Build Business: What Does It Mean for You?
Brad Thurman, P.E.
In this series, SMPS members share first hand their insights on the value of participating in Build Business, the SMPS/PSMA National Conference, including the impact on their lives, careers, and firms.

I happened upon SMPS as many of us have: totally by accident.

In early 1998, our firm hired our first marketing director. He had been an SMPS member in the past and renewed his membership when he started with us. About a year later, he took another job outside of the industry. Through both desire and default, I became his replacement and transferred his SMPS membership to me.

And that's how I ended up at the 1999 SMPS National Conference in Portland.

Oklahoma didn't have a chapter at that time, so our new marketing coordinator and I decided to attend the conference to see what it was like and what SMPS was about. It was one of the best decisions that we have made. Not only did we increase our knowledge of marketing with the seminars, but we also started making friendships that have continued to grow.

The final event that year was a riverboat cruise down the Columbia River Gorge. We met up with a great group of folks from the Washington, D.C., Chapter, who "adopted" the two wayward, chapterless Okies. We sat up on the top deck of the boat for most of the evening, swapping war stories and finding out that we have mutual friends scattered throughout the industry. We remain friends to this day.

But so what, right? Yeah, we met some fun people and all that, but what does it mean in the long run? Well, let's start with who was in that group. Most have since served as board members in their chapters. Some have become involved in SMPS National, serving committees such as the SMPS Foundation and the Diversity Task Force. One is currently President-Elect of SMPS National. And one is writing this, six years later, as president of the Oklahoma Chapter.

Until you attend an SMPS National Conference, you can't fully comprehend the power of this organization. It will educate you, energize you, and empower you. It will introduce you to others in the industry who are not only great network partners and sources of information but are friends and, let's face it, a support group. I know I can pick up the phone and call any member with any question, and I know I'll get an answer.

Attend Build Business this August in New Orleans. It will change the way you look at your business and the way you do your work. It will give you tools and information you can use now and into the coming years. It will challenge conventional wisdom and validate the profession.

Oh, yeah. And the Oklahoma Chapter is the host chapter.

See you in August.

About the Author 

Brad Thurman, P.E., is Principal and Marketing Director of Wallace Engineering—Structural Consultants, Inc. (www.wallacesc.com), a structural and civil engineering firm headquartered in Tulsa, with offices in Kansas City, Oklahoma City, and Castle Rock, CO. He is the President of SMPS Oklahoma. Brad can be reached at bjt@wallacesc.com or 918.584.5858. [ return to top ]