YDPDI 2021

Young Designers Professional Development Institute Presents: YDPDI 2021

10 months of 12 Business & Leadership Skills Sessions (January 27 – October 27)

BSA Members: $3500 // Non-members: $4500 // Discount for additional participants available

NEW in 2021: Register for one YDPDI session to experience what the program has to offer. See YDPDI 2021 Schedule and Registration Form for details

YDPDI enables you to:

• Take on new tasks and responsibilities, through better confidence, improved job performance and productivity
• Learn the most current professional best practices from industry leader instructors, including ASKM and Associates, Cannon Design, MIT, and others
• Engage in small breakout discussion groups in all sessions to participate actively, comfortably and learn in greater depth from your peers. Sessions held jointly with AGC Young Contractors
• Build an exciting, profitable design career with the hard and soft skills firms value most

Why YDPDI Continues To Thrive and Improve

The Need. Early in your career, you’re no longer just a designer. Your firm now wants you to take on new tasks: more project management, communications, writing, managing finances, negotiating, and presenting. You don’t need another degree, but you do need the exposure, training and development—and that’s exactly what YDPDI delivers.

Our Instructors. One of the great benefits of working in the Boston area is our access to some of the best thinkers and thoughtful design professionals in the world. 20+ session instructors—architects, contractors, engineers, owner/clients—all specialists in their topic, assist in teaching and leading small breakout group discussions. You not only to hear, but connect and engage with them to explore the issues and ideas most important to you.

YDPDI Benefits and Outcomes for Participants

Training and development are intangible, but they can produce very tangible results, including:

• Enhanced ability to add value in your firms, from taking on new tasks, managing others, winning new work
• Increased performance in areas that matter most for the firm’s performance, resulting from improved understanding of financial management
• Drawing on interaction with clients and participants in the program, gaining better capacity to initiate and develop meaningful client relationships
• Improvement of essential skills resulting from YDPDI program, practice and feedback: from communicating, writing and presenting, to managing CA and CD

YDPDI Benefits and Outcomes for Sponsoring Firms

A beneficial return of investment for sponsoring firms and employers, including:

• Improved retention, job performance and career development of key talent for raised expectations
• Increased marketing and business development activity resulting from more confident talent through mentoring and coaching
• Boosted employee morale and firm spirit resulting from a clear demonstration of the firm’s commitment to professional development for young designers
• Acquisition of current ideas and a fresh perspective on best practices being developed by other participating firms and industry experts

Online or Live Programs in 2021
Given the Covid-19 uncertainties at this time, we’re planning most sessions to be online.

New in 2021!

Learning is a commitment. And, learning as a group offers invaluable benefits. But, we understand some budget and time constraints. We encourage you to try one YDPDI session to experience what the program has to offer. See YDPDI 2021 Schedule and Registration Form for details.

New This Year: AIA San Francisco joins YDPDI

We’re pleased to welcome AIA San Francisco as a new partnering YDPDI sponsor. We look forward to meet and work with AIA SF young designers and benefit from the perspective and insight they’ll add to discussions and professional relationship building.

Enrollment Information

The first 2021 session begins January 27, 2021, and enrollment is now open. Please complete a copy of this registration form for each registrant. Scan/email to Patricia Olshan at [email protected], or mail to YDPDI, c/o BSA, 290 Congress Street, Suite 200, Boston, MA 02210.

Download a registration form available here.

For information about program content, contact William Ronco, program director at [email protected] or 617-686-5005.

Program Leadership

President of Gathering Pace, Inc., William Ronco, Ph.D., founded YDPDI 20+ years ago. He directs the program, partnering with the Boston Society of Architects. Dr. Ronco also founded and directs the Young Contractors Professional Institute, partnering with the Massachusetts Associated General Contractors.

Dr. Ronco consults on strategy, leadership and partnering with design, engineering, owner / client, construction, and biotech and science organizations. He is author of The Partnering Solution (Career Press) and Partnering Manual For Design and Construction (McGraw-Hill). A former professor in Northeastern University’s MBA program, Dr. Ronco earned his B.A. at Rutgers University, his Ed.M. at Harvard and his Ph.D. at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Colin Milberg and Toni Loiacano assist with Institute leadership. A founding partner of ASKM Consulting, Colin is a construction industry expert in lean methods, facilitation and change management. Toni is a senior vice president at Cannon Design. She has extensive experience and interest in mentoring, presenting new design concepts to client associations.