Engineering Influence from ACEC

Why Private Market Firms Should be Part of the ACEC Family with Erik Peterson

Engineering Influence sat down with Erik Peterson, ACEC Oregon's National Director and Principal at Peterson Structural Engineering to discuss the importance of ACEC membership for firms engaged in the private marketplace.  

ACEC's Women in Leadership Group at the 2019 Annual Conference in Chicago

Engineering Influence sat down with ACEC's Women in Leadership Group at the 2019 Fall Conference in Chicago.  The group discussed current trends in diversity and inclusivity at ACEC and in the engineering industry and the challenges that exist in creating a diverse engineering workforce.

The Chairman's Corner, Episode 2, with Mitch Simpler

Welcome to the second episode of the Chairman's Corner - a quarterly program featuring the ACEC Board Chair, Mitch Simpler.  In this episode, Mitch discusses the upcoming ACEC Fall Conference in Chicago and the recent FIDIC Conference in Mexico City.
Transcript:
Host:  Welcome to the second episode of the chairman's corner, a quarterly series featuring current ACC Board Chair, Mitch Simpler. The “corner” provides ACEC's chairman with an opportunity to give him a platform to update everyone on what's happening at ACEC. Mitch, welcome back to the show.
Mitch Simpler: It's a pleasure to be back. Thank you.
Host:  Well, we're only days away from the 2019 fall conference in Chicago. What are you looking forward to most at the event?
Mitch Simpler: Well, I'm pretty excited about the conference for many reasons, but to me, I think the single biggest step for me and for ACEC will be the unveiling of the new and extremely exciting strategic plan. We have made so many key staff changes as well as structural changes to the national organization, all for the best benefit of the member organizations and the members at whole and at large. This conference now gives all the member firms and the member offices an opportunity to see this new organization at work. And the unveiling of the new strategic plan will give us an opportunity to put that team to test. And it's really, for me, it's very exciting. The whole thing.
Host: Yeah, that's definitely going to be an important moment because it's something that is going to be very important of course in the years to come because the way that the industry is changing and the way that ACEC has to evolve to meet the challenges of representing the engineering industry as the industry itself evolves.
Mitch Simpler: Yeah. And I think with the structural changes that we've made and the new staff and the new leadership at ACEC National, we are really taking a much more forward-looking perspective from the standpoint of the organization. And the strategic plan will allow us to be able to take that forward as well.
Host: Now at the conference, of course, one of the things that we're promoting a lot are the speakers. Of course Robert Costa from the Washington Post is going be the headlining speaker and he's going to have a lot of things to say, I'm sure about what's happening in Washington with impeachment and how that's impacting everything going on. Have you looked at the slate of speakers and is there anyone that you're really interested in hearing from?
Mitch Simpler: I have, you know, Jeff, I'm always blown away by the quality and the relevance of all of the speakers at ACEC brings to the conferences. And certainly this fall conference does not appear to be any different. Bob Costa will certainly shed some long overdue light on what is and more importantly, what isn't happening in DC, and the ever-changing political trials and tribulations in DC. But each of the other keynote speakers are discussing some equally pertinent topics from current policies. Keller Rinaldo will be discussing his role in creating both a lifesaving, equally important disruptive space-age, zip-line technology. And then finally, the one I think that I'm most interested in is Sekou Andrews poetic voice, which will demonstrate how we as engineers and business leaders need to change the way we deliver our message to our clients, our staff, and most importantly to our society. All really different. But equally intriguing topics. So, I really look forward to it.
Host: Absolutely. I think that one of the things that, to your point about changing the way that we talk about ourselves and our industry to our clients, is an idea that kind of extends from the strategic planning process and something that I think that you've mentioned a number of times and it's really stuck with me is the idea of moving the industry from a role of being just being a service provider into being a trusted advisor for our clients. What does that mean to you being a trusted advisor and how can the industry move towards that recognition?
Mitch Simpler: Well, you know, the trusted advisor term is something that I use quite often because I believe in it. To me, a trusted advisor is someone who was perceived to provide invaluable, unbiased, and timely information to the betterment of the receiving party. In my humble opinion, that is what all engineers do already. We simply need to raise the awareness of our clients and our society to see that our services are truly, we are trusted advisors.
Host: Absolutely. And the engineering industry is, you know, we all know is changing. We see it all around us. You know, something that, and we'll get to this with, with the FIDIC conference, when, when you were speaking at in Mexico City talking about how technology is really pushing different things, cloud computing, data visualization, you know, using virtual reality and data heavy applications. In your opinion, why is it important that ACEC evolve to address these new specializations but at the same time keep its core focus as being the voice of the engineering industry?
Mitch Simpler: Well, you know, Jeff, this is truly a pivotal time in, ACEC's evolution. Each and every one of our member firms are diversifying, adding value to their clients by creating and evolving their own specialty practice to better serve their clients. These changes within our member firms are equally reflected in the firms' makeup, which means employing non-traditional staff and service components. So in my opinion, we as an organization need to be sensitive to these changes and reflect all of these in our approach to how we best serve our member organizations as well. Our member firms.
Host: Absolutely. But at the same time that that guiding North Star is still representing the engineering industry. And that is still throughout the process. Still the focus for ACEC, it's just the fact that there are different specializations, there are different people coming in, nontraditional professionals who are being included in or folded into the engineering family. And it's a question of evolving to make sure they are welcome as well.
Mitch Simpler: Absolutely agree.
Host:  And then of course you and I were just in Mexico City for the annual FIDIC conference. It was my first FIDIC conference. And I thought it was, it was a very interesting event. It was - it brought a lot of different topics. Of course, this year was mainly focused on technology and innovation. What was your impression of the overall of the event overall?
Mitch Simpler: Well, you know, interesting. It was my first FIDIC conference as well and I really wasn't quite sure what to expect. I will tell you, I was very favorably impressed with the whole conference and in particular the extreme focus on technology as both a disruptor as well as being a single greatest opportunity for the engineering profession to differentiate itself from the less technical aspects of the built environment. And, and hearing the, the issues that were presented on a global scale which we face every day here in the U.S., I guess the good news is that we are not alone and that the pressures being brought to bear on firms here or the same pressures being brought to bear on firms on a global scale. But clearly technology will be the wave of the future. And a part of our role, in my opinion, is to be able to harness that technology to help us forge a new future for the consulting engineering industry.
Host: Absolutely. How important do you think it was for Bob Howard to take over as president of FIDIC from the fact that he is an American, you know, the presidency is now in kind of the hands of North America. What kind of impact do you think that'll have on that organization?
Mitch Simpler:Well, that's my opinion. It'll have a very positive impact. Certainly what Bob brings to the table is the fact that he has a significant amount of experience having been past chair of ACEC U.S. He can bring that experience and the ability to manage a large organization to the, to the FIDIC level so that they can now practice a global management in a, in a much I don't want say needed, but certainly in a very, in a very kindly and organized fashion. And I think it'll be very positive. I think he is going to be a terrific, terrific addition and it's a two year term and he's going to have a, a, a challenge ahead of them. Absolutely. You know, they're there. They're reforming and reformulating. Their new president is absolutely terrific and I think they will be a terrific team.
Host: Yeah. Nelson always brings energy. He's at, at the conference, I don't think he stopped. I think he had, you know, every single foot he stepped somebody was grabbing them and pulling them aside. So the energy is definitely there. So it's good that the leadership and then with, with Bob bringing his perspective, I think it's going to, it's definitely going to be a bright future.
Mitch Simpler: Yeah, I think that'll be very positive. And it'll evolve into even a better organization than it already is.
Host: Well, we've seen a surge in late, I guess now that it's kind of the 11th hour registrants for the Chicago conference. If there's anybody on the fence, what would be your elevator pitch for them to come out to Chicago?
Mitch Simpler: Well, you know, it's funny having been that ACEC member from CEO who had never attended the ACEC national conference until for me until about 10 years ago, my message is certainly simple. As a member, you need to attend the national conference so that you can begin to see the things that you would otherwise never know existed to make you a better leader, a better business person, and finally, a better service provider. You get all these training sessions as a byproduct from attending meetings with your peers as well as the innumerable professionals who attend the conferences for the sole purpose of educating and raising the awareness of our members as to what we can do as an organization to help all of our member firms and our member organizations. And I remember it like it was yesterday. It was absolutely eye opening and jaw-dropping and it was because of that experience that I have gotten involved to the level I have because I realized that the national does provide an immense amount of insight for people that are running businesses. It's about the business of engineering and it is the best way, singularly, the best way for CEOs and C-suites to members to well get that opportunity to learn.
Host: Well put. It's going to be my first fall conference. I'm, I'm looking forward to it. The podcast is going to be there of course, and we're looking for guests. Anyone who's there who wants to be on just, just search me out, you know, grab the mic. But that, that's, that's great. Is there anything else going on which we didn't touch upon that you want to want to address?
Mitch Simpler: No, as I said, my, certainly my mission should the rest of the board choose to accept it is to get the new strategic plan adopted so that we as an organization can take advantage of the new team that have at national coupled to the new strategic plan and really start moving this organization into the future. And it'll be exciting. It's challenging and I look forward to it.
Host: So do we. I think that you know, from our, you know, our hallway here, which is, you know, Linda, myself, Steve, and then Dave Bender of course, who came on in June, we're all very optimistic, very excited to start working on this and, and really guiding this through you know, approval, the whole full approval by the board and then the implementation. But we think there's a lot of opportunity to establish ACEC even more as the main source, the convener, the thought leader driving the discussion about the value of engineering to society, to policy makers and to a wider audience than ever before. And we're really looking forward to it.
Mitch Simpler: Right. And, and the, and the next challenge will be after the, after the board hopefully adopts the strategic plan will be to develop the implementation plan, which is really the devil in the details as to how we will execute the strategic plan. And more importantly, set up the metrics by which we can measure the performance of the entire organization against the strategic goals. And that'll be our next challenge.
Host: Absolutely. But it's one that we're ready and willing to take on. So Mitch, thank you so much for your time and looking forward to seeing you in Chicago next week.
Mitch Simpler: As do I look forward to seeing you on everybody else? It, it should be a terrific conference and a well-worth the time that the, we will all be spending out there. Okay. Safe travels.
Host: Safe travels
 

An Interview with Rep. Rodney Davis (IL-13)

We were pleased to sit down with Rep. Rodney Davis (IL-3), the Ranking Member on the Highways Subcommittee of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.  Rep. Davis shared his thoughts on the prospects of an infrastructure bill this Congress and discussed the challenges and opportunities for bipartisan compromise in the weeks ahead.  Davis also discussed his participation in the biennial "Longest Yard" congressional football game for charity played by Members of Congress and the Capitol Police.  The Members won the game, and both teams raised $300,000 for local police charities in the process.
Transcript:
Host: Welcome to another edition of Engineering Influence, a podcast brought to you by the American Council of engineering companies. I am very pleased today to be coming from you in really the, I guess the hideaway office of Congressman Rodney Davis of Illinois. I'm a member of the Transportation and Infrastructure committee, but more impo rtantly, the winner or, or the, at least the trophy holder of the 2019 a congressional longest yard football championship - which is a great achievement, which is a biennial football game being put on for charity by between the Capitol police and members of Congress. Tell us a little bit about the charity cause I don't think a lot of people realize that this happens outside of Washington, that this, this is a, this is a biannual event.
Rep. Davis: Well for other reasons the baseball game has gotten a lot more attention over the last few years after the tragic shooting that we all went through in June of 2017. But we also have a congressional football game for charity where instead of like in baseball where Republicans and Democrats play against each other, we play on the same team against the guards. It's kinda based on, as you said, the longest yard movie. Uwe're supposed to be the ones, the convicts, but we bring some pros into some former NFL pros that help us coach and, and play with us. Ubut we really appreciate what the guards do on a regular basis. But there's a Capitol police Memorial fund that was started after the death of two officers in the late nineties here in Washington, D C where they were killed by a mentally ill gunman who came into the Capitol before. We had a lot of the security protocols that we now see in place that Capitol Police Memorial Fund gets money from this football game of what we raise.
Rep. Davis: Also a couple of other charities that are dedicated to helping veterans who come home and maybe be suffering through post traumatic stress syndrome. These are the, the, the charities that are funded by the record, $300,000 plus that we raised last night.
Rep. Davis: Yeah, that's fantastic.
Rep. Davis: And I think it's a, it's a good lesson for everyone listening outside the beltway that at the end of the day members of Congress come together for a good cause. No, we really do. And, and in the midst of an impeachment inquiry beginning, we, Republicans and Democrats played together on a field last night for charity. And I just hope your listeners and the American people realize that there's a lot more of that than what you see and hear in the news on the 24 hour news cycle. That's a good thing. And I want to thank the Capitol police for what they do everyday.
Rep. Davis: They protect millions of people a year that come through this Capitol complex. I also saw the Capitol police officers firsthand when in the midst of a, a shooting in the midst of a tragedy those officers ran toward the gunfire while we were all running away. That's courage. But that courage that courage exists to every day. And we know they're doing what they're trained to do. But also last night it was a night that although I respect everything they do, I'm damn glad we beat, them.
Host: It's always good to bring the, bring the trophy home.
Rep. Davis: Oh yeah. No, I'm not carrying it by any of those Capitol police at the guard stations.
Host: Unless you have to get down on the floor of the house and do the special order to...
Rep. Davis: That'll be tomorrow, tomorrow.
Host: Um well like you said, you know, there's a lot going on in Washington right now.
Host: A lot of it is political, but there's one issue which of course I think is, is largely bipartisan. Um historically has been, and that of course - that is infrastructure. You serve as the ranking member on the highway subcommittee of the transportation infrastructure...
Rep. Davis: The largest subcommittee in Congress, 59 members, 59 members.
Host: And of course, right now everybody is looking to see what's gonna happen with infrastructure next. The Senate has moved on their version of service bill before they broke for August recess. And now that they're back, you know, that process continues. What's your perspective and view in the house? What, where do you see this process going and what would you like to see come out of the session?
Rep. Davis: Sure. I'm glad the Senate took the first crack at it because I think it sends a message to the democratic leadership who I believe are holding up Chairman DeFazio from being able to offer up a solution on the house side.
Rep. Davis: You know, Peter DeFazio's, a good friend of mine Eleanor Holmes, Norton, the treasurer of the subcommittee that I'm the lead Republican on. And then our ranking member, Sam graves. If we were just given a chance to sit down and across the table from each other, we could have a bill done in a matter of days, if not hours. We can do that. The Senate did that. They did their work. We had Senator Carper over to speak to our transportation stakeholders meeting that Earl Blumenauer and I run on a regular basis. He was there today talking about their successes. But again, it all comes down to two things. Now. Number one, it's how do we pay for it? Because that Senate bill, it addresses nothing in the pay force. I mean, we can put good policies together on the, on the the authorizing side just like they did, but the appropriating side and the tax writing side that's going to be the most, the biggest part of our discussion.
Rep. Davis: That's one issue that's holding up progress. The second one is impeachment. Look. I've been a staffer during the Clinton impeachment. I've never been here during an impeachment. And from what I remember, the 90s, nothing gets done during impeachment.
Host: Everything just grinds to a halt.
Rep. Davis: Absolutely. And that's unfortunate because we ought to be able to come together on infrastructure. That's why I asked to be the ranking member on the highways and transit subcommittee. I, I know we've got a highway bill coming. We got to get together and come up with solutions.
Host: So even though, like you mentioned, things got even more partisan or more political last night with, with the announcement of this inquiry, there still can be work done by the committees by staff and the members. Um as you mentioned, T&I's an authorizing committee, you can only do so much when it comes to the question of funding.
Host: Yeah. How is we'll have a say in that funding source. Yeah. But what do you think is, is how is Ways and Means approaching this on, on the house side? What do you think.
Rep. Davis: They're not.
Host: They're not at all right now.
Rep. Davis: And that is a part of the problem.
Host: Do you think it's at least on their agenda or you think there's some reason why it's, it's being held up or frankly I can give you my perspective and my opinion on why it's being held up.
Rep. Davis: I think Nancy Pelosi in the Democratic leadership don't want to talk about infrastructure. They don't want to pass the USMCA right now because it gives president Trump a win against President Trump. Something to go talk about and being able to work together and get things done that matter to American families. And that's just as an ma matter to a group of engineers.
Rep. Davis: It just doesn't matter to a group of road builders. It just doesn't matter to a group of transit officials or members of Congress. It matters to every single American out there to have a better transportation network to get to and from work. But what matters in middle America sometimes doesn't matter to leaders in politics out here. And that's what sad. That's what I think is holding this up. It's just a sheer will of the Democrats not to give the president in a win. And that's unfortunate.
Host: Now I think going back home and, and for the perspective of your constituents back home, a lot of us talk about, and we hear all the time in Washington, the negative side of, of infrastructure, the roads are crumbling and the bridges are falling down. The flip side of that is what we could actually achieve if we actually invest in America's infrastructure. What kind of benefits would your constituents get from a well funded and longterm infrastructure bill?
Rep. Davis: Well, they're, they're going to see updates to their local transportation systems that they in many of their local officials have been calling for for years, if not decades. It's, it's being able to implement those longterm visions that have been part of a planning process that may be out dates even as long as we've been alive in many cases. You look at, you look at a us 67, for example, in the Southern part of my district, that long term project could be completed with an infrastructure bill. We could get the rest of US 67 funded and then the new and then the new Delhi bypass funded around Jerseyville that could really then complete that four lane corridor from you know, basically from the quad cities all the way down to st Louis.
Rep. Davis: That was a longterm goal that was put in place long before I ever got involved in politics and policy. But you don't have to look too far to see the benefits of what could happen. And we also can't forget how long of a, an outlook we have to have when it comes to infrastructure. Dave Bender and I have known each other for a very, very long time. And, and when I first started working right out of college, I was involved in an accident on route 29 that killed a young lady on December 23rd and I was a third car in the accident. I had went around, and got sprayed with debris, but that death of melody travelers started a group called project 29 in Taylorville, my hometown. And in 1992 and moving into 1993, when that group was started, if you would have asked us if we were okay with that project, finally getting done in 2016, we would have said, keep your money.
Rep. Davis: But we didn't. We got the first ever federal investment that was invested in 1998 that helped put that project on to governor Edgar's five-year plan. Then we had Illinois first, they invested more dollars to get four lanes on both ends of that 18 miles. It still need to be four lanes put in place. And then as we moved federal dollars into that project and as we moved more state dollars into that project, it finally got done in 2016. 1993 to 2016 but nobody in my hometown that drives that road says we regret investing in that project, but we got to be patient and we've got to continue to invest because eventually you get it done. And that's what an infrastructure bill can do.
Host: That's a really good point. And I think that the length of time from inception to project delivery is also something that is always on our minds.
Rep. Davis: Clearly the engineering portion, that's what keeps it. That's what it takes too long.
Rep. Davis: Do you see any, I'm moving on and making sure that we engineers don't have sense of humor. You didn't laugh at all. Terrible, terrible. A change order.
Host:  But it's, it's, I guess the idea of cutting that project delivery timeline is something which the Senate address with one federal decision in, in, in their bill, in, in streamline of the environmental regulatory review process. How important will that be mirroring that or going further in the House?
Rep. Davis: You know, it's a step more than what we've already done. I mean, look, we have had so many successes in the six and a half years I'd been here when it comes to water infrastructure, when it comes to when it comes to water infrastructure, rail infrastructure, road infrastructure, we've done everything we can to really lessen the regulatory environment and speed up the permitting process.
Rep. Davis: Think about it with the Corps of engineers, when we first passed our first WRDA bill that we did when I got here to Congress in 2014, the average time it took from what I consider the paperwork process to the building process was 15 years average time. And I can only blame you engineer's for a portion of that. You know, so we, by law then what we did is we made sure that the Corps of Engineers knew that they had three years, three years. That's it. Otherwise, otherwise, you know, you're penalized. You got to three years by law to finish the project, that portion of the project. Then we get to the infrastructure investment itself much more quickly. Those are the types of things we've been able to do. So continuing down that process with what the Senate did I think is a great step. And we, we have to continue to identify where we lessen the regulatory burden and get to the point of laying concrete asphalt.
Host:  I just have two more questions cause I wanna I want to make sure that we have votes coming up and I know you want to make sure that you hit them. The one question I have again on WRDA really is, is we're expecting that of course in 2020 and.
Rep. Davis: That will be my third WRDA bill when, I take full credit for finally passing where to bills because before I got here in 2013, nothing happened. It was Oh seven. So you're welcome.
Host: No problem. I guess question on process, and this might be speculative, but do you think that chairman DeFazio's going to keep the same process that chairman Schuster put in with the Chiefs Reports or you know, or that like that change?
Rep. Davis: Well, certainly I'd like to go a step further. Look, I'd like to be able to have members of Congress try to address issues in their own district like we used to.
Rep. Davis:  I think it's a tragedy that when we, that we can't ask for any language. When it comes to war to authorization authorization, we are only authorizing dollars to be spent. No dollars are attached to a WRDA request. But somehow before I got here, those requests were labeled earmarks when they have $0 dollars attached. And what that has led to is been zero investment on the locks and dams in the Illinois and Mississippi waterways because I couldn't ask for it during the Obama administration and the Obama administration wouldn't ask to spend any money on it. So we had no recourse. It's all executive branch driven. Thankfully the Trump administration began to invest in the Illinois, Mississippi waterways. They're spending millions to upgrade LaGrange now. Now the problem I have is our producers are worried they won't get done in time. I'm like, that's a good problem to have.
Rep. Davis: Yeah, wait, we actually worried about spending money instead of getting money.
Host: So the final question I have for you is, did we win the game? Yes, we did. We're champions. So let a little bit later we're going to be meeting with some of our executives, some of our senior executives, Institute members. Yes.
Rep. Davis: Couple of them got to ride up on the elevator with me holding it.
Rep. Davis: They already gave you the elevator pitch.
Rep. Davis: They know I'm a champion.
Host: Did you let them hold the trophy? That's the big question.
Rep. Davis: I let them touch it.
Rep. Davis: All right. There you go. Hey, did given the fact that we talk a lot about the value of engineering and kind of the broader context of its, you know, value to society what's going to be your message to them when you, when you talk to them.
Rep. Davis: That we won the football game and clearly that's all I'm going to talk about.
Rep. Davis: You know, my messages, engineers by nature, by job, our longterm planners understand that we wouldn't, as policymakers, we wouldn't expect an engineer to give us a product that was not a longterm solution for the project they're working on or the building they're building. Don't expect us as policy makers to settle for short term funding solutions that don't address the volatility and the lack of funding and the highway trust fund and the long term outlook for what are, what are our you know, systems of mobility are going to look like in the next 10 years, which is basically a fancy way of saying don't just tell us to raise the gas tax.
Host: Got it. Well, Congressman, I really appreciate you being on the show. This is, you are the first member of Congress to appear on our podcast and it's a great way to kick it off.
Rep. Davis:  Congressman Rodney Davis, he's a leader on and off the football field and good luck today.
Rep. Davis: Can I give a special shout out to...
Rep. Davis: Please do.
Rep. Davis: Bender -
Host: David our director of political affairs here is sitting out on the, on the sideline here.
Rep. Davis: Well, David has been a longtime friend. You guys couldn't ask for a better advocate out here in Washington. Now. And I also want to give a shout out to his replacement. Kevin Hardell. Kevin and I have worked together for years. He's going to do a great job fill in the shoes that, that Dave left as big shoes to fill. But you know what? You guys couldn't have two better people representing you at the state and the federal level. And I appreciate being able to work with both of them and I know, I know what they're capable of. And you guys have got a long term bright future with association.
Host: Dave's been great. I've been working with them since they came on and it's just been a fantastic experience. So I appreciate your time and thank you very much.
Rep. Davis: Thank you. And remind Kevin, I'm a champion. I will definitely

Three Trends in Digital Advocacy You Should Know

ACEC welcomes political consultant Mark Bryant of Agency Advisors onto the show to discuss the changing nature of issue advocacy in the age of big data and the internet.  Mark discusses three main themes during the interview: message packaging, message delivery and measurement and how each can be utilized to maximize the return of an issue advocacy campaign.  
During the interview Mark and Engineering Influence host Jeff Urbanchuk discuss tactics and tools that can help advocates better tailor their messages during the development of an integrated issue campaign.  Some of those resources are listed below:
Useful Reference Information:
Optimal Social Media Image and Video Sizes 
Social Media Video Tips and Strategies
Data Visulaization Tools:
Tableau
Social Analytics Tools:
Sprout Social
Hootsuite
Infographic Creation Tools:
Adobe Spark
Canva 
Transcript:
Host:                            Welcome to another edition of ACEC's podcast, Engineering Influence. Today we're pleased to welcome Mark Bryant to the show. Mark is a wealth of information when it comes to the world of advocacy, message development and message delivery. We wanted Mark to stop by at the show because the world of advocacy is changing the same tactics and tools, the big name brands use to target consumers with advertising can be used in advocacy to create well-designed, executed and measured communications campaigns, technology, especially the internet. And the rise of social media changed the way we communicate and it's continuing to change by the day. And we'd like to give our members an overview of current trends and communicating and what you should think about when it comes to crafting an issue, advocacy campaigns. So Mark, welcome. And if you could start by telling us not only what you do with agency advisors, but what do you do for clients?
Mark Bryant:                Jeff, thank you so much for having me today. So, so we at agency advisers, we like to say we bring we bring new tech to candidates. Causes in the agencies that work on their behalf. And by way of a new tech, we mean sort of data, digital and analytics capabilities that are, that are, that are coming into the market to help public affairs advocacy practitioners, advance legislative and regulatory agendas. We work with trade associations like the ACEC in a consultative capacity. We're in, we often open with a presentation on trends and innovation in, in advocacy. We tend to focus sort of along a continuum. We start with ways in which people are packaging messaging more effectively these days ways in which people are delivering those messages more efficiently, often times clearly to decision makers and those who influence them.
Mark Bryant:                And then we end with ways in which those messages are being measured or the degree to which methods to measure the degree to which are your message is getting through. So our job is to essentially be a resource to practitioners that want to leverage. This is a, this is an extraordinarily sort of complex ecosystem, right? The number of providers in the sort of data digital and analytics sort of ecosystem category is, is changing quickly and, and, and is just almost on an on manageable.
Host:                            The minute you think you have a handle on it, everything changes.
Mark Bryant:                Absolutely. And, you know, they come, they go but there are, there are certain things that really catch our attention as particularly compelling and impactful.
Host:                            So trends, I mean everybody loves trends focusing on trends. And I understand you have really three big trends that you want to kind of talk to us about today.
Mark Bryant:                Sure, absolutely. So, within the context of, of those, those three sort of big areas of focus again, packaging, messaging, delivering messaging and, and measuring the efficacy of messaging. The first is around helping how people are packaging messaging most effectively today. And, and and a lot of people talk about this, not many people leverage it to the extent possible. And that is video, right? There's no better method of conveying a very sort of complex issue position to a lawmaker to, to a constituent of a lawmaker to virtually anyone that then by way of a, by way of a video, by basically telling your story in a format that's easily, readily sort of digestible and compelling. Right. we, we think that we love video not just because of its efficacy but, but also because of its utility.
Mark Bryant:                So, so here there are couple of ways in which people are leveraging video that, that, that, that not, not everyone thinks about one today. In-Person engagement. So meetings with law makers and staffers often begin with a video. So the, literally the lobbyist, the government affairs, the government relations professional walking in to a lawmaker's office with a staffer, with a staff and a legislator, and they'll start with a video. They'll, they'll bring their tablets and bring their laptops. We'll start with a two, three, four minute video, which explains the organization's issue position in a clearly, you know, well thought out, methodical manner. There are oftentimes what are considered motion graphics or animated videos which really speak to the impact of a policy outcome on our lawmakers state or district. And so that, that starts a conversation, right? That's sort of sets the table, sets the stage and that yields a very sort of interactive that that leads to a very sort of dynamic and interactive conversation based on you know, a set of facts that were laid out and you know, in, in that, in that video format.
Mark Bryant:                What's nice about that is you leave that office, that video stays behind you. You're government affairs, law lobbyists and government affairs professional, your lobbyist, they, walk away and that video stays and those lawmakers and staffers can share that video with other staffers, with committee members of subcommittee members, right? There's, there's great utility there. What can also be done, what's extraordinarily impactful is to sort of repackage or reformat that two, three, four minute video into a six second, a 15 second, a 3 second format, which can be leveraged in an ad campaign, right. To keep your issue top of mind among those lawmakers and staffers long after you leave. And that same, those same formats because people and the reasons six second 15, second 30 second are commonly used is because they can th th th they're, they're they're well-suited for different mediums.
Mark Bryant:                So you want to be in front of that staffer when he or she wakes up when he or she is, you know, en route to the office. Potentially. It depends upon their, you know, their mode of transportation throughout the course of the day, you know, when they get home through connected TV, when they wrap up their day with a little social media, you know, scanning, if you will. So, so it's, it's fascinating. You can, you can package that message to stay top of mind among those, those lawmakers and staffers. Again long after, long after you leave, you can also leverage those same videos to engage like-minded groups, to make others aware of the issue position, sort of pull them in to the discourse or the dialogue or, or to to, to extend your message beyond just as lawmakers and staffers. And then finally you can use those same messages to inform the constituents of the law makers that are important to you.
Mark Bryant:                And you might reformat further to end that with a call to action. Right? So you might, you might educate again, constituents within a state or the district of the lawmaker that matters and ask them to make a phone call, ask them to send an email, ask them to, to, to post something on social media that's relevant to that issue position.
Host:                            Yeah. And that's, that's all good points because I think something that really get across is the idea that one piece of you can't really look at a piece of content as a piece of content and, and as a singular thing, like, okay, check the box. We did a video. You have to look at, we have a video, so how else can we break this down and reuse it and repackage it because there are so many different mediums right now to send out.
Mark Bryant:                That's right. That's right.
Host:                            You could host the video of course first on YouTube and that gives you pretty much a, a wide audience that you can draw from it and it's easily accessible. But then you need to repackage that for Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and they all have different requirements. That's right. And it's something that I'll make sure to put into the show notes for this episode. Some guidelines about different platforms and their requirements, but it's something to keep in mind about when you're producing content, like a video that focuses on your message that you do in such a way where you're thinking ahead those steps so that when you're developing the message, you're make making the two minute video with a mind to saying how can I now cut that back down? How can I take that two minute video and make it a 30 second, a 15 second...
Mark Bryant:                And not only for, for, for different mediums if you will, at different formats for different mediums, but for different audiences, right? Because your audience, your YouTube audience may be quite different than your Snapchat audience. Right? And so you want to think about right, how many sort of permutations, right, of that message you need for the with the, with the audience targeting in mind, right? If it's lawmakers and staff you know, that's, that's one, one consideration if it's constituents or, or very specific segments of the population within a lawmakers, state or district. That's a whole different set of considerations.
Host:                            Absolutely. And I think that, you know, even the first, you know, when you brought up video, I think a lot of people are still keyed on that traditional, okay, I'm coming in, I've got my folder, my folder has my talking points, my folder has a brochure or a written piece of material, which I'm going to present to the lawmaker or, or that lawmakers staff.
Host:                            And they're saying, okay, video, why would I want to use video instead of written material, which I know is on paper. And I'm going to hand it to them and, and you know, that's, you know, I can email to them. So what's the benefit of video over a written piece of material for the person consuming that information?
Mark Bryant:                So I think one, it's additive, right? I don't, I don't think video necessarily replaces the more traditional, you know means or methods of communicating. Clearly the, the video is meant to, to to, to generate the diet, to set the stage to as somewhat of a springboard into the dialogue. Yeah. Right. That, that you'd like to have occur, right. In the context of that meaning it, and I think it's highly complimentary or additive, right? So you want to, I think in many cases our observation our experience has been the, those, those, other materials are still part of the sort of protocol, if you will.
Mark Bryant:                Video is quite additive and you're, you're, you're well aware of the statistics. Yeah. I would imagine that studies have shown that people remember 10% of what they hear. Yeah. 20% of, of what they read and 80% of what they see.
Host:                            We're very visual creatures.
Mark Bryant:                Very, very good. Absolutely. So if you can all the rubber and bring the, you know, the full arsenal, tip it to bear. Right, right. So there's sort of the different elements, components each meaning there are different dynamics. Right. So, so, so to have a video as a, as a starting point is, is we're, we're finding to be again, extremely impactful.
Host:                            Yeah, exactly. Then that's why, you know, a lot of people are now recording their podcasts and video. Because they want to have both, they want to have the audio, but they also want to have the video, two different audiences, two different ways of consuming the media. Yes. Same kind of content. Yes. But you're thinking and treating it differently because you know that you'll want to have a diversity of, of audiences reaching your material because your audience in the car is completely different than the person sitting at home who has found YouTube flipping through things and find something that they want to watch. So that, that's really important. That's a, that's an important trend. And that's really on, on a question of packaging your message, which is something that you really need to take a real thought, full approach for towards, before you actually start down the road of, of, you know, considering what's going to be in your you know, your, your campaign. The other trend that you mentioned is more focused on delivering that message. Right? And getting that message to the right people. So what are given the fact that we have so many different mediums that we can choose from? Sure. You know, what's, what are some of the trends related to actually messaged delivery?
Mark Bryant:                Yeah, it's fascinating. So how do you get that message once you packaged it? Right. And you have to define the sort of the, the, the, the right, you're determined the right message for the right audience, right? And the right format. How do you get those messages in front of people in a very efficient, in front of decision makers and those who influence them and in a very efficient manner. So we find most fascinating is what's characterized as social graphing, right? So clearly I can get to you Senator I, I can, I can get my message to you and your staffers by way of, and you're probably very familiar with geo-fencing as an example. So, so I can by way of a technology which allows me to draw, you know, a circle or a polygon around a location. I can serve my message, right?
Mark Bryant:                But by way of video as an example to mobile devices within that location, right. And geo-fencing, there are, it's while it sounds very straight forward, the notion of, okay, I want to deliver my message to everyone in Senator Warner's office, right? There are some nuances or complexities which, which people now are beginning to understand that they need to do I wanna hit people that had been in Senator Warner's office with great frequency over the course of the last year? Do I want to reach people that were in Senator Warner's office as it related to a specific fly-in, right? Who do I want to do it? Do I want to eliminate the infrequent visitors? How far back do I want to look? I can look back a year and I can determine, okay, who are the most frequent visitors in, in Senator Warner's office over the course of the last year?
Mark Bryant:                And I can get my message to those people, whether they're in the office or not. So, so geo-fencing is, is, is become embraced by the association community as a, as a means by which they can get their message in front of lawmakers and staffers efficiently and cost effectively and cost effectively. Right? And you don't, ah, fascinating. So not only do you have look back windows and the ability to, to make some decisions around which segment of the audience you want to reach, you have the ability to reach folks that may be in the district offices. So this is a, so that look back window is it relates to the Capitol office. You can also reach people back in district offices. You can you can reach people again, as I mentioned outside of the office. So there are even very sophisticated methods of geo-fencing homes in an anonymized fashion, right?
Speaker 3:                    So you want to get to that. I want to ensure that I get to that staffer. So they're consuming content and they're at home and it's in the evening and, and, and, and and they're exposed to that. Does that message, this is all that, all that data, the minute you carry your phone with you, this is all the stuff is being collected in and now people are starting to filter through it and realize you can, Ew, that's there. You can go back. You can target people very, very specifically. I mean, that's the point where you can trigger someone in a room. Well, and that, and that. And that brings up that I think, one of the more exciting sort of trends. And that's around social graphing. Okay. And so the ability to reach everyone or, or a number of quite a few folks within Senator Warner's personal network, right?
Speaker 3:                    So if you think about who does Senator Warner interact with sort of day in, day out, right? That can include friends, family members, business associates people with whom Senator Warner may work on within philanthropic organizations. Social media connections, clearly staff, donors. So there, there are capabilities now, there are companies that will define those social graphs that'll map. Yeah. Jeff's that work. Yeah. Right. and serve largely by way of social media content to those individuals. And it's even so, sort of a fascinating aspect of this is even before they serve the message, which may actually feature Senator Warner in the, in the creative and say, please, please tell Senator Warner to support the following. Our issue position they will secure if you will, quite a bit of engagement on that content before they put it in front of the people within the network of Senator Warner.
Speaker 3:                    So those people within Senator Warner's network, we'll take note of that content because there's been so much engagement they perceive, right? I mean, and it's real in this case, perception is reality. That in fact this is an important issue. This is something to take note off because there's so much engagement, engagement being, you know, people have liked the, the, the content they've shared, the content they've commented on the content, right? There's, there's so much engagement around the content, they should pay attention to that content and they might then be more apt to engage Senator Warner on that particular issue.
Host:                            So it's like the old, you know, battlefield idea of, you know, you, you're first, you prepare the ground and then you send your Calvary yet, right. You get, you make the most favorable environment through targeted messages that create the perception that's what this is is an issue of, of concern. And then you get them with the call to action.
Mark Bryant:                That's exactly right. It's fascinating. You're absolutely right. Sequencing is another thing that people are, are being far more deliberate about. What message do we get to whom in what order in order to make the greatest impact. Right? And so I, I think about just a, to add to your analogy, I think about the air cover before the ground floor, right? So, so, so back to fly ins, you know, people are geo-fencing, right? Before, so they're getting their message into the lawmakers office before they show up and then after they leave. So, so that issue that organization remains top of mind is it becomes a social graphing sort of very similar sort of sort of mindset around, again, let's go get lots of engagement on this content and then in a sequential fashion, put it in front of the people that are going to be in front of Senator Warner. And you imagine you take these techniques
Host:                            And you tie them in with traditional techniques that are the tried and true. Yes. So for example, if our flying that we did last may, you know, we didn't do the extent of geo-fencing or or or sequencing, but you know, you get an ad on radio, you get it out there, you start getting stuff into newspapers, editorials, you get your members who are doing fly-ins to do their local letters to the editor. So it kind of creates that presumption that something's happening. Then when they're there, or close to it. You hit them with digital advertising, which was targeted to those audiences that you want to hit. And then again, the follow through. Once it's done, you hit them again with another series of messages that pretty much it's the whole idea of, you know, tell them what you're going to say. Tell them and then tell them again. Yeah, that's right. And then make sure they have that lasting impact. You tie that in with traditional advertising, traditional, you know, direct earned media engagement, and then this more sort of the multiplier effect. And you can really make a Mark and that's solely from, you know, taking it from the perspective of a former Hill staffer. You can tell when an organization has it stuff together. When they do a fly in, either they come in and they just do their events and they have their meetings. But the groups that have that first, second, third touch are the ones that people take note. They stand out, they stand out. Yeah. So the big question on, of course, you know, that's the impact. Now I know you have a massive impact on the audiences that you're trying to persuade. But for an organization like ACAC, you know, you take all these steps, you prepare the message, you package it, you get deliver it. The big question is measurement, right? Which is the final trend I think that this is the most important thing because vertical the old days, you know, and even now with some of the baseline analytics that you get from the platforms that you're not paying for unless you're using like a sprout social or, or, or a Meltwater or something that's a paid program, the analytics that you get back are fairly broad. That's right. X amount of engagements.
Host:                            Just like the idea of saying, okay, I'm going to buy an ad on radio in this DMA. This is how many people were probably going to be hearing this based off of this is our audience at that time. But you don't really know dollar equivalency saying that this article is the same as let's say, $10,000 worth of ad buy. That doesn't really matter anymore. What are the trends in measuring the effectiveness of these messages and these techniques? What's the big trend driving analytics?
Mark Bryant:                Sure. This is, so there are a number of of methods of measuring impact and, and potential efficacy. Pre-Campaign there are methods of measuring efficacy during the campaign. Yeah. There are measure methods of measuring efficacy. Post-Campaign the ultimate measure is did you win or lose? Well, yes, clearly, but, but however, you know, there are the reality is you need to report internally as to how well you're doing along the way internally and oftentimes externally, right? We find social and traditional media monitoring and impact analyses to be by far the most telling method of whether your message is actually getting through. Okay. Okay. So what does that mean? You mentioned a number of tools. Organizations have tools. Those tools are built to provide you intelligence as to what's being mentioned, who's mentioning those things. The, the how frequently those mentions are, are, are, are occurring. What, what's missing is telling sentiment analysis and recommendations as to what to do next. So some organizations have the internal expertise but it's it's challenging to sort of maintain that, invest heavily in that and maintain that over time.
Mark Bryant:                So what you find is organizations are often turning to third parties or making a real commitment to investing in internal resources to interpret the data, right? And now we're finding people using multiple platforms, social and traditional. It's important to mention, it's not just social media monitoring, the social and traditional media monitoring and impact analysis. So, human beings that are interpreting the data that the machines, you know, no matter how sophisticated, right? And in terms of leveraging machine learning natural language processing, everybody likes to call this AI. Yeah. Right? No matter how smart the tool, you still need the interpretation, right? So, so, so Linda here at the ACEC, Jeff, others, Steve, others they're gonna want to understand, well, what is, what does this mean? Right? Well, what are these mentions mean?
Mark Bryant:                And more importantly, what do we do next? Right? So organizations are leveraging social and traditional media monitoring in order to establish baselines or benchmarks. So before you then begin a campaign, whether paid or and or earned, right? What are people saying relative to your issue, right? What are they saying that's positive? What are they saying? This negative and who's saying it? Right? Establish that baseline, then launch your campaign made and, or earn, monitor, measure day in, day out. The degree to which their vernacular or the discourse is changing. Are people adopting your messaging? Right? And if they are, are they the right people? Right? Yeah. That's the big thing. The amazing thing. And there are instances where people push a certain messaging if you will. And there are unintended consequences. Something that the industry may have thought would be perceived very positively, was in fact perceived negatively.
Mark Bryant:                And that further informs messaging and strategies. So you begin by establishing a baseline, which informs your messaging and strategy, right? In the reverse order, your strategy and messaging, right? One in the same, in many case are very closely intertwined. Clearly. then you get in market with your messaging in market being, you know, getting the right message in front of the right people at the right time in order to drive policy outcomes. Right. And then your real time, again measuring the degree to which that's being received and interpreted. Exactly right. And so again, to what degree did the vernacular or the discourse change and that further informs messaging because what you do is you invest more heavily in the messages that seem to be resonating and you might eliminate messages that really fell flat. Right. And then at the, at the end of the campaign, you know, even post-campaign the legislation passed you know, to what degree, what kind of feedback or did you get some sort of post-campaign that you might leverage? So sort of in other initiatives. Yeah,
Host:                            And that's a really interesting point because I remember back on my my time at the PR firm I was with and also on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee undertaking a large issue campaign or, or, or legislative initiative and building a campaign about that. It was constant measurement and it was the good old media content analysis. It was before, during and after. It was and is a lot of leg work and this is why you need to invest because it's looking at, okay, I'm going to take a look at all the media that we're getting. I'm going to assign that a score. I'm going to sign that a positive, negative, neutral score. Then I'm going to take that, I'm going to count that up and, and then I'm going to start doing some analysis of that data. How much has their share of voice in the conversation? What's our share of positive, negative, neutral? Who's writing about it, who isn't writing about it, do a gap analysis, who, where are the targets that we need to reach?
Mark Bryant:                Precisely. All those things in traditional media can now be tied in with analytics and a lot of platforms, like you said, are using machine learning AI to do these more qualitative now that's right. Assessments of of message effectiveness and it's, it's a really important thing. These are all things that you need to take into consideration when you're looking at doing a strategic plan. We just broach the surface, which is why we're going to have Mark back on because we want to use some case studies, especially as we get into the presidential cycle and things start heating up and talk about these individual trends in a little bit more depth. Absolutely. I also want to make sure that I put some, some information in the show notes for everybody who's listening to take a look at some data because there's a lot here to take advantage of and also to think about.
Host:          So I really appreciate the time that you've taken because we've covered a lot of stuff. This is, I love this topic. I could go on forever on this. But let's, let's hold off. Let's keep a little bit for the next time, right. We'll go into the specifics. But Mark Bryan of of it's, I'll tell you, it's, that is the changing world is something else and things are just insane and, and just are getting, are getting crazier by the day. When it comes to to getting your message across, but really appreciate you coming on the show. Well, I can't thank you enough again for having me and look forward to the next time, Jeff. Thanks
 

Engineering Influence from FIDIC 2019 in Mexico City - Developing Talent Early - The Importance of Dynamic STEM Education

Jeff Urbanchuk sits down with FIDIC Board Member Aisha Nadar to discuss the importance of dynamic STEM education that not only opens the door to engineering early on in the educational experience, but also includes the skills necessary for aspiring engineers to also thrive in the business environment.  
Aisha Nadar has over 30 years’ experience in all phases of the negotiation and implementation of large-scale cross-border infrastructure and defence programs. She brings extensive consulting engineering experience which includes holding senior level positions in the public and private sectors in the United States, the Middle East and Europe. Today, her professional activities focus on procurement and contract management. She regularly advises clients on strategic procurement planning, contract drafting, contract management and dispute resolution. She acts as an arbitrator, mediator and dispute board member, and this includes experience of proceedings under ICC, LCIA, SCC, DIAC, AAA, CRCICA, UNCITRAL and FIDIC rules.
Aisha has carried out assignments related to procurement reform for organisations such as the World Bank, USAID and US DoD and is a regularly invited speaker at universities and specialised conferences on construction contracts and dispute resolution. Aisha is a member of the FIDIC Board, with a primary responsibility for the FIDIC Contracts Committee, and is listed on the FIDIC President’s List of Accredited Adjudicators. She holds a BS in Electrical Engineering (University of Nebraska), an MBA (University of Texas-Austin), an LL.M. in International Commercial Dispute Resolution (Queen Mary, UoL) and has completed the CIArb Diploma Course in International Commercial Arbitration, Oxford.

Engineering Influence from FIDIC 2019 in Mexico City - The Economic Outlook from Europe

Jeff Urbanchuk sits down with Henrik Garver, Managing Director of the Danish Association of Consulting Engineers to discuss the economic outlook from Europe for the engineering industry.

Engineering Influence from FIDIC 2019 in Mexico City - The Importance of Diversity in Business Growth

Jeff Urbanchuk sat down with Dr. Michele Kruger, the Chair of FIDIC's Diversity and Inclusivity Committee to discuss the business impacts that come from diverse hiring and retention policies.  This episode was recorded at the FIDIC 2019 Conference in Mexico City.