Companies are looking to cut costs these days. So it's easy to understand why some might look at sending employees to conferences as a frivolous expense. But that would be trading long term gains for short term dollar savings.
In truth, the knowledge and inspiration your employees bring back to your company is immeasurable. Plus, it says something to your clients when you send the people working on their business to learn new things that can ultimately bring fresh thinking and new ideas to the table. Future Midwest is one of those conferences.
Last year's Future Midwest was a tipping point for our company. We had long been making the transition from traditional marketing firm to one that truly understands and embraces digital and social marketing. But, I think last year's conference worked as a catalyst to us becoming what we are today and what we will be tomorrow.
I convinced our Executive Vice President, Michael Morin, to attend the 2010 edition with me. I came away with a ton of new knowledge and inspiration. But the real value was how much Michael came away with. He walked out of there with true excitement, saying we should have brought everybody with us. We even met one of the speakers, Ben Smithee, who gladly gave us some insights on a piece of business we were pitching. It propelled great changes in our agency over the past year. We now have a social media team. Our Yaffe Direct division is revamping to focus on digital and mobile. Things are happening around here.
Future Midwest is April 28 & 29 this year. It takes place in downtown Detroit, a short drive from our Detroit office. We have a huge contingent of Yaffe folks going this year. And not only that, we've invited many of our clients to attend with us. Because clients who understand this stuff make better partners and together you can accomplish so much more. Even if they can't go, they now know about it and will be eager to hear what we've learned and how it can help their business.
So, if you can make it, I highly recommend attending Future Midwest. If you can't, keep an eye open for what's happening near you. Is the 140 conference coming your way? Or TEDx? Or some more localized seminar? Find one you can go to. Learn. Be inspired. Create magic for your business and for your clients.
Make it happen. You'll be glad you did.
Mike McClure. Always eager to learn more.
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This is a fantastic testimonial! On behalf of the entire FutureMidwest team, thank you for sharing your experience.
Thank you for this Mike. You’ve shared this story with me before, and it is rewarding to hear we provided a level of value at last year’s conference. This is why we do this.
Nikki & Dave:
You’re welcome. And thank you for your part in bringing this incredible conference to Detroit. I truly believe it provides great value to the city and to those who attend. Looking forward to this year’s event (my third one)
Mike