Celebrating 20 years!

where it all began…

IIDA SHIFT humbly started as IIDA Houston City Center Student Day in 2000. The first Student Day was a half day event with 50 local students. Student Day evolved into IIDA Houston City Center Student Conference and eventually into IIDA TX OK Student Conference, a one and a half day event. As the conference grew the Student Design Charrette competition was moved to enable participating students to experience all events at the conference, and CEUs were added to the conference to encourage attendance by professionals. Additionally, the Student Conference Meet & Greet Pep Rally was added to encourage students to show their school spirit and have more networking time.

Bigger and better…

In 2017, IIDA Student Conference was moved to Dallas where it was introduced to more students, professionals, and Industry members. In 2018, IIDA Student Conference was rebranded to IIDA SHIFT. The new name is more inclusive, as the conference is not just for students anymore. What started as just 50 students from LSU and the Houston area is now an event that spans three days, with over 200 Students and Educators from more than 18 states across the country. It has been a great 20 years and we hope to continue to grow and evolve over the next 20 years.

here’s to you…

This conference could not be successful without the hundreds of volunteers that have helped this event grow over the past two decades, the many event underwriters that have supported the conference, and of course, the hundreds of students that have attended and gone on to volunteer for the event or become active in IIDA in other ways. Thank you all for your support!

I attended Student Conference in Houston when I was a student at The University of Alabama. I actually got my first job from it! I toured a firm there, and then sought them out at the Industry Expo. It was such an amazing experience (and fun) for me as a student.

I volunteered with my firm at Student Conference every year after that because it was so special to me.

- Paige Bates, IIDA, Registered Interior Designer at RSP Architects

I attended IIDA Student Conference as a senior at Texas State University. I owe my first job to the professional networking the industry expo provided. I kept close with a contact made & reached out to them after graduating – three weeks later I had design job at a corporate firm in Houston! Student Conference was the jump start I needed for my career.

- Alyssa Turner, Assoc. IIDA, acs Flooring Group, Inc.

A huge benefit to attending Student Conference for me was getting comfortable with networking, since we weren’t exposed to that in the classroom. The showroom and project tours were also very inspiring and impactful as a student, and one of my favorite memories from attending!

- Caitlin Huston, RID, NCIDQ, IIDA, Project Coordinator at O’Brien Architects

To all the underwriters, professionals, educators, students, and volunteers over the past 20 years

Thank You!