GDC/BC is proud to present a Business Development Breakfast with Business Coach Fiona Walsh
Westin Bayshore Hotel
Thursday, September 17th
7:30 – 9:30 am (includes breakfast)
If you have been wondering how to grow your business in this economy, look no further. Business owners that focus on building their business rather than insulating themselves against challenging markets are the ones that move ahead, prosper and grow their bottom line.
In this session, you will learn 10 proven business development techniques perfectly suited for use during a tough business climate.
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Join our friends at CAPIC to learn Maria’s new media market tips to find and keep clients. Based on Maria Piscopo’s marketing books for photographers and graphic designers, this program has been updated for today’s new client. Whether you are making a transition to a new area or improving the level of assignments you want to get, this step-by-step program will get you there.
You will learn about creating a marketing plan for building repeat business, planning print and electronic direct mail strategies, getting publicity to promote your recognition and response rate and more.
When: Saturday, May 23, 2009 at 9:30 AM – 4:30 PM
Where: Langara College, Room 136A
100 W 49th Street, Vancouver
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Our friends at Ascent Group have created a workshop with design and creative services firms in mind.
Access and engage practical business methods, tools & strategies in this 3-day Interactive Workshop that is guaranteed to give you leverage on your current resources, leadership, and potential.
Right or wrong, as owners, leaders and managers we are under constant pressure to not just meet expectations & responsibilities, but outperform them. And on top of that, many of us have witnessed the trend of creative value becoming commoditized, causing your profitability to shrink faster than ice cubes in the Sahara. There are ways can take control and do something about it.
In this unique hands-on workshop, designed specifically for Creative Services Studio principals, you’ll learn how to:
Engage your full creative and business potential as a studio.
Optimize your “organically grown” resources.
Leverage your five principal drivers of achievable success.
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LinkedIn is growing as a powerful social networking tool for serious business users. If you’re unsure how it works or if it’s for you, check out this video that explains LinkedIn in simple language. Click here to join the GDC Group on LinkedIn.
GDC/BC Chapter presents the Perspectives, Opportunities, Guidance and Open-Learning (POGO) Conference.
All the events included in this day long event provide an unparalleled opportunity for design professionals, students and design newcomers to learn, connect, guide and inspire each others creative thinking. Developed with this experience in mind, the conference includes design exhibits, a creative workshop, portfolio critique and studio tours. It’s also a great opportunity to network!
WHEN: Saturday, May 10th, 2008
WHERE: Roundhouse Community Arts and Recreation Centre
181 Roundhouse Mews, Vancouver BC
INFO & TICKETS: bc.gdc.net/pogo/
After waiting for a long time, the results are finally here! The 2007/2008 RGD Ontario/Aquent National Survey of Graphic Design Salaries & Billing Practices is now available for download. This survey was conducted by RGD Ontario and its partner AQUENT, in cooperation with the Society of Graphic Designers of Canada (GDC) and the Société des designers graphiques du Québec (SDGQ).
This is the fourth time a survey of this nature has been conducted in Canada by this Association and even though the results are not to be viewed as a nationally representative statistical sample of all graphic design professionals, it does provide a current reflection of what some in the design profession are currently earning.
The Canadian Information Centre for International Credentials (CICIC) website has a good reference page for foreign-trained graphic designers looking for work in Canada with a description of the graphic design industry and GDC.
FREE EVENT: CAPIC Vancouver and Adobe Canada present a night on Photoshop.
Join other designers, photographers, illustrators and creative professionals for a closer look at Adobe’s newest version of Photoshop at Vancouver’s Pacific Palisades Hotel on Tuesday, September 18th, 2007. Light refreshments will be served and Adobe Software will be given away as a door prize.
WHEN:
Tuesday, September 18th, 2007
7:00 P.M. - doors open
7:30 - 9:30 P.M. - Program
WHERE:
Pacific Palisades Hotel
1277 Robson Street, Vancouver, BC
Canada V6E 1C4
TICKETS:
FREE EVENT to all CAPIC, PPABC, GDC members and photography students. Non-members will be placed on waiting list. Only 60 seats available! First come, first served
RSVP:
RSVP to David Rossander at rossandd@shaw.ca to reserve your seat.
Taxes suck. So does accounting, right? We got into this design gig so we could be creative, and often find ourselves buried in business administration stuff. Not always fun. We’ve had previous posts and events about taxation, but I thought I’d share a quick story with you all.
If any of you attended any of the past events where we discussed when to charge PST in BC, you’ll likely remember that beside the lesson that the Taxman eventually visits us all, there were two main pieces of wisdom to take home: hire a good accountant as soon as possible, and the safest route is to charge PST on EVERYTHING—regardless of what the latest tax bulletins say. Well, that is never more true for me or my design business than today as we were just audited again—the second time in under five years!
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New Media BC Presents:
THE HUMP DAY HOOTENANNY
Weekly SIG’s featuring serious discussion in an informal setting
HEY, This be for y’all! Listen Up! We know your busy, the economy is booming, your schedule is nuts. No need to thank NMBC for helping out with that 
BUT we still “need to talk” and this time that phrase isn’t uttered as a preamble to a break up.
NMBC would like to invite you to attend a new initiative we’re launching beginning in June; The Humpday Hootenanny!
DETAILS
Where: The NMBC offices at 102-577 Great Northern Way
When: Well…Wednesdays! from 4 - 5:30 pm
RSVP: Seating capacity is limited, so RSVP to adam@newmediabc.com
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Emily Carr Institute Grad Exhibition 2007
You’re invited to attend the 2007 Undergraduate Exhibition and find out why everyone is talking about Emily Carr Institute! Come meet the graduating students and preview their senior projects in Design, Media and Fine Arts. Who knows, your next junior designer may be in this batch of students!
PREVIEW NIGHT: Friday, May 5, 7:00-9:00pm
OPENING: Saturday, May 5, 7:00-11:00pm
EXHIBITION: May 6-21, Open Daily, 10:00am-6:00pm
LOCATION: Emily Carr Institute, 1399 Johnston Street, Granville Island, Vancouver
Don’t miss a great opportunity for your business development. Everyday hundreds of potential clients visit our website and look for professional Designers by clicking on “Find a Designer“. If you don’t have your work uploaded onto your profile, you are not taking full advantage of your membership and won’t be found!
It’s easy, login to GDC.net and download the .psd template from the resources section, create your own .jpg files with your work and upload them to your profile.
Don’t waste your membership, use it to showcase your work and stop missing on potential new business.
Did you know that compulsive email use will temporarily reduce your IQ?
“Recent research carried out for IT firm Hewlett Packard claims that emails, together with text and phone messages, are a greater threat to IQ and concentration than recreational drugs. Emails, in particular, were found to be responsible for an addictive, drug-like grip greater than that experienced by regular cannabis users. According to the survey, the most damage was done by the complete lack of discipline in handling e-mails, with people feeling compelled to reply to each new message and inevitably tiring and slowing down their brains. ‘Companies should encourage a more balanced and appropriate way of working,’ said Glenn Wilson, a psychologist from King’s College.”
- compiled from an article in the Guardian
I was thrilled to receive a riveting document on “Graphic Designers - Social Service Tax Act” from the government last week. This PST issue, when to charge, when not to charge, has been giving many Canadian design studios a headache for the last few years, and some of us have been audited on this. The problem was that the rules weren’t clear. Well, they finally are getting clearer. The government’s published a new Bulletin SST 128 this August. You can download it online at www.sbr.gov.bc.ca/ctb/GraphicDesign.htm, click on the link under “Bulletins”.
Print it out, take it to bed tonight and enjoy this fine read!
Reminder to all about the change in GST rate you should be billing clients. Following is an excerpt from the most recent info sheet from CRA.
Generally, the new rates of tax apply to the supply of taxable (other than zero-rated) goods and services in the following circumstances:
- If the GST/HST becomes payable on or after July 1, 2006, without having been paid before that day, the rate of 6% GST or 14% HST will apply.
- If the GST/HST is paid on or after July 1, 2006, without having become payable before that day, the rate of 6% GST or 14% HST will apply.
- If the GST/HST becomes payable or is paid without having become payable before July 1, 2006, the rate of 7% GST or 15% HST will continue to apply.
