Denver revisited

A couple of points of clarification on one of our posts last week from the Society for Marketing Professional Services Build Business conference in Denver:

The remarks about former SMPS national president Ron Garikes did not come from current president Donna Corlew. They were part of Bruce Lea's acceptance speech for the Marketing Achievement Award. Kenny Diehl, a former SMPS national president and vice president of Smith Seckman Reid in Nashville, is a good friend of Garikes and Lea and accepted on Lea's behalf. (Lea's mother is ill and he needed to be with her, which is why he did not attend the conference last week.)

Also, as for the SMPS alliance with PSMA, what changed is the management structure. The SMPS board offered to manage PSMA nearly a decade ago when that organization was going through hard times. Earlier this year, the SMPS board decided it needed its full staff focused on SMPS, its chapters, and its members as the A/E industry faces an uncertain economy. "SMPS looks forward to opportunities to team with PSMA/AEBL on programs and initiatives as both groups move forward," Corlew told us Tuesday afternoon, adding that she believes PSMA/AEBL will not be part of next year's SMPS Build Business conference in Las Vegas, but instead plans to offer its own event in 2009.

Finally, Corlew's heel got stuck in the stage not during the Marketing Communications Awards distribution, but during the presentation of the 2008 Class of Fellows.

We apologize for the confusion. Maybe it was the altitude?

Ed