62nd Annual Conference: SARA in Miami
SARA’s 62nd Annual Conference took place in sunny Miami, Florida October 17th – 21st. The ME Miami Hotel provided a chic feel, with great views and boutique style comfort. Our event kicked off on Wednesday evening with cocktails, pink flamingo koozies, overlooking the Biscayne Sky line at Bella’s poolside Bar & Lounge. Carlos Fausto Miranda owner of Fausto Commercial Realty gave a great presentation on the growth & development of Micro-Units. Thank you Carlos for your time, knowledge and your contribution to the growth of the community.
Thursday we started bright and early, vendor expo and a half day full of wonderful seminars presented by Paul Campa from Dyson Airblade, Robert Moses from Garland Industries, David Weidl from ATAS & Steven Sadeghian from U.S. Smoke + Fire. We even had a real-time fire drill during Steven's presentation (U.S. Smoke + Fire), it just so happened to be a big coincidence that the Fire Marshal was testing the fire alarms for the hotel during that time. After lunch, sponsored by U.S. Smoke + Fire, we hopped on the City of Miami Trolley and took a short ride over to the Carpet Boutique, where we were greeted by the owner Clara Gonzalez. She had a fabulous spread of wine, cheeses, meats and exotic fruit spreads. Her boutique Society of American Registered Architects
was beautiful and had such great energy. Our next stop was the Brightline Miami Central Station. Paul Campa from Dyson Airblade arranged for us to be bused over to get a private tour of the station, a state of the art railway station that has taken transportation to another level. We then took our chances on the casino tables, smoked some cigars and indulged in some Cuban cuisine at Havana Nights hosted by DalTile & Keys Granite . Tim Hao was the luckiest guy at the blackjack table. The group had a grand time; we were then bused back to our hotel to rest up for the next day.
Friday morning we had our vendor expo open and another half day of seminars presented by Floyd Shasteen from Daikin North America, Dewayne Thomas from Barrier One & Kimberly Ellis from Woodwork Institute another great line up of speakers and presentations. We then walked over to the Adrienne Arsht Center where Mr. Roberto Espejo, from Pelli-Clark Architects conducted a magnificent tour of the opera house. We all felt like we were part of the design team with how detailed and passionate he was. What an impressive tour.
Friday Evening we had our annual President's Celebration Banquet. The 2018 Past President’s Scholarship Award recipient was presented to Tooba Jalal, a student at Virginia Tech University, by Barry Milowitz and Robert Firneis. We also congratulated two new SARA Fellows, Ronnette Riley & Tom Dever. Abby Schwartz, FARA received this year's Gold Medal, Dennis Dong, FARA received the Jean P. Boulanger award as did Walt Geiger, FARA, Kevin Regalado received the Distinguished Presidential Award and Presidential Citations were presented to Diane Giffith & Meredyth Santurio-Sager. A night filled with SARA family, laughter, celebration, good food and a group activity which ended in Sienna Santurio judging the best drawing of the night. New York won that contest fair and square and was also the highest bidder for our easel auction.
Saturday we gathered for our Board Meeting & Annual Assembly which was hosted at Zyschovich Architects, followed by an evening celebrating great Architecture at our annual Design Awards, The SARA's. On Sunday, we said our farewells over a yummy breakfast that filled our stomachs and hearts. It is always a special time with our SARA Family. Thank you to all who attended and see you next year in Chicago!
A huge thank you to all our sponsors : California Council, Florida Council, Minnesota Council, New York Council, Pennsylvania Council, ABC Imaging, Adrienne Arsht Center, ATAS, Barrier One, Brightline, Carpet Boutique, Daltile/ Keys Granite, Daikin, Dyson, Polyguard, RSW Insurance, The Garland Group, U.S. Smoke + Fire, Woodwork Institute, & Zyscovich Architects.
