Inside the Inbox: What Gets a Pitch Read at Roads & Bridges

[00:00:00] Gavin Jenkins: Oh, what wastes my time the most? Pitches that have nothing to do with roads and bridges

[00:00:09] Announcer: Welcome to Spill the Ink, a podcast by Reputation Inc, where we feature experts in growth and brand visibility for law firms and architecture, engineering, and construction firms. Now, let’s get started with the show

[00:00:26] Steven Gallo: Hi, everyone. I’m Steven Gallo, your host and the VP of client services at Reputation Inc. So AEC marketers spend a lot of time trying to get press coverage, right? But as we all know, not all of it lands the way they hope. Today’s guest has a front row seat to what works and what doesn’t. Gavin Jenkins is head of content for the Roads & Bridges website, print magazine, and podcast.

Uh, and he’s gonna tell us what makes a pitch worth opening and maybe what sends it straight to the trash folder. I don’t know if that’s a little harsh, Gavin, but welcome to the show.

[00:00:59] Gavin Jenkins: Thank you. Thank you. Uh, it’s a pleasure to be here.

[00:01:02] Steven Gallo: Yeah. Well, uh, maybe to get started, uh, tell us a- about Roads & Bridges. I think our listeners may have a guess, uh, based on the name.

But why don’t you lay out for us what you cover, who your audience is, all that good stuff.

[00:01:13] Gavin Jenkins: I get so many jokes from family and friends about, about the magazine and what I do, but um- … because of the name, uh, but yeah. Roads & Bridges is an application-based trade magazine that covers the construction industry that is all about roads and bridges.

So the design, construction, maintenance, rehabilitation, the technology, everything like that that goes into roads and bridges infrastructure.

[00:01:42] Steven Gallo: Yeah. And so therefore, you’re getting a lot of pitches and story ideas and press releases about various road and bridge projects, of course.

[00:01:51] Gavin Jenkins: Oh, absolutely.

[00:01:52] Steven Gallo: Um, daily, right?

Uh- Daily … and so when a pitch lands in your inbox, um, I guess I’d love to know what, what makes you stop and read it right away? What, what tends to grab your attention?

[00:02:01] Gavin Jenkins: Okay. What, what makes me read it right away is usually just if they have my name. If, if, because y- I mean, that sounds silly, but so many pitches are mass-produced- Mm

and sent out to so many publications, and it’ll just be like, “Dear editor,” or- Or just like nothing at all. And so if it says: “Hi, Gavin,” and if g- and sometimes Gavin, you can tell that it’s like computer programmed to just insert my name because the font of Gavin is different. Right. So if it is the same font as hi and my name, same font, “Hi, Gavin,” I’m, I’m– you’ve already got me reading the email.

Uh, the next thing is if in the s- if the subject line and the first sentence are clear that you understand my magazine and actually read my magazine. Mm-hmm. So if the, if the subject line is a, uh, mentions a topic that I am interested in or a topic that is about to be in our magazine, you know, for example, our January issue that’s coming up that I’m already starting to work on is about concrete.

If you have concrete in the subject line of, uh, an email to me in the next month or two, I’m probably going to read it.

[00:03:21] Steven Gallo: Sure.

[00:03:21] Gavin Jenkins: And then the set- the next sentence needs to have… The first sentence just right away have a angle in place that indicates that you understand the kind of story that I want, usually application based, and that it is, is geared towards my audience.

[00:03:39] Steven Gallo: That is so huge. Uh, as someone who used to work, uh, in a newsroom and be on the receiving end of a lot of pitches, uh, yeah, I feel that. And I imagine though today, yeah, it’s only that much worse, right? In, in the era of AI and just the volume, uh, that we’re seeing. So I, I can only imagine, uh, what your inbox looks like.

[00:03:58] Gavin Jenkins: No, I, I, I would say that every week my inbox, like, just balloons to about 50 to 60, and then I have to, like, get it down to single digits by the end of the week. Wow. And it’s just like a constant up and down, up and down, and so many of that are pitches and press releases.

[00:04:17] Steven Gallo: Sure.

[00:04:17] Gavin Jenkins: And so I am, uh, I am always, you know, sifting through bad ones.

[00:04:23] Steven Gallo: Yeah. Yeah. And g- not only getting your name, but spelling it right. I don’t know how much, if you have as much of a problem- Oh … with that, but- No, no … I’ve seen that one too.

[00:04:30] Gavin Jenkins: Yeah. No, yeah. I mean, if, if they get, if you get a random L or an R, Garvin or Galvin, then you’ve lost me.

[00:04:37] Steven Gallo: Yeah, right? Attention to detail.

Um- Yes … so speaking about the other factors when we’re talking about newsworthiness, uh, and, and of a pitch, how much is timeliness a factor when it comes to, to your coverage at Roads & Bridges?

[00:04:52] Gavin Jenkins: Well, it, depending on the topic, a big deal. So if it has something to do that’s tied to policy and what’s going on right now with, uh, the policy discussions around the Build America 250 Act, then yes, it’s very timely.

If it has just something to do with, I’m gonna use concrete again, concrete, uh, technology, then it might not be as timely. It, and it all depends. If it’s tied to a project that’s wrapping up right now, then maybe it’s timely. You know, it, it all depends on the topic.

[00:05:27] Steven Gallo: Sure. That makes sense. Uh, maybe on the flip side then, and, and maybe you’ve answered this already, but maybe not, what, what wastes your time the most then when you’re having to get your inbox from triple digits- Oh, yeah

during the week to not at the end? Um,

[00:05:42] Gavin Jenkins: uh, what wastes my time the most? Pitches that have nothing to do with roads and bridges. I, I get things that have to do with architecture. I’ve gotten, I’ve gotten things that have to do with telephones, m- uh, like cell phones. I, I don’t know why they’re pitching me. Um, I, I, I do get a lot of international pitches, which I really wish I could do sometimes.

And if, if a piece of infrastructure that is in another country breaks a record, we will cover it in our– just digitally on our website, not in our, in our, our print issue. But I get a lot of pitches from other countries saying, “Hey, how about a story that compares this to this?” And I’m just like, “We are– Our, our main objective is North America.”

So, so I, I tend to lean away from those, but I do get those pitches.

[00:06:35] Steven Gallo: Yeah. Okay. And I imagine too, um, not just the volume we’re talking about, but I mean, pitches can also come in a lot of different forms, right? Uh, ideas your team could write, uh, sources you could interview, contributed, like bylined articles.

Um, so I’m curious, like which of those do you need, maybe do you need most right now, a-and what makes those actually useful to you? Oh,

[00:06:58] Gavin Jenkins: that’s, that’s actually a really great question, and it’s something that I think about a lot. Mm-hmm. So more often than not, the pitches we get are Are introducing a topic and then saying, and then bringing in here is a, here is a source that you can use.

And w- I– those are perfect. Those are perfect for us. I love them ’cause then we can use them in multiple formats. Mm. Then that, that person can possibly be a guest on our podcast, which we do, uh, with Mass Transit Magazine, our sister publication here at Endeavor B2B, and our podcast is the Infrastructure Technology Podcast.

So if it, if it is a source who can speak to technology and how it’s being implemented in the industry, then perfect. That’s, that’s great. But also, we have video interviews that we do over Zoom. We also have, um, we also have print. So, uh, depending on the source, it could be u- that person can be used in multiple formats, and then we can always do a Q&A, and we have a lot of Q&As that we’ve been doing, and that’s really successful.

Um, it’s, it’s, it’s kind of rare… Not rare. We usually get that, the source pitch.

[00:08:12] Steven Gallo: Mm-hmm.

[00:08:12] Gavin Jenkins: Um, I would prefer it if more people were offering to submit stories personally.

[00:08:18] Steven Gallo: Hmm.

[00:08:18] Gavin Jenkins: But, you know, it, but then you get into are you– we want application-based non-promotional stories. The pitches we get where people want to contribute, they’re usually pitching a product, uh, and that’s something we, uh, we tend not to do on the editorial side.

[00:08:35] Steven Gallo: Sure. Sure. So especially, yeah, uh, byline contributed articles tend to be a, a little less rare. As, as like, “Hey, hey, we want to write this or, you know, contributed piece story,” versus, “Hey, we’ve got someone. You want to talk to them?” Um- Right … there’s value both, but it sounds like you get a bit more of one than the other there.

Um- Yeah.

[00:08:51] Gavin Jenkins: Yeah, absolutely.

[00:08:52] Steven Gallo: So when a firm does offer up, uh, a source, right? Um- Mm-hmm … who is it? W- who, who’s that person you want to hear from? What seat are they in? ‘Cause I feel like, you know, marketers, PR people, sometimes they tend to just be like, “Oh, the CEO.” That’s the default.

[00:09:06] Gavin Jenkins: Right. Right? That’s, and that’s the most, the m- more often than that, more often than not that I’m getting pitches to, for the CEO.

Uh, I love the CEOs. I think they’re fascinating. They’re fascinating on an individual level, but we have to make sure that they’re experts. I want… Our, our readers are contractors and engineers, and so they want to have that expert opinion. So it’s okay to have the CEO, but I also need the experts from time to time, and the ideal situation is the CEO who’s an expert.

The construction industry is so fascinating right now because there’s so many entrepreneurs that are entering it.

[00:09:46] Steven Gallo: Mm.

[00:09:46] Gavin Jenkins: And so a lot of the pitches we get are these CEOs who are coming from a business side and the, not necessarily the engineering side. And so that’s something that I have to be really careful about.

Am I interviewing someone who is an entrepreneur? Which is okay, but- I also need to make sure that they know what they’re talking about when it comes to the design and construction of roads and bridges

[00:10:09] Steven Gallo: Sure. Yeah. Goes back to know thy audience, right? Yeah. Um, essentially. Um, well, let’s– that, that makes a lot of sense, and, and I know I’ve seen that a lot, too, is that people, they just kind of make that assumption that right, they’re, they’re the head honcho, so they’re the ones who has to be the mouthpiece.

But to your point, right, when we’re getting into the weeds on construction tech or maybe applications, deliver- you know, whatever it might be, um, that’s gonna happen at really a subject matter expert level. That’s what really sounds like is the most value for, for you and your team.

[00:10:37] Gavin Jenkins: Yeah, absolutely. It really is.

And, you know, it’s interesting that you mention, uh, the tech, uh, tech space. That’s where the mo- that’s where most of the entrepreneurs are coming from. Right. The, the tech side is booming, and most of the companies, whether it’s an engineering firm or an equipment company, most companies in the construction space are turning into tech companies, or they have a tech wing of their corporation, a tech component.

Like, y- everyone is a tech company

[00:11:07] Steven Gallo: now. Yeah. Yeah, that’s, I think that’s fair, fair to say the way things are going. Um- Yeah … and, but I wanna get back to the, the, the, the, the point you mentioned about, you know, actually contributing a story or a byline piece, right? Um, ’cause tho-those tend, tend to be maybe fewer and further between.

But say a firm wants to contribute or, or pitch an idea like that. Um, what, what does a strong submission look like for you? And maybe on the other side of it, where do you see most of them fall apart?

[00:11:35] Gavin Jenkins: Oh, that’s a, that’s another good question. So where, when it really hits with me, it’s where they’re able to take a project and then tie it into something bigger.

Like, oh, this pro- your readers will want to learn about this bridge project because it can speak to how, uh, this aspect of the project is being done all over the country. Advanced bridge construction is huge right now. It’s where they build the bridge before they take down the old bridge. They put it right next to it, then they tear it down, move it, slide it right in.

All right, so okay, if you’re gonna give me a story on ABC, uh, ABC Bridge Construction, make sure that you can tie it into the bigger picture of what’s hap- you know, themes and trends in the industry and what your project team did to overcome challenges that other people can learn from. Mm-hmm. Basically, I wanna have a nut graph in each story.

And a lot of times what I get are submissions that just because they’re, you’re getting it from maybe someone who’s not as trained as a journalist, they skip right over the nut graph and then just go into a list of how, like, like, almost chronological, we did this for the project, then we did this for the project- Mm-hmm

then we did this. And it’s like, all right, let’s back up. What was the most important aspect that our readers will care about?

[00:13:00] Steven Gallo: And I’m tracking with you, but for our listeners who may be like, “Nut graph?”

[00:13:03] Gavin Jenkins: Nut graph, right?

[00:13:04] Steven Gallo: Acorns? What are we talking about?

[00:13:05] Gavin Jenkins: Yeah, acorns. Think, think of it as a thesis statement as your, as As you’re writing an essay, and the nut graph is basically where you’re telling the reader, “This is why you should care.

This is why you should keep reading.”

[00:13:17] Steven Gallo: Mm-hmm. Exactly.

[00:13:18] Gavin Jenkins: Yeah.

[00:13:19] Steven Gallo: You mentioned something earlier too, which I imagine it’s a fine line to walk, right? I mean, I wanna pitch a story. Am I gonna… You know, if it’s coming from my company or one of our projects, our firm We, you know, it’s inherently about our own project, but we don’t wanna be promotional.

Uh, I guess I’m wondering, right, how promotional is too promotional? What does that line look like for you when you’re making those judgment calls?

[00:13:43] Gavin Jenkins: Yeah. No, no, that’s a really great question. So, uh, all right, let’s say you’re coming from an engineering firm. Well, if you’re an engineering firm and you’re writing the story for us, obviously you’re gonna say, “Here’s, here’s who was part of this construction team.”

[00:13:57] Steven Gallo: Hmm.

[00:13:57] Gavin Jenkins: So then you can mention yourself as part of the team since you led the construction. But if the story is, is, is just patting your, your company on the back in every paragraph, and the quotes are like, “Wow, this wouldn’t have come together if it wasn’t for this construct- this engineering firm,” then it’s a little too much, and that has happened.

I’ve had to edit that out and talk to people. Um, a lo- but n- the vast majority of engineering firms get it, right? They’re just like, “Okay, the eng- the, the construct- the project team consisted of XYZ.” Boom. Done. And then, and then the person who wrote it at the bottom, their, their author bio, you get the mention there.

The photos that go with the story, in the caption, you get the mention there. So the reader, and all of our readers are really intelligent, they know who’s writing the story. They see, they see. So they understand the gray li- the gray area. Uh, they understand the fine line. Um, where we get into trouble is h- is when the submission is coming from, say, the equipment company or the software company or the, the people who have a product that was used on the project and they really wanna shape the story around, “It couldn’t have been done without this piece of technology.

It couldn’t have been done without this equipment,” and that’s not, that’s not necessarily what we want on the editorial side. Then I have to talk with the person submitting and say, “Okay, how can we make this work for you and for us and for our audience?” And so those discussions are usually go really well because everyone wants, everyone wants to get the story told and everyone understands.

So I v- I very rarely have any problems with that. I’m just like, “All right, well maybe this is a Q&A. Maybe we ma- or maybe this is a podcast interview then.” You know, maybe this e- e- be- because we have so many different formats to tell stories at Roads & Bridges multimedia brand, we can play around with how we tell a story.

So it, it usually works out one way or the other.

[00:16:05] Steven Gallo: Yeah. Yeah. That, that makes sense. And, and a perfect segue ’cause right, you mentioned off the top you oversee the, you know, website, print, magazine, podcast, um-

[00:16:13] Gavin Jenkins: Videos

[00:16:14] Steven Gallo: V- vi- videos, I mean, you name it now Yeah … it’s multimedia is the game, right? Yeah. So, um, along those lines, yeah, what, what sort of counts as a, a good story, uh, depending on the format?

What topics tend to play well maybe in certain formats versus others, a- and I guess, yeah, what does that look like for you?

[00:16:29] Gavin Jenkins: Yeah. It, it’s really challenging. So- Yeah … um, the project, the project stories, the longer pieces, those play well in the written format. So if you’re taking like the entirety of a road project, you know, “Oh, we re- rebuilt this section of a highway,” that’s gonna play well in the printed, print issue because you need more space to tell that story, and you can go really in depth.

If it’s a Q&A, that goes better on the website, the website only, you know, ’cause it’s shorter, it’s to the point, that sort of thing. Mm. If it’s, uh, and you know, w- everything that goes in the print magazine goes on the website too, so, so that’s usually back and forth, pretty interchangeable, with the exception of the Q&As.

Um, if it is focused on tech, then it can be on the podcast, obviously. And then whenever it is talking to a thought leader about maybe something that’s trending in the industry, breaking news, policy, or just maybe a more personal, uh, aspect, we’re launching a series right now called Built, Built by Her, where we’re interviewing women who, in the industry to hear their stories, hear their successes.

Those are… That’s a video series. So if there’s a more personal touch or for, or if it’s more breaking news or trend- trendy, uh, then it can be a video. So…

[00:17:59] Steven Gallo: Yeah. Yeah, I think that, and that’s the important thing to, I guess on the other side of things to realize is that, you know, there’s a lot of avenues and channels, right, for the story to be told.

Some folks get, you know, locked in and think, “Okay, success is defined by getting in the magazine next month.” Uh, but that’s just not, that’s not the landscape we live in now and, and not always necessarily the best place for that story.

[00:18:19] Gavin Jenkins: Yeah, you know, and it’s, it’s interesting. So it’s 2026, we’re almost, we’re almost to 2027, and I still have discussions with people where they’re really laser focused on getting in the print issue.

Mm. And I’m like, “Look, I, I love our print issue as well. I don’t ever want it to go away, but we get more visitors to our website.” So- Mm … um, you know, it’s a huge deal. If, and sometimes people will be disappointed. I’ll be like, “Well, this will go on our website only.” And they’re like, “Oh, well, what about the print issue?”

I’m like, “Well, we- the eyeballs are, the eye- the same people are gonna see it,” you know? So, um, it’s, it’s wild. But print- Yeah … print’s not dead yet.

[00:18:59] Steven Gallo: Yeah. It’s not, it’s not No I’ll stand by that, at least for now. Um

[00:19:03] Gavin Jenkins: Yeah.

[00:19:04] Steven Gallo: Well, you said, uh, you know, B2B media, it’s, it’s a unique space, right? It isn’t- Yeah … uh, traditional journalism in the sense that folks think of, you know, the first draft of history, local news or mainstream media, right?

Mm-hmm. Um, but it’s not, you know, vanity profiles pay-to-play either. Uh, it’s- No … sort of this– Yeah, it’s sort of this, its own animal. And so I’m, I’m curious how you would describe that middle ground, um, and how it shapes what you will and won’t cover.

[00:19:32] Gavin Jenkins: That’s a– You know what, I’m s- I’ve been in this position for five years and I’m still, I’m still, I’m still, like, looking at the edges and trying- Mm

to find the answers to those questions. It’s a gray area. Yeah. It’s a gray area. I, I am– I want to make our advertisers happy. I am also looking to make our audience happy, and I’m trying not to show bias towards any one client, and I want to inform and also e-e, uh, entertain the readers. And so it’s a gray area, and I am constantly looking for, uh, the edges.

And I think that I do a good job. The, I’m sure I’ve made mistakes. Um, but you know, I, I, I tend– My one rule is I, I tend to just go, “Okay-” Am I, am I doing what’s best for the audience and the client? And, uh, those are the questions I’m asking and I, and I just try not to be overly biased towards any company or product.

[00:20:40] Steven Gallo: Yeah. It’s a tough job, but I th- It is. It is. I’d say you’re nailing it, Gavin. You’re doing well. Oh, thank you. It’s a fine line. I know people don’t always realize. But, um, you know, you mentioned, uh, somehow we’ve found ourselves, uh, in Q4 of 2026 already.

[00:20:55] Gavin Jenkins: Already.

[00:20:56] Steven Gallo: Which means, uh, you’re working on choosing this year’s, uh, top 10 Roads and Bridges list.

[00:21:01] Gavin Jenkins: Mm-hmm.

[00:21:01] Steven Gallo: That’s gonna be coming out here, uh, at the end of the year in the November/December issue. Um, but so firms thinking about applying next year, listening to this conversation thinking, “Huh, okay, maybe I’m gonna throw my hat in the ring”- Yeah … what do they need to know?

[00:21:14] Gavin Jenkins: All right. First off, you need to know, get it in early.

We open up submissions in July, and what happens is everyone’s out, still out working.

[00:21:24] Steven Gallo: Hmm.

[00:21:24] Gavin Jenkins: And so they wait t- they wait till the end of the deadline and then rush in. And so my bosses are always sweating and they’re like, “We don’t, we only have X number of submissions and it’s, it’s, it’s the end of August.”

And I’m always, every year I’m like, “This always happens. There g- there’s going to be a, a tidal wave of submissions near the deadline, getting them in. Just, just, just be patient.” So that hap- that has happened every year, and we’ve always done well. The second thing… So, but if you, if you wanna get it in early, get it in early.

You know, that, that would make us happy and it would, you know… I, I would, I would encourage that.

[00:22:03] Steven Gallo: Yeah.

[00:22:04] Gavin Jenkins: And- I would encourage that. Um-

[00:22:05] Steven Gallo: And it sounds like too, you know, not… Of course, obviously you’re gonna still review the ones that do come in, uh, right under deadline. Yeah. No,

[00:22:10] Gavin Jenkins: we rev- But- I, like look at every- I look at all.

[00:22:13] Steven Gallo: Sure. But it sounds like, I mean, if you’re sort of set apart from the pack and kinda get in early, you, you’re not in as much of a crowded review field or crunch time, right? I would

[00:22:21] Gavin Jenkins: imagine.

[00:22:21] Steven Gallo: Right. So-

[00:22:21] Gavin Jenkins: Right. Absolutely. It’s better for you, uh, because you, because you have more time to, to, to think about it.

But, um-

[00:22:29] Steven Gallo: Yeah

[00:22:30] Gavin Jenkins: The next thing is, is go for the roads category. Um, look, we’re roads and bridges, but it, it is very obvious to me after being here for five years, the bridge side gets the most attention. The bridge side has the most fans, and, um, and the… When it comes to the top 10 awards, the bridge category gets more submissions, like, uh, like almost double.

Mm-hmm. And so I’m, I’m looking at, you know, double the submissions for one and the other one less. And so if you want to get into the top 10 awards, your odds are better if you submit a road category, uh, a road project.

[00:23:13] Steven Gallo: Yeah. Makes sense. Yeah, that’s math, right?

[00:23:15] Gavin Jenkins: Yeah. And then in terms, in terms of the submission itself, tell the story.

Mm-hmm. Tell, tell me the story. What makes it unique? You know, it goes back to the nut graph. Mm-hmm. Why should we care? Why is it important? Tell me the story.

[00:23:29] Steven Gallo: Yeah. I talk about this a lot too, um, just, you know, with folks in the industry about the importance of storytelling, right, in these project narratives, especially today.

Uh, you’re not looking for a project sheet bulleted list of, of just figures, right? I mean, that, that’s not what makes a good submission. So, uh, yeah, that’s, that’s good to hear that validated. Um- You mentioned construction technology, uh, because yeah, right, it, it, it’s just everywhere right now, um, in your inbox.

Uh, whether it’s LIDAR, digital twins, we can’t escape the AI conversation, of course. Um, it sounds like you’re getting more of those pitches than perhaps before. Are you getting more than you can use? Um, and, and maybe the better question is what are you not seeing enough of?

[00:24:16] Gavin Jenkins: Oh, yeah. Uh, we’re, it– I don’t say that, uh…

Hmm, excuse me. Uh- … we, it’s not that we’re not getting enough of them. We’re not getting the implementation side. We’re, it’s just having a discussion saying, “Oh, AI is coming,” or, “AI is here,” or, “This will change things.” We’re beyond that. That was two years ago.

[00:24:41] Steven Gallo: Yeah.

[00:24:41] Gavin Jenkins: Now we need stories where it’s saying, “Okay, this is how it was used.

This is how it’s being implemented. This is, these are the best practices for this technology. Let’s l- let’s keep going.” You know, and, and so w- uh, the construction industry is definitely in the implementation era of, of artificial intelligence, and digital twins and LIDAR absolutely are a huge part of that, but we need to have stories that inform our readers of the best practices of that implementation.

We have a lot of public works people who, who read “Roads & Bridges”, and they don’t have the, some of them don’t have that technology yet. So, you know, if you’re in a rural town public works department, you’re reading “Roads & Bridges”, you’re reading about the engineering, the maintenance. You’re probably reading this for the maintenance stories, and y- your, your municipality doesn’t have the funding for that AI yet, but you wanna know how it’s being implemented, and we have to tell them that story.

[00:25:43] Steven Gallo: Yeah. I mean, that’s a great point ’cause it’s here, right? Uh, the, the, the technology is here, so now it’s about what are we actually doing with it? Uh- Yeah … and I think that’s, that’s a harder story to tell sometimes for folks, but it, it’s the one that, um,

[00:25:55] Gavin Jenkins: yeah,

[00:25:56] Steven Gallo: the

[00:25:56] Gavin Jenkins: value- And the technology pitches I, I get are good, it’s just sometimes they’re more of the– There’s still…

Some of them are a little behind the ball in s- in, in saying, “Oh, hey, this technology, this is what it can do” or, “This can be used,” and it’s more, no, let’s say how it is being used.

[00:26:16] Steven Gallo: Yeah. Yeah. You know? That makes, that makes sense. Um, well, I’m– this has been a great conversation, Gavin. Uh, I, I’m wondering if, you know, anything we haven’t hit on yet that you feel like i- is worth, uh, being a part of this discussion or, or maybe one final thought you wanna leave our listeners with that we, we haven’t touched on yet?

[00:26:33] Gavin Jenkins: Uh, I wanna talk a little bit about a project that we have here at Roads & Bridges, and it’s a game show. Okay. We launched a game show over Zoom, and the reason why we’re doing this is because we’re trying to create a pipeline for new thought leaders in the industry. The… People are retiring in this industry faster than can be replaced.

We have an engineering shortage in this, in this industry. We have a labor force crisis in this industry, and we need a younger generation to step up. We need them to be thought leaders, and we need them to climb the ladder. And so what we’re doing is we’ve launched… And we wanna, we wanna, you know, bring this new generation up a step, and we wanna do it in a fun way.

So we launched a game show. Uh, so far we’ve had one episode where we had three contestants and they were, at the time, they were prof- uh, engineers who hadn’t ha- gotten their, uh, professional engineering license yet. That’s, that’s the, uh, those are the contestants we wanna get. We wanna get- Hmm … young engineers who don’t have their PE license yet.

We also h- it’s also open to college students- Mm … who are majoring in engineering. And what we wanna do is we wanna connect the older generation with the younger generation and help the you- uh, the new generation step up and become thought leaders. And that’s another aspect of Roads and Bridges, that we are a platform to h- for the thought leaders of our industry to share and have an, a marketplace of ideas to discuss implementation, best practices, and safety, maintenance, those, those topics.

And, uh, so check out our pod- or check out our podcast, check out our game show, and if you know anyone who wants to, um, be a contestant, you know, reach out.

[00:28:29] Steven Gallo: That’s awesome. Um, I love that idea. A- and but that’s getting at such a, like you mentioned, a critical gap now, right? That knowledge transfer gap with this changing of the guard, so to speak, uh, that’s happening, but, you know, you’re not, you’re wanting to still…

Who’s gonna fill that void, right? Uh- Yeah … and I think it kinda goes back to, like, the C- you know, putting the CEO front and center first. Uh, feel like sometimes we work, you know, with clients, I’m like, “Don’t just jump there.” I mean, who, who do you have that’s up and coming that’s on the ground- Right … who’s involved in the project, right?

So- Right … it feels like it kinda goes hand in hand.

[00:28:59] Gavin Jenkins: Right. And that’s why so many brands have their, their 40 under 40. Mm. We launched that last year. We call it the top 25 under 40. And, you know, the CEOs are great, the experts are great, but let’s bring up the next generation. Let’s give them a voice. Let’s give them a platform so they can, you know, take the reins when they’re ready.

And we’re, we’re doing it in a fun way. The content doesn’t always have to be boring or to the point. You can have fun with, with B2B content. So that’s another thing that we’re trying to do. You know, and, and we, and we do that with our podcast as well. Uh, a recent episode we had an infrastructure draft.

And so what we did- Mm. What we did was we had four people on, two people from Mass Transit magazine, and then myself and, uh, a staff writer from Roads & Bridges, and we took turns. We had seven categories, and we, we were trying to build a hypothetical American city using infrastructure from different cate- uh, different cities and different categories.

And so we, we built our ideal, uh, urban area through, uh, a, a snake draft, kind of like a fantasy football draft. Yeah. And it was a lot of fun. B2B content can be fun.

[00:30:15] Steven Gallo: Cheers to that. At the end of the day, right, there’s humans behind the decision-making despite- Right … the fact that they’re inside organizations, right?

[00:30:22] Gavin Jenkins: Right.

[00:30:23] Steven Gallo: Uh, no, I love that. That’s very cool. So definitely check that out, folks. Uh, and speaking of which, uh, for folks, you know, we’ll have stuff in the show notes, uh, and whatnot, but for if people want to learn more, get in touch, um, how else can they, they reach out or, or kind of get plugged in with more Roads & Bridges content?

[00:30:37] Gavin Jenkins: Uh, well, our website roads, um, uh, roadsbridges.com, and, uh, my email address [email protected].

[00:30:48] Steven Gallo: Fantastic. Well, we’ve been talking to Gavin Jenkins of Roads & Bridges. Thank you so much for your time today and, and for a great conversation. Uh, and thank you at home for listening. Uh, we’ll see you next time on Spilly.

[00:30:59] Gavin Jenkins: Thank, thank you so much for having me. It was a pleasure.

[00:31:02] Steven Gallo: Thank you. Thank you.

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