Financial Management: Managing the Financial Side of Your Firm Well

This intense, one-day ReCourses seminar was developed especially for principals and controllers of design, advertising, interactive, and public relations firms, and it is designed to cover everything about managing the financial side of your firm. Learn how to construct and read financial data, the key benchmarks for your firm, and how to calculate them. Discover the twenty-four keys to having a profit-based traffic system (instead of a deadline-based one). Leave this session knowing where your weaknesses are and how to measure--and fix--them. (Consider combining this with the following two one-day seminars.) The seminar will be held in Nashville--shortly we'll release a full brochure with agenda, venue, hotel, pricing, and registration details.

Building and Leading a Staff

This all new seminar for 2008 will examine handling growth, structuring roles, finding good candidate employees, screening them, integrating them into the team, managing performance, and being the sort of leader your company needs from you. (Consider combining this with the proceeding and following one-day seminars.) The seminar will be held in Nashville--shortly we'll release a full brochure with agenda, venue, hotel, pricing, and registration details.

Transition Options for Principals: Making the Most of What You’ve Built, Now and Later

This one-day ReCourses seminar is crafted for those of you who want to think far ahead, whether or not you are considering transition options right now. It will cover everything about transition options for you, the principal. You'll learn how to do your own ballpark valuation, what the options are as your future unfolds, which ones are worth pursuing, and which ones are distracting sideshows not worth a second look. The day is literally packed with data you can’t find anywhere else, all applied specifically to your situation based on our participation in more than 120 transition events. (Consider combining this with the proceeding two one-day seminars.) The seminar will be held in Nashville--shortly we'll release a full brochure with agenda, venue, hotel, pricing, and registration details.

Managing (Right) for the First Time

This is the debut for this seminar, based on the book by the same title (published by RockBench in the first quarter of 2008, by David C. Baker). It has been researched and developed for first time managers of any type, any level. We'll look at who managers are and how to become one, whether or not you were promoted for the right reason, how to start off right, what you'll discover early on, and understanding the different kinds of managers. We'll also examine how to be effective by assembling the right team, being the kind of leader others want to follow, and how to take advantage of your own management style. Finally, we'll explain the transitions you'll want to make to be effective. The seminar will be held in Nashville—shortly we'll release a full brochure with agenda, venue, hotel, pricing, and registration details.

A Primer on Controlling Your Client Base with Effective New Business

A two-hour pre-conference workshop for the "Gain: AIGA Business and Design Conference" in New York city (held every two years). More on the Gain conference here.

Resourcing the Creative Process: Managing Pricing, Deadlines, Budgets, Quality, and Capacity

This was a new seminar last year, and no seminar has ever sold out this quickly. (This is the only seminar we’ll repeat this year.) In spite of that, it has been revamped and expanded to two full days. This seminar is ideal for principals responsible for setting the system up, or anyone directly responsible for resourcing (traffic, production management, pricing, or even some account service roles if they are combined with this function). The sessions are a mix of presentation, hands-on exploration, exercises, and roundtables. Resourcing, our name for the nerve center of the firm, includes estimating/pricing, traffic, production management, quality control, yield management, profitability, resource allocation, deadline management, etc. This course, unlike any other available, will look at workflow, roles, procedures, software, staffing, and systems. The foundation is built on the ReCourses Functional Model (RFM) and our system for a Profit Based Management Environment (PBME). Research underpinning the RFM began in 1998 and continues today. While resourcing isn’t taught in preparation for a career in the creative services field, it’s a critical foundation for doing work that is effective and profitable, and this seminar is meant to bridge that gap.

Download PDF with brochure, agenda, registration.

Avoiding Damage from a Downturn

You can't control the larger economy within which you operate, or even the segment of the marketplace to which you apply your unique expertise. But you CAN limit the damage that otherwise would occur by anticipating the pressures you'll face, reacting to them appropriately, and then building some future safeties into your firm's management environment. David C. Baker will present a webinar with some thoughts on these topics for 30 minutes, followed by 15 minutes of Q/A via a chatroom. Held at 3:00p CDT. Free, but you must register here to participate.

Serving Clients Well: Making the Most of the Account Service Role

This webinar will overview the essential things to know in serving clients well as a marketing firm. We'll start with a clear understanding of the control each party brings to the relationship, how to shape your role for increased effectiveness, the essence of your job description, a summary of how your clients wish you would serve them, and growing existing accounts as your focus switches from service to expertise. We'll finish with 15 minutes of Q+A to help apply this to your situation specifically. This webinar features David C. Baker, and is sponsored by Function Fox. To register, click here.

Managing (Right) for the First Time

This is a presentation based on the book by the same title (published by RockBench in the third quarter of 2008, by David C. Baker). It has been researched and developed for first time managers of any type, any level. We'll look at who managers are and how to become one, whether or not you were promoted for the right reason, how to start off right, what you'll discover early on, and understanding the different kinds of managers. We'll also examine how to be effective by assembling the right team, being the kind of leader others want to follow, and how to take advantage of your own management style. Finally, we'll explain the transitions you'll want to make to be effective. This seminar is held at the annual HOW conference in Boston.

Advice to the Young Creative

For the annual HOW conference, this presentation has been researched and developed for those who are managed. Specifically, you’ve finished school and landed your first real job in the field you’ve dreamed about. To date, most of your energy and money have been spent on developing the “craft” side, but what else will you need to succeed in this field? What kind of employees are managers looking for? How do you stand out (in the right way)? Are there some things you could do that will make it more likely that you’ll enjoy a long, rewarding career? Learn how to impact an organization so that you're valued and respected, how to approach your career with balance so that you don’t burn out, and how to be the sort of employee that a great manager wants to keep around.

Managing Creatives and Creativity: Being an Effective and Confident Creative Director

With one-third of the content new this year, this two-day ReCourses seminar was developed especially for creative directors in design firms and advertising agencies, and it is crafted to cover everything about being both an effective and satisfied creative director.

Anyone who manages the creative process will find it to be a must attend seminar, whether that person is a principal, creative director, design director, art director, or just someone soon to be promoted to a role that includes managing people or the creative process.

You’ll learn what your role should be, whether you are a good fit for it, how to perform that role well, how to adjust for your own strengths/weaknesses as you deal with creatives, how to find and screen good creatives, and how to guide the careers of those in your care.

Most important, probably, we'll walk you through the choices you'll have to make in transitioning from doing the work to stepping away from such a hands-on role, and why you need to let your design skills whiter a bit and work on your copywriting skills instead.

This year for the first time we’ll be presenting new research undertaken about making the transition to first time Creative Director, all based on a forthcoming book on that subject for RockBench.

Download PDF with brochure, agenda, registration.

Serving Clients Well: Everything You Need to Know about the Account Service Role

A revamped, two-day ReCourses seminar crafted to cover everything about the account service role. Anyone who deals with clients is a perfect candidate for this seminar.

You’ll learn what your role should be, how to perform that role flawlessly, how to adjust for your own strengths/weaknesses as you deal with clients, and how to make the most of the client assets at your disposal.

This will include everything from knowing how to spot good potential clients, formalizing the relationship in a way they appreciate, pricing your work appropriately, and handling difficult situations.

This year we’ll be beefing up the two days with a new focus in four areas: how to safely transition the account from the new business process to client service; growing accounts that you already have, with specific recommendations and group discussion; making good presentations to clients; and solving specific client issues you have, based on some brief homework we’ll ask for in advance.

Download PDF with brochure, agenda, registration.

Resourcing the Creative Process: Managing Pricing, Deadlines, Budgets, Quality, and Capacity

This was a new seminar last year, and no seminar has ever sold out this quickly. (This is the only seminar we’ll repeat this year.) In spite of that, it has been revamped and expanded to two full days. This seminar is ideal for principals responsible for setting the system up, or anyone directly responsible for resourcing (traffic, production management, pricing, or even some account service roles if they are combined with this function). The sessions are a mix of presentation, hands-on exploration, exercises, and roundtables. Resourcing, our name for the nerve center of the firm, includes estimating/pricing, traffic, production management, quality control, yield management, profitability, resource allocation, deadline management, etc. This course, unlike any other available, will look at workflow, roles, procedures, software, staffing, and systems. The foundation is built on the ReCourses Functional Model (RFM) and our system for a Profit Based Management Environment (PBME). Research underpinning the RFM began in 1998 and continues today. While resourcing isn’t taught in preparation for a career in the creative services field, it’s a critical foundation for doing work that is effective and profitable, and this seminar is meant to bridge that gap.

Download PDF with brochure, agenda, registration.

New Business Summit (5th Annual)

This is our largest yearly seminar, held in Nashville, TN at the Nashville Convention Center (with an opening night reception at the Frist Center for the Visual Arts). With a strict limit of 150 attendees, be sure to register (this always sells out) as soon as you are interested in attending this three day event that covers positioning, marketing, and selling. Faculty include David C. Baker and Blair Enns of Win Without Pitching.

Download PDF with brochure, agenda, registration.

In-House Innovation: Discover the Keys to Building and Running a Top Notch In-House Department

Presentation to the annual ECPA Publishing Conference, helping to debut the in-house business track. Session will focus on how to develop, maintain, and encourage a culture of design and innovation; how to get the beset work from your creative department (in-house and outsourced); and the keys to building and running a top notch department.

Live Agency Review

ReCourses is the co-founder, along with HOW, of the Mind Your Own Business Conference (MYOB), a unique 4-day retreat for creative-business professionals. This session will allow the audience to see deeply inside a volunteer firm, as they learn about themselves for the first time, too--in front of the audience.

Structuring Roles

ReCourses is the co-founder, along with HOW, of the Mind Your Own Business Conference (MYOB), a unique 4-day retreat for creative-business professionals. This session will focus on how to structure roles within a creative agency.

What's NEXT If Design is to be accepted among Professional Services?

Affinity session presented at a gathering of 2,500 deisgners in Denver, CO. “Next: AIGA Design Conference” focuses on what is coming next for design, designers, education and society. It is intended to look at what is happening at the forward edges of design, in all its dimensions.

Managing a PR Firm Like a Business

All day keynote presentation to the annual PRGN conference in San Francisco. PRGN (Public Relations Global Network) is an organization of 31 member agencies with more than 50 offices in the United States, Central America, South America, Europe, Canada, the Pacific Rim, South Asia, and the Caribbean.

For Principals of Firms with 22-80 Ees

In Nashville, limited to just 11 firms with strict qualification requirements, we are holding our once-yearly roundtables. It begins on Monday night and end late Wednesday afternoon. You'll be grouped with peer firms from non-competing markets/specializations to learn from each other during expertly guided discussion, followed by implementation accountability and a forum to establish a regular working group. There are three groups to gather appropriate sizes together.

Download PDF with brochure, agenda, registration.

For Principals of Firms with 8-21 Ees

In Nashville, limited to just 11 firms with strict qualification requirements, we are holding our once-yearly roundtables. It begins on Wednesday night and end late Friday afternoon. You'll be grouped with peer firms from non-competing markets/specializations to learn from each other during expertly guided discussion, followed by implementation accountability and a forum to establish a regular working group. There are three groups to gather appropriate sizes together.

Download PDF with brochure, agenda, registration.

For Principals of Firms with 2-7 Ees

In Nashville, limited to just 11 firms with strict qualification requirements, we are holding our once-yearly roundtables. It begins on Wednesday night and end late Friday afternoon. You'll be grouped with peer firms from non-competing markets/specializations to learn from each other during expertly guided discussion, followed by implementation accountability and a forum to establish a regular working group. There are three groups to gather appropriate sizes together.

Download PDF with brochure, agenda, registration.

Commencement Address, CCAD

Commencement address for the Columbus College of Art and Design, in Columbus, OH, at 10:30a.