New Member Spotlight: Christina Bennett

Christina Bennett
SAM, Inc.

Where do you work and what’s your position? Brief Description of company.

I am the Marketing/Communications Coordinator at Surveying And Mapping, Inc. (SAM, Inc.), a geospatial services firm that provides complete land surveying, mobile and airborne LiDAR, photogrammetry, GIS, subsurface utility engineering (SUE), and utility coordination services. SAM, Inc. was established in 1994, and has grown to be one of the largest geospatial firms in the southwest. We leverage the latest technology to deliver precision mapping projects for electric energy, oil & gas, rail, transportation and infrastructure across the US and Canada.

In my role as Marketing/Communications Coordinator, I am responsible for coordinating the communications strategy to support the internal and external image of the firm. Ongoing duties include design and updating of company website, brochures and collateral material, event planning for corporate events and tradeshows, mailings and e-blasts, press releases, and special projects for C-Level management.

Where is your hometown? Where did you go to school?
Believe it or not, I am a native Austinite, and have lived here my whole life. I grew up in Pflugerville, and then went to UT Austin. I graduated in 2002 with a degree in Design from the School of Fine Arts, and kind of stumbled into a marketing role after my college internship with a small landscape architecture and planning firm in Round Rock.

What do you like to do in your free time? Hobbies?
 I am an avid reader, love to go camping and work on my never ending list of home improvement projects. I still paint, screen print, and make books in my (very limited) spare time.

What is your favorite thing about Austin?
The people!

What do you expect to get out of your SMPS membership?
The opportunity to network and share best-practices (or horror stories), and continue to learning as much as I can about the marketing profession and the A/E/C industry.

SMPS Austin-DPR Marketing ROI Educational

 
 
 

Tips & Tricks: Creating an Object Library

Every organization has images and verbiage that they rely on repeatedly to create printed material. For these recurring items, InDesign has created a handy tool called the Object Library. The Object Library works like a panel in InDesign and allows you to store frequently used items in one convenient location.

To begin creating your Object Library, open a document that contains material you would like to store in the Object Library (a company brochure or recently completed proposal works well). From the File menu, select New>Library. You can name the library whatever you choose (and you can have multiple libraries for different uses). Using the Selection tool, simply drag a page item from the document and drop it into the Library panel. You can store images and text in the library. You can also specify the name and description of the items, if desired. To ensure that the library opens each time you launch InDesign, save your workspace under Window>Save Workspace. If you prefer to launch the library only at certain times, you can choose File>Open and simply open the library from the location you saved it.

Katie Harris, LEED AP
Encotech Engineering Consultants

Project Spotlight - Twin Oaks Branch Library

The original Twin Oaks Branch Library opened in 1956 in a neighborhood shopping mall on East Oltorf. The branch moved three times within the same shopping center, and since 1992 it has occupied only 5,360 s.f. of leased space. Funding necessary to acquire and build a permanent 10,000 s.f. replacement branch were approved in the 1998 City of Austin Bond Election.

The new Twin Oaks Branch Library opened to the public on August 21, 2010. The facility includes a large main reading area, young adult and children’s reading rooms, computer stations, staff offices and support spaces, and generous outdoor seating, including an amphitheatre area. The facility was constructed to operate as a “library for the future,” patterned after a popular new design model for community libraries which is indicative of South Austin culture and incorporates many features found in upscale bookstores.

The library was designed and constructed using Austin Energy Green Building Program standards, which has requirements similar to the United States Green Building Council's LEED Silver rating. Sustainable features include a rainwater harvesting system and a daylighting control system that dims electric lamps when the building has sufficient daylight for reading and other activities. The library also features a 25.2 kW solar energy system that is expected to generate 32,760 kWh annually, which is sufficient power for about three standard sized homes. Additionally, reused bricks salvaged during the demolition of the old South Austin Post Office building, which formerly stood on the site, were used for construction. The building includes 15 huge timber trusses made of reclaimed Douglas Fir which saved about 30 large trees.

Owner
City of Austin

Architect
Hatch Partnership

Contractor
Jamail & Smith Construction

MEP Engineer
Encotech Engineering Consultants

Structural Engineer
Jaster-Quintanilla & Associates

Civil Engineer
Raymond Chan & Associates

Landscape Architect
Winterowd Associates, Inc.

Interior Design
Laurie Smith Design Associates

Commissioning Agent
KWR Engineering Services

If you are interested in submitting a recently completed project for inclusion in the SMPS Austin Newsletter, please contact Helga Diaz.

Economic Engines - Air Transportation January Luncheon

For more pictures go to our web album.

SMPS Networking Social Hour at the W

The W Hotel is finally open! Join SMPS on Thursday, January 20th from 5-7 pm for an informal social hour to check out the venue and enjoy unique W drinks. There’s no agenda, just tasty libations and good conversations. The Living Room bar consists of several rooms, so we will be mingling throughout. Hope to see you there!

Cash bar.

When: Thursday, January 20, 2011 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM

Where: Living Room Bar at the W Hotel
200 Lavaca Street, Austin, TX 78701

SMPS Webinar: Measuring Marketing ROI: Current Trends in the A/E/C Industry

In today's economy, employers are asking for greater accountability from marketing staff. Measuring a return on the investment (ROI) in marketing is a hot topic in marketing journals and at marketing conferences. But what are firms really doing to effectively measure their marketing initiatives and evaluate their marketing efforts? This program will discuss the results of a survey conducted by SMPS and Sally Handley Inc. Join us to learn the latest trends in measuring ROI and the marketing metrics being used by your colleagues in the A/E/C industry.

Learning Objectives

• Understand the challenges involved in measuring marketing ROI and methods your peers are using to overcome these challenges.
• Learn a basic approach to using metrics to measure various aspects of the marketing effort.
• Gain access to the latest techniques being used to measure ROI in the A/E/C industry, based on a survey of the SMPS membership.

About the Speaker

Sally A. Handley, FSMPS, is President of Sally Handley Inc., a marketing consulting, training, and staffing firm. With over 25 years experience, Sally offers an online Webinar series entitled AEC Marketing 101. In 2006, she published Marketing Metrics De-Mystified: Methods for Measuring ROI and Evaluating Your Marketing Effort. This year she published When Can You Start? The A/E/C Guide to Recruiting, Managing and Retaining a Marketing Coordinator. Both are available at www.sallyhandley.com. In 2007, Sally was selected by the SMPS Foundation to author a White Paper based on original research on the topic of Knowledge Management and the A/E/C Industry. Sally was the recipient of the SMPS New York Chapter Marketing Achievement Award.

CEU Credits
SMPS webinars are approved for 1.5 hours of Certified Professional Services Marketer (CPSM) CEUs and AIA LU Hours. Recordings of SMPS webinars are approved for 1.5 hours of CPSM hours only.

When: Thursday, January 27, 2011 11:30 AM - 1:30 PM

Where: DPR Construction, Inc.
9606 North Mopac, Suite 300, Austin, TX 78759

Event Registration Fee:
Member: Complimentary
Non-Member: $35.00

RSVP by Monday, January 24, 2011