SMPS Alaska TechNews

[smpstechnews]

Is the Creative Cloud Right for You?

First off, I think Adobe is an oddball in that they charge more for multiple seats when it seems they should give a group discount, perhaps the Enterprise plans are different but I don’t work for a large corporation. Chances are professional service marketers won’t use all of the Creative Cloud Suite but it seems appropriate to keep up on the latest software options. The Adobe Creative Cloud (CC) makes it so you can easily share and sync files without having to export as an Interchange file or similar. Not to mention that when you upgrade to the latest version of Adobe software you get the added bonus of having new features.

What is the Creative Cloud? Haven’t you heard the answer to the cloud question yet? It’s everywhere; it just is… Well, the same can be said for the Adobe Creative Cloud except that it’s owned by Adobe Software. It’s an integrated software suite that can be shared and synced. 

How is this different from other Adobe Software? CC is beneficial because it maintains software program updates and files can be easily shared, synced, and collaborated with administrative rights for specific accessing.

Should Alaskan professional service marketers be using CC? Most of the programs will not be used, but otherwise, all marketers and industry professionals are moving to the Cloud and it’s important to be up-to-date. I’m guessing most of you won’t need web editing software and you’re not in the throes of creating online apps, but the primary programs will be used and the concept of working together live and collaboratively will only be improved over time and soon enough will become mainstream.

Creative Adobe tools in a nutshell. The asterisk identifies the software that I think professional service marketers will utilize the most:

Acrobat Pro* - Create and edit PDFs For markup, editing, and collaboration. Use Acrobat to create PDFs (portable document format) and easily share and/or print without sending large, linked files. Bridge* - Asset management and organization (photos, logos, etc.) Illustrator* - Vector graphics and illustrations Use to create and edit vector illustrations, such as logos, complex illustrations, and other line-art files. Can be used for document cover designs and imported into other documents as PDF, jpeg, etc. InDesign* - Page design, layout, and publishing. Use InDesign for print compositions/layouts, including proposals, resumes, brochures, publications, and/or newsletters. Easily manages text flow, pagination, image updates, while maintaining continuity. InDesign takes a lot of the work out of constantly evolving project pages, resumes, etc. InCopy* - Real-time, collaborative editing for InDesign Lightroom* - Advanced photo editing tools Photoshop* - Rasterized image editingPhotoshop is for photo editing and manipulation, editing of raster illustrations, cleaning logos, resizing, cropping, etc. This is a complex program that generally requires training to understand even in its basic form. Photoshop Elements and Lightroom are simpler versions of photo editing software that offer similar capabilities.  Adobe Premiere - Video production and editing Adobe Muse - Website design Adobe Audition - Sound creator After Effects - Cinematic visual effects and motion graphics Behance - Online creative community Dreamweaver - Website and app design and coding Encore - Create DVDs, Blue-ray, and DVDs Fireworks - Website and app graphics Flash Builder - Game creation Flash Professional - High-def HTML video and audio Media Encoder - Video file output Prelude - Advanced video production SpeedGrade - Integrated video production

Plan Options & Pricing:

Creative Cloud complete Annual Plan - for new Creative Cloud members

Full access to Adobe services to help create mobile-ready content and apps

Behance ProSite 

20GB of cloud storage for file sharing and collaboration

Requires annual commitment; billed monthly

$49.99/month for one user

$69.99/month per userfor Cloud team

Cloud team includes all the applications like Illustrator, InDesign, Photoshop, Lightroom, Acrobat.

Cloud team is the best option for multiple seats of multiple programs.

Creative Cloud Complete Plan - for CS3-CS6 customers

Promotional pricing for existing Adobe Creative Suite customers applies to the first year of membership.

Requires annual commitment; billed monthly

$29.99/month

Creative Cloud Single-App Plan

$19.99/month for single apps selected software, such as InDesign CC

Full version of one desktop application, such as InDesign

20GB of cloud storage for file sharing and collaboration, with free upgrades to latest version. You will also have an option to install the software on two computers.

Behance ProSite 

Limited access to services

If you need more than one user you need to purchase it from 4 different accounts.

Cloud Photoshop Plan - for Photoshop CS3-CS6 customers

Package includes the latest version Photoshop CC, plus Lightroom, and Bridge CC

20GB of cloud storage and a Behance ProSite

Requires annual commitment; billed monthly

$9.99/month promotional pricing

Creative Cloud 12-month Prepaid Membership

Package includes InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, After Effects, Adobe Premiere, Adobe Muse

This can be purchased anywhere online for $599.99 

Shannon Kinsey  Scholarship Director, SMPS Alaska Chapter  [email protected]

[smpstechnews]

MySMPS Scavenger Hunt

Complete the MySMPS Scavenger Hunt by November 26, and you will be entered to win one of four $25 Amazon gift cards - just in time for your holiday shopping! This is a good way to familiarize yourself with the MySMPS member community. We admit it's not Facebook but who knows, it could become the next best thing...

Download details here: http://ow.ly/qN9tM.

Here are a few of the benefits you will realize by actively participating in the MySMPS online community:

Network with fellow members around the country by using the Directory with its expanded profile and search features.

Gain time-saving resources to help you work more efficiently from among the samples and models in the Marketing Resource Center.

Develop your personal brand in the industry by sharing your knowledge and experience in community discussions, writing your own blog, or contributing resources for the Marketing Resource Center.

Be sure to download the MySMPS app so you can access your SMPS community from anywhere.

Shannon Kinsey Scholarship Director, SMPS Alaska Chapter Marketing Manager, ECI/Hyer Architecture Planning Interiors [email protected]

[smpstechnews]

Facebook Boosted Posts: Why they Matter to You

If you're a regular user of Facebook, you've probably noticed that your news feed is populated by posts from the same people and business over and over again. That's because Facebook uses an algorithm to measure reader engagement and to determine what stories are relevant to you. The algorithm is the reason that you see a close friend's vacation photos, but that you miss a notification from an acquaintance about lunch at Subway.

Put another way, this means that many fans who have "liked" your business page won't see the content that you publish. This can be frustrating, especially when you have exciting news that you want to share. If that's the case, your best option is to boost your post.

After you post a status update on your business page, you'll see a toggle at the bottom right of the news item that gives you the option to boost the post.

When you select the toggle you can choose a budget, and you'll be given the option to boost the post to "people who like your page and their friends", or to a group of people you choose though targeting.

The targeting option lets you select people by location, age, gender, and language.

Facebook will charge you daily until you meet your budget.

At the end of the campaign Facebook will display analytics on your post (the analytics are only available to site administrators). The example below is from a boosted post that I set up last month. We were hiring for several positions, and we wanted to get the word out. After the campaign was over I could see the results. The post reached 93 people through conventional means and 4,627 people through the boost. Furthermore, 45 people clicked through the link we posted to the careers page on our company website.

For us, this was a success. Not just because 45 people clicked our link, or because a few more people liked our page, but because at social events for the next two weeks we heard feedback from local engineers that they noticed we were hiring. In other words, the $30 we spent on Facebook sparked real face-to-face conversations with qualified engineers throughout town. Even better—in the past few weeks we've interviewed several highly qualified candidates. Facebook isn't our only recruiting tool, so it doesn't deserve all the credit, but it is an affordable and effective compliment to the approaches we're already using.

The bottom line: Facebook boosted posts can be an easy and effective option for A/E/C marketers.

Jessica Taft President-Elect, SMPS Alaska Chapter Marketing Director, Enterprise Engineering, Inc. [email protected]

[smpstechnews]

Photoshop CC Shake Reduction Tutorial: Fix Your Field Photos!

It likely happened the first time an engineer stepped into the field with a camera—and it's been happening ever since. Technical staff consistently take photos that capture the project site, but that aren't quite right for promotional materials.

Nevertheless, you're a marketer and you hold out hope. (You're making a brochure!!) So you scan the project folders, click through the photos, and a few hundred clicks later your search is rewarded. You find what looks like the perfect field photo. You feel lighter. Your smile is brighter. Angels sing and harps strum.

But then you realize—it's not quite in focus. 

Before Adobe Photoshop CC, there wasn't much you could do to fix your photo. But now, with the new shake reduction filter, you just might be in luck.

Earlier this week I experienced something similar to the scenario above, and decided to give the Photoshop CC shake reduction filter a try. Here's how it worked:

After opening in the photo in Photoshop CC I used the drop down filter menu, selected sharpen, and then shake reduction.

  Photoshop CC made a best guess of the area I wanted to sharpen. That area is in the image below in the detail box on the right of my screen. Photoshop's best guess was pretty close to what I wanted, but wasn't quite right.

In this photo I wanted to clean up the details in front of the second blue flange. I used my cursor to select the area I wanted to sharpen and then selected OK.

You can see the results in the image below. The before image is on the left and the after image is on the right. It's a little hard to tell in this small .jpg, but the filter worked pretty well and I'm planning to use the photo in a brochure. Success!

Have a question you’d like us to answer? A trend you’re curious about? Send us your questions or your thoughts.

Jessica Taft President-Elect, SMPS Alaska Chapter Marketing Director, Enterprise Engineering, Inc. [email protected]

[smpstechnews]

TechNews: The Leadership Conundrum

The SMPS Alaska Chapter is excited to present this guest post by Rick Thomas, CEO and President of The Chariot Group. Rick blogs regularly on a variety of technology topics and his firm is the SMPS Alaska Chapter's technology sponsor.

-------------------------------------------

Is Top Management unknowingly sabotaging its organization’s competitive advantage?

We generally think of the people who hold the top management positions in an organization as “the most experienced”; leaders that are qualified to make the tough decisions, set competitive strategies and chart the course for the future.  We make the assumption that they know what is best for the organization on all matters. But, does that hold true with technology decisions? 

The painful truth is that the individuals with the most industry, organizational and leadership experience are likely to have the least amount of knowledge and comfort with technology.  Even if they have an interest in the subject, their demanding work schedules afford them little time to study, contemplate and engage the latest trends. The result – They are less likely to identify and embrace the innovation that is increasingly necessary for their organizations to remain competitive.

This is the leadership conundrum of technology planning and adoption today.  The individual(s) with the best understanding of emerging technologies and its long term potential for an organization are usually not the same individuals who are setting the organization’s future course or have financial authority to implement a plan.  Of course, this is a broad statement and there are always exceptions, but it has been my experience that this conflict of operational competence and technological competence is currently the norm.

“I don’t think we need this. It will just get in the way when we trying to present to, and connect with, our clients.”  A business leader said this to me about sixteen years ago after I had finished a demonstration of what, at the time, was the latest in presenting technologies; a multimedia projector.

This was a very bright and accomplished individual who was leading one of the top architectural firms in the market. This person was competent, and yet, at the same time could not see that the business practices in the industry were changing and before long they would be at a competitive disadvantage.  Soon after, the firm was competing for projects using the static storyboard methods of a day gone by while its competitors were embracing multimedia presentation methods that the potential clients found more interesting and engaging.  This may sound a bit dramatic, but it is true.  “Technology” was the buzz word of the day and the potential client was more attracted to a firm that presented itself as instep with the times.

About two weeks back, it was déjà vu all over again. The customer was different and the topic was collaboration, but the outcome was the same. “Just give us a big TV on the wall and we’ll be good.  I don’t see us using collaboration technologies like this in our business.” 

Again, this was a very bright, capable and accomplished business leader by all traditional business standards.  The only trouble is that the standards are changing… and changing fast.  This person is simply too removed from emerging technology trends to foresee that, before long, they too will be at a competitive disadvantage. 

In the second case, the new buzz word is “collaboration”.  There are major changes taking place in the area of group communication and collaboration; changes that will significantly impact the quality, efficiency and cost of communicating within an organization as well as with its customers and partners.  This shift in how people communicate and collaborate is hard to see if one is not including emerging technologies as they contemplate the organization’s horizon.

Understanding technology treads and their impact on an organization/industry has become a required core competency of its leadership.  I am not suggesting that the President of the organization needs to know the bits and bytes or the how-to’s of an installation any more than they need to know how to implement the latest tax code changes.  But like the tax code, they do need to understand how technology trends and changes will impact their business, its operational environment and its competitive advantage.

Here are four suggestions for keeping abreast of emerging trends:

Trusted Advisors – Identify and develop a working relationship with a team of trusted advisors that specialize in emerging technologies.  Communicate with them regularly and ask them to include your organization in technology briefings. 

Newsfeeds – There are a host of ways to get your daily tech brief on hot topics and emerging trends.  My two favorites are LinkedIn “LinkedIn Today” news feed and the App “FlipBoard”.  FlipBoard’s Technology, Science and Design feeds are common morning coffee reading for me.

Encourage Input – Host a quarterly lunch with staff that focuses on identifying new trends.

Imagine – Take the time to contemplate how these trends might impact your organization.  Imagine both the positive and negative potential impacts.  Sometimes seeing the pending change is a couple of thoughts deep.

While I’m clearly not suggesting that an organization’s leaders change the primary focus of their role, I do think it is critical that they increase their exposure to, and understanding of, technology trends.  Especially the trends related to organizational communication and collaboration.  There is a lot happening in this area and these changes may have the biggest impact on the organizations that are not paying attention.

Here are a couple of short videos to get you started:

Lync Connector Microsoft Lync

This post by Rick Thomas, President - CEO of The Chariot Group, was first published on www.unknownium.net.

[smpstechnews]

TechNews: The Wild, Wild World of Graph Databases

If you’re a member of the SMPS Alaska Chapter you might know that our theme last year was Connect the Dots. What you probably don’t know is that there’s a really good chance that one of the dark blue dots on this map represents you.

Most of us are familiar with relational databases like Microsoft Access and Deltek Vision. We use these tools every day to organize information in tables, and then sort that information so that we can find what we’re looking for. Say, a list of engineering firms in Juneau and corresponding phone numbers—or maybe all project numbers from 2012 with their descriptions. Organizing data this way is fast, practical, and convenient. But it has its limitations.  

Where relational databases fall short, graph databases step in. The map above is a visualization of a graph database. Specifically, it shows the connections between the people that I’m connected to on LinkedIn. The larger dots, more accurately called nodes, represent people with more connections within my network. The largest pink node unsurprisingly represents my husband; we know hundreds of people in common. The large blue nodes represent well-connected people in my Alaska A/E/C network, while the small pink nodes on the periphery are people I know—and who know each other—from Twitter.

You can make a similar map for yourself here. It’s quick and lots of fun. (And you’ll get to see the name associated with each node.) For me, the most practical application for the map was to identify my different professional groups, see how they were connected, and to identify where my ties were weak—looking at this map, I can tell where I should probably spend a little extra time networking.

It’s worth noting that it's very difficult make a map like this from a relational database. A table in Microsoft Access could contain the name and phone number of every person in Anchorage, but it would struggle to uncover the relationships between those people, much less weight those relationships.

The world of graph databases is wild and exciting because relationships matter. In fact, lots of people are betting that the future of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software lies in graph databases.

The bottom line: There’s more to data management than traditional relational databases. Graph databases are rising in popularity and have practical applications for the A/E/C marketer and business developer.

Jessica Taft President-Elect, SMPS Alaska Chapter Marketing Director, Enterprise Engineering, Inc. [email protected]

[smpstechnews]

This Week in TechNews: Upping Your Creative Output

Technology is in constant forward motion—always changing, it's the river that you can't step in twice. New for the 2013 - 2014 program year the SMPS Alaska Chapter will post weekly on technology. Some weeks we'll share a roundup of links, others we'll feature InDesign tips and tricks, and every now and then we'll write longer form pieces to address technology trends in our industry.

To kick us off, here are three awesome apps that will help you up your productivity and creative output:

In the biggest app news of the past week, Parallels Access launched. This app for your iPad lets you remotely access your Mac or PC and use the software on that computer. The best part? It works even if the software isn't optimized for the iPad. This means you can use the Microsoft Office Suite, AutoCad, or any other software you regularly use on your desktop or laptop—all from your iPad. It's worth mentioning that while the app is free, the Parallels service is $79.95 a year, and there is a trial version available.

Wonderlist is an app that helps you get stuff done. Use it to make to-do lists, set reminders, take notes, and share events.

Glassboard is a 100% private social network for teams. Share photos, videos, locations, and text using your iPhone, Android, or computer. We think this has great potential for creating project stories with impact. Share photos and videos of the project site during construction, jot down owner quotes, and take snaps of the architects and engineers in action. Your marketing team can compile all of the information and create a memorable and meaningful story when the project is complete.

Have a question you'd like us to answer? A trend you're curious about? Ask TechNews your questions or tell us your thoughts.

Jessica Taft President-Elect, SMPS Alaska Chapter Marketing Director, Enterprise Engineering, Inc. [email protected]

[smpstechnews]

TechNews: The Magic of MOOCs

The Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania is the oldest, and one of the top ranked, business schools in the country. Notable graduates include Jeff Weiner, CEO of Linkedin and J.D. Power III, founder of J.D. Power & Associates, the global marketing and information firm. The school offers a top-tier education, and it comes at a steep price: Annual tuition is more than $57,000.

If that all sounds pretty intimidating—and you’re not alone if it does—here’s the shocker: You can take the Wharton School’s marketing class for free. (And their corporate finance class, and their operations management class … ) And you can do it from your home in your PJs.

Welcome to the world of Massive Open Online Courses. Nic-named MOOCs, these classes are free and open to all. Some, like the business classes mentioned above, even offer certificates upon successful completion. And it’s not just the Wharton School that’s on board. Harvard, MIT, Stanford, and dozens of others offer MOOCs to anyone who wants to learn.

We did a quick survey of two of the most popular sites for MOOCs, Edx (a collaboration between Harvard and MIT) and Coursera (classes from 62 universities in 16 countries), and found a long list of courses that seemed like a good fit for A/E/C marketers looking to expand their knowledge base: A Global History of Architecture from MIT, Designing Cities from the University of Pennsylvania, and Behavioral Economics from the University of Toronto were the first three that jumped off the page.

As a side note, MOOCs can be more than just an opportunity for job growth; they’re also a great option if you want to take your hobby to the next level. We couldn’t help but notice Harvard’s Science & Cooking and the University of Copenhagen’s Scandinavian Film and Television. Both sound like lots of fun.

The bottom line: As residents of Alaska, we live in one of the wildest, most beautiful spaces on earth. But we’re also removed from many of the resources that our lower 48 friends take for granted. MOOCs make a dent in that disparity by offering free top-tier education to anyone with an internet connection.

Jessica Taft President Elect, SMPS Alaska Chapter Marketing Director, Enterprise Engineering, Inc. [email protected]