Today I made a presentation on Web 2.0 for Marketing & PR at the Society for Marketing Professional Services (SMPS). Their members wanted to know how Web 2.0 (”second generation” Web) tools like blogs, podcasts, RSS feeds, social networking, wikis and widgets can be used by architects, engineers and construction firms to communicate with clients and prospects in today’s brave new marketplace.

My key messages are this:

• The “window” through which PR people have traditionally “pushed” releases continues to narrow, as print publications struggle with ad revenues and cut back on editorial pages.
• More and more business people are getting their news online in a “pull” fashion, using Web 2.0 technologies to select exactly the kind of news and information they want to receive.
• Journalists are high on the list of “consumers” getting their news and information online.
• As communicators we need to be in that arena, participating if not leading the way.

The best way to enter the Web 2.0 world is to start using the technologies. In fact, you most likely already are using them. UTube, Flicker, your Yahoo My Page, Wikipedia, Amazon, news or sports feeds on your Web browser, and any Web site you visit that has up-to-the-minute headlines or visitor comment options is powered by Web 2.0 technology.

I encourage communicators to use the technology. Create your own blog (takes less than 10 minutes with no cost at www.blogger.com). Blog about your kids or your cat if you’re not ready to do a business blog, but jump in and learn the technology.

Subscribe to blogs - my AEC industry blog here at www.aecstlouis.com offers a Blogroll, with links to other industry blogs.

Listen to podcasts. You don’t need an IPod or MP3 player; you can listen to them right on your desktop computer. McGraw Hill offers podcasts with interviews of construction industry leaders at ConstructionCast.

Learn how to subscribe to RSS feeds through your favorite browser. Most offer instructions and make it simple to add RSS feeds to your Favorites bookmarks bar. Once you’ve subscribed, it’s easy to view news headlines and link to articles that interest you. Here is the RSS instruction page for Internet Explorer.

The innovative Media Center that my PR firm Synergy Group has created for all of our clients uses RSS technologies powered by a proprietary Web 2.0 software program that we’ve developed. I invite you to explore how we offer our clients’ messages and materials to media and consumers, 24/7.

Here are some other resources I mentioned in the presentation:

Podcast Alley - top 25 business podcasts

PR and AEC Blogs - a list of several good ones

Guide to Corporate Blogging - rules of the road for corporate bloggers

Public Architecture, a nonprofit advocate for pro bono design, recently launched phase two of “The 1%,” a program created in 2005 to challenge architecture and design firms to pledge 1 percent of their billable hours to pro bono work. More than 200 design and architecture firms have signed on.

As an incentive to developers of “green” commercial or multi-unit residential projects, New Resource Bank of San Francisco will provide a 1/8th percent discount and more money - up to 80% loan-to-value (LTV) - for projects designed and built to green LEED standards. New Resource Bank focuses on financing sustainable resources and attracts like-minded depositors. Among its founding investors is national green building expert Greg Kats, a former DOE official and adviser to the California Green Building Task Force.

The University of Missouri is hosting a January 12, 2007 forum for Missouri-based engineers and architects engaged in design and construction services. Attendees will learn about the University’s selection process and recent changes to their design and construction program.

The meeting will be held from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Reynolds Alumni Center on the University of Missouri-Columbia campus. The agenda includes a Q & A and lunch. Be sure to RSVP by December 22, 2006, and only one representative per firm can attend. Contact Toni Henley at Facilities Planning & Development, henleyt@umsystem.edu, or call 573.882.7989.

Whether you’re a construction professional or just building a backyard patio, check out ResourceStLouis.org, a website that fosters sustainable building practices and an online Materials Exchange designed to keep usable construction materials out of landfills. The latter is a great place to find inexpensive, reusable construction materials from demolitions and construction projects, all posted in a searchable database. Here are a few items you could pick up:

• 40 4′ x 8′ sheets of fiber rock drywall for $10 a sheet
• 70 acoustic ceiling tiles for $1 each
• a solid-core metal exterior door for $5.

Kudos to founders David Bertorelli and John Prater of Enterprise Rent-A-Car and the executive board of ReSource St. Louis!