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Gratitude and Lollipops

By Andrea Story, FSMPS, CPSM posted 08-28-2014 18:10

  

Gratitude. Merriam-Webster defines gratitude as “the state of being grateful”, which sums up perfectly how I am feeling as my term of President of the SMPS Alaska Chapter comes to an end. I experienced gratitude on a whole new level this past year through SMPS and I wanted to take a moment to share it with all of you.

I am very appreciative of the opportunity to serve as President of this amazing chapter. Our chapter has changed considerably over the past year. We have grown from 53 members in September 2013 to our current 67 members. We have also had a shift in our chapter demographics – with nearly 20% of our members identifying themselves as principals, partners or other technical staff. These demographics are particularly exciting to me. They signify recognition of the importance of marketing in our local market and an understanding that marketing is not solely the responsibility of dedicated marketing staff. It also offers a unique opportunity to build bridge of understanding over the gap that typically exists between technical and marketing staff. Our chapter is looking forward to exploring this opportunity with you over the next year.

With that being said, this is YOUR organization. The Alaska Chapter board wants to hear from you on what you need from us to be more successful in your career. I encourage you to contact an Alaska Chapter board member with your ideas, and I also encourage you to volunteer through SMPS. Like most things, you get out of this organization what you put into it. The more engaged you are, the greater the rewards will be.

Now back on the topic of gratitude, here are a couple of things I am thankful for that have been provided to me by SMPS:

  1. A career path. When I discovered SMPS way back in 2000 (thank you Vicky Sterling!), I was about two years into a marketing position at an local A/E firm. At that time, I had very little idea there was more to A/E/C marketing than writing proposals and I definitely didn’t understand there was a career path in this line of work. Attending SMPS regional and national conferences and studying for the CPSM exam opened my eyes to a world of possibilities. I am now 17 years into a very fulfilling career in professional services marketing and I can’t really imagine ever doing anything else.
  2. Relationships. This is the core of SMPS. My life has been greatly enriched by the incredible relationships I have built though this organization. This has spread from initial relationships with Leah Boltz and Skip Bourgeois who were excited enough about SMPS to ask me to work with them to bring a chapter to Alaska, to the amazing people on our Alaska chapter board, and to all of the Alaska chapter members I have had the opportunity to connect with through SMPS. Over the past year, my web of SMPS relationships has grown to include my fellow chapter presidents (#Conductors), my SMPS U classmates and new friends throughout the country. I am incredibly grateful to SMPS for the opportunity to get to know all of these remarkable people and to call them friends.

The Alaska Chapter held our annual planning session last week. To kick things off, our incoming President Jessica Taft (aka Rockstar) shared this amazing TED talk about everyday leadership with us – please take a moment and watch it. Pretty great, huh?

After watching the video, Jessica asked each of us to share a “lollipop moment” of our own, and I’d like to share mine with you. This past spring, Jessica had called me asking some odd questions about things I have done as your chapter President. I was curious as to what she was up to, so she finally confessed that she was compiling the Chapter President of the Year submittal. I was pretty uncomfortable with this whole idea and discouraged her from doing it, because: a) I view everything accomplished by our chapter as a team effort and b) I know how much time those submittals take and didn’t want her wasting her time on a recognition I didn’t need and wouldn’t win anyhow. We all know marketers like a challenge, so Jessica did put that package together and much to my surprise, I did win. Completely mind blowing and life changing.

As a result of this amazing honor, I had to do something profoundly uncomfortable to me. I had to give a speech in front of hundreds of people, and guess what? I didn’t projectile vomit on stage (which was my number one concern), I didn’t trip while walking up on stage and I didn’t forget how to talk. Despite being a complete ball of nerves, I pulled it off, and I learned and grew from the experience. Another benefit of this honor was the opportunity to meet so many wonderful people and expand my ever-growing network of SMPS friends. None of this would have been possible without the simple lollipop given to me by my incredible friend Jessica. Thank you my friend, you fundamentally made my life better.

So, as I mentioned earlier, I am wrapping up this year as President feeling deeply grateful for friendships, growth and the opportunity to serve all of you amazing Alaska chapter members together with an incredibly talented and dedicated board. Thank you all. It has truly been an honor.

Andrea Story, CPSM
2013-14 SMPS Alaska Chapter President
Vice President, Marketing and Business Development
R&M CONSULTANTS, INC.

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09-22-2014 17:19

Andrea, your acceptance speech was one of the best we've seen, and your Chapter President of the Year award was so well deserved. Congratulations again!