Advancing Excellence

Join AOE President Kimberly Kayler as she sits down with Kevin McMullen, Vice President of the Wisconsin Concrete Pavement Association to discuss how he planned and executed his very own succession plan for his impending retirement. Kevin walks us through the process and action plan that was put in place to make sure his successor was not only set up for success but also the right candidate for the position. 

Kevin McMullen’s Bio: Kevin is in his 28th year with WCPA, the last 26 years as President. Kevin graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Platteville with a degree in Civil Engineering in 1986. Prior to WCPA, he worked for the Wisconsin Department of Transportation in the Construction and Materials Office’s Pavement Engineering Section in the Central Office in Madison.  For five years he was the supervisor for all pavement design engineering activities for the Department. Kevin currently serves on the Steering Committee for the Wisconsin Highway Research Program, the national committee on concrete pavement construction of the Transportation Research Board in Washington DC, sits on the Strategic Board of Advisors for the American Concrete Pavement Association and the Board of Directors of the National Center for Concrete Pavement Technology.  He is also a founding member of the FHWA sponsored National Concrete Consortium that is now being managed by the National Center for Concrete Pavement Technology at Iowa State University.

The link between mindfulness and employee happiness has been proven time and time again. With most technical, scientific and engineering communities struggling to keep and retain talent, the link between workforce development and corporate mindfulness is huge. AOE President Kimberly Kayler recently was a guest on Workforce Waves, a podcast that explores strategic and unique solutions to meet workforce needs. The topic was corporate mindfulness. 

Succession planning is typically thought of as a strategy for substitute planning or training someone as a replacement. However, succession planning is best accomplished when it links the needs of the organization, both today and tomorrow, as well as identification of the roles needed to meet those strategic objectives. In this quick fireside chat, AOE Marketing Manager Janice Clines sits down with AOE’s President, Kimberly Kayler, to discuss why succession planning is essential for every organization.

Created by OpenAI, ChatGPT is an advanced AI language model that burst onto the scene November 2022. The AI tool uses natural language processing algorithms and GPT-3 technology to create large amounts of content at a fraction of the cost and time it would take a human. In this AOE Digital University Podcast series, Janice Clines, AOE Marketing Manager sits down with Vikki Sicaras, AOE Account Manager and AOE clients Brian Gallagher, Vice President of Corporate Development at Graycor, and John Glumb, Senior Managing Director of Operations at American Concrete Institute, to discuss chatbot technology, specifically ChatGPT, and how they are using it. 

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Digital analytics help us understand how our digital marketing efforts are performing and enabling us to pivot as needed. One popular tool in particular is Google Analytics. Amy Numbers, VP of Operations and Marketing Services for AOE, sits down with Janice Clines, Marketing Manager for AOE, to discuss GA4 and why it's important to make the switch now.

In this AOE Digital University series we will be discussing the pros and cons of TikTok. AOE Marketing Manager Janice Clines sits down with AOE Account Manager Vikki Sicaras, who is certified in social media marketing and leads our Social Media Practice Group, to discuss some of the pros and cons of TikTok.

In this quick five minute podcast Janice Clines, AOE marketing manager sits down with Vikki Sicaras, who is certified in social media marketing and leads our Social Media Practice Group, to answer questions that some of our clients are asking related to Twitter use.

Cyber security and public relations go hand in hand. The need for a crisis plan is essential for today’s cyber security teams.  Recognizing the growing frequency of data breaches and other cyber security issues that quickly escalate to the crisis level, Kimberly Kayler, AOE President and Crisis Communication Practice Group Leader, recently sat down with Jenna Fullenkamp, Account Executive with GuidePoint Security, to discuss this important topic.

Is your content making its way through the clutter in this digital-first era? With all the marketing challenges including evolving media platforms, competition and challenges with determining the right content, AOE understands that it’s harder than ever to put out the right messages. With 2023 fast approaching, AOE has the top 5 marketing trends to help you maximize your messages for the upcoming year.

What does equity have to do with sustainability? Is equity an essential component of sustainability? In this quick service spotlight, AOE President Kimberly Kayler highlights what trends we are seeing in how equity plays a vital role in sustainability and how your organization can meet your needs without compromising future generations. Check it out!

AOE President Kimberly Kayler sits down with Customer Success Manager Kyle Hubby from Feathr to go over all the latest trends for digital marketing. Everything from influencer marketing, engaging new audiences and budgeting for a successful marketing plan.

There is much talk about wellness and how it fits into an organization’s culture and offering to employees these days. AOE President Kimberly Kayler sat down with Olympic athlete turned business coach for the University of Arizona, Lacey Nymeyer-John, to explore the popular topic. In this quick 15-minute interview Lacey and Kimberly discuss how to integrate health and wellness with organizational culture and creating positive workplace environments.

During the last few years, event planners have had to switch from in-person to virtual and now are often tasked with creating hybrid events. How do you know what will work best for your organization? In this quick podcast, AOE event planner Bryce Barker covers everything you need to know to balance what will work best for your event and audience.

Customer/client segmentation is a process by which you organize your clients with regards to their needs and your services. The process allows a company to select and de-select clients to service, prioritize clients, define and deliver tailored value propositions for client segments, as well as develop and manage effective channels for serving these clients. It is a proven method in the automotive, aerospace and many retail sectors, and it can be incredibly effective in our industry too! In this podcast, AOE President Kimberly Kayler discusses why client segmentation is important and how it can be the key to success in today’s competitive market.

What does accessibility mean and why does it matter? In the context of design, accessibility means that everyone, regardless of ability, can experience and enjoy the print and digital content you put out there. In this podcast, AOE Director of Design Lindsay Chelf goes over why accessibility is important, designing with disabilities in mind and how to create accessible content for your marketing communications.

ESG reporting has ramped up in all areas of concrete construction, even in the past few months. Join Kim Spahn from the American Concrete Pipe Association, Brian Gallagher from Graycor and Chris Mason from Votorantim Cimentos for an informational chat on the challenges they are seeing in data collection and recommendations on the best methods to convey the results.

Join Laura Merritt and Janice Clines from AOE in this podcast for an overview of PR Trends for 2022, including opportunities and challenges.

Webinars provide a great format for showcasing your organization’s expertise as well as focusing on a specific topic or industry trend. In this short information video, Amy Numbers, AOE’s Vice President of Operations discusses 8 steps to hosting a successful webinar as well as highlights some 2022 webinar trends.

Ashley Kizzire, AOE's VP of Marketing shares the Top 10 Business, Marketing and Social Media trends for 2022 and how to implement them into your marketing strategy.

Does your organization have a succession plan in place? Succession planning is having a strategic, systematic and deliberate plan in place to ensure an organization’s future capability to fill vacancies consistent with the merit principles. This quick podcast covers everything you need to know to help.

AOE President Kimberly Kayler and Account Manager Laura Merritt sit down and answer informative questions on crisis management and why more organizations are putting an emphasis on creating a crisis plan.

Employee burnout, retention and stress are key topics in today’s business circles. While our pandemic world certainly is a major factor in these organizational challenges, how leaders respond to today’s unique dynamics can make or break its success. So what is the role of leadership in today’s organization? A recent Harvard Business Review article noted that when we trust our workplace leadership, we experience 74 percent less stress, 106 percent more energy at work, are 50 percent more productive and experience 40 percent less burnout.  

With a mission of Advancing Organizational Excellence, AOE is committed to sharing ideas on how leadership plays a role in meeting the needs of today’s workforce. AOE President Kimberly Kayler sat down for an information conversation with John M. Collins, founder of Critical Victories talk about tips on how to evaluate leadership competencies, how high-stress environments impact teams, and how we can all become better leaders.

As we enter the fall season, many of us move into strategic planning and budgeting time! Since we get many questions during this timeframe related to what is trending in marketing, AOE has assembled a quick top 10 list to help guide your efforts!

Many have put off the strategic planning process because of the Work from Home scenario. However, it may be wise to consider how you can tackle a strategy session, even if virtually, in the near future. One key benefit of tackling a strategic plan is to provide definition not only to what you should do, but also what you shouldn’t do. Join AOE’s President Kimberly Kayler, for this quick demo on things you need to know to go virtual!  The session will showcase lessons learned, successes and next steps for virtual strategy sessions held during the pandemic. Learn how to pivot your process and move forward with your strategy plan.

Learn why podcasts have taken off even more during the pandemic and how you can easily become part of the movement. We will guide you through what to do and not to do, who should deliver podcasts in your company, and what you need to do to get started. Join Kimberly Kayler from AOE for this quick 15 minute podcast!

Project Management Essentials with Tricia G. Ladely Assistant Director for the ACI Foundation. In this webinar Tricia goes over all the fundamentals needed to be a successful and productive project manager. She highlights initiating a project, managing stakeholders and everything you need for effective communication.

AOE President Kimberly Kayler taught a 90-minute in-person workshop at World of Concrete on Crisis Management and Communication. Because 90 minutes is a long time to be on Zoom, she has condensed the presentation and exercises to 60 minutes! If you didn’t make it to World of Concrete and would like to get a crash course in all things crisis, then you will want to listen to this presentation. It includes some crisis simulation activities you can bring back to your organization!

AOE President Kimberly Kayler sat down with Russell Kofford, founder of TRD, to discuss business development, sales and other topics. Russell is a Marketing and Business Development consultant with a mission to help redirect professional services back to a client-centric service based model. Building off of his 20 years’ of industry experience, his expertise ranges from coaching, strategic planning and organizational development to marketing, graphic design, and business development. Russell believes we should all strive to “Do More Good” meaning that we aren’t going to be perfect and we aren’t always going to make the right choice but striving to keep our actions and the consequences of those actions to the positive side of good. It is a vital part of why he created TRD and he works with clients who are compatible with that ideal.

Did you hear ? AOE has launched a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Practice Group! Created in response to industry need, AOE’s service offering includes the industry’s first online Benchmarking Assessment Tool, customized plans, training and more!  

AOE DEI Practice Group Leader Kimberly Kayler sits down with Brett Walsh, Executive Vice President of Resources for Graycor and Tom Merritt, Regional Managing Director for Anser Advisory, both long-time AOE clients and leaders in their industries. The conversation reviews the importance and benefits of diversity, challenges to developing a DEI culture, tips for engagement with employees and other members of your design-build team, and more.

Research has found that the average employee in corporate America today is stressed and is pre-conditioned to multi-tasking, which has significant drawbacks to productivity despite our society’s obsession with the ability to multi-task. However, those with a “mindfulness focus” tend to be more creative and focused. In this webinar, listeners will learn why many organizations have integrated mindfulness training into their organizations. This podcasts is key for helping professionals in the design and construction industry be more productive and happier.

Those of us working for non-profits or serving in leadership roles for our industry associations are familiar with the importance of antitrust laws and best practices. However, could you use a tune-up? Have the statutes, designed to protect consumers from predatory business practices and ensure fair competition, changed in recent years?

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Andrew Klevorn, an experienced antitrust attorney and counselor, will help you brush-up on your antitrust knowledge. He will provide a quick overview of how the laws are applied to a wide range of questionable business activities, including market allocation, bid rigging, price fixing, and monopolies.

If you are as tired as we are of the "new normal" discussion, join us to talk about lessons learned from 2020 and what we see on the marketing, management and sales landscape moving ahead in 2021 and beyond. AOE account leaders will host an informal discussion about the pivot we saw this year and what is on the horizon for the future. Topics include how messages have changed, the role of digital, rethinking the elevator speech and more!

While the pandemic has certainly created many challenges for organizations and workers alike, some have experienced a silver lining related to engagement of employees and/or members. New evidence and experiences are beginning to show how organizations are creating means to truly listen to their teams with regard to work-life balance, productivity and engagement.

Join AOE President Kimberly Kayler as she sits down with her long-time friend and colleague Jim Baty, Executive Director of the Concrete Foundations Association. The duo will discuss the changing face of both companies and associations, the necessity of legitimizing the new working paradigm, as well as tips for 2021.

While some in-person sales activities may actually be occurring, the traditional sales call has changed, and likely forever. What does sales look like in in the current and post-pandemic world? What does networking look like? Has the role of marketing as it relates to sales changed at all because of COVID-19? Join AOE President Kimberly Kayler and Jenna Fullenkamp, Business Development Director for iQSG, for a discussion on the topic of the role of sales during the pandemic.

The recent pandemic has brought about many cybersecurity implications for companies and remote workers. The influx in remote workers has led to an increased number of cybersecurity risks. In this podcast, Barbara L. Ciaramitaro, Ph.D., Professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, will help leaders to understand these risks and better protect themselves in the future. This podcast will review the risks for remote workers and cover many of the cybersecurity threats that are occurring during the pandemic. It will also help listeners to understand how to train their staff to prevent cyber-attacks.

In this podcast, AOE and Coldspring will share the story of how they collaborate to adapt marketing communications in uncertain times. Our conversation will cover shifting from crisis communication to responding to the market -- even with limitations such as a displaced working environment, budget uncertainty and more.

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Join Ashley Kizzire, AOE Senior Account Manager, and Cari May, Marketing Manager for Coldspring, as they share a few creative examples of how to deliver key messages through video, social media, blogs and more.

If you are struggling to decide if and how to make the move from in-person to virtual, this podcast is for you. Join Lauren Mentz, CMP, Director of Event Services for AOE as well as our parent company ACI, as she discusses tips for making the decision to postpone or cancel your event, review of key technical considerations for attendees, how to engage speakers and sponsors in a virtual event and lessons learned related to communication.

COVID-19 has quickly and significantly impacted how we conduct business. Marketing and communication strategies must evolve and change to ensure consistent and effective connection with our audiences and clients. Too often, during challenging times, companies reduce their investment in marketing activities. During previous recessions, businesses that continued to invest in marketing experienced growth in their businesses while those that cut back their marketing budgets saw a decrease in sales. Marketing in an economic state of turbulence and uncertainty can be challenging.

Join Graycor's Vice President of Corporate Development Brian Gallagher, CPSM, to learn how you can lead your organization to leverage the dynamics of a challenging market and become an even stronger competitor.

Google Analytics help measure your website's search traffic and performance. However, knowing the numbers is only half the battle. Without experimentation, direction and action, POWERFUL analytics become POWERLESS. Join Stephan Reed and Scotty Moore from Forefront Web in this podcast to learn the basics of analytics, AdWords and other tools, so you can take the next step in the digital data drive.

Although advertising and word-of-mouth testimonials can play a big part in reaching the right customers, nothing compares to being able to connect with people face-to-face. This is where trade shows come into play. If you have a new product, technique or service to market, the right trade show can link you to the right audience to get your name out there and the leads you want. However, there is a lot more to exhibiting at a trade show than just showing up. A targeted message makes all the difference when competing with hundreds of other booths.

Presenters Diana Sanicki, Head of Marketing for Doka and AOE Senior Account Manager Kari Moosmann will discuss how every element of your tradeshow booth and any pre-show marketing efforts must all be carefully focused on selected messages and how wrapping these messages into a corporate theme will help get more traffic in your booth and connect you with your tradeshow attendees.

Social media has become one of the must-haves in an organization’s marketing strategy, yet many have yet to implement a social media program to its full potential. In this podcast presented by AOE’s Ashley Kizzire, listeners will learn how social media fits in an organization’s marketing strategy and why social media is a critical tactic for promoting positive messages. Designed for beginning to intermediate social media programs, the webinar will cover best practices such as content strategy, engagement and monitoring progress.