AEC Client Experience Summit
Presented in Partnership:
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October 28, 2026
10 a.m.- 6 p.m.
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Ala Moana Hotel by Mantra
410 Atkinson Dr, Honolulu, HI 96814
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SMPS Members: $125
Non-members: $175
Insights. Immersion. Connection.
The AEC Client Experience Summit brings together Hawaii’s AEC community for a focused day exploring Client Experience (CX) as a business growth and leadership discipline.
Designed for principals, firm leaders, project managers, technical leaders, seller-doers, and marketing and business development professionals, the Summit will explore how firms can more intentionally measure and manage what it’s like to be their client and turn stronger relationships into measurable business results.
Client Experience is a performance driver.
Of the performance gap between top-performing A/E/C firms and everyone else comes down to how Client Experience is structured, measured, and led.
SMPS Foundation Client Experience ResearchBuilt for the people who shape the client experience.
Client Experience isn’t owned by one department. It’s shaped by everyone who owns, influences, or delivers the client relationship. The Summit brings together professionals from across the firm to build a shared understanding of CX and explore how stronger client relationships can drive better experiences and better business outcomes.
- Principals & Firm Leaders
- Seller-Doers
- Project Managers
- Technical Leaders
- Business Development Professionals
- Marketing Professionals
IMMERSION.
Build your CX strategy.
INSIGHTS.
Hear what clients value.
CONNECTION.
Strengthen your network.
Why Client Experience Matters
The AEC Client Experience Summit moves from strategy to real-world perspective to meaningful connection. Grounded in SMPS Foundation research, the Summit equips you with practical tools you can put to work right away. Build your CX skills, hear directly from clients, and connect with peers focused on strengthening relationships and driving better business outcomes.
What to Expect
The AEC Client Experience Summit moves from strategy to real-world perspective to meaningful connection. Grounded in SMPS Foundation research, the Summit equips you with practical tools you can put to work right away. Build your CX skills, hear directly from clients, and connect with peers focused on strengthening relationships and driving better business outcomes.
IMMERSION.
Build your CX strategy
Explore practical frameworks to assess, strengthen, and advance the client experience across your firm.
INSIGHTS.
Hear what clients value
Gain candid perspectives on what builds trust, strengthens relationships, and creates lasting partnerships.
CONNECTION.
Strengthen your network
Build meaningful connections with AEC peers, industry leaders, panelists, and clients throughout the day.
Your Summit Experience
10 a.m. – 3 p.m.
The Listening Imperative: Client Experience as a Leadership Discipline
The best AEC firms have always known that relationships carry the business. Now, first-of-its-kind research from the SMPS Foundation proves it by the numbers.
Client Experience (CX)—the practice of measuring and managing what it’s like to be your client—is becoming an increasingly important business discipline across AEC. Firms that intentionally structure, measure, and lead CX are seeing stronger growth, profitability, and client loyalty.
During this immersive experience, you’ll benchmark your firm against the CX Maturity Model, connect client experience to the business measures leadership already tracks, and build a practical framework for turning relationship strength into measurable growth.
What You'll Explore
Where Your Firm Actually Stands
Benchmark your firm using the five-level CX Maturity Model. With 78% of buyers ranking client experience as a top factor in choosing which firm to hire, identify where your firm stands and what closing the gap could look like.
The Numbers That Move a Boardroom
Connect CX to growth, profitability, and firm value. Firms using client feedback in strategic planning are 59% more likely to achieve above-average growth and 24% more likely to deliver above-average profitability.
Listening as Infrastructure
Explore how intentional client listening becomes part of the way your firm operates—not simply a survey or satisfaction score. Learn how to build a system for listening, responding, and closing the loop across the client relationship.
Making It Stick
Learn how to establish the ownership and governance needed to make CX part of firm strategy. 52% of top-performing firms have leaders directly engaged in CX, compared with 26% of bottom performers.
Meet Your Facilitator
Ryan Suydam
CX Architect & AEC Unit Leader, ClearlyRated
Ryan Suydam has spent two decades helping professional services leaders turn client relationships into measurable business results. He co-founded Client Savvy in 2004, now ClearlyRated, and has guided more than 650 firms and 30,000 professionals in building the listening systems behind higher win rates, stronger margins, and lasting client loyalty.
His client roster includes HDR, CDM Smith, and Hensel Phelps, and Ryan is a co-author of the SMPS Foundation’s first-of-its-kind research on Client Experience in the A/E/C industry.
3:30 – 4:30 p.m.
From Pursuit to Partnership: What Clients Value Most
Hear directly from private- and public-sector clients working in the Hawaii market as they share what builds trust, strengthens relationships, and differentiates AEC firms.
This candid conversation will explore what clients value throughout the relationship—from interviews and project delivery to communication, seller-doer engagement, and long-term partnership. Gain firsthand insight into what helps firms stand out, where relationships can break down, and what turns successful projects into lasting client partnerships.
4:30 – 6 p.m.
Networking Pau Hana
Close the day with a Pau Hana bringing together Hawaii’s AEC community, speakers, clients, and peers for conversation, connection, and continued exchange of ideas.
Ready to Join Us?
Client Experience is a firm-wide discipline. Bring three or more colleagues and save with the Firm Team Rate.
Registering 3+? Email knowledge@smps.org for group registration.
Register NowShaped by AEC Leaders in Hawaii and Beyond
The AEC Client Experience Summit is guided by industry and association leaders committed to creating a relevant, meaningful experience for Hawaii’s AEC community.
Hoʻāno Au
SMPS Hawaii President
Kim Castillo, FSMPS, CPSM
Bowers + Kubota
Tracy Fukuda, CPSM
Wilson Okamoto Corporation
Ryan Schulze
SMPS Hawaii President-Elect
Marci D. Thompson
CEO, SMPS + SMPS Foundation
Kai Wright
Associate Director, SMPS
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