Editor’s Note: This is a guest post by Joe Olsen, CEO and director of strategy and innovation at Phenomblue, an interactive brand experience agency.
With Omaha Creative Week just around the corner (Sept. 5-11), we’ve invited Olsen to author a guest post about Stack, an unconference he’ll be heading up for the second year.
With Stack taking place the same week as another un-conference, BarCamp Omaha, Olsen makes sure to clarify the difference between the two as well as describe the audience that he had in mind when creating Stack.
Joe can be reached at jolsen@phenomblue.com or found on Twitter, @joeolsen.
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– Danny Schreiber, Managing Editor
Brian Wetjen of Bozell participates in an afternoon session at Stack 2010. Photo by Danny Schreiber.
If you’re a marketing or advertising professional in Omaha, Lincoln or the surrounding region, you should be at Stack 2011.
What is Stack?
Stack is an un-conference for creative professionals where we collectively share best practices, industry insights, and trend analysis to help each other build our businesses. This is an event for learning, sharing and most importantly, connecting.
Who should attend?
If you are in a leadership or decision maker position in a marketing or advertising capacity, you should be at Stack. This includes roles like CEO, CMO, COO, President, Partner, Creative Director, Art Director, Technology Director, Production Director and any other interpretation of these types.
Why Stack?
In a city known as much traditionally for its cutting edge advertising as it is known for its wonderful ski resorts, we need to work extra hard to create the thriving community that can support the growth of our businesses. Stack provides an annual opportunity to link arms and become closer as a functioning industry unit. Ultimately, Stack is a forum to openly connect through issues surrounding our industry and businesses, so we feel connected enough to push each other to be better, something paramount for creating an ecosystem that supports the kind of growth all of us want to see.
Why shoud you go?
Stack is an incredible opportunity to ask all the hardquestions, to others who walk in your shoes daily. Stack is a great tool for talking through insights and trends with other qualified professionals that can be used to help plan for your business and your client objectives. Stack is also a fantastic opportunity to network with the areas leading industry professionals from freelancers, to agency folks, to corporate marketers.
Is Stack like BarCamp?
No. Stack is not “BarCamp.” Other than the fact that the events share a format and a location, they couldn’t be further apart in target audience or content. BarCamp is for everyone as it’s the size and diversity of the audience that makes BarCamp awesome. Stack on the other hand, is specifically targeted at industry professionals within marketing and advertising. Content wise, BarCamp is about connecting with the community at large to share yourpassion, whatever that may be. Stack is about connecting with industry colleagues and sharing trend analysis, industry insights and best practices.
I can provide a couple personal examples:
- Session from BarCamp last year: “I traveled the world and this is what I learned…” This session was very interesting and relevant to a diverse audience. I also listened to Megan Hunt talk about her adventures in entrepreneurship, which was great because she and her business are both awesome.
- Session from Stack last year: “Structuring creative teams to meet changing client needs…” This session was targeted at creative team leaders and creative partners in the freelance community. I also listened to several business leaders share their approaches on client engagement and changing areas of our industry including specific activities like media buying.
Summation
In the end, Stack is a great opportunity to for our small local industry to become even better connected. It’s a sounding board of peers. It’s a small investment of time for a years worth of rewarding connections and insight.
For more on Stack, check out our coverage of the inaugural event: “Omaha Creative Week: Stack un-conference attracts 60 attendees“.
