Last week, over 40 members of SMPS Philadelphia traveled to the heart of Pennsylvania – beautiful Lancaster – to CULTIVATE: activate, innovate, and motivate at the SMPS Northeast Regional Conference (NERC)! If you aren’t familiar, SMPS hosts seven regional conferences across the country each year, in addition to our national conference, Amplify A|E|C. Each NERC is hosted by a different Chapter – past locations have included Boston, Lake George (NY), Rhode Island, and right here in Philadelphia in 2023.

I’m thrilled to share that we had a record-breaking turnout from our Chapter this year – and even more exciting, many attendees were NERC first-timers! Over 2½ days packed with learning, connection, and inspiration, I had the pleasure of speaking with many of our members as well as SMPS peers from other Chapters. The feedback was overwhelmingly positive – the educational sessions, networking opportunities, and the energy were all next level. We had candid conversations about challenges we face in our work lives – staffing, proposal workloads, organizing marketing departments – and we connected with newer members eager to get more involved.

This is the heart of SMPS. This is why I’m so passionate about this organization. And so honored to serve as Chapter President.

2025 SMPS NORTHEAST REGIONAL CONFERENCE (NERC)

Last week over 40 Chapter members attended SMPS's Northeast Regional Conference (NERC) in beautiful Lancaster, PA! Check out Laura's Message from the President above and all the awesome social media posts attendees shared about SMPS Philadelphia's strong presence at this year's NERC. Photos of Philly's "phinest" having "phun" are here!

BUILDING MARKETING BUDGETS THAT WORK

Hey you amazing marketing/BD directors, managers, and multi-hyphenate armies of one who are responsible for developing and maximizing your firm’s marketing spend. Let’s get empowered to take control of our budgeting processes and better gain leadership buy-in for the dollars needed for the critical work we do. In this virtual session, Bolanle Williams-Olley (SheBuildsLives and REACHNigeria) shared insights into her years of experience as a CFO in AEC marketing. Bolanle gave attendees tools and practical strategies to structure budgets effectively, align them with marketing goals, and implement tracking systems that demonstrate ROI to your firm’s leaders. 

TECH TUESDAY - PHOTO EDITING HACKS

April layers bring May time-savers! Thank you Dorothy Verdon, CPSM (Principal, Bright Bunny Communications) for showing us the latest, greatest, and easiest photo editing hacks in Photoshop! PS 2025’s tools for our most common and complex editing needs are getting more sophisticated and it’s now easier to do more with less effort. From all kinds of background replacement to removing elements seamlessly to single-area and total image color correction, the sky replacement’s the limit and nothing can undo our Ctrl+Zeal for leaning into these hacks (and hacky jokes). And Dorothy has more to share, too – say tuned for a future second session!

2025-2028 STRATEGIC PLAN WORKSHOP

This Program Year we embarked on a journey of collaboration to develop a 3-year Strategic Plan for our chapter. Following this process’ earlier Assessment Survey and Identification of Common Themes efforts, 16 dedicated chapter members joined facilitator Holly Bolton, FSMPS, CPSM, SMPS Philadelphia’s Board of Directors, and SMPS CEO Marci Thompson for a half-day workshop to formally collaborate, strategize, and set the course for the next several years at SMPS Philadelphia. We engaged with one another to reiterate common themes and key chapter goals; contributed ideas on diverse strategies to drive chapter success; prioritized our chapter’s most impactful goals and initiatives; and learned so much more about the ins and outs of creating and organizing Strategic Plans to use in our lives and take back to our firms. Thanks to everyone who participated at each stage of the Strategic Plan process – we can’t wait to share the SMPS Philadelphia 2025-2028 Strategic Plan with all of you later this spring! 

SMPS MANAGEMENT MASTERCLASS SERIES: MANAGING UP

Come extroverts, introverts, ambiverts, all! We wrapped up our Management Masterclass series with a truly great session from Mary Abbajay who shared lessons from her book Managing Up: How to Move Up, Win at Work, and Succeed with Any Type of Boss. In this interactive workshop, Mary challenged us to delve further into our perceptions of self in work and in life to better hone our ability to build important relationships that foster communication, collaboration, cooperation, and understanding between people at all levels of our organizations, all of whom, like each of us, bring different perspectives and skills. And the reviews for Managing Up are in – bestselling authors and our attendees agreed: “I appreciated learning that adaptability and influence are powerful tools and can yield more positive outcomes and successful working relationships than control-centric methods.” “My biggest takeaway is to check in with my intent vs. my impact. I’m definitely going to be more mindful about how I am impacting others.”

TECH TUESDAY - DATA IN MARKETING

In March’s Tech Tuesday, we dove deep into the data with Phillip Paverd (Director of Analytics, Slice Communications). Phillip gave us a wide-ranging overview of how we as consumers give away our data every day and how we as marketers can leverage data-driven insights to help us better understand and reach our audiences. He helped us to understand the types of data we as consumers share daily; translate data insights into actionable marketing strategies; offered key techniques to gather, analyze, and use data to improve engagement; and shared best practices for ethically using consumer data while respecting privacy concerns.

Key takeaways: 

SMPS PHL NEW MEMBER ORIENTATION

Feeling nifty at OVER 150! This Program Year SMPS Philadelphia has welcomed over 20 new members to our chapter, bringing our active member count to over 150 members strong. Thanks to each and every one of you for investing in SMPS Philadelphia. Here’s to SMPS Philadelphia investing in you! Welcome Brian, Christopher, Clara, Craig, Denise, Erin, Emi, Francesca, Froilan, Jennifer D., Jennifer E., Julie, Kathrine, Kay, Kelsey, Lance, Lewis, Megan, Melissa, Mikaela, Sarah, Shannon, and Toni!

New Members

Emi Stratton

Kathrine Nash

Anniversaries

March

April

Eileen Della Volle, 24
Dorothy J. Verdon, CPSM, 39
Grace Sanford, 5
Megan Penhale, 1
Ellen Davis, CPSM, 10
Dana Buttorff, CPSM, 15
Alexandra Gigantiello, 4
Joseph Donahue, 9
Ry Taylor, 19
Kate Mundie, 2
Caitlin Buglione, 4
Christine Larsen, MBA, CPSM, 7
Tina DeVita, 1
Sierra Fuller, 1

Danielle DeJohn, 2
Liz Murnane, 2
Matt Wittemann, CPSM, 11
Holly Uses, 1
Kimberly Kerns, 3
Gabrielle Dondici, 1
Dayna Berryman, 8
Kelsey Hoffman, 2
Hannah Miller, 3