Program Info
Conference Program Sessions
Wednesday, April 6, 2022
Special Session: Panel & Welcome Program
Money, Money, Money Panel
Panel Moderator
Nelsie Henning, Director of Business Development and Marketing, SFS Architecture
Panelists:
Jason Gregory, Downtown Wichita
Michael L. Short, Managing Director, Stifel, Nicolaus & Company
Gary Oborny, CEO & Chairman, Occidental Management, Inc.
Mike Zamrzla, Deputy State Director, U.S. Senator Jerry Moran
Time
2:00 – 3:45 pm
Money, Money, Money: It makes the world go around, but how do we understand its effects on the AEC industry? What’s going on with private investments in development, what’s the latest in public funding and how do local, state, and federal politics play into the game of money?
We’re bringing the experts to MVRC! We will learn what the hot P3’s are, how school bond issues drive AEC, the impact and timing of the ARPA and CARES ACT, who’s financing our private developments, and how the cost of materials, labor and supply chain is affecting our region.
This is an excellent session to bring your senior project managers, principals, and pursuit team to learn and network with the industry experts. There’s something for everyone in this great session which will kick off the conference!
Thursday, April 7, 2022
Opening Key Note
Break the Achievement Addiction: Diminish Stress by Redefining Success on Your Terms
Speaker
CJ McClanahan
Time
8:30 – 10 am
For as long as you can remember, you’ve worked extremely hard to be the best.
Now you’re thriving in a busy career, running your own business or quickly climbing the corporate ladder.
However, instead of being satisfied with your progress, every achievement only seems to add more stress and complexity to your life. You’re beginning to doubt that the phrase “I’ll be happy as soon as…” will ever be true.
As a fellow overachiever, I know exactly how you feel. In addition, for more than fifteen years I’ve coached over four hundred highly talented, driven professionals who faced the exact same challenge.
This experience has taught me that there’s a much better way to live.
In this provocative, engaging and at times loud talk, CJ will bring compelling solutions to the following problems:
– What challenges does the classic “Type-A” personality face?
– How did we develop this obsession with achievement?
– What’s the most effective way to re-define success?
– How can you continue to grow professionally and enjoy the journey at the same time?
You need to join us at MVRC for CJ’s keynote if you raise your hand to any of the following points:
– Highly driven, educated and compensated professional
– Work environment is fast paced, demanding and full of changes
– Workload has increased over the past decade and there’s no indication this will stop
– Stress level is at an all-time high
– Advancing your career is important
– Interested in getting more “enjoyment” from the work effort
Our Missouri Valley Regional Conference attendees will love CJ’s wit and clarity, and will certainly leave the conference with a renewed sense of confidence and a refreshed outlook on their demanding careers.
Breakout Sessions
Marketing Track
Business Development Track
Leadership Track
How Market Research Can Influence Your Strategy
Time
10:30 – 11:45 am
Speaker
Sarah Kinard, Head Bird
The Flamingo Project
Is your firm developing a new strategy post-pandemic? Or maybe they are evaluating and evolving a previous strategy. If so, market research may be your silver bullet. A mysterious term for many, market research is used as a catch-all for various research types that inform how firms make decisions, capture work, and plan for the future. So what is it? Why do I need it? And what do I do with it? We will discuss a new approach to market research you can use immediately.
Hi-Viz Leadership: Business Development through Speaking, Community and Content
Time
10:30 – 11:45 am
Speaker
Jennifer Szambecki-Benninga, Marketing Director
Hutton
Company leaders have connections and expertise developed over years, often decades of experience. But what are the best ways to harness and leverage that expertise for business development? This session will explore the tactic known as “leadership visibility.” For example, we’ll investigate how to pitch leaders for community positions and as speakers at conferences where prospects will be present. Learn how to use this low-cost, high-value tactic as part of your overall marketing and business development strategy.
Marketing Like Silicon Valley: How Agile Methods Improve Operational Effectiveness
Time
10:30 – 11:45 am
Speaker
Craig Park, FSMPS, Assoc. AIA, Managing Partner
Catalyst Factor
Agile Marketing is a powerful and tactical approach to improve processes that empower you marketing team by encouraging constant and swift growth. Agile Marketing is based on the Agile approach to project management pioneered by Silicon Valley’s technology industry. Using the concepts of Agile Marketing, the presentation provides a quick and rapid review of the concept, how it works, and how you can leverage this powerful methodology with your marketing team. Be prepared to see some excellent examples!
Don't Have a Database? Learn How to Automate Your Content with Spreadsheets – Even Project Sheets, Org Charts, and Resumes with Photos!
Time
1:30 – 2:45 pm
Speaker
Julie Shaffer, CPSM, Owner/Creative Director
Shaffer Creative, LLC
So, you manage marketing data in a spreadsheet, and now you need to turn it into something extraordinary in InDesign. Something graphically appealing and compelling. Something that’s not a table. This hands-on intermediate/advanced InDesign session will look at the fan-favorite magical automation tool—the Data Merge panel—to build pursuit components. Data Merge allows you to drag fields into your document—with styles!—and merge content to a series of grouped frames, pages, etc.
Show Your Business Development Value
Panel
Time
1:30 – 2:45 pm
Moderator:
Tim Pile, Business Development, Building Controls and Services, Inc.
Panelists:
Nelsie Henning, Director of Business Development and Marketing, SFS Architecture
Michael Benck, CPSM, Corporate Services/Business Development, Alvine Engineering/IP Design Group
Mackenzie Carolan, Vice President, Linbeck Group, LLC
A/E/C professionals know that effective business development is more than golf games and cocktail hours. Setting up introductory and check-in meetings is challenging, especially with today’s hybrid work environment. And then, once you get the meeting, how do you turn conversations into opportunities, and project insights into compelling proposal content? Great business developers know they must create measurable outcomes to prove their value to their firms. We’re digging into details during this session to understand how to measure the process to develop relationships that lead to wins. This panel discussion gathers BD leaders from across the Missouri Valley region and beyond to share insights, KPIs, and stories to help firms establish and understand how to measure best practices in business development.
Reshaping the CEO
Time
1:30 – 2:45 pm
Speaker
Donna Corlew, FSMPS, CPSM, Chief Whatever It Takes Officer
C*Connect
Next-Gen-thinking CEOs bring a different perspective to running A/E/C firms – more collaborative, team-oriented, and at times less decisive. We must learn to trust in leaders that don’t have all the answers and don’t necessarily want to have all the answers. We must understand the new order where marketing and business development is expected at the table as a trusted advisor. Hear primary research conducted with these next gen CEOs and marketing/BD teams that are winning along with them.
Driving Growth with Digital Marketing: 10 Steps to Create a Digital Marketing Program
Time
3:15 – 4:30 pm
Speaker
Lindsay Diven, CPSM, Sales & Marketing Manager, Blackbox Connector
Full Sail Partners
High growth A/E/C firms generate half their leads from online sources. Is 50 percent of your firm’s new leads generated from digital sources? If not, then this session is for you. Together we’ll define your personas, identify your goals, outline a content strategy, ideate ways to repurpose and promote that content, and show you how to optimize and analyze your marketing performance. Best of all is that this strategy works with firms and budgets of all sizes. You’ll walk away with an outline of your digital marketing program.
How to Use Neuroscience, Client Personas and Empathy Mapping to Stand Out
Time
3:15 – 4:30 pm
Speaker
Sarah Kinard, Head Bird
The Flamingo Project
Each of our clients are humans, professionals, and need different things from us at different times within the lifecycle of a relationship. Do you know where your clients are at this point in time and what it can mean for your business? Join us for a session designed to help you understand the neuroscience of trusted advisor relationships and take you through Empathy Mapping to uncover themes, topics, and tactics to pivot your services and bring value in new ways.
Change-Proofing Your Marketing Department: How to Take Back Control of Your Time and Prevent Burn-out
Time
3:15 – 4:30 pm
Speaker
Allison Tivnon, Pursuit Manager
Middle of Six
For over two years, A/E/C marketers have operated under extreme conditions as our firms grapple with short- and long-term responses to the pandemic. Many A/E/C firms—fueled by uncertainty—have doubled-down on RFPs and thrust marketers into a ‘chase everything that moves’ never-ending stream of proposals. Coordinators, managers, and directors are teetering on the edge of burn-out as they deal with industry-wide staffing shortages and an expectation that marketing will somehow figure out how to do more with less. With so many factors beyond our control, it’s common to fall into the trap of thinking this is the way it must be. It doesn’t! In this session, attendees will learn how to disrupt the ‘firm psychology’ that often forces A/E/C marketers into a perpetual reactive state. Participants will leave the session equipped with knowledge, action steps, and exercises marketing teams can do together to strengthen team morale and take back control of their time and sanity.
Friday, April 8, 2022
MAX Sessions
Time
8:30 – 9:45 am
*Allotted time for each MAX talk is 15 minutes, order is TBD.
Stop Pivoting, You Are Making Me Dizzy
Speaker
Jan Flesher, PMP, Director, Marketing Systems
Global Infrastructure Pilar
T.Y. Lin International Group
There is so much “pivoting” going on, I’m dizzy! Taking action is what moves companies. Our 1957 Spartan Royal Manor Travel Trailor was made by the Spartan Aircraft Company. If you look them up, you will find they are out of business. Find out why they and many other companies don’t make it by “pivoting.” This newly cliched word has driven firms into obsolescence. Insights from our Spartan’s beginnings allowed me to recraft my business, refocus my energy, and renew my passion. Our vintage trailer has taught me life lessons that I can’t wait to share.
A Farm Kid’s Journey to A/E/C Marketer
Speaker
Donna Corlew, FSMPS, CPSM, Chief Whatever It Takes Officer
C*Connect
Growing up on a dairy farm in Tennessee, Donna didn’t realize lessons learned from long days on the farm would prepare her for a life as an A/E/C marketer. This MAX talk explores how the first 18 years of her life shaped how she could take the world of architects, engineers, and builders “by the horns” by applying these lessons.
Specializing in Doing it All
Speaker
Christina Beaird, CPSM, LEED Green Associate, Head of Marketing
Professional Engineering Consultants
For many within the A/E/C industry, due to size of team, company structure, maybe a bit of gap in understanding of what exactly we do; we’re called upon to be generalists in marketing, communications, and business development — often touching on other areas of business as well like HR, project coordination, and more (we’ll get to that). What do you do, where do you start, and how do you prioritize when you’re responsible for everything? This dynamic MAX talk promises insights and answers to inspire.
Closing Key Note
The Four (and a Half) Steps to Unlocking Passion and Overcoming Mediocrity”
Time
10:00 – 11:15 am
Speaker
Danielle Gray
Have you ever left a conference full of excitement just to return to your desk with zero enthusiasm? It can literally disappear in a matter of days, hours, or even minutes. Why?
Passion may be ignited, but it isn’t sustainable. In absence of passion, days are long, patience is short, complacency is born, and ambition can die. However, with sustainable passion and enthusiasm, external elements like ridiculous deadlines and difficult people can no longer jade your experience because you are in control.
In this session, we will explore four and a half steps to ignite and sustain your passion for both work and life. If you are ready to honestly look at yourself, your environment and your beliefs about what life is, this session is for you.
If you aren’t in control of your life, who is?
MVRC attendees will love Danielle’s humor and authenticity. Her stories bring the ideas to life and possibility. It will be impossible for attendees to walk away unaffected after listening to Danielle.
