

aecKnowledge Continuing Education
Distilled, Relevant and Advanced Courses, independently produced by aecKnowledge
Marketing & BD
Risk Management

Risk Management Best Practices
AIA/CES, 1.0 LUs

Minimizing Risk During Construction Administration
AIA/CES (HSW), 1.25 LUs

Contract Language: The Foundation of Good Business
AIA/CES (HSW), 1.0 LUs

Arbitration and Litigation: A Trial Attorney's Perspective
AIA/CES (HSW), 1.0 LUs

Practice Management

Navigating the COVID-19 Economy: Insights from Firm Leaders
Insights Only., 0 LUs

Financial Management: Introduction for Design Professionals
AIA/CES, 1.0 LUs

Financial Management: Key Financial Performance Indicators (KPFIs)
AIA/CES, 1.0 LUs

Financial Management: Annual Budgets, Revenue Forecasting and Profit Planning
AIA/CES, 1.0 LUs

Insights from Art Gensler, FAIA
AIA/CES, 1.0 LUs

Ownership and Leadership Transitions - Demystified
AIA/CES, 1.0 LUs

Keys to Firm Management: Making Chaos Work for You
AIA/CES, 1.25 LUs

Financial Management: Beyond Intuition
AIA/CES, 1.25 LUs

Firm Development: Navigating Through Times of Transition
AIA/CES, 1.25 LUs


Documents, Specifications & CA

Pitfalls and Minefields of Specification-Writing
AIA/CES (HSW), 1.0 LUs

Risk Control in Construction Contract Administration
AIA/CES (HSW), 1.0 LUs

Drawing the Line: Monitoring the Contractor’s Work Plan
AIA/CES (HSW), 1.0 LUs

Sustainability
Registering for a CE Course
- Step 1Sign in or register with aecKnowledge.com if you have not done so already.
- Step 2Select a course and follow instructions for course registration, registration and course viewing. Courses are available for 90 days following registration.
- Step 3Take the CE Quiz after viewing the entire course. After you have successfully passed the quiz, a Certificate of completion will be automatically downloaded to your computer for you to save. If you are an AIA member, your AIA CES Learning Units will automatically be submitted.
DISCOUNTED Group Pricing
DISCOUNTED Course Bundles
- Course Bundle Overview
- Accessibility 2020/2021 (AIA California)
- Accessibility 2018/2019 (AIA California)
- Accessibility 2016/2017 (AIA California)
- AIA Los Angeles & AIA|LA COTE 2020 Two Degrees Symposium
- 2019 AIA Seattle Housing Forum - Density Done Right
- 2018 AIA Seattle Housing Forum - Housing Innovations
- 2019 MDC (AIA California)
- 2017 MDC (AIA California)
- 2017 MDC Emerging Talent (AIA California)
- 2015 MDC (AIA California)
- 2013 MDC (AIA California)
- 2011 MDC (AIA California)
- Metropolis Think Tank: The Human Factor
- Active Design (AIA New York)
- Growing a Small Firm (AIA San Francisco)
- Specifications & CA Phase Best Practices
- Risk Management
- Financial Management for Design Professionals
- Practice Mgmt. (for small and mid-size firms)
- Project Delivery Methods (AIA California)
- Leadership Effectiveness (AIA Dallas)
- Sustainable Design (USGBC-NCC)
- Sustainability Practices (AIA New York, AIACC)
Course Providers
Related aecKnowledge Resources
Continuing Education FAQs
Marketing and Business Development Essentials

This course begins with a succinct and practical overview on the basics of marketing and business development, followed by a more detailed examination of the role that project managers can play in identifying new opportunities and leveraging existing relationships. Also explored in detail is how firms can differentiate themselves and come to dominate in a niche market. Other topics covered in the course include strategies for effective communication with clients, and profound and personal knowledge about how to succeed in global practice.
Presenter: | RK Stewart, FAIA, Ronald Altoon, FAIA, LEED AP, CPD, Richard Pollack, FAIA, FIIDA, Karen Compton, CPSM, Howard Wolff, Tim Culvahouse, FAIA |
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Provider: | aecKnowledge |
Certification: | AIA/CES |
Learning Units: | 1.0 hours |
Risk Management Best Practices

This 60-minute Risk Management Best Practices course, featuring five attorneys from Morris Polich & Purdy, LLP, provides insights into reexamining business practices to keep up with the fast-changing world and turbulent economic climate.
This treasure trove of risk management and practice management advice covers: concepts and strategies to manage the legal risks provided by contractual indemnity agreements; legal risks pertaining to sustainable design; issues and procedures for securing payment on projects; strategies to avoid claims in process; and strategies for selecting the correct business entity for your practice. The course closes with a discussion of strategies for introducing Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) into your projects.
Presenter: | Penny Deihl, Esq., Ted D. Levin, Esq., Creighton Sebra, Esq., William B. Kirshenbaum, Esq., and Mehrdad Farivar, Esq., FAIA, Partners at Morris Polich & Purdy, LLP |
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Provider: | aecKnowledge |
Certification: | AIA/CES |
Learning Units: | 1.0 hours |
Navigating the COVID-19 Economy: Insights from Firm Leaders

This course is provided FREE courtesy of Strogoff Consulting and does not qualify for AIA Learning Units.
On April 22, 2020, 10 leaders from some of our nation's most respected firms shared their insights about how to effectively respond to the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic. This 75-minute panel discussion provides specific recommendations for your firm to put into motion.
Among the topics:
• What is the biggest challenge your firm is now facing?
• What has your firm learned about working remotely and how are clients responding?
• How do you maintain a collaborative culture and approach to projects?
• How are you keeping employees engaged?
• How are clients responding to your firm working remotely?
• If billable work declines, what staff initiatives might keep staff busy?
• How do we avoid losing another generation of architects
• How do you think this new normal might change how we operate as a profession?
Presenter: | Facilitated by Michael Strogoff, FAIA |
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Provider: | aecKnowledge |
Certification: | Insights Only. |
Learning Units: | 0 hours |
Minimizing Risk During Construction Administration

This course provides design professionals with essential risk management practices to employ during the construction administration phase.
Attorney Michele L. Gamble provides targeted, practical tips to help minimize potential risks that architects, engineers and allied professionals face during this critical phase of projects. Topics include contracting, communicating, planning, documenting and increasing awareness of risks involved with construction administration. This course is especially relevant to design professionals who draft contracts, manage risks and/or provide construction administration-related services.
Presenter: | Michele L. Gamble, Attorney, Collins Collins Muir + Stewart, LLP |
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Provider: | aecKnowledge |
Certification: | AIA/CES (HSW) |
Learning Units: | 1.25 hours |
Pitfalls and Minefields of Specification-Writing

This course will help design firms produce higher quality specifications that respond to the increasing complexity of building projects and that minimize the adverse consequences of poorly-worded or incomplete specifications.
Course takers will develop a better understanding of and appreciation for specifications – an often-overlooked part of the Contract Documents – and learn how to craft specifications that achieve design objectives and avoid added costs, delays and disputes.
The presenter provides specific solutions to overcome common challenges design professionals face when writing design-based, performance-based, propriety or hybrid specifications.
Presenter: | Cornelius (Kin) Dubois, FAIA, LEED AP |
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Provider: | aecKnowledge |
Certification: | AIA/CES (HSW) |
Learning Units: | 1.0 hours |
Contract Language: The Foundation of Good Business

This 60-minute risk management course presents best practices in drafting and reviewing contracts between Owners and Design Professional.
Attorney Brian Stewart examines onerous contract clauses that design professionals regularly confront and provides targeted suggestions for negotiating more balanced clauses. Topics include essential contract clauses, pros and cons of typical compensation methods, dispute resolution options and limitations of liability protections.
Presenter: | Brian K. Stewart, Attorney, Collins Collins Muir + Stewart, LLP |
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Provider: | aecKnowledge |
Certification: | AIA/CES (HSW) |
Learning Units: | 1.0 hours |
Risk Control in Construction Contract Administration

This course will help design professionals better understand and respond to the growing risks entailed in providing construction contract administration (CCA).
The presenter makes a compelling case for why architects and engineers must serve as both a risk manager and a project manager, and provides an easy-to-follow approach to controlling risks in a manner that enhances service effectiveness.
Viewers will gain valuable insights into how best to identify CCA areas of vulnerability, improve their ability to develop risk averse CCA procedures, and expand their skills in persuading owners to share in the numerous risks inherent in CCA.
Presenter: | James B. Atkins, FAIA, FKIA |
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Provider: | aecKnowledge |
Certification: | AIA/CES (HSW) |
Learning Units: | 1.0 hours |
Financial Management: Introduction for Design Professionals

This distilled 60-minute course provides an overview of financial management for anyone involved in managing or leading an architecture, engineering or design firm. Course takers will learn basic accounting and financial management terminology and the difference between cash and accrual reporting, be able to dispel myths that keep firms from becoming more profitable, understand a Chart of Accounts and basic financial management reports, gain an overview of the financial management cycle, and set financial performance goals.
The presenters, Rena Klein, FAIA, and Steve Wintner, AIA Emeritus, consult with design professionals nationwide about financial management, and are skilled in distilling financial knowledge and concepts into bite-size pieces that position firm leaders to make strategic operational decisions.
This course dispels myths that have haunted design professionals since the days of Michelangelo.
Presenter: | Steve L. Wintner, AIA Emeritus, and Rena M. Klein, FAIA |
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Provider: | aecKnowledge |
Certification: | AIA/CES |
Learning Units: | 1.0 hours |
Arbitration and Litigation: A Trial Attorney's Perspective

This 60-minute risk management course describes how and why arbitration and civil litigation are vastly different procedural mechanisms.
Attorney Samuel Muir provides a candid comparison and dispels commonly-held myths as he provides design professionals insights into how to choose between arbitration and litigation and negotiate dispute resolution clauses that protect their interests. As arbitration agreements are subject to contract interpretation, this course will help design professionals negotiate a clause that provides many of the legal protections inherent in civil litigation.
Presenter: | Samuel J. Muir, Attorney, Collins Collins Muir + Stewart, LLP |
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Provider: | aecKnowledge |
Certification: | AIA/CES (HSW) |
Learning Units: | 1.0 hours |
Drawing the Line: Monitoring the Contractor’s Work Plan

This course will help design professionals understand a contractor’s exclusive responsibility for planning, organizing, coordinating, and implementing the construction work, and will describe the indicators that are evident when a contractor’s work plan is executed effectively.
Course takers will develop a better understanding of the need for dialogue, and the tools to initiate and improve communication, amongst all team members, pertaining to contractor work coordination activities.
With a wry sense of humor, the presenter discusses how to review and respond to construction coordination drawings, clarifications sketches, submittals and mock-ups, and provides valuable insights that will help guide pre-installation conferences and enforce contract requirements.
Presenter: | James B. Atkins, FAIA, FKIA |
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Provider: | aecKnowledge |
Certification: | AIA/CES (HSW) |
Learning Units: | 1.0 hours |
Financial Management: Key Financial Performance Indicators (KPFIs)

The second course of this series takes a deeper dive into Key Financial Performance Indicators (KPFIs), which will enable anyone involved in managing or leading an architecture, engineering or design firm to track and act on key metrics. Course takers will learn how to calculate seven KPFIs and apply them to calculate net billing multipliers and hourly billing rates and quickly analyze how their firm is performing. Viewers will also learn how to develop project fee budgets and avoid common pitfalls.
The presenters, Rena Klein, FAIA, and Steve Wintner, AIA Emeritus, consult with design professionals nationwide about financial management, and are skilled in distilling financial knowledge and concepts into bite-size pieces that position firm leaders to make strategic operational decisions.
If you ever had any doubts about your firm’s Net Effective Multiplier, this course is a MUST SEE!.
Presenter: | Steve L. Wintner, AIA Emeritus, and Rena M. Klein, FAIA |
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Provider: | aecKnowledge |
Certification: | AIA/CES |
Learning Units: | 1.0 hours |
Financial Management: Annual Budgets, Revenue Forecasting and Profit Planning

The final course of this 3-part financial thriller shows how to develop annual budgets, revenue forecasts and profit plans, and leads viewers through scenario planning using financial trends and Key Financial Performance Indicators. Course takers will be ready to apply key financial concepts as they make short- and longer-term strategic, financial and operational decisions.
The presenters, Rena Klein, FAIA, and Steve Wintner, AIA Emeritus, consult with design professionals nationwide about financial management, and are skilled in distilling financial knowledge and concepts into bite-size pieces that position firm leaders to make strategic operational decisions.
Steve Wintner, AIA Emeritus, and Rena M. Klein, FAIA, ignite the screen as cash flow meets profit planning!
Presenter: | Steve L. Wintner, AIA Emeritus, and Rena M. Klein, FAIA |
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Provider: | aecKnowledge |
Certification: | AIA/CES |
Learning Units: | 1.0 hours |
Designing Net Zero Energy Buildings

This course begins with a succinct and practical overview of the strategies and tactics for designing net zero energy buildings. It provides a detailed examination that demystifies technical terms, cites building science and uses specific examples from practice.
Other topics covered in the course include building commissioning as a quality control method applied throughout a project and sustainable lighting design, specifically low-energy lighting strategies.
Presenter: | John Kouletsis, AIA, EDAC, Scott Shell, FAIA, LEED AP, John Dale, FAIA, Tom Hootman, AIA, LEED AP, Ron Wilkinson, LEED AP and Mark Loeffler, IALD, IESNA, LEED AP BD&C |
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Provider: | aecKnowledge |
Certification: | AIA/CES (HSW) |
Learning Units: | 1.0 hours |
Insights from Art Gensler, FAIA

This course is provided FREE courtesy of Strogoff Consulting in exchange for you filling out a 60-second survey.
M. Arthur Gensler, Jr., (Art Gensler) is widely seen as one the world's foremost experts at helping clients see the value of good design while operating a consistently successful global firm. In this remarkably candid address to emerging professionals, Art Gensler shares Art Gensler shares his insights into:
• Starting, growing and operating a design firm
• Developing a highly collaborative culture within a multi-disciplinary firm
• Understanding a client’s business model and mission
• Running a multi-disciplinary design firm as a well-tuned business
This course is a must-see for design professionals who share Art Gensler’s passion for strong business practices and collaboration. Get decades of wisdom in 60 engaging minutes!
Presenter: | M. Arthur Gensler Jr., FAIA, FIIDA, RIBA |
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Provider: | aecKnowledge |
Certification: | AIA/CES |
Learning Units: | 1.0 hours |
Ownership and Leadership Transitions - Demystified

This 60-minute video course demystifies the ownership and leadership transition process, provides targeted advice to enable you to make an informed decision about whether to pursue an internal or external transition, and provides a roadmap for implementing an internal ownership plan that supports your personal and strategic business goals.
Presenter: | Michael Strogoff, FAIA Strogoff Consulting, Inc. |
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Provider: | aecKnowledge |
Certification: | AIA/CES |
Learning Units: | 1.0 hours |
Keys to Firm Management: Making Chaos Work for You

This 75-minute video course delivers no-nonsense insights into making order out of the chaos that is inherent in small firm management. Rena Klein, FAIA, provides valuable tips and practical tools that will help any manager navigate the world of unpredictable workloads, uneven productivity and lack of resources.
Presenter: | Rena M. Klein, FAIA RM Klein Consulting |
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Provider: | aecKnowledge |
Certification: | AIA/CES |
Learning Units: | 1.25 hours |
Financial Management: Beyond Intuition

This 75-minute video course demystifies the practice of financial management for small- to mid-sized firms. The viewer will gain an understanding of the impact of macroeconomic conditions and receive step-by-step guidance for analyzing a firm's financial performance in order to make strategic operational decisions in the unpredictable environment in which we operate.
Presenter: | Rena M. Klein, FAIA RM Klein Consulting |
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Provider: | aecKnowledge |
Certification: | AIA/CES |
Learning Units: | 1.25 hours |
Firm Development: Navigating Through Times of Transition

This 75-minute video course takes the entrepreneurial design professional through key times of transition--growth, ownership transition, and retirement--and imparts tools that can help firm leaders navigate through change and career stages.
Through case studies and anecdotes, course-takers will gain knowledge on how to take a firm to the so-called “next-level,” revaluate long-standing partnerships, initiate ownership transition, and understand options when approaching retirement.
Presenter: | Rena M. Klein, FAIA RM Klein Consulting |
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Provider: | aecKnowledge |
Certification: | AIA/CES |
Learning Units: | 1.25 hours |