membership Level & Professional Review: Our Professional members, our TRUE Professional Members, need to be confident that we stand apart from members that haven't proven themselves just yet. To that end, I would like a discussion to happen that focuses on bringing back the review and letters of recognition to become a professional member, and there be a membership level added for those that are new to the industry and are working towards becoming Professional Members. That level would/should be titled, "Member". Our levels of membership would be;

Corporate

Associate

MEMBER

Professional Member

Fee structure can be added to this discussion at the appropriate time.

Todays report is long, but the discussions, I feel, are long overdue to be had.

Joey R. Martin,

Membership Committee Chair