Are you ready to be inspired?  Three speakers will share their creative ideas and stories that will provoke, inspire and excite the audience. After the program, join us at the networking cocktail hour for an opportunity to connect and engage with the speakers and other attendees.

‘The Right Mindset to Life’s Challenges'
Gina Bedoya, FSMPS – President, Bedoya Business Strategies, Inc. 

Life Happens: As marketers it is usually our nature to plan, plan our work, plan our personal lives, and plan for the future. We seldom expect drastic changes, if we anticipate some, we figure, "we will deal with it when the time comes." Changes that are not anticipated, if negative, can cause doubt, frustration, insecurities. Learning to turn these negative events into challenges, to rise and change for the better takes digging deep into our past insecurities and overcoming the fears and then taking steps to improve our present situation and work on developing positive outcomes.

This presentation will discuss ways to overcome insecurities, in personal life and at work. Learning to believe that you can make positive changes in the face of adversity is the start to having a more fulfilling life. The presenter will discuss negative experiences in personal life and at work and demonstrate how she has faced challenges and how she has managed to rise above them.

'Volunteerism and Advocacy leads to Satisfaction and Opportunity’
David Barkin AIA, Chief Architect – State of Connecticut, DAS | Division of Construction Services

When the recently completed Pearl Harbor Memorial Bridge in New Haven, Connecticut, was proposed there were two distinct paths it could have followed: that of elevated roadway or signature bridge. The existing bridge was, unfortunately, the former. In this MAX Talk, David Barkin will talk about his love of bridges and large public works – and how when you have a vision and advocate that vision, successful and inspiring results can be achieved.  Hear his story about how group and individual advocacy led to the completed bridge receiving the 2016 grand prize in America's Transportation Awards competition!

'The Best Worst Things'
Marissa Dionne Mead, RA, LEED AP – Svigals + Partners

Economic recessions typically hit the architectural industry hard. Everyone knows someone or is someone who has found themselves without work. Despite being somewhat unavoidable, losing a job can feel devastating. Being forced back out into the job market requires us to question our motives, and examine our weaknesses. There’s a temptation to give up – many architects have left the profession after such a setback. There is also a temptation to, in a sense, ‘wait it out’ ­­until jumping back in and picking up where one left off.

There is another approach, however, and that is to form a plan of action which turns the unlucky nature of a circumstance on its head. This is the story of how Marissa Mead used her misfortune as fuel to propel herself forward, and can now look back and say that losing her job turned out to be the best thing that ever happened to her.

Event Details:
Wednesday, February 15, 2017*
   3:00pm – 3:30pm   Registration
   3:30pm – 5:00pm   Program
   5:00pm – 6:00pm   Networking & Cocktails

* Snow date is Wednesday, February 22, 2017.

Location: 
Spotlight Theatres, Front Street Stadium 4
39 Front Street
Hartford, CT 06103

Parking is available in the Front Street South garage attached to the building. Tickets for this garage will be partially validated at the registration desk. There will be a charge of $2 per car upon exiting the garage. The entrance to the garage is the first right on Front Street Crossing.
Parking is also available on surrounding streets and additional parking garages in the area.

About MAX:
MAX events are creative programs, centered on short-form sessions meant to be a showcase for speakers exchanging great, well-formed, marketing-led ideas and inspiration, through storytelling, presentations and media.

MAX: Market.Act.eXchange™. Members of the SMPS community are changing their businesses, communities, and the world in positive ways every day. MAX provides a creative, fresh platform to celebrate and exchange marketing-led innovations, big ideas, and inspiring stories. MAX helps open our minds to possibilities. MAX promotes SMPS community members as leaders to inspire others to think and act.

Registration: 
Please register by February 10, 2017.

SMPS CT Members: $65 
Non-Members: $85
Past SMPS CT Presidents: Free

Please note:
Late registrations and walk-ins will be charged an additional $10.

Cancellations must be made 48 hours in advance to receive a refund.

No shows are responsible for payment in full. Past SMPS CT Presidents will be charged the full registration amount.

Continuing Education Units (CEUs): 
This program is eligible for 1.5 SMPS CEU credits. Domain(s) TBD.

Door Prize Sponsor:

A special thanks to Gilda Bonanno for sponsoring our door prize and providing coaching services for our speakers!

About The Speakers: 

Gina Bedoya, FSMPS - President,  Bedoya Business Strategies, Inc.
Gina Bedoya, President of Bedoya Business Strategies, Inc. has been a trailblazer in the field of marketing professional services for the built environment.  In 2006, after 20 years  of being an internal marketer, Gina forged out on her own and established Bedoya Business Strategies, Inc., a business consulting practice. Gina is a Fellow of SMPS, and a past president of the New York Chapter. She is also a past chair of the SMPS National Education Committee. She has contributed articles on marketing and business management to various industry publications and has been a speaker and a participant on various seminar panels. She authored the chapter “Developing and Implementing an Effective Marketing Program” for the 2009 Marketing Handbook for the Design & Construction Professional, published by the Society for Marketing Professional Services.

Gina has received several industry recognitions including being selected by New York’s Sokol Media as one of the 10 Pioneering Women in Real Estate in 2015, the SMPS New York chapter Marketing Mentor Award in 2001 and the SMPS-NY Lifetime Service Award in 2003.  SMPS National recognized Gina for grassroots leadership following the 9/11 events where she led her chapter to change their scheduled seminars to fundraisers to help the families of the victims of 9/11. Gina was featured in Women on the Fast Track, published by Multicultural Marketing Resources, Inc., New York City in 2000. She has completed graduate course work in Urban and Environmental Planning from the Graduate School of Urban Planning, Rutgers University and she holds a B.A. in Urban Studies from Douglass College, Rutgers University.

David Barkin AIA, Chief Architect – State of Connecticut, DAS | Division of Construction Services
The Chief Architect for the State is a member of the management team overseeing design and construction of State buildings. David is responsible for developing and monitoring quality standards for new and renovated construction and participates in the selection of AEC consultants to the State. In addition, the Chief Architect is the State’s interface with the AEC industry.

David graduated from Duke University with a Bachelor of Arts degree and from Rennselaer Polytechnic Institute with a Bachelor of Architecture degree. He is currently pursuing a Masters in Public Administration from the University of Connecticut. He has worked at Cesar Pelli Associates, New Haven, and headed his own firm, Barkin Associates, Architects PC, for over 14 years. Prior to joining state government in 2013, David was Principal at JCJ Architecture, Hartford, where he established and led the Science and Technology Group; in 2011 he was named Director of Architectural Practice Standards.  Noted for historic preservation expertise in the State, he has been an active leader in the architectural community both nationally and in Connecticut, serving on the American Institute of Architects’ Connecticut Board of Directors and, since 2008, on the Connecticut State Architectural Licensing Board. He currently serves on national committees at the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB).

Marissa Dionne Mead, RA, LEED AP - Svigals + Partners
Marissa graduated from the University of Notre Dame as an architecture major, but it wasn’t a fascination with designing buildings that initially set her on this path. As first a maker and puzzle-solver, Marissa brings an artist’s methodology to solving design challenges. Educated in classical architecture, furniture-making, and figurative sculpture, Marissa draws upon a foundation of proportion, beauty, and function in her work. She considers this traditional framework applicable to even the most modern architectural projects. Marissa also believes in the power of beautiful places, this belief encouraged her choice to begin a career with Svigals + Partners.

In addition to her architecture background, Marissa has experience working in fabrication of public sculpture, with a particular expertise in architectural ornamentation. At Svigals + Partners Marissa holds a leadership role in the firm’s integration of Art + Architecture, and contributes to figurative installations as a sculptor. Her project commissions range from decorative panel inserts to the design of large-scale commercial buildings. She also assists as a coordinator for the firm’s KidsBuild! program, and has been a teacher with Yale/New Haven Saturday Seminars, a program that introduced high school students to the study of architecture. She draws her greatest pleasure from the time she gets to spend on adventures with her family. She enjoys brewing beverages of all kinds with her husband, Joe, and building forts with their three ferociously adorable children.