President's Message (Updated 4/12/2010)

We also kicked off in April a great program that I’m pleased to announce, Young Professionals Month, a newly developed concept to BMA 2.0, which is about building careers, sharing fresh ideas and connecting you to the most dynamic young marketers in the city. Now as a new part of BMA Chicago we are growing a community of early- and mid-career professionals at b-to-b companies, agencies and also media outlets.

 

There are a lot of opportunities throughout the month for young professionals and their managers to get involved, so I want to run through those for you. The first one is our Rising Star award, where managers and supervisors have the opportunity to nominate and recognize their rising stars and reward their excellence.

 

For our April 21 Breakfast Roundtable we are partnering with CIMA, which is the Chicago Interactive Marketing Association, to tackle “Creating and Advancing Your Digital B-to-B Marketing Strategy.” Panelists will include experts from CDW, Inflection Point Media and Microsoft, and Michael Krauss, an expert in his own right, will moderate.

 

On April 28 we will have two sessions at the Microsoft Technology Center. You’re going to be able to learn about Microsoft’s digital vision for the future with a tour and a demo of some of their latest prototypes. And following this event we’ll all head over to Rhapsody for a cocktail and networking reception.

 

And, of course, all of this involvement for junior staff comes with a great membership offer, and for all of those under 30 who sign up during the month of April we will waive the $25 processing fee and we will also include three events, luncheons or breakfasts, for free through December of 2010. It’s a great deal.

 

By the way, Tower Award entries have been submitted and now it’s time to celebrate the winners. So come see who takes home the gold, silver and bronze at the 2010 gala, which will be held Wednesday, May 12, at Hotel Sax. And I’m thrilled to announce that the emcee will be Ellis Booker, the editor of BtoB magazine, who is a familiar face to all of us in the b-to-b community. We will also announce at this event the inaugural Rising Star award. Thank you to Ellis and to our sponsors, Schneider Electric and Freeman, for their support. And you can still get in on the fun as a sponsor by contacting Marla Schrager. And of course everyone can register online at www.bmachicago.org.

 

Now, if anybody out there doesn’t know by now that the BMA National Conference is returning to Chicago, you must be living under a rock. The promotions are all over the place and the agenda is pulling together in a really amazing way. Last year my company alone sent several people to this event and we hope that you are planning to attend because it is going to be sold out, in my estimation, and it was sold out last year. We all benefited last year and we’re in store for another great lineup, so let me run through the highlights for you.

 

First of all, we have Beth Comstock, who is the CMO at GE. We have Fred Weirsema, who is the author of The Discipline of Market Leaders and Customer Intimacy. We have speakers from AT&T, such as Charlene Lake, the chief sustainability officer and senior vice president of public affairs.And we also have Jeff Hayzlett, the chief marketing officer and corporate vice president at Eastman Kodak, and by the way, the recent author of The Mirror Test: Is Your Business Really Breathing? And have you seen Jeff lately on “Celebrity Apprentice”? He’s been on three times and he was just on a couple of weeks ago, so that was kind of fun to see him in that environment as well.

 

We also have great speakers from Boeing, Motorola, Navigant Consulting, W.W. Grainger and more. Even a few of our own board members, like Phil Clement, who is the global chief marketing and communications officer at Aon Corporation; Michael Krauss, who I mentioned earlier, he’s the president and managing principal of Market Strategy Group; and Linda Meenan, who is the CMO of Wildman Harrold. You can find out all the details to “Engage!” at www.marketing.org.

 

And by the way, on the second night of the conference, which is Thursday, June 3, we’re going to hold our annual fund raiser, media auction and gala, which is the Windy City Biz Bash. Now if you’re interested in sponsoring, advertising or donating to the auction, keep in mind that the deadlines are coming up. Please go to our Web site or connect with Marla. And remember, this is one annual event that raises money to support BMA Chicago’s operations, our programming, the internships we do and the events we run, so everybody benefits by participating. So thanks again in general for your support.

 

And if I may, I’d like to end with a little plug for my boss, Eduardo Conrado, who is the senior vice president and chief marketing officer of the Enterprise Mobility Solutions business at Motorola. He’ll be our May 6 MarketingMasters luncheon speaker. You’re going to learn all about how Motorola is redefining and refreshing the very purpose of our brand. This program will wrap up the year here at the The Standard Club until next season in September 2010. Our June luncheon will be in conjunction with the national conference, which is at the Swissotel.

 

In closing, I wanted to say that if you are not a member yet you can join at any time at www.marketing.org. You can also join our LinkedIn group, Business Marketing Association of Chicago, and follow us on Twitter, @BMA Chicago.

 

I hope to see you at all the great events coming up. The next couple of months are goin to be fantastic.

 

Best regards,

 

Suzanne Martin, CBC

President, BMA Chicago