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Want To Improve Your Communication Skills? Join Your Marketing Friends to Learn Together in a Fun Filled, Interactive Session!

If you are terrified of public speaking but want to conquer that fear, then this session is for you! We will have 3 speakers who will share their journeys and how they became the pros they are today. Attendees will get a chance to speak in front of the group to put into practice the tips they have just heard. Everyone will participate, and everyone will learn and benefit from the opportunity to practice in a SUPPORTIVE environment. 

Laura McDonald, CPSM will discuss the path she took to go from watching co-workers make presentations to becoming a speaker at regional and national conferences. 

Michelle Erste, CPSM will show us techniques she learned in the theatre and how we might apply them in our everyday jobs.  

Matt Frankel, MBA, CPSM will discuss how his communication skills have allowed him to become an executive coach and mentor.

How you will do more business:

Volunteering to speak in public is an excellent way to raise your professional profile and jump-start your career. 

Who you will meet: 

People who are comfortable with public speaking and/or provide coaching to those who do.

The deadline for registration is Tuesday, August 8th.

Agenda & DETAILS

1:00-1:30 PM EST: Registration/Networking
1:30-4:00 PM EST: Program

CPSM CEUs: 2.5 hours
Domains: 3 - Business Development; 4 - Proposals; 5 - Promotions

The SMPS event will be held in the Lower Level Training Room at the JE Dunn Construction office.  Snacks and beverages will be provided.

Parking Instructions:
Free parking is available at JE Dunn. Please park and enter the building on the lower right side entrance where the roll-up garage door is located. The entrance is adjacent to Passion City Church and its parking lot, and you may park at the Church as well. 

learning objectives

After attending this session, participants will learn:

1. Techniques to stay calm and composed when speaking in front of others.
2. How to improve their public speaking skills for client presentations and career growth.
3. Tips for coaching others in public speaking efforts.

Featured Speakers

Laura McDonald, CPSM (she/her) is a Senior Marketing Business Partner for Terracon, providing marketing support and management for Terracon’s Eastern Operating Group. When called upon, Laura also supports large regional marketing efforts, federal data calls, client interviews, award submissions, and more! Working in the A/E/C industry for more than 15 years, Laura has gained most of her marketing experience in the engineering consulting field. She is passionate about mentoring, educating, and sharing with other marketing professionals so that they may elevate the role of a professional services marketer. She also serves as a mentor to marketing team members nationwide.

Laura was the SMPS Atlanta President from 2021-2022 and has spoken at the 2022 SMPS Southeastern Regional Conference, 2023 SMPS Southern Regional Conference, APMP Peach State February 2023 Membership Meeting, and several regional SMPS chapters on the east coast.

Combining her upbringing - she is the daughter of transportation engineer - and her education - she was a theater major in New York City, Michelle Erste, CPSM, has spent the past 18 years teaching engineers to understand the importance of marketing. For nearly two decades, she has loved a career leading marketing 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 celebrating its 20th anniversary. There, she is responsible for the marketing team that oversees all aspects of federal and local proposal development, marketing research and strategy, and communications of all kinds. 

Michelle is a Certified Professional Services Marketer (CPSM) and Past President of SMPS Atlanta (2018-2019). In 2020, she was named SMPS’s President of the Year by SMPS HQ and in 2016, she was named SMPS Atlanta’s Marketer of the Year. She currently serves on the Advisory Board and as Sponsorship Chair for the Southeastern Regional Conference for SMPS, which she has attended for nearly a decade across the Southeast. She holds a BFA in Theater from New York University and an MBA in Marketing from Georgia State University. Her greatest achievement, however, is actively surviving being a mother to a teenage girl, Leah, and a preteen boy, Gabriel, who keep her busy chauffeuring them between dance and soccer, respectively. In her limited free time, you can find her curled up on the porch with a book, a cup of coffee, and her corgi, Georgie.

Matt Frankel, MBA, CPSM is the National Business Development Coach for JE Dunn Construction. Matt’s passion lies in helping others succeed, which is why he’s dedicated his career to coaching and mentoring others. Thanks to a diverse professional path that has included financial services, insurance investigations, 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. 

He has served as JE Dunn Construction’s in-house national business development coach for more than 6 years, averaging more than $4 billion per year in pursuits coached. Prior to that, he was a coach and consultant to leaders at some of the largest and most-respected companies in the world, including: Coca-Cola, The Home Depot, AT&T, Dell, Bank of America, Jabil, Southern Company, Genuine Parts, Fiserv, and others.

Originally from Nashville, Tennessee, Matt and his family proudly call Atlanta home.

EVENT SPONSORSHIP

Event sponsorship opportunities are available!  If you would like more details or wish to sponsor this event, please contact Susan Johnson, CPSM at [email protected] by Friday, August 4th.

SMPS Member Firms - $200
Non-Member Firms - $275

Sponsorship benefits include:

• One complimentary registration for the event
• Opportunity to deliver a 1-minute verbal company infomercial at the event
• Logo displayed on the event page of the chapter website
• Logo featured prominently on all event promotions materials including emails
  
  

EVENT SPONSOR

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