Our 2025-2026 Program Year is in full swing. If you missed out on the first few events, fear not! The Board of Directors is planning through the end of 2026 (just like our sponsorship deals!). 

📅 This year we are working on a standardized schedule for much of our programming, so you can mark your calendar now for the next few months...

-          👩🏽‍💻 Tech Tuesdays are still the second Tuesday of each month—November 11, December 9, January 13… you get the picture! Interesting in sharing what tools are really working for you with our group? Contact Lauren with your ideas!

-          📚 Professional Development will be the third Wednesday of each month, held at locations in Center City. Most of these will be over lunch, with a few exceptions*:

o   Nov 19 – Video Basics for Maximum Impact

o   Dec 17 – MCA Award Submissions

o   Jan 21 – Bill Long is Back for Part 2: Connect, Meet, Follow-up – the Critical Steps in the Client Acquisition Process

o   Feb 18 – Proposal Writing with Middle of Six

o   Mar 12 – Joint Event with AIA Philadelphia

o   April 15 – Tour (TBD)*

o   May 20 – InDesign with Julie Shaffer*

o   June 17 – Proposal Roundtable

-          ☕ Espresso Exchange will be select fourth Tuesdays—October 28, February 24, April 28, June 23). 

TECH TUESDAY - MAKE IT PRETTY: TOOLS & TRICKS TO ELEVATE YOUR PROPOSALS FAST

It’s every marketer’s favorite question from technical staff: “hey, can you make this look pretty?” We’ve all been faced with a screenshot of a scan of a hard copy of a specific go-by graphic that just needs to get into the proposal. When the source file archaeology is not worth the dig, let’s employ some quick design tricks that save time and give us more creative agency. Thanks to Gab Dondici (Marketing Manager, MCM) for taking us step-by-step through recreating one of those need-to-have graphics on our own terms, using Adobe Express, Illustrator, and icons from free, open sources like Flaticon and The Noun Project. What a relief to make so many of those old workflow graphics new, editable, and handy!  

TECH TUESDAY - DESIGN MADE SIMPLE: GETTING STARTED WITH CANVA

Thanks to our Canva Pro (also the plan type she uses!), Abby Early (Marketing and Proposal Manager, Burns Engineering), for sharing her best practices on navigating the free or paid platform to create branding, find and integrate templates, use collaborative tools, and tap into AI-powered content generation to save time and make our design lives easier while creating a huge range of great graphics. PS - SMPS Philadelphia uses Canva extensively for our marketing and communications materials, and we love it!

PROGRAM YEAR KICKOFF - SKYLINE SOCIAL AT CIRA GREEN

Do you remember, this SMPS night in September? We kicked off the 2025-2026 program year with sky-high views and a sunset schmooze at gorgeous Cira Green, Philly’s park in the sky – it was a great night to recharge, reconnect, make new SMPS friends, immediately play them in cornhole, and get excited for a great year of programming. Thanks to Chapter President Nikki Campbell for her warm call to welcome and all of the committee members who contributed to this super social! 

ALIGN AND ACHIEVE: MAKING THE MOST OF IN-PERSON EVENTS

Marrying technical, business development, and marketing live in the rooms where it most needs to happen is both a science and an art. Enter SMPS Philadelphia and WiSE Philadelphia’s all-star panel who shared actionable insights on how preparation and alignment between all areas of our teams can elevate networking, client meetings, conferences, and industry events. Attendees walked away with strategies for setting goals, creating stronger connections, preparing impactful booths, and following up with intention. Thank you to our moderator, panelists, partners at WiSE, and everyone who joined us for an engaging evening of learning and connection!

UNDERSTANDING LGBTQIA+ HISTORY, WORKPLACE EXPERIENCES, AND ALLYSHIP

In celebration of LGBTQIA+ History Month, SMPS Philadelphia and WTS Philadelphia co-presented a virtual session on LGBTQIA+ history and milestones in Philadelphia (including, beginning in the mid-1960s, the first gay and trans sit-in and organized, regularly occurring protests for LGBTQ rights in the US), with panelists also sharing personal past and present experiences of being out in the workplace and developing their careers in the transportation industry. Thanks to WTS moderator Mia Held, MCRP (C&S Companies), SMPS’s Steven Alvarez, APPE (Stantec), Eileen Della Volle (KS Engineers), Jason Garwood (Ballinger), and Heather Coyne (Amtrak Architect & PM) for guiding us through these critically important conversations on how we can all foster a more inclusive, knowledgeable, and supportive workplace through allyship.

TECH TUESDAY - WHY YOUR AEC FIRM'S WEBSITE STILL MATTERS IN 2025

With social media, AI, and event-based marketing seemingly dominating the AEC landscape these days, it’s easy to wonder: why should we still care about our firm’s websites? If you’re asking this question from a place of fear and holding onto those memories of countless back and forth yearly edits with your webmaster, fear less – it’s getting so much better! Greg Henry (Founder & CEO, Third & Arch) showed us why – and how to maximize – our websites to serve as one of our most important, controllable, and strategic assets in our digital marketing arsenal. Thank you, Greg, for offering your best practices for utilizing current trends in UI/UX, design, processing efficient updates, and quickly and continuously pulling the right data to analyze!

UTILIZING ACCOUNT-BASED STRATEGIES TO BUILD A PROFITABLE BACKLOG

TREAT yourself! Last week, William Long, PE, LEED AP, FSMPS (Principal, WRL Consultants) presented to a packed house at Burns’ Center City office on his Target, Research, Execute, Assess, Track (TREAT) strategy, an account-based approach to help AEC firms focus business development efforts on the right clients. Bill showed us practical tools to develop internal sales credibility, strengthen client relationships, and account plan smartly in order to pursue opportunities that truly align with our firm’s goals. Attendees left this mid-week lunch & learn armed with a customizable account planning template and roadmap to help build consensus among marketing, technical, and leadership teams for smarter pursuits.

New Members

Glenn Ebersole

Amelia Sheldon

Anniversaries

August

September

October

Erika Bohl, 4
Nikki Campbell, CPSM, 10
Elyse Conti, 13
Diane Goschler, CPSM, 6
Ernest Hanna, 15
Christina Holloway, 2
Laura Kliniewski, 2

Steven Alvarez, APPE, 4
Brian Bielawski, 1
Christyn Binder, 3
Jennifer Davis, LEED AP, 1
Christopher Hardgrove, 1
Bob Harrison, 4
Barbara Jasionek, CPSM, 12

Craig Kackenmeister, 1
Andrew Katz, CPSM, 22
Melissa Lapos, 1
William Long, PE, LEED AP, FSMPS, 31
Leyla Salehli, 13
Nicole Smith, CPSM, 15

Toni Anderson, 1
Andrew Cushman, 15
Melissa Dea, 13
Sarah Endriss, 1
Jenna Fagan, 3
Christine Ferrazzano, CPSM, 26
Katie Goodling, 2
Lewis Land, 1
Julie Levy, 1
Kirsten Malenke, CPSM, 7

Clara Mattucci, 1
Denise Richards, Megan Scales, 1
Stacey Weiss, 2
Michelle Westgate, DTM, 16