AUTHENTIC & UNIVERSAL Credentialing for Stagers

A realtor collegue from Florida contacted me and shared the perfect parallel to help explain my concerns and wishes for AUTHENTIC and UNIVERSAL Credentialing of Stagers. (Now why didn't I think of this? LOL)

Anyway, JoAnn Guida made the GOOD POINT that ... "Once upon a time Interior Designers weren`t licensed either today they have to be a member of the ASID." She went on to ask, "Do you believe the same will hold true for staging?I believe this is exactly where this is heading."
So actually ASID is an impartial society that requires members meet a few acceptance standards: they must have a combination of accredited design education and/or full-time work experience and pass a two-day accreditation examination administered by the National Council for Interior Design Qualification (NCIDQ).

Interior Designers with ASID credentials after their names... have been trained outside of ASID. AND the NCIDQ exam is much like what an accountant would have to take in order to become credentialed as a CPA. The National Council for Interior Design Qualification does not teach... it sets the standards and tests the standards... for the safety and well being of the public.
To be honest I am not sure just how to best structure Staging Accrediation... all I do know is that "credentialing" would tell a more truthful story if it were created, administered and monitored by an IMPARTIAL 3rd party.

If a person wants to boast that they were trained at a particular school/methodology... that is FINE with me. And that is really what these "credentials" that you now see are. AND I do think that there are better schools training staging than others. Think Harvard vs. Lewis University... both schools have an accounting program. But JUST because a person went to Harvard does NOT mean the are better.

But this alphabet soup of credentials that people are throwing around staging world really MEANS NOTHING.

Let's put it this way... being a stager I could start teaching staging classes and after a person paid and sat thru my training I could give them a credential... like PSA - Professional Staging Associate. SOUNDS good but who the heck am I to define and determine what constitutes quality in an industry that operates in North America and Europe and beyond?

Thanks JoAnn for taking the time to ask and listen...
Craig