2024 Event Recap
Photos From - 2024 Owner's Rep Roundtable Luncheon

The Design of Everyday Things

Donald A. Norman

Imagine a tool that brings everyone—designers, marketers, and project managers—onto the same page in real time. Figma has become that tool for us. It’s a collaborative, cloud-based design tool that allows teams to create, share, and edit design files in real-time. It’s like if you took the collaborative system of Google Docs, where everyone can work together seamlessly on the same file, with Adobe’s intelligent and responsive design framework, and put them together in one application. After introducing  this system to my team, I watched our marketing and proposal workflow evolve from near-siloed and somewhat cumbersome to smooth, collaborative, and efficient. 

In this article, I’m going to walk you through how Figma has been such a game-changer and how you, too, can leverage its features to enhance team alignment, speed up your process, and bring a new level of precision and creativity to your proposals. More importantly though, why stepping outside your comfort zone with new software can be beneficial, even if your current tools feel adequate. 

Around this time of year many marketing professionals are knee deep in planning and strategy meetings for 2025. What are your firm’s business development goals for the upcoming year? What tactics will best support your team? To answer these questions, it can be helpful to know what other firms are doing to calibrate your own efforts. Industry comparisons can help you make the case to implement new processes. They can also help you understand what your competition is doing to help spark ideas for differentiation.  

The Deltek Clarity survey and report is an excellent resource for architecture and engineering industry trends and practices. Each year, in collaboration with professional organizations (SMPS is one of them), Deltek conducts an industry survey of architecture and engineering firms and publishes the findings in five key areas:  project management, human capital management, financial management, tech trends, and business development. It’s a great place to gather ideas and can help you evaluate areas for improvement or growth – even if you are a department of one. 

A coworker wrote, “what is one of your favorite restaurants in the Denver Downtown area?” on our common area whiteboard, and we sure got some responses! I, unfortunately, have not yet had the chance to visit every single one of these places so if I haven't yet been, I've provided my gut-instinct opinion from perusing Google reviews. Next time you’re trying to choose a spot, take a look at the restaurants our members near Downtown Denver would recommend:

Casa Bonita is more than just a restaurant; it’s a full-fledged experience that combines dining with entertainment, making it a unique destination in its own right. Located in Lakewood, Colorado, Casa Bonita is a massive pink stucco building that stands out with its whimsical, almost theme-park-like atmosphere. The restaurant is famous for its immersive environment, complete with cliff divers, puppet shows, arcade games, and even a haunted cave.

Casa Bonita is unlike any other restaurant in Colorado. The interior is designed to resemble a Mexican village, complete with winding paths, cave-like rooms, and a waterfall that serves as the backdrop for the cliff divers. The attention to detail in the decor creates an immersive experience that’s both kitschy and charming.

Usually, it begins with the clock. Or, more accurately, my noticing the clock—minute hand discomfitingly deep into the eight o’clock hour. And then the thought: I am going to be late.

“Let’s GO! Daddy’s going to be late! Let’s GO GO GO GO GO. Shoes on, everyone!”

If you've been an A/E/C marketer for a while, you probably have a core memory of that ONE proposal—the beast of all beasts. The one that made you question your sanity and every life decision that led to the moment it crossed your desk.

It's been several years, but my "proposal-from-hell" experience still evokes shreds of PTSD when I recall its insane requirements and impossible deadline. But it was THIS paragraph (which admittedly, I initially skimmed and dismissed as a standard requirement) that brought me to a standstill when I reread it 24 hours before the submission deadline:

The way A/E/C firms approach business development continues to evolve. Today's successful firms leverage a combination of dedicated (full-time) business developers and seller-doers (professionals who handle both project delivery and business development).

Building on a Foundation of Success

SMPS Colorado’s One2One Mentor-Protégé program is now open for applications!  Find out how being a part of an official mentor-mentee relationship can benefit you personally and professionally.

 What are the Benefits of the (SMPS) Mentoring Program?

The temperatures dip, the days get shorter, and marketing planning and budgeting for a new year begins! Marketers on all levels, from coordinators to directors, are crunching numbers, reflecting on the past year, and planning for future efforts. 

What does the future look like? What challenges do marketers anticipate in the year ahead? Over 80% of respondents identified economic instability as the primary challenge they are facing, with intense competition (72%) and shifting customer preferences (55%) following closely behind. 

Back in Kansas, where I’m from, we take our barbeque (BBQ) very seriously. I can still remember eating ribs at KC Masterpiece, no BBQ sauce needed because I was raised that you only need the sauce if the meat isn’t what it could be. As I got older, a pulled pork sandwich from Oklahoma Joe’s, which was actually out of a gas station, was all a BBQ lover could ask for. 

Now, like Dorothy, we’re not in Kansas anymore, but having lived in Idaho Springs, Colorado for almost 4 years, Smokin’ Yards has become the place that takes, at least our taste buds, back home. 

The Content Strategist

Contently is a blog that takes readers on a dive into the world of content marketing, strategy, and social media in a wide range of industries.

Do you run meetings where getting people to engage feels like pulling teeth? I know I do. I also know of an ancient facilitation technique that helps to break the ice, and make things a little more alive.

Yes, icebreakers can feel a little silly—and they are no silver bullet for the many challenges of running a great meeting—but I would argue that they are still an essential facilitation tool. What can icebreakers do?

“Start with Why” by Simon Sinek is a thoughtful read on business leaders and political visionaries who have shaped history. A few of the examples in Sinek’s story: Walt Disney, Wright Brothers, Martin Luther King Jr., Herb Kelleher, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and Sam Walton. Sinek argues that some did not have first-mover advantage, the best product, nor the most talented team, rather he attributes their success to focusing on the “why.”

The paradigm shift of starting with “why do something” rather than “what are we doing” can be a game-changer. According to Sinek, “the why” is a more effective way of defining your business objectives, which enables the team to clearly understand the mission and how to get there. This is part of the golden circle framework, which has three layers. First, “the why-” the core purpose/cause, then “the how-” the processes to get there, and lastly “the what-“the products or services offered. When the golden circle is properly executed, the team has a greater sense of purpose and appreciation for the cause, which leads to more trust, loyalty, and profitability. 

Recently, SMPS HQ announced the 2023 Fellows Class and our very own, Michele Raftery was announced as an SMPS Fellow. As a Principal and Partner at 4240 Architecture, Michele’s roles are diverse—from leading the firm’s project pursuits, business and marketing strategy, research and development, office management and HR to managing visioning, analytics, and graphic design on project teams. Michele’s experience spans many regions, scales, and project types including: hospitality, multi-family, senior housing, commercial office, government, and higher-ed in locations as far at Hong Kong and project costs up to $500M. She’s passionate about learning and always eager to serve the profession to advance the quality and impact of the built environment. This life-long learning ethos manifests itself through listening platforms at home with her four children and service platforms beyond. Michele is currently serving as a Trustee for the SMPS Foundation and is a SMPS Colorado Past President (2016/17) and Leonardo Winner (2020/21).

Talk About AI Before Anybody Else in Your Firm
From SMPS HQ, a piece on key insights and ideas from the SMPS Webinar Revolutionizing AEC: Unleashing the Power of AI in AEC Marketing. 
https://www.smps.org/2023/06/16/talk-about-ai-before-anybody-else-in-your-firm/

Bold Brand 2.0 by Josh Miles is a refreshing read on rebranding/repositioning a company, so your firm can stand out amongst the sea of competition. The Bold Brand’s niche is the A/E/C marketplace; however, the bulk of the book is applicable to nearly any industry. Bold Brand 2.0 encourages a company to periodically distill its brand down to its core, then evaluate your brand on how it is reflected across the company’s ecosystem, to ensure the branding is consistent and coherent throughout. Moreover, it advocates evaluating a customer’s journey to identify opportunities, which can be a tedious exercise, but totally revealing.

If you missed Part 1 of this series, visit the SMPS Colorado Blog.

We are surrounded by negativity and pessimistic outlooks everywhere we turn these days, without even having to look for it. On the other hand, finding engaging and inspiring material that leans on positivity takes a bit more effort. (Like filtering through the political and comparison garbage to watch dog videos on Instagram.)