Last night, at SMPS Oregon, I hosted a Fellows Forum. For
those of you who aren’t familiar with a Fellows Forum, it’s a panel of SMPS
Fellows that discusses and advises on various marketing and business development
topics. Created originally by the genius of Carla Thompson, SMPS Seattle member
and current SMPS National Board Fellows Delegate, it offers a way for SMPS
Fellows to give back at the local level, stay engaged in SMPS, and to really
reach out and help other SMPS members in a very tangible way. In Oregon, we
have four Fellows, in Seattle there are five. Usually, we are fortunate enough
to have one or two Seattle folks join us in Portland to round out our show. Occasionally,
a Portland Fellow will venture north to participate in Seattle’s gig. (SMPS
Oregon and SMPS Seattle are three hours apart and sister chapters, with a proud
30-year history of working together.)
With the weather in the Northwest being unusually cold and
snowy this week, I found myself hosting a Fellows Forum with only myself and
one other Fellow last night. It happened to be Kasey DeLucia. There isn’t
another member of SMPS that I would have rather done this type of event with.
You see, back in 2001 – 2002, Kasey was Oregon’s president-elect. She came to
me and asked me to consider running as her president-elect. Like a lot of
chapter leaders I was terrified at first. SMPS Oregon has a legacy of giants as
presidents. “Why me?” I asked. We talked over lunch, then happy hour, then a
lot more discussion over the following weeks and ultimately, I decided to go
for it. We formed a bond then, a friendship that has endured over the years. We’ve
moved beyond SMPS and into really, genuinely caring for one another. Kasey
comes to parties at my house, listens to me when my personal life is in crisis,
she was there in the audience when I was national president on the Build
Business stage in San Francisco; she always supports me. I’ve been to her
wedding, watched her beautiful children grow from squishy babies to little
people, seen her through moves to Louisiana and back to Portland; she’s like a
sister.
Driving home from the Fellows Forum, which totally rocked,
even with just the two of us; I realized how powerful that bond between chapter
presidents can become. We spoke to our audience like Fellows speak: like
professionals who have seen some ups and downs, like coaches who know a new
play to try, like empathetic marketers that figured out how to get to the
deadline and preserve our own sanity. Every time Kasey answered a question, I
was amazed. Her answers were spot on and helpful. Our banter back and forth
with the audience was genuine and real. There was a lot of laughter and a lot
of note taking.
I wanted to share this experience with all of you. When you
rise to the president-elect seat in your chapter, think about that person that
you’ll hand the gavel over too. Recognize the importance of the choice. In
turn, following Kasey’s choice of me, I chose Paige Viehouser to be my
president-elect; she ultimately became my first client at Go! Strategies. These
choices matter, they are bigger than SMPS, they are bigger than a volunteer
commitment. They could become among your very best friends for life.