Before the Work Snowballs: Lessons in Organization, Prioritization, and Growth
A/E/C marketing and business development work can snowball quickly.
One day, you are supporting a few pursuit-related tasks; before long, you may be juggling proposals, client follow-up, CRM updates, project information, resumes, team requests, content development, deadlines, and competing priorities—all at the same time.
In this practical, example-driven session, Duncan Robertson, CPSM, will explore how strong organizational habits and intentional prioritization can directly support better pursuit outcomes, stronger client relationships, higher-quality proposals, and more effective marketing execution.
Drawing on lessons learned throughout his A/E/C marketing and business development career, Duncan will share practical approaches for managing competing priorities, balancing reactive demands with proactive work, maintaining critical information, and creating the time and mental space needed for more strategic thinking.
Rather than prescribing a single productivity system, this session will help attendees identify the habits, frameworks, and tools that work best for their individual roles and responsibilities. Participants will leave with practical techniques they can immediately apply to bring greater structure to their work, communicate priorities more effectively, reduce last-minute fire drills, and increase their overall impact within their firms.
Learning Objectives
By the end of this session, attendees will be able to:
- Recognize how organization and prioritization directly influence business outcomes, including proposal quality, pursuit execution, client responsiveness, and team effectiveness.
- Develop practical systems for managing competing responsibilities across proposals, business development, CRM activity, marketing production, internal requests, and longer-term initiatives.
- Distinguish between urgent, important, reactive, and strategic work and apply prioritization techniques that help ensure critical activities receive appropriate attention.
- Create more sustainable workflows and organizational habits that reduce last-minute scrambling, missed information, duplicated effort, and unnecessary stress.
- Balance short-term demands with proactive business development and marketing activities so strategic priorities are not continually displaced by immediate requests.
- Communicate workload, deadlines, priorities, and capacity more effectively with project teams, technical staff, firm leaders, and other internal stakeholders.
- Evaluate personal work habits and identify opportunities for improvement as responsibilities grow and career expectations evolve.
- Apply simple, adaptable tools and frameworks immediately without relying on a single prescribed productivity platform or methodology.
Speaker/Presenter
Duncan Robertson, CPSM
Director of Business Development and Marketing, Tamarack Grove Engineering
SMPS Idaho Past President
Duncan Robertson, CPSM, serves as Director of Business Development and Marketing at Tamarack Grove Engineering. Throughout his A/E/C career, he has worked at the intersection of marketing, business development, client relationships, market sector strategy, content creation, and firm growth. A co-founder and past president of SMPS Idaho, Duncan has presented at SMPS Amplify, regional conferences, and local chapter programs, and has contributed thought leadership to industry publications including The Marketer and The Zweig Letter. His work centers on practical marketing strategy, authentic relationship-building, and creating systems that help A/E/C teams execute more effectively. He is passionate about connecting people across the industry and helping emerging marketing and business development professionals build the confidence, skills, and habits needed for long-term success.
Cancellation/Refund Policy
In order to receive a refund, reservations must be canceled 72 business hours prior to the start of the event. If you do not cancel your reservation within the required time period, a refund will be forfeited.
Register NowTickets
$30.00 CPSM Rate
$35.00 Member Rate
$40.00 Sponsors
$50.00 Non-Member Rate
$35.00 Other SMPS Chapter Member Ticket
