Last Friday I attended Insight 09, an AIA-sponsored collection of seminars focusing on design, marketing, and business development. I attended the second day of the conference which had special emphasis on the role of online marketing and social networking. The day was packed with four seminars: “Strategic Communications Planning: the Art of Differentiation from RFP to Final Interview,” “Digital Relationship Management,” “The 2.0 Practice,” and “Business Development Using Your Website as a Marketing Hub.”  I particularly enjoyed the first session on Strategic Communications Planning, delivered by Daniel Sapp which offered a unique approach to structuring interviews and delivering a message. The third session about Web 2.0 had by far the highest attendance, with focus on Facebook, Twitter, and Blogging for A/E/C firms. Speakers for the Web 2.0 Practice included Mark English of Mark English Architects, Rebecca Firestone author of The Architect’s Take blog,  Joel Robare of JR Studio, and Mike Plotnick of HOK Corporate Communications. Overall, this was a very informative event, especially for a firm who is just getting its feet wet in the world of online marketing.