Building Confidence, Skills, and Connections

Whether you're new to AEC marketing or looking to strengthen your foundation, this track is designed to help you find your footing and build confidence. Explore practical approaches to managing workloads, navigating pursuits, embracing new ideas, and communicating effectively. Walk away with tools and insights to make an impact, no matter where you are in your career.

You Set the Menu: The Overwhelmed Marketer's Cookbook 

Workshop
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 11 | 9:30 AM - 11:30 AM

Too much on your plate, not enough hours? This high-energy, food-themed session is for A/E/C marketers who are overwhelmed and ready to take back control of their kitchen. We'll dig into reigniting your motivation, letting go of what drains you, building systems that save time, and protecting your plate even when everything's on fire. Served with humor, honesty, and tools you'll actually use.

Key Takeaways

  • Identify what's draining your motivation and apply a practical framework for reigniting your appetite for the work.
  • Use delegation, AI tools, and strategic "no's" to offload tasks that drain your time and energy without dropping the ball.
  • Build reusable templates and systems that reduce decision fatigue, protect bandwidth, and keep quality consistent.
  • Apply the Rebel Formula to set clear boundaries and communicate workload capacity to leadership confidently.

About Dana

Dana Williams is Senior Marketing Manager at Hyder Construction in Denver, CO, where she runs marketing as a department of one. A member of SMPS Colorado (where she has served as Chapter President and Programs Emcee), Dana brings energy, humor, and hard-won practical wisdom to every stage she steps on. She has spoken at 20+ events ranging from intimate workshops to audiences of 200+, including the 2025 SMPS Amplify National Conference. An active Toastmaster with 60+ speeches, Dana specializes in professional growth, leaving audiences inspired and equipped with tools they can use immediately.

The Innovation You're Not Attempting

Lecture
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 11 | 3:15 PM - 4:15 PM

Risk aversion is innovation's silent killer. This hands-on session pushes AEC marketers to fail on purpose through live exercises, then extract real insight from what went wrong. Participants leave with a repeatable framework for treating failure as data, not defeat, and the confidence to attempt bigger ideas back at their firm.

Key Takeaways

  • Reframe failure as data — Distinguish between failures that carry useful insight and failures that don't, using a repeatable evaluation method.
  • Apply a post-failure debrief framework — Extract specific, actionable lessons from a failed attempt in minutes, rather than avoiding or glossing over it.
  • Identify personal and team risk-aversion patterns — Recognize the specific fears or habits holding them back from proposing bolder ideas at their firm.
  • Practice low-stakes risk-taking — Complete hands-on exercises designed to fail, building tolerance for the discomfort of trying something uncertain.
  • Build a business case for a risk-tolerant culture — Translate the "safe to fail" mindset into language leadership will support, regardless of career stage or seniority.

About Julie

Julie Huval, FSMPS, CPSM, is a business operations strategist with over 20 years of AEC industry experience. As founder and owner of Marketing Operations Advisor, she helps organizations build sustainable competitive advantages through operational excellence and strategic talent retention. Her expertise spans organizational effectiveness, optimal technology stacks, process optimization, and creating systems that enable teams to thrive and deliver exceptional growth results.

Julie is a sought-after speaker and thought leader, contributing regularly to industry publications. She holds an MBA from UT Arlington and an undergraduate degree from Baylor University. Julie's reputation is built on her ability to connect operational systems with people strategy, helping firms create environments where both businesses and talent flourish.

Burnout Banter LIVE: What We Wish We Knew – An AMA for Emerging AEC Marketers

Lecture / LIVE PODCAST RECORDING
THURSDAY, JANUARY 29 | 1:45 PM - 2:45 PM | Mulberry

Proposal professionals often enter pursuits wrangling deadlines, chasing content, and producing documents after key decisions are made. Yet their view across the entire pursuit gives them a unique opportunity to help steer strategy. This session offers a practical framework for growing from a reliable coordinator to a strategic pursuit leader by asking sharper questions, guiding better decisions, shaping the pursuit story, and influencing teams.

Learning Objectives:

  • Recognize behaviors and processes that keep proposal professionals in reactive, order-taking roles.
  • Ask strategic questions that reveal client priorities, pursuit risks, competitive strengths, and unresolved decisions.
  • Facilitate kickoffs and reviews that advance decisions, rather than focusing on assignments, deadlines, and document production.
  • Translate pursuit strategy into coordinated action, aligning team decisions, key messages, proof points, content, and design around a clear win approach.
  • Use insights from pursuits and debriefs to recommend improvements that strengthen future pursuit performance and internal processes.

About Pam

Pam is a Senior Consultant with Shaffer Creative who helps architecture, engineering, and construction firms strengthen proposals, marketing processes, and strategic planning. Her experience includes managing complex pursuits, developing proposal systems and tools, implementing marketing plans, conducting marketing audits, and leading marketing staff. Having worked within and alongside different types of AEC firms, Pam has learned that there is no single right way to approach marketing or pursuits. She brings an adaptable, practical perspective shaped by navigating different teams, processes, resources, and business priorities. With experience spanning strategy, content, design, and production, Pam understands both the daily demands placed on proposal professionals and the broader business decisions that drive firm growth. She is passionate about helping AEC marketers move beyond reactive execution, build credibility, and become more strategic contributors to their firms.

Every Conversation Steers Your Brand 

Lecture
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 12 | 8:30 AM - 9:30 AM

We practice presentations. We practice interviews. So why don't we practice one of the professional skills we use nearly every day - networking? In this interactive keynote, you'll practice intentional conversations that shape perception, strengthen relationships, and build trust. Strong brands don't happen by accident, so why should networking? You'll leave connected to the SMPS community and equipped to build relationships that move careers, clients, and firms forward.

Key Takeaways:

  • Set an intentional networking goal that creates purpose, builds confidence, and provides a measurable sense of accomplishment throughout the conference experience.
  • Identify who to approach, how to approach them, and how to be approachable.
  • Start conversations that put the person before the profession, creating authentic connections from the very first interaction.
  • Exit conversations with purpose by creating a natural next step, a clear follow-up, and a lasting impression. 

About Keith

My journey from the Netherlands to the US at 8 years old was a crash course in making connections. Picture this, a kid who doesn't speak the language, clad in mom-made outfits, trying to navigate the complex social waters of a new country. It was a challenge that I dove into headfirst, fueled by curiosity. My time in the United States Marine Corps as a photojournalist added another layer to my approach. There I learned the power of storytelling and a "go-giver" mindset. Putting the person before the profession became my mantra and weaving stories into my practice became a superpower. From hospitality to fitness coaching to global sales, I honed my speaking skills leveraging Toastmasters and the National Speakers Association as my training ground and improv stages as my playground. To give everyone the opportunity to live life well-spoken I co-founded Articulated Intelligence, a communication up-leveling firm where we play and practice so we can perform at our best when it matters most.

Stop Cleaning Up. Start Closing Out. 

Lecture
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 12 | 9:45 AM - 10:45 AM

Critique is a fundamental part of any collaborative environment, yet few professionals are taught how to navigate giving — and receiving — feedback well. Whether you're reviewing a proposal draft, navigating a challenging client conversation, or participating in a team debrief, your ability to engage in productive critique can directly impact project outcomes and professional relationships. In this candid, practical session, we'll explore proven strategies to make feedback more effective and less stressful — from setting clear expectations to receiving input without defensiveness. Along the way, you'll learn a bit about the neuroscience of how the brain processes criticism, how identity and mindset influence receptivity, and how feedback resilience can empower your personal life as much as your professional work. You’ll leave with tools to make feedback less stressful, more useful, and even enjoyable.

Key Takeaways: 

  • Learn techniques for delivering feedback during proposal development that is constructive, actionable, and aligned with shared project goals.
  • Practice strategies for requesting and receiving feedback in ways that reduce defensiveness, foster trust, and promote growth.
  • Build resilience and emotional intelligence to navigate difficult conversations with greater confidence and clarity.

About Rachelle

Rachelle is a dynamic AEC marketing leader focused on creativity, education, and empowering marketers. As Head of AEC Marketing Innovation at OpenAsset, co-founder of Proposal Industry Experts, and owner of RMR Consulting, she helps firms improve strategy, team collaboration, and pursuit efficiency. With 15+ years of experience, Rachelle is a passionate advocate for burnout prevention, professional development, and community building. A frequent speaker at national and regional conferences, she’s also contributed to the first AI certification for proposal professionals. Her work bridges the gap between marketing and leadership, equipping professionals to thrive in a rapidly evolving industry.

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