SMPS Arizona’s Seibert Selected as Chapter President of the Year

Ann Seibert, CPSM, 2004-05 President of SMPS Arizona, was recognized as the Chapter President of the Year in Hollywood on August 17. As Chapter President, Seibert’s  platform was “The Power of WE.” She was dedicated to recruiting and retaining members by matching members’ goals and strengths with the chapter’s needs. Her leadership, organizational ability, and “get-it-done attitude” guided the chapter to win SMPS Chapter of the Year in 2005.

Under Seibert’s direction, the chapter achieved 16% membership growth in 2004-05, fostered through responsive programming and initiatives such as:

• New Member Activation Plan, which identifies and communicates the goals and strengths of new members to the current leadership to more effectively engage new members
• First annual membership drive, attracting 140 new members
• Membership Moments, recognizing new members during monthly events
• Printed recognition of new members in the newsletters
• New member breakfasts, communicating chapter information and member benefits while discovering the career goals and strengths of new members.

Increased value of membership

Through active new-member recruitment and by enlarging and empowering the leadership team, Seibert inspired the creation of programs that ultimately increased the value of membership:

• SMPS Arizona Mentoring Program
• Quarterly mixers with peer organizations
• The Edge, a quarterly, four-color newsletter focused on the Six Domains of practice
• Chapter News on the Go, distributed during events as an alternative to communicating chapter activities via e-mail
• Lending Library, an online resource featuring marketing-specific and other professional resources
• Resource directory, an online source for member-recommended resources
• Organized Speakers’ Bureau, an online searchable directory to investigate potential speakers and topics

New programs

Initiated by Seibert, the Annual Programming Strategic Planning Session (APSPS) is an open forum for all members and nonmembers to discuss with SMPS leadership their most pressing marketing-related challenges. More than 40 individuals attended the first event. The information obtained from this meeting is used by the Programs and Education committees to plan a calendar of programming crafted to the members’ needs. With the calendar in place, the chapter is able to communicate events well in advance, improving program attendance, helping to secure sponsorship dollars, and supporting recruitment and retention.

Increased visibility of chapter

Seibert recruited and motivated new leadership team members to increase the visibility of SMPS Arizona through:

• assigning an Association Liaison Chair, responsible for communicating chapter events to and coordinating quarterly networking events with other organizations
• holding quarterly networking events to increase awareness of SMPS to potential new members
• creating a “Did You Know?” direct-mail campaign communicating the benefits of membership to nonmembers and members.

Financial stability

During Seibert’s presidency, SMPS Arizona experienced significant financial growth. Program revenues increased by 78.6% and net program profit increased by 155%. Seibert created individual committee budgets, as well as budgets for chapter directors. Every month committee chairs and board directors provided budget management reports. In addition, Seibert initiated a budget-to-actual reporting practice that tracks and compares actual dollars spent to the budget. These frequent budgetary reviews enabled the chapter to control costs and secure sponsors to fund expenses.

business development manager, FA Wilhelm Construction Co. Inc., Indianapolis, IN; Christine King, CPSM, Marketing Director, JE Dunn Construction Rocky Mountain Inc., Denver, CO; Larisa M. Langley, Facility Programming and Consulting, San Antonio, TX; Scott E. Mickle, president, AEC Marketing Solutions, Charlotte, NC; J. Douglas Parker, CPSM, director of marketing, PGAL, Houston, TX; Christa A. Peachy, CPSM, director of marketing, Speight Marshall & Francis PC, Virginia Beach, VA; William C. Vicary, Jr., president, Vicary Management Group Inc., Oldsmar, FL; and Carolyn Ferguson, FSMPS, CPSM, vice president, The Lentz Group, Houston, TX.