Houston Business & Marketing Associations

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1 ASSOCIATIONS Below is a list of local associations and groups in the Houston area that are helpful to professionals who have a focus in marketing, communications or PR that are looking to network for the purpose of finding new employment, new business or just keeping in up on latest marketing/communications trends and networking with peers. All of these associations hold regular luncheons, breakfast events, and happy hour/mixers. You usually don t have to be a member to attend their events (you just have to pay a slightly hire registration rate) and the happy hours are always free. AAF American Advertising Federation About: The American Advertising Federation - Houston, formerly Houston Advertising Federation, is an association of advertising professionals encompassing all disciplines in the advertising, marketing and communications industries. Founded in 1911, the AAF-H is one of the oldest service organizations in Houston. Today, with a membership of well over five hundred advertising professionals, the group takes an active role in the community both locally and through its affiliation with the American Advertising Federation (AAF), a 50,000 member national association of advertising professionals. Luncheons people Happy Hours people Annual Events people (Addy Awards, Trailblazer Awards) AMA American Marketing Association About: The Houston Chapter of the American Marketing Association has been serving marketing professionals for over 50 years. AMA Houston is the area s largest professional marketing organization and the nation s second largest AMA chapter. AMA Houston provides marketers the ability to remain competitive in today's business environment through networking events, special interest groups and real-world educational programs. (Brookwoods Group sponsors AMA Events.)

2 Luncheons people Happy Hours people SIG Luncheons people Annual Events people (Crystal Awards, Marketer of the Year Award) AMA has events and they also break out into what s called SIGs or Special Interest Groups each SIG has a different marketing focus (the names of the Chair for each SIG is available on the Board Contact page listed above). SIGs have regular luncheons. BMA Business Marketing Association About: BMA Houston is a leading professional association dedicated to connecting B2B marketers with new ideas, knowledge and people. It provides a wide range of services, resources, and opportunities to help you meet the daily challenges of sustaining business profitability and enhancing your development as a B-to-B marketing professional. The Houston Chapter of BMA is one of 25 chapters, with a combined membership that exceeds 3,000. (Brookwoods Group sponsors BMA events.) Luncheons Information unavailable Happy Hours people Annual Events Information unavailable (Lantern Awards) HIMA Houston Interactive Marketing Association About: HiMA brings together some of the most active and experienced interactive marketing professionals in Houston. We are the first association in Houston to offer an online social networking site that is designed to allow HiMA Members, non-members, sponsors, volunteers and just the plain curious to interact with one another. Luncheons people Workshops Members only, people Happy Hours people Mixers people

3 IABC International Association of Business Communicators About: IABC is a vigorous and varied group of communicators. The breadth of specialties within its membership makes IABC/Houston a remarkable organization. With members ranging from corporate communications to marketing communications to design to photography to event planning and many associated services, IABC/Houston brings together the broadest mix of communications-related professionals. With more than 330 members, IABC/Houston is one of the 15 largest chapters of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC). (Brookwoods Group sponsors IABC events.) Luncheons people Happy Hours people Annual Events people at Bronze Quill Awards PRSA Public Relations Society of America About: PRSA Houston is one of the nation's largest and most active chapters of the Public Relations Society of America. Founded in 1950, PRSA Houston focuses on helping members become more valuable to their organizations and clients, and therefore become more successful professionally, by providing peer-based support, encouraging professional growth through participation in educational programs and leadership roles, and promoting the highest standards of professional competence and ethics. (Brookwoods Group sponsors PRSA events.) Luncheons Information unavailable Happy Hours people Annual Events people (PRSA Excalibur Awards)

4 NETWORKING GROUPS Brand!t Marketing Third Thursday Happy Hour Founded by Tad Grow, one of the marketing movers and shakers in Houston, the third Thursday happy hour is always fun to attend and you'll get to schmooze and meet other marketing professionals. Google Brand!t Thursday to find the location of the next event or just him people usually show for his events. Hit or miss. See: Energy People Connect Founded by Brandy Obvintsev (Linkedin Profile: this is an organization focused on the issues in the Oil and Gas / Energy industries. Her goal is to bring together professionals in these verticals to share best practices and discuss energy related issues. Brandy has a great reputation in the Marketing and Communications world. This organization holds regular happy hours and events that you can attend at no charge. See Houston Downtown Alliance (HDA) HDA s mission is to promote and help foster a vibrant downtown for those who live, work and play downtown. That mission takes form in many ways at HDA. As the parent organization to Houston s Theater District, HDA serves to help lobby for funding and facilitate the distribution of the Hotel Occupancy Taxes to the major tenants of the Theater District (Alley Theatre, HGO, Houston Symphony, Da Camera, Theatre Under the Stars, Society For the Performing Arts and Houston Ballet). HDA creates events and programs for the downtown community such as the Downtown Home Tour, the Starbucks Breakfast Speaker Series, the Theater District Open House, the Educators' Open House, and many other programs. This association is a great resource to tap into for things going on in Houston, and sometimes there are events on the calendar that are helpful to job seekers. See: InHouston Professional Development Happy Hour InHouston is a networking site on a ning platform created by Eric Standlee from in Houston and has a large presence on Linkedin.com Eric runs a family financial business and loves to introduce people to one another and help others be successful. A few years back, Eric decided to start his own social networking site more as a way to keep up with everyone he was communicating with. He called it InHouston and it s located at It took off

5 like wildfire, and took even more after he met a few power networkers in the marketing world who helped spread the word. The purpose of his site is to host a place where people can post networking opportunities for others to attend. The most important one is Eric s main one called the InHouston Professional Development Networking Happy Hour. It s once a month and is usually always at The Tasting Room at Uptown Park people show up throughout 3P to 7P and it s a wide variety of professionals from all industries and backgrounds. The connection between them all is everyone who attends sees the value of networking and want to help one another! (Learn more about ning websites at )