Erika Passailaigue, CPSM
Datum Engineers
Where has the time gone? Just one short month from now, August 31 will mark both the end of the fiscal SMPS year and my tenure as President. It has been a whirlwind of activity since last September, which has made this year speed by like a blur on the F1 Race Track.
The Chapter is stronger than ever and has grown significantly in the past ten months. We started out with our membership at 71 last September and we are currently at 91 members! This is a significant increase in less than a year. SMPS National monitors the growth of all SMPS chapters on a monthly basis. The Austin Chapter had the highest growth of all the SMPS Chapters at 8.75%, in April. So we are not only making strides locally, but nationally as well.
Our luncheon programs have been especially timely and relevant this year. Luncheon programs in February (P3) and June (Texas A&M) both sold out, as did our April Tour (Federal Courthouse). Many other luncheons have brought in 90-plus attendees. This is a good indicator for us to gauge the effectiveness of our programming.
Programming has also helped us to have healthy sponsorship numbers this year. Because of the support of our sponsors, we were able to keep our luncheon program prices at the same rate as last year, even though our costs went up significantly in January.
We held our first golf tournament in April, which was a blast! Sponsorships from the golf tournament helped us make a contribution of over $800 to the National SMPS Foundation.
We also held our first round table information sharing event just last month. The topic was CRM systems. Since this is a new format for us, we’d like to hear from those who attended (as well as other members) if this is something you would like to see us continue to offer.
In addition to our firsts for the year, we’ve continued to build on some other important programs that were new last year, including our Mentor Protégé Class and our Communications Awards Program. Internally, we set up procedures to make sure that there is a plan in place to be able to continue to do these each year. That plan starts with assigning a champion to lead each of these efforts, along with a written guideline to have them easily transition from year to year.
Our communications committee has continued to make sure that we stay abreast of the latest in social media and started real-time tweeting this year during our June luncheon. They have also put out a fantastic newsletter throughout the year on quarterly intervals, in addition to keeping our website, communications, and marketing materials updated and professional.
I’ve met so many wonderful people and learned so much by serving as the Austin Chapter President for the past two years. I am excited about the new leaders that are coming up in the organization and eager to see what great new ideas they come up with. If I could leave you with one piece of advice from my experiences it would be share the love. I learned that by working together we are able to achieve success many times over what we can achieve on our own.
Thank you to our members, our volunteers, the chapter leaders and the national staff for the unforgettable experiences and the lasting friendships. I wish you all the best and hope to see you at an SMPS event soon!
Brittney Mahlum
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