Nearly 70 people made it out to Top Golf on March 11 for the 4th Annual Golf Tournament. Big thanks to Chair Erika Passailaigue and the rest of the Golf Committee on a fantastic event. And thanks to all of the event sponsors for making the tournament possible. 

To see all event photos, CLICK HERE

Congratulations to the Tournament winners!

TopGolf Match: Kristin Clark & Chris Vadala, Bury

TopScore Match: Jeff Eubank & Charrid Stone, SpawGlass

Presenters Mahwesh Hansraj and Malory Atkinson did an excellent job explaining how graphic design is more than making things look pretty during their session at the SMPS Southern Regional Conference. It’s about functionality, readability, story telling, responsiveness and controlling the eyes of your viewer. Above are 4 of the 7 trends they discussed.

David & Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits & the Art of Battling Giants
By Malcolm Gladwell

A book review by Erin Bettison

David & Goliath is Malcolm Gladwell’s newest book about how it’s not always a bad thing to be the underdog. If you’re familiar with his writing style from Outliers, Blink and Tipping Point, he uses his trademark style of delving into case studies again here to illustrate that you don’t have always be the biggest and the best to get ahead, whether it be in your personal or professional life. Some of my favorite examples included:

A girls basketball team with minimal basketball background and even less skill benefit from an industrious coach. This example takes you through the coaches' philosophy of identifying a need for and then devising a strategy for his team to out-smart rather than out-play, which they were incapable of doing, their opponents by approaching the game in a non-traditional way.

In another example that was fascinating, Gladwell examined the concept of “near misses” and how humans psychologically respond in a strongly positive way to dangerous situations that could have had tragic outcomes. He uses examples from World War II to illustrate this theory.

To me, this book had some great parallels to our challenges in marketing AEC services. It is often so easy to become disheartened when competing against a big mega-firm or the “favorite”, but with due diligence and research, we can often discover areas where we might have the edge. Personally, it gave me a renewed pride in the human spirit in knowing that you don’t always have to be the smartest, fastest or most intimidating to succeed at anything.

PURCHASE BOOK

As Austin’s new Mayor, Steve Adler presides over a recently restructured City Council during a time of unprecedented growth and change. Austin’s reputation and the surging local economy continue to attract new residents and companies at an extraordinary pace, with both positive and negative consequences. Mayor Adler won his campaign by advocating for tax reform, managing growth, creating good jobs, and reforming the permitting process.

Join the Austin Chapter of SMPS on April 14, 2015 to learn more about Mayor Adler’s plans for “a new way forward” in city governance and the potential impact on the local AEC community.

Registration will open soon!

MORE INFO

February's Lunch and Learn was hosted by Kate Rush Sheehy, the Associate Director of Mobile & Social Platforms for R/GA.

One of the most important takeaways from the social media LNL was learning the priority of social media channels for your company; some firms place higher importance on some channels than others. Each firm has to ask itself - is this the correct choice for reaching your audience? LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook all encourage conversation, where Google+, Instagram and a blog focus on content. Start by looking at your goal and work backwards to evaluate which social media channel is the best for your firm to focus on and from there build the approriate content.

Abby Fine
Bury, Inc.

Abby Fine is the Proposal Coordinator for Bury, Inc. She is originally from Cleveland, Ohio and attended The University of Miami (2010) and La Sorbonne in Paris (2009.) Abby is interested in photography, traveling, going to the movies, shopping, reading graphic novels, going to art museums and galleries, and architecture and design advocacy. 

Abby joined SMPS because she feels that it is imperative to have a community of like-minded professionals while learning the tricks of the trade within the industry. She particularly enjoys attending information meetings, lunch and learns, happy hours and events specifically catered to marketing professionals within the A/E/C industry.