I know that IIDA NY knows how to throw a party (see officeinsight, IIDA NY Color Invasion), and we all know the NYC chapter knows how to do educational events such as engaging with the future generation of designers in a fun and instructive way (see officeinsight, IIDA NY Design This! Challenge). But until I was invited to attend the DEX NYC roundtable event at the Viacom headquarters on Times Square, I had no idea how masterfully the New York City chapter of IIDA could pull off an evening both entertaining and inspiring.

When asked to design a fundraising event for the chapter, co-chairs of the DEX NYC committee, Annie Lee of Environetics and Carol Symchik of Primason Symchik, conceived an evening of networking and inspiration through a speed-dating-like process of rapid fire conversational exchanges with creative people from all sorts of creative professions.
Here’s how it worked. While most of the attendees were from our industry, the co-chairs recruited an impressive group of guest speakers from a wide variety of creative professions. From graffiti artists to photographers to classically trained ballet dancers engaged in inventing a dance company that mixes ballet with ballroom, the cohesive element was that each profession is predominantly a creative activity.

Viacom has a large corporate dining room with a deck overlooking what may be the world’s most famous garishly lit tourist attraction, Times Square. After attending last year’s DEX NYC edition, an executive of Viacom generously offered the use of its space for this year’s event.
The deck proved to be a highlight for networking both before the official start of the event and at its reluctantly reached close. With room for 15 tables of around 9 or 10 people each, the next step in the process for the organizing committee was finding 15 table sponsors. According to Ms. Lee, that was no problem as the event “sold out” almost immediately.
To make sure the evening was a series of conversations and not just a series of presentations, the sponsors were encouraged to invite clients and friends they thought would be willing and able to join in and even enlarge and dialog.

As sponsors and guests arrived, acquaintances were happily renewed as friends and colleagues enjoyed drinks and a daylight view of Times Square from the deck. In a special VIP and speakers’ ready room, Ms. Symchik used the time to explain the rules of engagement to the speakers and answer questions about the evening. The rotations were 20 minutes start-to-stop. At the 20 minute mark a gong, signaled that it was time to rotate. Some speakers were in teams and some were solo, but in any event they had a list of the tables comprising their particular rotation, and at the sound of the gong they moved to their next table.
After Mmes. Lee and Symchik had called for order, formally welcomed everybody and explained the ground rules, the speakers joined the tables and off we went. I was the guest of the New York Design Center, and our host, Dennis Cahill, had done a masterful job of mixing guests from varied backgrounds so that each guest joined the conversation with a different perspective. We had a lawyer, an adman, an engineer, an architect and a renowned hospitality designer, to name a few. I found the inputs and questions of the other guests at the table very valuable in rounding out my experience.

But of course the main contributors were the speakers. Who knew how you get commissions and can make a living if you’re a “graffiti artist” or what it takes to create a dance company doing a form of dance that combines elements of ballet with well-known ballroom steps. Each guest speaker brought illustrative props. The dancers had videos of some of their dances and the graffiti artists, who really prefer the title “public muralists,” brought an iPad full of samples of their work. After the speakers presented, the conversations flowed, and we were never happy when the gong sounded the end of a round.From everything I heard, every table was just as energized and excited as I was at learning about creative endeavors they may not have thought about before. The concept is a real keeper and I highly recommend it for others in our audience needing a great idea for a fundraiser. You probably won’t have a deck overlooking Times Square, but I’m sure you’ll be able to capitalize on your own local color for something inspiring. And the evening surely will be.
The guest speakers at DEX NYC were:
- Adrian Wilson, Photographer, Interior Photography Inc.
- Ariane Van Dievoet, Jewelry/Product Designer, Avandi
- Barry Berger, Owner, Creative Director, Barry David Berger + Associates
- Chris Soria and Julia Cocuzza, Graffiti Artists
- Dan Formosa, PhD, Industrial Designer & Founder, Brainpool
- Ethan Gilmore, President, Virtualize
- Fadi Khoury and Sevin Ceviker, Artists & Choreographers, FJKdance
- Frank Maresca, Contemporary Art Dealer, Ricco/Maresca Gallery
- Gregory Kammerer, Interior Design Magazine
- John Howells, Creative Director, Situation Interactive
- Joseph Shrope, Director of Visual Merchandising, Proenza Schouler
- Martha Dorn, Executive Director, Art Therapy Outreach Center
- Melissa Rosenthal, Creative Director, Buzzfeed
- Mike Houston & Daniel Degraaf, Head of Graphic Design, Zero Point Zero Production
- Wendy Goodman, Design Editor, New York Magazine
The table sponsors were:
- Architectural Flooring Resources
- Beachley Furniture
- Coronet
- Gunlocke
- Haworth
- Kimball Office
- JTL Contracting Group
- Lane Office
- Mercer Hamilton
- Mohawk Group
- New York Design Center
- Shaw Contract Group
- Steelcase
- Tom McCarthy Associates
- WB Wood