Home

December 2008

If you weren’t one of the record 100 attendees at last week’s breakfast roundtable covering b-to-b SEM and SEO, you missed a great program.

If I may say so, these topic-focused morning events just keep getting better and better, thanks to BMA board member and roundtable chair Mary Uhrina and, of course, BMA board member and Google exec Jen Howard, who organized and led last week’s panel.

Be sure to check out BMA member Tom Tarr’s excellent write-up on the event. Go here to see Jen Howard’s introductory deck.

Next up on Dec. 10: BMA academic advisors and noted IMC authorities Don and Heidi Schultz, who will discuss internal marketing and branding in a discussion titled, “Why Employees Are Critical in a Push-Pull Marketplace.”

NOV. 6 LINKEDIN LUNCHEON WRAP-UP

Thanks again to LinkedIn’s Patrick Crane, Steve Patrizi, Dale Durrett, Alison D’Amico, Travis Russell and Chris Kelleher for making our Nov. 6 luncheon program the second largest in BMA history.

Dale, Alison, Travis and Chris led 67 coaching sessions, Patrick delivered a luncheon talk to 417 attendees (see attending firms here) and, after lunch, Steve hosted an intensive drill-down session with 200 attendees.

I also want to thank Roger Crockett, deputy Chicago bureau chief of BusinessWeek, for his splendid introduction of Patrick Crane.

Two local journalists have commented on Patrick’s visit and comments, as follows:

The conversation about LinkedIn and Patrick’s and Steve’s talks continues at BMA/Chicago’s LinkedIn Group, now nearly 260 members strong.

Last comment about LinkedIn: Patrick Crane alluded in his talk to LinkedIn Events, a new feature of potentially great interest to b-to-b marketers, that literally launched the next day, Friday, Nov. 7. Go here to read the formal announcement.

Most of the Nov. 6 audience of 417 raised their hands when asked by LinkedIn’s Patrick Crane if they had created personal and professional profiles on LinkedIn.

Most of the Nov. 6 audience of 417 raised their hands when asked by
LinkedIn’s Patrick Crane if they had created personal and professional profiles on LinkedIn.

New Member Promotion

Congrats to George Rafeedie and his membership committee for netting an astounding 15 new or renewed members at the Nov. 6 luncheon, thanks to two donated incentives—a Nintendo Wii from LinkedIn and The Hope Pendant from Links of London (lots of “Links” in November!).

Welcome to these 15 new or renewed members:

Renewals

Scott McGarvey, Scott McGarvey Associates
Douglas Still, JohnsByrne Company
Peter DeLegge, MarketingHire.com
Jennifer Mussman, Edelman
Mack Reynolds, Reynolds Communications Group

New Members

Pate Gustafson, JohnsByrne Company
Tom Gosche, GEM Communications
Diane Massie, Cars.com
Anna Ahlborn, Live Marketing
Christopher West
Bruce Ulrich, Telesis Associates Consulting
Marilyn Maurer, Amberleaf
Jeffrey Willinger, RightPoint Consulting
Bengt Sjogren, Slack Barshinger
John Wolf, BRB Development

And congratulations to the two prize winners—Peter DeLegge, who won the Wii, and Marilyn Maurer, who won The Hope Pendant

Web Site Revamp Under Way

I want to thank BMA board member and Schneider Electric marketing executive Tom Insprucker for his Web site committee’s work this summer preparing for a long-overdue revamp of our Web site.

As a result, BMA has secured the pro bono support of

Symmetri Marketing Group

to take Tom’s committee’s findings and implement many of the recommendations, including a design overhaul, over the coming months. Thank you Carl Triemstra, Mark Masseur and Michael Smethurst!

Thanks also to the tireless efforts of BMA member Stan Bond, CEO of Hamilton & Bond and BMA’s long-time Web master, who built BMA’s current Web site back in 2002 and who will work closely with Symmetri on the revamp.

The new site, which will include expanded Web 2.0 functionality, will be live by the end of Q1 2009, if not sooner. Watch, though, for some much quicker cosmetic improvements to be made within the next several months.

Important News on Event Registration!

BMA is converting this month to a new member database system, Computility, and we want you to be aware of one change.

Even if you have registered for past BMA events, the very next time you register, you will be asked to create an account. This step will enable us to better track what events you are attending and have attended.

Despite a little extra up-front work, here’s the benefit for you: You will no longer have to enter contact information each time you sign up for a BMA event. So far the system is working well, but please give us your feedback as you begin to use it.

If you are not already a member of BMA, please consider joining today. You can join, register for BMA programs and subscribe to the BMAIL through the BMA Web site.

Hope to see you at our Dec. 3 luncheon.

All the best,