25 Years of Industry Roundtable

Dec 14, 2022 By Vasia Rigou

IIDA looks back at 25 Years of Industry Roundtable and its legacy

By Vasia Rigou Dec 14, 2022

Published in Articles

What did the past year reveal about design, work, and life? What does the future hold for the industry, our clients, and ourselves? Considering questions like these, thinkers, doers, and dreamers come together to use their intellectual powers and design thinking to solve important and interesting challenges, to offer valuable solutions, to make progress, and to get things done. They’ve been doing this year in and year out for 25 years—from Chicago to Santa Fe, to Los Angeles, and the virtual world of Zoom but always under the IIDA umbrella. We’re talking about none other than the annual IIDA Industry Roundtable.

Bringing together the industry's brightest minds, the annual signature event is an institution for design professionals—an invaluable brain trust session for manufacturers, a quality opportunity to exchange dialogue on issues addressing the built environment for designers, and a moment to connect with the community for all. As IIDA celebrates the program’s 25th anniversary this year, we reflect on a quarter century of design—from assessing its past and present, to how designers will rise to tomorrow’s challenges and help shape our future.

2022 Industry Roundtable in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Photography by Babak Dowlatshahi

2018 Industry Roundtable at the IIDA HQ office in Chicago. Photography courtesy of Industry Roundtable

Up for discussion? Issues of leadership, personal and professional development, strategy and goal setting, expanding and diversifying the design profession, fostering an industry-wide culture shift, and lately, the future of place, experience, and worklife (read: re-empowering collaboration as we embrace hybrid work) in a rapidly-changing world. Always on our mind? Ways designers can create adaptable, innovative solutions to better define our homes, offices, and public spaces for years to come, collective efforts and progress toward diversifying the interior design industry, and steps to achieve a future that is inclusive and sustainable.

Designing for what’s next is no easy feat, nor is remaining open-minded, flexible, and brave—unafraid and up for a challenge. But the Industry Roundtable was founded on that premise. It’s a means to make connections, share knowledge between peers and experts, grant access, gain recognition, and importantly, amplify awareness. Simply put: it’s a step toward powerful transformation.

But don’t take just our word for it. “The attendees were a great mix of experience and disciplines which allowed for engaging, strong, and useful conversations,” said one participant. “This was a great example of the power of what we can accomplish when we can come together not as firms, but as people,” added another. “We can share, learn, and make new connections that build and elevate our profession. It highlighted that we all need to find ways to come together and reconnect just as humans after the continued and challenging experience of the past few years.”

2019 Industry Roundtable at the IIDA HQ office in Chicago. Photography courtesy of Industry Roundtable

2020 Industry Roundtable at BMW Designworks in California. Photography by Greg Shappell

Many praised IIDA's commitment to creating a safe space for thoughtful presentations and intriguing dialogue. “I loved the free-style spontaneous, passionate conversations that were sparked around subjects like the industrial revolution, EDI, and more,” said another attendee. “No surprise, every detail of the event was meticulously planned, the content was inspiring yet practical, and I left feeling inspired with actionable changes I could make—which in my eyes, is an incredible outcome.” The consensus: “We can't wait for next year!”

Fueled by gratitude for all the enthusiastic feedback throughout the program’s 25 years, IIDA is committed to keeping growing bigger, stronger, and wiser—and to empowering others to do the same. Looking back is necessary in order to look forward. “My prediction for 2050? That women leaders in the design world will triple,” says Gabrielle Bullock, FIIDA, FAIA, NOMA, Perkins and Will at Industry Roundtable 23: The Future of Place, Experience, and Worklife, that focused on what’s coming up. “In 2050, the age range around this table will span 80 years; some will attend via hologram; everyone will speak in their native language and the audience will hear it in theirs, whether attending remotely or in person,” adds Ryan Menke, Ind. IIDA, senior vice president of sales and marketing at OFS who’s looking at the big picture. “In order to design a better world, we need to unpack the missing data: the missing stories of the people we purportedly design for,” says, Angie Lee, IIDA, AIA, vice president and global sector leader in commercial workplace and office at Stantec.

“Predicting the future, as anyone can tell you, can be perilous business,” says IIDA Executive Vice President and CEO Cheryl S. Durst, Hon. FIDA “And yet, pulling back the curtain on what's next is not only tempting; it's necessary to survive and thrive both in our work and in our lives.” As we’re getting ready to celebrate the program’s silver anniversary, one made possible through the generous support of our Presenting Sponsor, Mohawk Group, and IR25 Session Sponsors, USG and Kimball International, IIDA is proud that the Industry Roundtable is a step in the right direction—necessary to spur progress, drive change, and encourage the expansion of the interior design industry as a whole.