This fall, each DeanHouston+ team congregated for a series of Core Competency Summits at the company’s new headquarters in Covington, KY, just across the river from downtown Cincinnati. The professional development gatherings were broken into two-day group sessions focused on training, education and team building – and a lot of fun too!
The Client Success team kicked off the first summit from September 7-8. The Media and Demand Generation teams held their summits together on September 27-28, followed by the Creative and Digital teams in split sessions the week of October 3. Finally, the Content team concluded the series on October 25-26. Here are some highlights.
September 7-8: Client Success Team
This group of dedicated, multitasking account managers and project managers arrived in Covington for two days of inspiring meetings and development exercises focused on client onboarding, reviews, reporting and value pricing. Fun highlights included a keynote presentation by Todd Sebastian, author of Tell Your Clients Where to Go and a visit to Exhibit Logistics where they constructed tradeshow booths as a team-building exercise.
“The Client Success Summit was a great success. Being able to collaborate with the full department and connect personally with everyone was a fantastic experience. We heard from an exceptional keynote speaker, discussed new ideas and shared a ton of laughs. Ultimately, it was a successful learning experience, and we took away plenty of new ideas that will help us better serve our teammates and our wonderful clients!” – Hailey Radakovitz, marketing manager
September 27-28: Media and Demand Generation Teams
The Media and Demand Generation teams comprised the first of two multi-team sessions. These groups enjoyed a collaborative two days in Covington filled with engaging presentations, brainstorming sessions and immersive exercises focusing on best practices in data collection and storytelling, in-process proactivity, digital advertising and more.
“It was a great week of learning how to sharpen our skills as well as hanging out with the team. Being spread out across multiple offices, it’s nice to see my teammates in person rather than just over a video chat. I felt that the brainstorming sessions during the week are only going to elevate the demand generation and media teams moving into 2023.” – Andrew Ellingson, marketing operations specialist
October 5-6: Creative and Digital Teams
DeanHouston+’s talented graphic designers, artists and multimedia experts met Oct 5-6. Their sessions were highlighted by several breakouts and workshops for creative brainstorming, concepting, technique and group leadership. The creative team also took a visit to the famous American Sign Museum in Cincinnati, plus dinner and drinks and a chance to unwind with coworkers.
“The Creative Summit this fall was fantastic! Between meeting the creative crew in person, the folks at the new Covington office and the awesome activities and demos, there was no way you weren’t walking away with a little nugget of gold. I left the summit feeling not only refreshed but energized and ready to create. I am very much looking forward to our next one!” – Molly Errek, graphic designer
The digital team was on site at the same time, enjoying presentations and workshops for UI design and file structure among others. They also participated in a second presentation by author Todd Sebastian (who also spoke during the Client Success summit) and had a blast during their team-building event at Zero Latency, a free-roaming virtual reality gaming experience in Cincinnati.
“The Web Team Summit was energizing, thought-provoking and even involved some virtual reality. It’s always great to get together with the developers from Chicago and brainstorm new ideas about solving our clients’ technical problems. Out of all the things we learned, my favorite was learning that Jim Molloy, our VP of digital development, is an absolute animal at the virtual reality games at Zero Latency.” – Brendan Slack, lead web developer
October 25-26: Content Team
The writers at DeanHouston+ rounded out the 2022 Core Competency Summits at the end of October. The seasoned scribes partook in fun team-building activities that included a version of Family Feud, Hocus Pocus trivia and team dinners, and enjoyed many meetings on the agenda, including artificial intelligence trends, good vs. bad content, creative workflows and brand messaging.
“Meeting everyone on the content team and the extended DH+ family was an awesome experience. Throughout the various activities, presentations and discussions, I learned exactly what separates good content from bad content. For me, the biggest takeaway was reaffirming my belief that content is more than just finding the right words and putting them together. Content is about telling a story the way it deserves to be told – with purpose, emotion and creativity.” – Alex Virula, content marketing writer
The 2022 DeanHouston+ Core Competency Summits was an informative, collaborative and beneficial series that brought members of each team together for learning, growth and discovering new ways to produce great work and better serve clients’ needs.
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