DFA Collaborative Retreat 2016
Strategic Vision, Adult Friendships, and Pie
Last week, DFA alumni from across the country came together in Chicago to create a strategic plan for DFA Collaborative in 2016.
Wait, what’s DFA Collaborative again?
DFA Collaborative is a community of DFA students, alumni, and like-minded individuals dedicated to supporting you not just in college, but for life! Whether you’re fresh out of college, in the midst of a career transition, or traversing the globe with everything you own on your back — if you’re a DFAer at heart who’s passionate about design and social impact, then you’re part of DFA Collaborative.
Our goal at the retreat was to strategize how the DFA network can be leveraged to empower you wherever you are. So we got Sonja (Oregon), Jeric (RPI), CC (Northwestern), Allison (RISD|Brown), Justin (Northwestern), Hannah (Northwestern), Isabelle (RISD|Brown), Guy (Vanderbilt), Ellen (Yale), Ada (Cornell), and Stacy and Rebecca from DFA National in one room to figure it out.
Over the past year, the DFA Collaborative team has been meeting via emails and Google Hangouts. But, digital communication could only go so far. So last weekend, we kicked off our planning for 2016 by meeting in person — which of course included giving each other a giant group hug.
Start with a mission and strategy
We started by asking a deep question: How can we help DFAers pursue a meaningful life?
In order to empathize with DFA students and alumni, we began by sharing our own personal stories and journeys with DFA and realized we wanted to foster an inclusive community that accepts and nurtures everyone in the DFA network. We envision that being accomplished through continued learning, professional development, social experiences and connections, and the opportunity to give back to DFA studios and other communities.
So when might someone feel like they need that inclusive community? We brainstormed different touch points where DFA Collaborative can give impact and wrote potential and previously heard questions and concerns from our community like these:
#adultfriendships
In the midst of the retreat, we met up with some awesome students from DFA Northwestern and DFA MSU, who also had a combined studio meeting that weekend.
Develop programs and define roles and responsibilities
On our last day of retreat, we visited the touchpoint quotes again and brainstormed solutions in DFA style. We switched up the brainstorm style a little bit by making sure that all ideas have the three steps: Onboard, Engage, Impact. This format helped us evaluate and create concrete steps to execute. With these framework, we ultimately narrowed down to:
- Social Media Strategy
- Welcome / Onboarding
- Alumni Database
- In-Person Meetups
- Mentorship/Learning Content Strategy
- Communication / Documentation
With these potential solutions, we asked everyone to choose the projects that excite them the most. Then, each group came up with 6-month and 1-year milestones which were inspired by the project management practices that team members brought from their current careers.
In that moment, we were motivated by the same thing: our common passion for DFA. We organized ourselves into groups based on the programs we decided would best meet our needs and strategized how we would work remotely for the rest of the year to create the DFA community of our dreams.
Overall, the retreat was a huge success. All the DFA Collaborative teammates were inspired, energized, and excited to tackle the new year. The in-person retreat was just what we needed to continue a the legacy of an open-minded environment where people both listened and challenged each other in order to become a stronger and more cohesive whole.
With all the #adultfriendships bonding and work-hard-play-hard experience that we went together, we became closer friends than ever.
Look forward to a great 2016 with DFA Collaborative! More to come!
Also, pie. So much pie, nine flavors of pie that we devoured before we parted ways. If you haven’t been to Hoosier Mama’s Pie in Evanston, IL — you need to.
