Sharing What Matters on EM Marketing's First Community Day

As a consultant, do you share the same sentiment as EM Marketing owner, Ken Chen? “I missed working in a place with other smart people and found that the consulting life can be lonely,” he said in a recent blog about how community matters. Consulting can bring fulfilling work opportunities. But if you work from home, you may miss the buzz of an office and connecting with others.

In the spirit of fostering community, EM Marketing held its first Community Day on Friday, September 22 in Redwood City. Armed with coffee and croissants, consultants dug into their work projects and said hello to other friendly faces. Some teams gathered to discuss what’s going on and potential opportunities with clients. Conference calls or Google Hangouts are great, but nothing replaces eye-to-eye contact or shared thoughts and laughter in person!

Consultant Presentations

To feed the curiosity of consultants on what others are working on, EM Marketing invited a couple of outstanding consultants, Mike Zawitkowski of Acorn Analytics, and marketing strategist, Molly Tapias to present.

Mike shared the types of projects his team takes on, including analytics for a new, revolutionary product for moms that we hope to share more about soon. Molly walked through a recent positioning and messaging project for Epic!, a digital library of children’s books and educational videos.

In addition, Ken Chen gave us a look at new clients EM Marketing has brought on in the last year, current projects and new work opportunities.

Who You Are Matters!

Have you stopped for a moment to think about what is really important in your life? (Surely part of the reason you became a consultant is for work/life balance!) Kelly Keers, a learning and career development professional, brought in a unique game called Who You Are Matters! to help us tell our personal stories.

We had to consider and articulate our desires, strengths, personal qualities, natural interests, assets and influences of other people. Ultimately, each person came away with a personalized career statement. For instance, given my natural interest in geography and the world, I committed to exploring the possibility of experiential travel such as taking my family to live in a different part of the world for a summer. (Does anyone else who attended want to share their career statement in the comments below?)

Happiest of Hours

Last but definitely not least, a group of folks capped the day off with conversation and a few drinks at Martins West in downtown Redwood City. Stay tuned for EM Marketing’s next Community Day!