SMPS SF NextGen Academy: Where Strategy, Storytelling, and AI Collide
By Sarah Katsikas
On May 9th I attended the SMPS SF NextGen Academy, a day-long workshop designed for emerging A/E/C marketers—and while my day began with a transit snafu (BART, why?), it ended with something far more powerful: a sense of clarity, connection, and confidence in our evolving role as marketing leaders.
Here’s what I took away from the five rich sessions—and why I’m already hoping this event becomes an annual tradition.
🕒 Time Management for the Real World
Speaker: Sarah Young, Gensler
Time is a resource we all wish we had more of—and Sarah Young didn’t sugarcoat it. Her session Start Strong focused on taming the chaos with structure, intention, and grace. She offered tactical tools like the Eisenhower Matrix and weekly “status parking lots” to help us assess—not just react to—what lands in our inbox.
📊 CRM, Data & the Power of Marketing Intelligence
Speaker: Stacey Ho, OTAK
Stacey’s energy made data management feel surprisingly exciting. She framed CRM not as a database, but as intellectual capital—the connective tissue between marketing, leadership, and long-term growth. “If your data isn’t tracked, owned, or reported on,” she reminded us, “then it might as well not exist.”
🤝 Strategic Interviewing & Relationship Intelligence
Speaker: Bee Rarewala, AC Martin
Next up was a no-nonsense look at relationships—the ones that win work. Bee walked us through the nuances of strategic interviewing and team preparation, from understanding who’s in the room to tracking how interviewers respond (seriously—track it in your CRM!).
She reinforced that strong interviews don’t happen by accident. They’re the result of thoughtful rehearsals, storytelling that connects, and internal alignment between technical teams and marketing support. She encouraged us to keep a catalogue of interview questions and rehearse with purpose—not just to hit talking points, but to bring enthusiasm and authentic connection.
Another gold nugget: Rehearsals aren’t just for the presenters. They’re for the marketers, too, who coach, contextualize, and drive the team’s energy. “It’s not just your job to make things pretty,” she said. “It’s your job to make them land.”
📖 Storytelling with Strategy
Speaker: Susie Smith, Noll & Tam Architecture
Susie Smith delivered one of the most impactful sessions of the day. Her goal? Demystify marketing speak and bring clarity to our proposals through narrative thinking. She reminded us: We’re not just selling buildings—we’re selling meaning.
Her breakdown of the hero’s journey mapped beautifully onto A/E/C pursuits: the client or community is the hero, the project is the transformation, and our team is the guide. She emphasized value proposition consistency across all touchpoints, and encouraged us to storyboard our proposals like campaigns—threading narrative from cover letter to diagrams.
Other takeaways:
● Clarity is kindness. Don't fluff.
● Connect your differentiators to the "why now?" of the project.
● Don’t water down insights. Edit for power, not just polish.
● Campaign your insights across channels—one good story can spark 12+ meaningful touchpoints.
🤖 AI & the Future of Marketing
Speaker: Kristin Kautz, JAM Idea Agency
If the morning sessions grounded us in the “how,” Kristin’s three-hour AI intensive launched us into the “what’s next.” With 300+ slides and boundless optimism, she showed us that AI isn’t just the future—it’s already here.
Her key message: AI extends your brain, not replaces it. From summarizing strategy reports to generating proposal drafts or visualizing data trends, the real magic lies in letting AI handle the heavy lifting so your creativity has room to thrive.
We explored:
● Using AI to help create stakeholder personas
● Tools that analyze RFPs to surface red flags or schedule pain points
● Running RFP themes through a storytelling engine
● Prompt libraries for proposal editing and social posts
● And most importantly—how to turn data into dialogue
Key takeaways:
📌 AI Isn’t a Strategy. It’s a Tool.
Kristin urged us to stop seeing AI as a shiny add-on—and start treating it like infrastructure. Her challenge: “Ask yourself—what do you do every day? What do you hate doing? What do you love doing? Start there.” AI isn’t replacing us—it’s returning time to us.
📌 AI Mindset = Mindshift
She reminded us that our industry is 2–3 decades behind in technology adoption. But if we lean into AI with intention, we can leap forward—cutting hours from our workflows and reallocating that time to business development, relationships, and creativity. Her key frameworks included:
● Multimodal AI – systems that can read, write, hear, and analyze in multiple formats
● Agents vs. Assistants – tools that not only respond but act on our behalf
● AI Mindware – a mindset shift, not just software
● Workflow Design – how to link prompts and outputs into repeatable systems (aka, GPTs you build)
📌 Your Prompts = Your Power
She showcased tools like Joist (for proposal workflows), Perplexity, Claude, and SaneBox. And she emphasized that the value isn’t in the tool—it’s in how you train it.
Kristin described AI as a “conversation with data,” where your prompts unlock context. This evolution doesn’t eliminate your role as a marketer—it amplifies it. She called on us to embrace the shift early, experiment boldly, and become the tech-savvy leaders our firms need to stay ahead of the curve.
Kristin’s rallying cry?
“AI is a conversation with data. Master that—and you’ll master the future of marketing.”
She also addressed the need to keep critical thinking alive—especially for younger professionals—and shared global trends (like students in China learning AI 2 hours/day) that underline how fast this space is moving.
Final gem? Kristin said:
“If you can master AI plus automation, you will rule the world.”
Challenge accepted.
🍷 A Toast to What’s Next
We closed the day in Mosaic’s courtyard with wine, snacks, and some very on-brand buzz. Everyone I spoke to shared the same sentiment: This was what we needed. A space for curiosity, vulnerability, and sharpening our edge.
The SMPS SF NextGen Academy didn’t just deliver professional development. It delivered a reminder: we are not just marketers—we are leaders in transformation. See you next time.
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