RealWorld DesignWeek

RealWorld DesignWeek (RWDW) is the annual nationwide student mentoring program created by the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID) in 2008. The career development-mentoring program offers a unique and exclusive one-on-one experience that pairs ASID student members with ASID interior designers and industry members. RWDW is the first cohesive, national program aimed at educating future interior designers through in-person experience. It empowers students to succeed in the industry and build relationships with the design community, and provides them with the tools to jump-start their careers. This program is exclusive to ASID members and is at no cost to registrants.

“Something I think is important for practitioners to understand is how easy it is to work a student visit into your schedule. I’ve found that students just want to see and experience what you are doing on a minute-by-minute, day-to-day basis. They want to understand a little bit better what a firm accomplishes in a day or a week or a month, and any insight we can give them into that process is very welcome and appreciated. The nice thing is that being a mentor isn’t a difficult thing. You don’t have to plan every moment of an activity, it is really just giving students a window into your day as an interior designer.”

--Deborah Lloyd Forrest, FASID - 2009 RealWorld DesignWeek Participant

RWDW 2010: Helping tomorrow’s designers learn from today’s pros.

RWDW 2010 will take place across the country in all 48 Chapters November 7 – 13, 2010. Practitioners and Industry Partners, go here to read some helpful tips about the experience. Participation in RealWorld DesignWeek is flexible, and if professionals cannot host a shadow day during RealWorld DesignWeek, they will be encouraged to host one during the window of October 1 to November 30.

In order to accommodate the many interested student members, ASID needs Professional, Allied, Educator and Industry Partner reps to host shadow days, so REGISTER TODAY! PLEASE SIGN UP BY SEPTEMBER 1, 2010, as that is when students may start registering. Registration can be accessed online through the RWDW Web site at www.asid.org/rwdw, where there is a registration link on the home page. The registration process has been improved again this year and is more intuitive. Make a difference in the future of design!

Besides the event website, information about this valuable event is available through many national marketing efforts, press releases, ASID CONNEX, and the ASID Texas Chapter Facebook page, as well as the Society's pages/groups on the following social networking sites: Facebook (Page), LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube.

Created and run by ASID, RWDW 2010 is sponsored by Sherwin Williams, Industry Partner of ASID, and Canfield & Tack. Look for full color advertisements in ASID ICON and Metropolis magazine, RWDW's national media partner.

RWDW 2009

RWDW 2009 took place November 1 – 7, 2009. The Texas Chapter was very proud to have its own Deborah Lloyd Forrest, FASID, as the official 2009 RWDW Spokesperson! Deborah is a principal of ForrestPerkins and her full bio is available on the RWDW website. “RealWorld DesignWeek is a great way for interior designers to give back to the profession by mentoring and molding the next generation of interior designers,” says Forrest. “Students need this now more than ever, which is why I’m asking every interior designer and ASID Industry Partner to take the time to host a student during this year’s RealWorld DesignWeek.”

Both RealWorld DesignWeek 2008 & 2009 received great reviews from both mentors and students alike, with thousands of participants across the USA and Canada.“I looked forward to the experience from the day I registered and it was so much more than I expected,” said Jeannine Lima, Student Member ASID from the Art Institute of Atlanta.

"RealWorld DesignWeek was amazing! I hosted five students, one each day of the week, and was able to show them first hand the day-to-day operations of an interior design firm. This included attending our weekly staff meeting, a lunch CEU, a construction site, a vendor presentation and meetings with potential new clients,” said Rita Carson Guest, FASID and an ASID Past President. “They also met with my design team to review current projects, examine interior design construction documents and learn about the design process we use. Every student was sincere about their studies and found the ASID experience to be special.”