Events

Employees have been actively requesting to telecommute for the last 15 years. At the outset, they were in the driver's seat and many firms complied. We now have a lot of data on what works and what doesn't work, and understanding that can help you put a thoughtful and responsive policy in place that's consistent and also good for your business...and  your employees.

Learn the guts of what the research is saying, and how it applies to your marketing firm based on size, focus, location, and particular role.

With one-third of the content new this year, this one-day ReCourses seminar was developed especially for principals, operations managers, and controllers in marketing firms (advertising, design, interactive, and public relations), and it is crafted to cover everything about the numbers side of running a firm well (leading software firms have licenses our IP on this subject).

The first year you did that annual bonus, you were Santa Claus incarnate. After that it became an entitlement, employees often pre-spent what they anticipated getting ahead of time, and if the amount didn't increase every year they were disappointed--not grateful.

There is a much better way to do this, and it's exactly the right time to think about 2013. Whatever their expectations are in 2012 will likely have to be met, but if you set new expections NOW for next year, you'll begin deriving value from the investment again, they'll appreciate it more, and the chances of it truly affecting behavior will be greatly increased.

Learn all the specifics of how to do this well.

Only held once per year, this revamped one-day seminar has been developed especially for design, advertising, interactive, and public relations firms, and it is crafted to cover everything about managing client relationships (see the complete agenda on page five). The seminar is appropriate for principals, account managers, and anyone integral to client relationships.

This is a seven-piece display of large printed artwork for a juried exhibit sponsored and hosted by the Durham Arts Council. It will be on display from early November to late December, and all prints will be for sale. The public reception (which I will attend) will be from 5:00p-7:00p (eastern), Friday, November 16, 2012 at:

Durham Arts Council, Inc.
120 Morris Street
Durham, NC 27701
919.560.ARTS

Please join us!

Held in Vancouver, the subtitle is appropriately "Newer Ways to Position Yourself, Market Yourself, and Remain Relevant with Time."

As time passes, corporations consider deconstruction, workforces become distributed, and marginalization of the implementation portion of marketing becomes more pronounced, what role will you play in this new world? It will require a different positioning (that varies by industry, practice area, size), a different interplay between strategy and implementation, more "working yourself out of a job" at the client level, and an 80% change in how lead generation happens for you. Come learn from the leading expert for small- and mid-sized firms in the marketing field for a solid half-day of content that will leave your head spinning with ideas and simple to implement (for the disciplined), and hear the "aha" moments around you. This will be a rare opportunity of advanced-style learning.

A conference co-founded by ReCourses and HOW, this concentrates exclusively on the business issues that keep you thriving as a firm. Do you know any firms that fail on the basis of the lack of creaivity? Me either. It's because they make bad business decisions.

This year's speaker lineup is amazing: Julien Smith, Todd Henry, Jodi Glickman, David C. Baker, Bill Baker, Mark O'Brien, Sandy Styer, and Martin Kamenski.

Paramore University is presented by Paramore, the leading digital agency in the area. The University presents best of breed thinking that helps you do the best digital marketing. Past speakers include Karen McGrane, Leslie Camacho, Josh Clark, and Todd Henry.

This year the event will be held again at the Belcourt Theatre, where there will likely be standing room only. More information here.

If you've reached 25 years of experience in your design career and are feeling at a crossroads, this half-day workshop can help as you decide how to shape your next steps. David C. Baker, the leading management consultant for the creative services industry, will share perspectives on what our seasoned designers, creative directors, and studio owners need to consider. Topics will include evaluating your own suitability for the options, deciding whether to move into a related field, and tips for identifying and minimizing the effects of marginalization as you age.

For the last four decades, the marketing process has merely been tweaked (other than the entry of search firms and the power hungry procurement departments). As a result, we've fallen back on silly things like chemistry, empty "full service" promises, faux process, elaborate cold-calling programs, and just responding to as many RFPs as we can, accepting referrals from people who still have us in a box, and lowering the bar just to keep busy and feed the machine. No more.

Branding is Dead; Storytelling isn't Genuine; What's Real presented to Tim McAlphine and CurrencyMarketing.ca's conference in Nashville.

David will offer his strong opinions on what passes for "branding" these days and the usually lame "storytelling" that is replacing it as the current excuse for agencies to inflate their budgets. Consider this a challenge to marketers!

Only held once per year, this one-day seminar is all about project management, what we call "resourcing" the creative process. That's 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. There will be more emphasis on project management for digital this year.

Clients are changing the way they buy creative services and creative firms must change. Join business development consultant and author Blair Enns on the impact of how you sell your services, how you staff the function, and the services you deliver.

September 24, Monday, 1:00p central, $100/firm.

This webinar will be the first live review of the combined Newfangled, ReCourses, and Win Without Pitching survey on "The State of Digital Marketing for Small Agencies." Join Blair Enns, David C. Baker, and Mark O'Brien as they team up to offer their live, honest assessment of the findings of this groundbreaking survey. 

Given the widespread interest in this event, we are at risk of hitting our webinar hosting capacity, so be sure to register sooner than later. 

The webinar will consist of a 30-45 minute presentation, followed by 15 minutes of Q&A and will be free.

It will begin at 11:00a central time.

Register for the event.

Valuation and Exit Strategy for the Entrepreneur Center in Nashville, TN.

Soddy Daisy: An Invitation Only Event on Core Management Principles, as part of the twice-per-year private groups we set up for intimate learning and teaching twice per year. We start team but they become self-sustaining. Milwaukee, WI.

This presentation will be made to the Creative Freelancer's Conference, sponsored by HOW and moderated by Ilise Benun of Marketing Mentor, in Boston, MA, from 10:45a-12:00p.

This presentation will be made to the inHOWse conference, sponsored by HOW, in Boston, MA.

Balancing Your Business: Connecting w/ Vertical Markets at the Small Distributor Summit in Baltimore.

Marketing & Communication Strategy Development at the Small Distributor Summit in Baltimore.

Four pages (of small type) in a stream of consciousness style on the real truth about managing people and how much impact you can have (for good) if you do it right. For the Counselor's Academy of the PRSA. New Orleans, Ritz-Carlton.

A webinar for the Mind Your Own Business Conference, co-sponsored by David C. Baker and HOW magazine.

For Paramore University, this talk is for CEO with larger in-house departments struggling with how they fit into the picture. See a video of the talk here.

A webinar for the Mind Your Own Business Conference, co-sponsored by David C. Baker and HOW magazine.

At the FIT in New York City, a guest speaker for design guru Jennifer Rittner.

This is our largest yearly seminar, held in Nashville, TN at the Frist Center for the Arts. All new breakouts, networking opportunities, and new price with special offer for additional staff from your firm. Join 100 other firms in this annual tradition of starting the year off right with your positioning, marketing, and selling.

This presentation/moderation will be done for the Soddy Daisy Roundable, an open-book group that meets twice per year to learn from each other. This will be held at the MarkeTeam, Inc. headquarters in Mission Viejo, CA.

This presentation, from 9:00a-5:00p, is being made to an APDF (Association of Professional Design Firms) Exchange gathering at the La Valencia Hotel in La Jolla, CA.

This presentation will be made at New York City's School of Visual Arts, from 6:00-8:45p.

We're offering a reformatted one-day intensive seminar on research and insights on Monday, November 7, in Nashville. Learn how to do it, how to craft recommendations, how to deliver them effectively, and how to build it all into your positioning. The price has changed, along with special rates for additional attendees. Download the PDF flyer for complete information and registration form.

This presentation will be made for RGD Ontario yearly conference in Toronto, over an entire day (similar to the seminar on which it is based).

This presentation will be made for RGD Ontario yearly conference in Toronto, from 11:15a-12:00p. It will be followed by a networking session and then a book signing of my second (of three) books.

This presentation, made for the Dallas Chapter of AIGA, will be held at the Clampitt Creative Center, from 7:00-8:30p.

This presentation, sponsored by Paramore University, will occur from 8:30-11:00a at The Frist Center for the Arts.

This affinity presentation will be made at Pivot: The AIGA Design Conference, in Phoenix, AZ, from 1:30-3:15p.

With one-third of the content new this year, this one-day ReCourses seminar was developed especially for principals, operations managers, and controllers in marketing firms (advertising, design, interactive, and public relations), and it is crafted to cover everything about the numbers side of running a firm well (leading software firms have licensed our IP on this subject).