Event Management & Leadership

I like thinking through someone’s experience of a thing. This can apply to any and every aspect of a company’s brand, but getting to play with the physical spaces and touchpoints for people is something else.

My career took a turn from private sector, corporate marketing to a position at a church with a congregation of over 4,000 spread across multiple campuses. This organization had recently weathered a devastating change in leadership and I was tasked with directing weekly worship service experiences, which included developing volunteer teams, coordinating content across teams and locations, and shaping communications.

With a planning software rollout and intentional efforts in email marketing, volunteer teams were filled out and engaged. I also created synergies (ugh) across different ministry groups that hadn’t previously existed. And I got to “set the stage” so to speak for people to gather and do a thing.

I realized before too long that church world wasn’t where I’d stay for long, but the event leadership experience would pay off.

A real estate development platform wanted to create an annual event to bring clients, investors, and industry leaders together to learn and rub elbows. After several tries we realized the real value of this event was in more of a community-based focus.

The third annual iteration saw a standing-room-only ballroom, panels featuring well-known leaders and city officials, and a guest appearance by former college football legend Urban Meyer. Crafting the visuals, the room setup, the flow of the program — it all came together in a way that left everybody wanting more.