The Shortlist

As The Shortlist celebrates its 100th episode and Middle of Six marks 10 years in business, Wendy Simmons sits down with Melissa Richey, Grace Takehara, Becky Ellison, and producer Kyle Davis to reflect on the moments that made both possible. From the story behind naming the company to experience shares about entrepreneurship, career pivots, and building a thriving remote-first team, the conversat...

Not every client or firm lives in InDesign. And sometimes, for whatever reason, you're not able to use the Adobe Creative Suite programs, but still have to produce a presentable product. It may not be ideal, but it's going to be okay. In this episode of The Short(er) List, Becky sits down with Grace Takehara to talk about a reality every AEC designer eventually faces: the dreaded Word do...

AI has moved from an experimental playground to an everyday reality, and AEC firms are figuring out how to use it responsibly and effectively. On this episode of The Shortlist , Wendy Simmons, Becky Ellison, and Hana Kaneko explore how AI is impacting AEC marketing from proposal support and content editing to data organization and workflow efficiencies.  The Middle of Six team discusses the opport...

In the era of remote and hybrid work, your home office is either working for you or against you. And if you're reading this from your couch with a laptop balanced on a throw pillow—you might be ready for some improvements to your situation. In this episode of The Short(er) List, Becky sits down with guest Hana Kaneko to tackle the space where the real work takes place, and where so many ergon...

What type of AEC marketer are you? Are you the Eagle Eye, catching every compliance detail? The Octopus, juggling a dozen priorities at once? The Cheerleader, keeping your team motivated? Or maybe the MacGyver; the marketer who always finds a way to save the day?! In this special episode of The Shortlist, the entire Middle of Six team jumps on the podcast to discuss "The Marketers"—MO6&a...

There's always a lot going on in the world of AEC marketing. The deadlines are real, the pressure can build, and somewhere between all of the submittal requirements, check-in meetings, task lists, and marketing production, it's easy to get overwhelmed by the details and lose sight of the bigger picture. In this episode of The Short(er) List, Becky sits down with Grace Takehara for a conv...

Have you ever wondered what it’s actually like to work with Middle of Six? In this episode of The Shortlist, Principals Wendy Simmons and Melissa Richey answer one of the most common questions they hear from AEC firms: “How does this even work?” From the first meet-and-greet conversation to onboarding, discovery sessions, project check-ins, and final deliverables, Wendy and Melissa walk through ho...

In this episode of The Short(er) List, we're bringing you the software debate event of the century! Becky welcomes guest and sparring partner Katy Byers for knock-out, drag-out, no holds barred throwdown over the best tool for collecting proposal feedback from technical staff. Katy is team Bluebeam. Becky is not. She is very, very not. What follows is a good-natured and delightfully passionat...

Proposal deadlines have a way of testing even the most seasoned AEC marketers. No matter how carefully a pursuit is planned, you never know when you'll have to defuse a ticking time bomb, minutes before the deadline. In this episode of The Shortlist, Wendy Simmons is joined by designers Becky Ellison and Lauren Jane Peterson to discuss the “MacGyver moments” that happen when proposal teams ar...

No notes. No outline. No edits. No regrets. (Okay, maybe a few regrets.) In this episode of The Short(er) List, Becky and Kyle are going live . After deciding on the episode topic approximately four minutes before hitting record, they just ... went for it. The result? An unfiltered, unscripted, and unrehearsed conversation about one of AEC marketing's most quietly complicated relationships: t...

Strong project management isn’t just for the construction jobsite—it’s a critical skill for every AEC marketer. In this episode of The Shortlist, Wendy Simmons is joined by Melissa Richey and Lauren Jane Peterson to explore how marketers naturally step into project management roles across proposals, events, and campaigns. From defining scope and managing risk to leading communication and keeping t...

On this episode of The Short(er) List, we're leveraging innovative and collaborative solutions to provide comprehensive expertise that's both strategic and sustainable. And we're passionate about it, too. If that introduction sounds both nonsensical and completely normal, then you're in the right place. Don't worry, we're also guilty. Becky Ellison and Kyle Davis are...

Collaboration is at the heart of how the team at Middle of Six works—and being fully remote means finding tools that keep ideas flowing and groups aligned. In this episode of The Shortlist, MO6ers Kyle Davis and Lauren Jane Peterson share the ins and outs of using Mural, their favorite digital whiteboard platform. From internal brainstorming sessions and design charrettes to client workshops and p...

Close your eyes. Breathe. Relax your shoulders. The RFP document is only five pages long. The Project Manager won't be on vacation during the interview. The entire team agrees on the deadline for content. There is no page limit. No one cares about margins. This is ASMR for AEC Marketers. In this episode of The Short(er) List, Becky and Katy are whispering reassuring sweet nothings into your h...

Losing a pursuit is never fun but it can be one of the most valuable opportunities for growth. In this episode of The Shortlist, Wendy Simmons is joined by Melissa Richey and Katy Byers to talk about what it really means to “fail forward” and how to turn losses into smarter strategy. From running more effective debriefs and asking sharper questions to digging into scoring feedback and gut-checking...

Most firms treat RFP questions as a formality—a quick clarification before the real work begins. But what if the questions you ask (and how you ask them) could actually give you the answers you want?  In this episode of The Short(er) List, Becky and Melissa are back with their eagle eyes fixed on the details, cutting through the noise on one of the most underutilized tools in the AEC pursuit proce...

In the AEC industry, RFPs and RFQs are a fact of life—but that doesn’t mean we can’t vent about the quirks that make RFPs unnecessarily challenging. From overly detailed questions squeezed into tight page limits to unclear addenda, Monday due dates, and outdated submission requirements, Middle of Six principals Wendy Simmons and Melissa Richey swap tales of headscratchers and horror stories alongs...

In this episode, Becky and Melissa spotlight one of the most underrated gems in the proposal world: Adobe Share for Review—the live-PDF reviewing tool that keeps your team organized without derailing your sanity. Between enthusiastic SFR praise and some truly premium BlueBeam shade (sorry to all you BlueBeam lovers out there; but fear not, you will be represented on the pod soon), the duo walks th...

Business development (BD) can feel like a job reserved for firm leaders or dedicated rainmakers, but in reality, it touches everyone in the AEC industry. In this conversation, Wendy Simmons sits down with Middle of Six Senior Marketing Strategist, Katy Byers, to break down how BD intersects with everyone's role. Katy, a natural-born networker and connector, unpacks common barriers—lack of per...

For this hilarious episode of The Short(er) List, we let AI take the driver’s seat. We had it write the script, so we figured—why stop there? Here is the episode summary, pasted straight from the robot: Here you go — a fun, friendly, slightly irreverent two‑paragraph summary that captures the vibe of the episode and makes people want to listen: In this delightfully chaotic episode of The Short(er)...

What does it take to run a successful business? In this episode of The Shortlist, Wendy Simmons and Melissa Richey unpack one of their most-referenced books: Traction by Gino Wickman. They explore how the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) provides a practical framework for clarity, accountability, and growth, specifically for AEC leaders and small to mid-sized firms. In this episode, we dive...

In this delightfully chaotic, laugh-filled bonus episode of The Short(er) List, we dive deeper into a hot topic in proposal document creation: InDesign Books. Designers Becky Ellison and Lauren Jane Peterson unpack when and why to use them, share tips to keep you sane, confess the joys and terrors of page numbering, and honor the sacred role of the all‑powerful ‘Keeper of the Book’. They also shar...

Are you ready to celebrate? A well-executed anniversary campaign isn't just about looking back, it's about celebrating your success and reinforcing your relevance in the present. In this episode of The Shortlist, Wendy Simmons, Lauren Jane Peterson, and Grace Takehara dive into how AEC firms can leverage anniversary campaigns with intention and foresight. This episode explores the strate...

Welcome to the very first minisode of The Short(er) List, our new spinoff series where Shortlist favorite Becky Ellison takes all the too‑silly, too‑real, too-extra conversations that don’t fit in the regular Shortlist episodes, and serves them up in bite-sized podcast treats. In this introductory minisode, Becky chats with Wendy Simmons, Middle of Six founder and host of The Shortlist (plus our m...

Season 5 of The Shortlist kicks off with a fan-favorite: InDesign Rumble (Part 2). Wendy Simmons, Becky Ellison, and Lauren Jane Peterson continue their spirited conversation on how AEC marketers actually use Adobe InDesign, workarounds and all. This episode explores how even seasoned designers evolve their skills in a tool most learned on the fly. The MO6 team dives into efficiency-boosters like...