InDesign Tips and Tricks

SMPS Atlanta's Boot Camp Series has had great speakers all year long. The last Boot Camp session on InDesign Tips and Tricks was no exception. Attendees didn't want the session to end. Claudia McCue's content was information packed. She is proficient in InDesign, Illustrator, Acrobat, and Photoshop and also provides "Realistic Training for Real-World Applications".

Tips included:

• Setting up Paragraph and Character Style Sheets
• How to Effectively Use Master Pages
• Customizing a Workspace
• Text geekery: numbers, bullets, variables, easy fixes for common problems, and the hidden macro typing trick
• Anchored objects

For those that missed the session, check-out two tips she provided in PDF format: www.practicalia.net/SMPS/idtips.zip. Another great resource provided was www.indesignsecrets.com, which covers things you didn't even know were possible in InDesign.

Claudia can be contacted through her website at www.practicalia.net. Also, be sure to check-out her blog at www.claudiamccue.com.


Sarah Mackley Gonnella
Acumen Advisors
SMPS Atlanta - President-Elect

Program: Social Media Marketing - Useful Tool or Passing Fad

Do you tweet? Are you LinkedIn or on Facebook? According to Forrester Research, since 2007 social networking users have doubled. In 2009, 55.6 million adults or just less than one third of the U.S. population now visit social networks at least monthly. A breakdown from the study is provided to the right.

Jim Walton, Chief Executive Officer of Brand Acceleration, Inc. presented at the SMPS Atlanta program in February. The presentation provided an overview of different social media and how it is being utilized. The program stimulated questions from the audience, but left many more questions.

How does it apply to the AEC industry? What type of guidelines should a company have related to social media? Which media should I use personally and professionally? I have a profile, but what should I be doing with it?

How does it apply to the AEC industry?
There are firms in the AEC industry utilizing social media, but it is still new to the industry. Some resources to find out more include blogger, Markitecture Consulting, who discusses how his firm utilizes social media. Ingrid Ricks provides a presentation on SlideShare (another social medium) of why social media marketing has the potential to differentiate the successful architectural firms of the future. Social media isn't just a fad, but rather a tool for innovative firms that are ready to embrace new ways to capture attention.

What type of guidelines should a company have related to social media?
If you are involved in LinkedIn, you will find groups you can join related to you and your client's industry. These groups have discussions where you can ask questions or just read what others are posting. This exact question was asked on one of the forums I'm a part of. There are many social media guidelines that have already been developed by companies. So why create your own when you can borrow? Social Media Today answers this question and probably many others you might have on social media.

Which media should I use personally and professionally?
There are many other social media avenues. Most people utilize Facebook for personal relationships and LinkedIn for professional relationships. However, that is not true for all services. If your service is geared towards residential users for example, you might create a group on Facebook or even pay to have your ad appear. Blogs, Youtube, Twitter, and Flicker are some that can easily be used for both. To the right are some social media icons. How many do you know?

I have a profile, but what should I be doing with it?

Most of those that attended the SMPS Atlanta program indicated they had a Facebook account and LinkedIn page. However, many people don't realize how you can boost your Search Engine Optimization (SEO) so searches on the internet find you and your company more easily. I found a YouTube clip that discusses just a couple of these items. You can do a search on Google or YouTube to find others.

These are just a few items to help you begin your journey into social media. Please post comments to let SMPS Atlanta know what else you might want to know about this subject or if you are an expert on the matter and have other suggestions, post those.

Sarah Mackley Gonnella

Acumen Advisors

SMPS Atlanta - President-Elect

Business Lessons We've Learned from Dogs

For those of us under stress this morning from a weekend of holiday shopping and massive traffic on the way to work…a little humor from MyBUSINESS Magazine on secrets your dog won’t tell you:

1. “Always greet customers with excitement and enthusiasm even when you just saw them three minutes ago. They never grow tired of thinking they’re the most important thing in your life.
   
2. Don’t confuse you tail with a goal worth chasing.
   
3. Sleep as many hours a day as possible, but always be ready to play when the chance arrives.
   
4. Don’t be afraid to get dirty; in fact, relish it.
   
5. When the big folks are feasting, if you know how to work things, you’ll be able to feast, too.
   
6. Barking a lot is annoying; don’t do it often. That way, when you do bark, people spring to attention.
   
7. Don’t bark at the mailman. He’s been known to have a dog treat in his pocket.
   
8. The more you show that you don’t need a leash, the less you’ll have to wear it. Conversely, if you’re always tugging on your leash, you’ll always have to wear it.
   
9. The joy is in digging the hole, not in hiding the bone. But it’s also reassuring to know there are a few bones hidden.
   
10. Biting someone never leads to anything good.
    
11. Continuously learning new tricks keeps you young.
    
12. Fool your masters into thinking they are in charge.”
    

Ronald D. Worth, CAE, FSMPS, CPSM
CEO
SMPS National

Getting Started with Google Analytics

In order to set up your website with Analytics, you will need to have the capability to edit your website. If you do not have access, you will need to contact your webmaster. This is necessary so you can insert the code that allows Analytics to track the activity on your website. Once you can edit your website, just go to the Google Analytics page and create your account. There you will be taken through the steps and provided the code you will need for your site.

Setting up your account will take anywhere from 5 - 25 minutes. And once you have updated the pages that you want tracked, you will start to receive Analytics report information within about 24 hours.

Now there are many, many modifications that can and should be made to your Analytics account and how your site is set up to track traffic flow. So once your site is coordinated with Analytics, you may want to do some research into how you can best customize your strategy. Here are some links to get you started.

Beginner Tutorial
http://www.youtube.com/profile?v=_qfG2d9etvk&user=googleanalytics&hl=en

Campaign Tracking
http://www.google.com/support/googleanalytics/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=55540

Quick Tricks: Going A Little Deeper
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=85CE2D27BC6FD84B&hl=en

If you haven’t already, take a look at the “Tools of the Trade” article featuring Google Analytics in the fall edition of SMPS Atlanta’s Inspiration newsletter.

Michael Rouse, Business Development Coordinator
Draper & Associates
SMPS Atlanta, Communications Committee Member

A/E/C Mega Meeting: Retrofitting Suburbia

Ellen Dunham-Jones was the keynote speaker at this year’s A/E/C Leadership Roundtable Mega Meeting addressing the topic of suburban sprawl. With more than 200 people in attendance, Ms. Dunham-Jones discussed her new book Retrofitting Suburbia and the following topics that relate to our current economic climate and our design/development industry.

Our industry is facing massive foreclosure numbers, dropping tenant leases, and increasing energy costs. Owners, designers and developers are forced to begin to think outside the box, literally. Dilapidated retail centers, dead big box stores and grayfields (parking lots) are the prototype of suburbia and the ideal candidates for urbanization, re-greening and rehabilitation strategies.

• Urbanization: Full scale retrofits (changing a closed-air mall to a high density, mixed use open-air development)
• Re-Greening: Restoring natural resources (removing a run-down strip center and restoring the area to a natural floodplain)
• Re-Inhabitation: Mixing uses, community serving businesses, and pedestrian friendly stores (redeveloping an empty big box Wal-Mart into a mega church or temple)

Suburbia was built on cheap land, cheap oil, and cheap water with mainly unsustainable materials and a lack of public space. With an immense increase in transportation, housing and energy costs, it’s imperative that we focus on impacting climate change and enhancing affordability. Consider the following statistics:

• The average Atlantan drives 66 miles a day (national average: 33 miles/day).
• The average office employee uses 30% more energy driving to work than an office building uses during the eight hours the employee works.
• Suburban job growth is outpacing urban job growth by a factor of six.

It’s important to have green buildings, but more important to locate them properly. We need to start focusing on retrofitting the fundamental infrastructure and redirecting growth of the suburbs. Single-use developments inhibit the growth and stability of Suburbia. When designers and developers introduce the synergies of a walkable mix of uses and public spaces it results in reduced traffic, increased health, and increased property values.

Retrofitting Suburbia offers urban qualities at suburban costs. We can start by building on parking lots, widening sidewalks, adding trees, introducing bike lanes and incorporating pedestrian friendly shopping. Suburbia is getting old and the presentation of new urbanism and sustainable infrastructure can support slowing communities and local businesses in this challenging economic climate.

If you would like to learn more about the topic of preventing suburban sprawl, you can purchase Ms. Dunham-Jones’ book Retrofitting Suburbia, available for purchase at www.amazon.com. Ms. Dunham-Jones is a professor at Georgia Tech and holds a M.S. in Architecture. She will also be organizing and presenting at the 2010 Congress for New Urbanism annual program: Prescription for Healthy Places, May 19-22 in Atlanta, Georgia.

Currently she is involved with LWARPS – We Can Reverse Sprawl – in 100 years

• Transit on every major corridor
• 1000 ft buffers on stream beds (reservoirs, etc.)
• Subdivisions that are too close to water or too far from transit will not be viable (eco-transfer)

Now is the time for looking ahead to retrofitting suburbia. Goals include:

• Planners changing zoning
• Public to partner
• Architects/Engineers to develop complex designs

Click here to listen to the podcast of the event.

Malory Hunter, Business Development Manager
Foresite Group, Inc.
SMPS Atlanta, Newsletter Editor

9 Steps to Motivating Your Team Today

When it comes to motivation, are you just going through the motions? Make yours a GREAT team to work on. Here are a couple ideas adapted from ‘A great attitude’ www.qpcteam.com.

1. Keep your promises. Do what you say you’re going to do. And if you can’t, tell members as soon as possible.


2. Don’t lie. Even little white lies to sugar-coat bad news destroy trust.


3. Cut down barriers. Remove those obstacles that block the way your basis business and you’ll do away with an amazing amount of friction and drag.


4. Keep score. How can team members know if the team is winning or losing if you don’t keep score?


5. Recognize others. Asking for teamwork, then neglecting to recognize those who excel at it, signals that teamwork really isn’t that important.
   
6. Have fun. Even the hardest workers need to kick back, laugh, and have a good time. Celebrate successes.


7. Have Pride. What makes you proud to work here and be part of the team? What did you do today to merit that pride? Share your pride and ask your team members too.
   
8. Communicate constantly. Tell them exactly what’s going on, why it’s happening and what they need to do for success. Ask questions and demand answers. Don’t hide behind technology.
   
9. Do your fair share. All team members must be fairly tasked. (Share the ‘dirty work’).

“Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.”
– Helen Keller

“Experience is not what happens to a person; it is what a person does with what happens to them.”
– Aldous Huxley

“Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.”
- William James

Ronald D. Worth, CAE, FSMPS, CPSM
CEO
SMPS National

Drum roll please...the results are in!

In the SMPS National Publication the Marketer (link access for members only), the article “Silent Presses” discussed how online publications and blogging is resulting in a decline of the newspaper/magazine industry. Although other industries are twittering and involved in the blogosphere, where does the A/E/C industry stand regarding online technology? The National Conference, buildbusiness.org, had a session dedicated to social media. The case study during this session involved HOK who is way ahead of the curve compared to any other organization in the A/E/C industry. HOK has employees in all of their global offices posting to the their blog, www.hoklife.com. Are A/E/C marketing professionals leery of accepting new forms of technology and do we lag behind other industries?

SMPS Atlanta has embraced this new way to communicate by being the first chapter to maintain a blog, but where do our members stand regarding the utilization of technology? How do our members feel about moving to an online newsletter only? In an industry that is pushing for sustainable design, are we also embracing the other areas that can make us “green”?

To gain some insight we conducted a survey to find out what our members and prospective members thought about our communication efforts to determine what type of communication is preferred and how they utilize technology. The survey revealed that even in our industry you can begin to see the paradigm shift, as more and more A/E/C professionals begin to want information at their finger tips. We surveyed over 1,000 industry professionals and received 168 responses, as of this blog entry. 60% stated they preferred to receive the newsletter online vs a hard copy. 22% stated they prefer to receive a hard copy and 18% stated they preferred both.

So, why does technology take longer for the A/E/C industry to accept? Is it because the X & Y generation are slowly creeping into our industry? Is it because marketers and principals aren’t sure how new technology pertains to them? Maybe a little of both. When asked if you knew SMPS Atlanta had a blog, 33% said Yes and 67% said No. Of that 33% that said Yes, only 14% actually read the blog. However, 51% said they felt the blog was of value to them or their firm. Additionally, as a comparison 56% of those that responded said they don’t even read other blogs. So for that 44% that do read blogs, we are working on new content based on your feedback. Additionally, we will be putting out topic ideas with deadlines to get our members involved in the newsletter and blog.

Over the next year we will continue to publish the newsletter, however, in the future we may move to be online only as the results revealed that we are still split on this issue. You will also begin to receive a special edition of the infoblast with one to two articles every other month. SMPS Atlanta will continue to send the regular infoblast out each week on Wednesday mornings. Also, 70% stated they were interested in podcasts, so we are looking into this technology.

Please comment on the blog, call, or email me or any board member with any feedback. As we are here to advocate, educate, and connect leaders in the building industry.

Sarah C. Mackley
Innovative Solutions Group, Ltd. (ISG)
SMPS Atlanta, Director of Communications