Build Business Is About Networking
Why do so many SMPS members attend the National Conference year after year? If you asked they'd tell you one of the key elements that brings them back is the networking—initiating and renewing relationships with marketers, business developers, clients, experts, and firm leaders from around the world.

Each year the conference planners strive to create an atmosphere that encourages networking—and fuels your creativity and your career. During Build Business, the keynote addresses, sessions, Exhibit Hall, Awards Gala, meals, receptions, and tours are all opportunities to get acquainted with new contacts, spend valuable time with old friends, and gain a fresh perspective on the business. Every person you meet will expose you to dynamic thinking on customer care, firm management, leadership, business development, and marketing.

Here is a glimpse at the events planned to enhance The Networking Experience in New York this August:

First-Timers' Orientation
Wednesday, August 11
4:30-5:30 pm
Is this your first conference? Don't miss this opportunity to meet other first-timers, get tips on maximizing your conference experience, learn more about your membership benefits from SMPS and PSMA leaders and staff, and explore how participation in these two organizations can help you advance your career.

Welcome Reception
Wednesday, August 11
6-7 pm
Join us for the official kickoff of Build Business! Enjoy light refreshments while you preview innovative new products and services that can help your team work smarter. Plus soak up ideas for improving your marketing campaigns from the displays of winning entries in the SMPS National Marketing Communication Awards (MCA) Program. Make sure to cast your vote for the "People's Choice Award," given by conference attendees for their favorite MCA project.

Restaurant Roundup
Wednesday, August 11
7 pm
Members of the SMPS New York City Chapter will escort groups to popular restaurants in some of the city's most famous neighborhoods. This is a great opportunity to experience the New York culture, try a new cuisine, relax, catch up with old friends, and make new contacts. (More details on this event will be sent to registrants soon.)

Breakfast and Lunch in the Exhibit Hall
Thursday, August 12, and Friday, August 13
(Breakfast only, Saturday, August 14)
Enjoy continental breakfasts, lunches, and coffee breaks in the Exhibit Hall. Hold impromptu meetings, check your e-mail and examine the latest in audio/visual wizardry in the Technology Pavilion, attend how-to sessions in the Learning Pavilion, participate in product demonstrations, discuss your business challenges with exhibitors, research management and marketing resources, and enter drawings for valuable prizes. Many of the business solutions you are searching for can be found in the Build Business Exhibit Hall.

Manhattan Dinner Cruise
Thursday, August 12
6:30-11 pm
It's the New York you've always dreamed of. Dazzling. Daring. Always alive. And you can watch every breathtaking sight from your table aboard a modern and sleek ship. Savor the energy of the city that never sleeps. Dine, dance, and let the music go to your head. Indulge in an entertainment immersion. Bright, bold, and inescapably Manhattan.

Until you've seen New York from the water, you really haven't seen New York. Highlights include the Empire State Building, Brooklyn Bridge, World Trade Center Site, Battery Park City, South Street Seaport, Governor's Island, Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, and Colgate Clock. Architect Jordan Gruzen of Gruzen Samton Architects will be aboard to share his architectural perspective on special points of interest.

The ticket price is $100/person and includes dinner, coffee/tea, entertainment, cruise, tax and tip, and transportation to and from the pier. Space is limited, so please register early. To reserve your seat, mark the appropriate box under Special Events on the registration form [link].

Awards Gala Reception and Foundation Silent Auction
Friday, August 13
6-7 pm
Before and during the awards gala, enjoy drinks and soak up the pre-gala excitement while you vie for exquisite art and jewelry, exciting trips, and exotic souvenirs from around the country at the Silent Auction sponsored by the SMPS Foundation, a 501(c) (3) organization dedicated to improving the marketing industry through research and educational projects. Bring your checkbook and come prepared to take home breath-taking art, revitalizing vacation packages, specialty foods, fine wines, and collectibles at bargain prices.

Awards Gala
Friday, August 13
7-11 pm
Join emcee Ross Shafer, SMPS and PSMA leaders, and industry media for a celebration devoted to excellence in A/E/C leadership and marketing communications. This annual black-tie event features a multimedia presentation, dinner, dancing, and hundreds of great management and marketing ideas. Awards will include the Marketing Achievement Award, Management Achievement Awards, Leonardo da Vinci Award, and Marketing Communications Awards.

This event is included in the Full Registration, Guest Registration, and Friday-Only Registration fees. To purchase additional tickets for clients, colleagues, or guests, please mark the appropriate box on the conference registration form (www.buildbusiness.org/registration.htm).

Tux Rental
Need a tux for the Awards Gala? Baldwin Formals is offering conference attendees a special rate on various rentals ranging from $90 to $125, with delivery and pickup service at the Marriott Marquis. To reserve your tux at this discounted rate, call 1.800.427.0072 or 212.245.8190 by July 31 and identify yourself as an SMPS/PSMA conference attendee. On-site fittings will be held on August 12 at the hotel for three hours. Please ask for more details when you check in at the Build Business Registration Desk.

Architectural Tour of Midtown and Harlem
Wednesday, August 11
9:30 am-12:30 pm
Midtown Manhattan is best known as New York's central business district. It is also home to distinctive buildings in a potpourri of architectural styles from the 20th and 21st centuries. Our bus will pass by some of New York's best-known skyscrapers before heading uptown to Harlem's 125th Street.

Renamed for civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. over 20 years ago, this historic Harlem thoroughfare has numerous connections to his life and the neighborhood's African-American political and cultural history. Tour the revitalized corridor from Lenox Avenue to Manhattanville and to the Harlem piers at the Hudson River.

Just north of Harlem, we'll visit Hamilton Heights, originally the estate of Alexander Hamilton. The 1880s produced some of New York's most spectacular row houses and several magnificent churches; this remains one of the city's most beautiful residential communities.

Participants will be getting off the bus at different stops along the way to better observe the buildings.

The ticket price is $65/person and includes transportation, the architectural historian's fee, and a tax-deductible donation to the SMPS Foundation. Space is limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis. To reserve your seat, mark the appropriate box under Special Events on the conference registration form (www.buildbusiness.org/registration.htm).

Architectural Tour of Midtown and Lower Manhattan
Saturday, August 14
2:30-5:30 pm
Study the periphery of the former World Trade Center site in an attempt to understand the scale of the devastation, the history of the area and the remaining buildings, and the possibilities for the area's future. Our goal is to look at things in a systematic and historically informed manner, gain some perspective, and stay up-to-date on planning proposals. The tour will include approximately a one-hour walking tour at Ground Zero.

On the way to and from Lower Manhattan, our bus tour of New York, famed for its vertiginous canyons, will focus on the evolution of skyscraper design, including Art Deco gems and great works of modernism.

The ticket price is $65/person and includes transportation, the architectural historian's fee, and a tax-deductible donation to the SMPS Foundation. To reserve your seat, mark the appropriate box under Special Events on the conference registration form (www.buildbusiness.org/registration.htm).

A Build Business registration brochure was mailed to each member in April. Detailed program information and registration forms also are available online at www.buildbusiness.org. The early-bird registration deadline is June 30. Act soon to take advantage of discounted registration fees!
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