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Join us for this half-day event to learn the basics of Marketing for new Marketing Coordinators and Administrators. We will start the day with an AEC 101 session that will outline the basics of the industry, including acronyms, commonly used phrases, definitions, and basic information about the engineering, architecture, and construction industries.

Then, attendees will be able to pick from 4 breakout sessions which will be scheduled as best we can around attendee desires. When registering, please select your top TWO choices (and an alternate!) for which breakout sessions you'd like to attend.

Finally, we will close the morning with a panel of marketing managers and directors who have grown in their careers while still in their late 20s and early 30s, showing the available career paths for marketers and business developers in the industry! These panelists grew from coordinators to their current roles and learned a lot along the way!

workshop schedule:

9:00 – 9:25 am: Opening Session – AEC 101

9:30 – 10:15 am: Breakout Session #1

10:15 – 10:30 am: Break

10:30 – 11:15 am: Breakout Session #2

11:15 – 11:45 am: Panel Discussion

CPSM CEU's: 3 hours
Domains: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

breakout Sessions:

Title: Opening Session: AEC 101
Speaker: Julie Huval, CPSM, Beck Technology
Description: Success in the A/E/C industry starts with what you know—and there’s always something new to learn in our ever-developing world. From the alphabet soup of acronyms to the technical terms and phrases that embody the work our firms do, this introductory session will outline the basics of the architecture, engineering, and construction industries

During the registration process, attendees will be asked to pick TWO breakout sessions they'd like to attend.

Title: How to Dissect RFPs
Speaker: Lindsay Diven, CPSM, Full Sail Partners
Description: Reading and understanding the nuances of RFPs is critical to not only developing a proposal management plan, but for making sure your proposals are 100% compliant. In this session you’ll learn how to read RFPs, SOQs, etc. and when and who to reach out to for input in certain situations.

Title: Capture Planning for Business Development
Speaker: Matt Frankel, CPSM, JE Dunn
Description: In a perfect world, capture planning can bridge the chasm between business development tactics and project pursuit strategies, resulting in a winning effort. This session will explore capture planning, it’s role in marketing, and how marketers can help business developers be successful with some knowledge of data, process, and information-gathering basics.

Title:  Presentation Coaching: Human Connection Brings Your Presentations to Life!
Speakers:  Carol Doscher & Kurt Robbins, Graceworks
Description: Want to raise your shortlist interview hit rate? Want more confidence when you speak? Want to command the room as you share your vision with your colleagues? Strengthen your presentation skills in this fun and interactive Graceworks workshop. People learn best when they are involved and experience the principles taught. The session will include interactive activities such as a fill-in-the-blank worksheet, chats, warm ups and good old-fashioned discussion. You will learn:  how to create trusted relationships, speak from the heart, bring energy to your presentation, and use graphics to be helpful and impactful.

Title: Managing Yourself: Time Management, Quality Control Basics, and More to be the Best Coordinator You Can Be!
Speaker: Julie Trowbridge, CPSM, Jacobs
Description: Julie has been leading proposal strategy in the AEC industry for almost three decades. In this time, she’s learned a lot about how to manage your time, your space, and your proposals to create quality submittals that meet specific RFQ requirements and win projects. Join Julie to learn how to manage yourself and set yourself up for success!

Breakout session speakers:

Julie Huval, CPSM 
Head of Marketing
Beck Technology

Julie is the Head of Marketing at Beck Technology. She leads a team of marketers, helps drive demand for the company’s preconstruction technology offerings, and is part of the company’s leadership team. Julie is a contributing author to a number of industry publications and is a frequent public speaker on marketing, business, and technology. She earned a MBA from The University of Texas at Arlington and a Bachelor of Arts in journalism and environmental studies from Baylor University. Additionally, Julie is a Certified Professional Services Marketer.

Lindsay Diven, CPSM 
Senior Consultant, Full Sail Partners
Founders, Marketers Take Flight

Lindsay is a marketing professional serving the A/E/C industry for more than 15 years. She currently is a Senior Consultant with Full Sail Partners. In this position, she works with clients to implement Deltek’s CRM system as well as the Blackbox Connector that brings your CRM data to systems like Constant Contact and MailChimp. 

She is the founder of Marketers Take Flight, an A/E/C-industry specific marketing and business development training company, and is the creator of The Proposal Pro Course. In her most recent position, she served as the Marketing and Business Development Director and a Board of Director for a 300-person A/E firm. In this role, she was a member of the executive team responsible for leading the firm’s marketing and business development strategy, oversaw six market lines with a team of 16 sales and marketing professionals. She is a Certified Professional Services Marketer (CPSM) who is active with the SMPS Central Florida Chapter and the Southeastern Regional Conference.

Outside the office, she is married to an amazing man, has two kids, and a labradoodle; attempts to work out regularly; and enjoys a glass of wine. She’s addicted to home renovation projects and her beloved Florida Gators.

Matt Frankel, CPSM
Business Development Manager
JE Dunn

Matt’s passion lies in helping others succeed. Regardless of his position or title, he considers himself first and foremost a coach. Thanks to a diverse career path that has included financial services, insurance investigations, commercial flight instructing, airport planning, marketing, business development, sales training, and presentation skills coaching (among others), he’s had opportunities to serve professionals at all levels across a wide range of industries.

But AEC is his first love, and he’s currently a full-time Business Development Manager at JE Dunn Construction. He’s been actively involved with SMPS for nearly 12 years, serving as a regional conference co-chair, and most recently as the co-creator and co-facilitator of the CPSM Exam “Roadmap to Certification” immersion course.

Originally from Nashville, Tennessee, Matt lives in Atlanta with his beautiful wife, their strapping young son, and their 8-year-old teenage daughter.

Carol Doscher
President & CEO (Chief Encouragement Officer)
Graceworks

Carol has been captivating audiences since she performed in Broadway’s “Sweeney Todd.” For this former actress turned trainer and coach, it’s not so far from the boards of Broadway to the boardrooms of America.

Since founding Graceworks in 1995, she’s trained thousands of professionals globally to make that vital human connection in sales presentations, client meetings and lectures. Featured in The New York Times and on “Bloomberg Television,” Carol also has published numerous articles on presentation and communication skills. Prior to her current work, she marketed design and construction services for many years.

Responding to the growing need for the human connection in the corporate world, Carol is a certified practitioner of Whole Brain® Thinking — a great tool to help people understand and leverage their own thinking preferences.

Kurt Robbins
Freedom Finder
Graceworks

Kurt draws on his extensive communications background to help our clients connect with clarity, purpose and passion. He has trained thousands of corporate professionals to make The Human Connection®, and you’ll love working with Kurt. He’s smart, creative, fun, and has a deep desire to help others be their best.

In addition to working with Fortune 500 companies, he has also worked with the NYU Graduate program and the BMI Workshop where he assists Broadway composers and writers with new works for the stage. As a professional actor, Kurt has appeared in films (“A Beautiful Mind,” “The Portrait”) and on stage (“Les Miserables,” “Thoroughly Modern Millie,” “Jersey Boys”). He has performed around the world with The Unexpected Boys, and a Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons tribute band, to name a few.

Julie Trowbridge, CPSM
Proposal Manager
Jacobs  

Julie is a senior Proposal Manager with Jacobs. In this position, she works with client account and sales teams across the Southeastern US to create compelling, compliant proposals. She is recognized as a trusted resource for her keen proofreading and editing eye along with solid compliance reviews.

Throughout her 30 year-career in the AEC industry, she has also engaged in marketing activities ranging from market research to trade shows and special events to creation of collateral materials.

Julie is a Certified Professional Services Marketer (CPSM). She holds a Master of Science in journalism from the University of Kansas and a Bachelor of Arts in history from DePauw University.

Panel Discussion Moderator:

Michelle Erste, CPSM
Marketing Director
iParametrics

Combining her upbringing - she is the daughter of transportation engineer - and her education - she was a theater major in New York City, Michelle has spent the past 15 years leading marketing research and strategy, training development and design, and proposal development for small, mid-size and mega engineering firms. She currently serves as Marketing Director for iParametrics, LLC, an emergency management and security consulting firm, leading a team of marketing and communications professionals who support the firm in all aspects of marketing nad business development.

Michelle is a Certified Professional Services Marketer and Past President of SMPS Atlanta (2018-2019). She currently serves as the Chair of the Advisory Board for the Southeastern Regional Conference for SMPS and was previously actively engaged with ACEC Georgia and WTS Atlanta, including bringing back the Introduce a Girl to Engineering program with a colleague. She holds a BFA in Theater from New York University and an MBA in Marketing from Georgia State University. At home, she is a wife and mother of two kids, three cats, and a dog.

panelists:

Ashley Scarce
Marketing Director
Batson-Cook Construction

Ashley Scarce has been a marketing professional in the construction industry for 15 years. In 2005, she began her career at JE Dunn Construction as an intern and was soon promoted to an assistant marketing coordinator. As her skill set developed, Ashley took on more responsibility and became a senior marketing coordinator at Skanska USA Building, responsible for the company’s Atlanta marketing efforts.

Looking to grow further, she accepted a marketing manager position at her current place of employment, Batson-Cook Construction, and is now their Director of Marketing, where she oversees the marketing efforts for Georgia, North Carolina and Texas. Her responsibilities include setting annual marketing initiatives for the company and creating marketing department goals to support those initiatives. Ashley has a bachelor’s degree in public relations from Georgia Southern University.

Kasie Grant
Business Development
Baker Audio Visual

When Kasie started her career with Baker Audio Visual in 2011 as a Sales Admin, she immediately recognized a need to create and build the marketing department. Through hard work and determination, she was able to achieve her goal and worked her way up to Marketing Manager.

When it comes to Baker AV, she is known as a Brand Executive. Although Baker was established in 1953 and is well-known in Atlanta, Kasie was able to take them from a perceived local brand to a national brand putting them alongside some of the largest companies in the AV industry. She has also led the charge to get them named a top Atlanta workplace 5 years in a row (and counting).

She heads up their social media presence, manages media relationships, influences experience strategy, and conquers being an overall brand champion. Recently, she accepted a dual role as Marketing and Business Development where she can expand upon her love of building relationships and delivering memorable experiences.

Patrick Stephens
Director of Business Development
Eckardt Group

Patrick began his career in the construction industry with Eckardt Group in 2012 as the Director of Business. In his role, he manages customer relationships, company growth and development, as well as oversees the marketing team and helps to implement new initiatives and marketing efforts.

Patrick received a bachelor’s degree in political science and communication studies from Clemson University in 2012 and a master’s in business administration from Georgia Tech in 2017.  He currently resides in the Kirkwood area of Atlanta with his wife Stacey and their two children Henry and Lucy.

Cecilia Arango
Marketing Manager
Thomas & Hutton

Cecilia Arango is Thomas & Hutton’s Marketing Manager handling company-wide marketing, public relations, and communications for its 12 offices in Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Tennessee.  She also spearheads the firm’s internal hands-on community service program called T&H Helping Hands. Arango is currently the President-Elect for the Metropolitan Savannah Rotary and sits on various boards, including Savannah Sports Council and Girls on the Run. A Georgia Trend’s 40 Under 40 (2019) and one of Savannah Magazine’s New Guard (2019), Arango is an avid runner on a quest to run a marathon in each state and heads up a local running book club that was featured in Shape Magazine - Read, Run & Rant.  In addition, she is a local actress/performer with the Bay Street Theatre and The Collective Face Theatre Ensemble. Arango is a graduate of Leadership Savannah (2017) and Leadership Southeast Georgia (2018) and is currently in the 2020/2021 Leadership Georgia class.

Sponsorship Opportunities:

Virtual Event Sponsorships are available!  
$250 SMPS Member Firms / $350 Non-Member Firms 

Sonsor Benefits include: 
- Two (2) free registrations to sponsored event
- Opportunity for a 2-minute infomercial at start of event
- Logo displayed on the event page of SMPS chapter website
- Logo displayed on a Powerpoint slide durng the Zoom webinar
- Logo featured prominently on all event promotions materials

For additional information about sponsorship opportunities, please contact Laura Young at[email protected].

event Champions:

   Michelle Erste, CPSM

  Patrick Stephens

  Susan Johnson, CPSM

  Laura Young