Director of Online Events & Creative Recruitment
In 2020 the world was upside down, and Workbook had to figure out how to keep our commercial artists connected to the industry. No one was going to be physically in the same space for some time - time to pivot.
Workbook had traditionally produced in-person portfolio events (“ScreenTime”) with industry creatives looking to connect to commercial artists relevant to their work for years.
By August 2020, our clients were anxious for connection, and I was brought on by my colleague, Heidi Goverman to adapt our in-person events to an online format that was scaleable and seamless while retaining the spirit that made these events special for all involved.
2024: The Results….
I produced 19 online events between 2020-2024 for Workbook clients to meet creatives in their industry; almost 3,500 meetings over 4 years of ScreenTime.
I established project schedules, workflows expectations, identified responsibilities, installed quality control measures, provided independent record keeping for accountability and scaleability for a lean team resulting in minimal errors during events for our clients.
I managed the successful execution of each event, which averaged 200-250 meetings over an 8 hour period via breakout rooms. I managed the durations of all breakout rooms, ensured all participants were present, troubleshooted tech problems, and kept the schedule tight and disciplined - this allowed our clients to focus on their work and the creatives to trust that we were creating an easy event that was respectful to their time commitments.
Identified profit center potential: Surveyed our clients, developed waitlists, took in data and feedback to recommend an entirely pay-to-play event for clients (beyond their typical subscription which included 1 annual event as a line item). I’m not a sales person, but managed to bring in approximately $30,000 in profit over 4 years by identifying how we could smartly scale up participation for this exciting product while keeping additional costs minimal.
Directly responsible for the successful outreach and attendance with 100s of Creative Directors, Art Directors, Integrated buyers, art producers and more that I found to attend these events. In tune with agency structures and aware of new titles and roles, I and met with as many creatives as possible prior to each event. I would identify the goals and expectations of the event, share additional free services Workbook provides to support their work, and essentially function as a direct influencer for Workbook’s offerings for their side of the industry.
Honest Moment: It took until early 2023 for me to realize that for each event, I was expecting that anywhere 60-80 individual people were going to read my emails correctly, know their time zone, and sign onto an 8 hour event in a timely way. Despite this knowledge, so many participants always rose to the occasion - I’ll alway be grateful for every person that paid such great attention to all the detailed information correctly!
More Info Below!!
FAQs
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Customer service for our clients was at the forefront as I kept detailed records regarding event region preferences for each client, number of meetings owed, and managing/ troubleshooting any complaints. Whether asking for one-off meetings with extra creatives or rolling make-goods into a future event - it was always important to have options within the infrastructure to ensure clients were happy.
I had close knowledge of each artists’s expertise/categories, and ensured we’d have enough creatives to match their categories (egs. Have enough creatives with food accounts so that food and tabletop shooters had enough options). I also identified new clients, making sure that they were prepped and ready for this event - In terms of settings, presenting and thinking about how to put their best foot forward. We held practice sessions and always made ourselves available to ensure our clients would be good that day - and ready to focus on the art!
I was also a safe space for feedback: good and not so good - I was always ready to hear my clients’ concerns and find ways to improve their experience or guarantee make goods during future events. Interfacing with creatives directly meant we could advise our clients to focus on personality, personal work and ideas that would connect organically : functioning as a creative middle man to help both sides!
Helping on the Client side…
The Day of Each Event….
After about 10 days of reconciling meeting preferences, scheduling 200+ meetings over 8 hours, providing each of the 40+ photographers with THEIR schedules, emailing creatives links and list of meetings, the day of the event happens.
We worked with a team of 3 - a host to greet people, an assistant to locate photographers if they hadn’t yet signed on, and ME 😀!
I managed all the breakout rooms, tech problems, timing of the day, messaging during meetings, logged all problems that would need to get fixed in the future and managed the post-mortems that we would have after every event in order to never stop improving this viable and dynamic product.
Please do not hesitate to reach out if you have questions…
This role nudged me out of my comfort zone in many good ways and I’m so proud of the product my that was developed with my team!
This title isn’t universally understood, so I have done my best to communicate here how I took something half formed and turned it into something so much bigger for our artists and creatives still looking to connect with vendors in a world where our time and is more precious than ever.
Please do not hesitate to reach out if you’d like to discuss any aspect of my role and how I can help you!
How Did You Find Creatives..
My outreach was based entirely around my network on Linkedin, and eventually around the great fortune of referrals from people who already participated . Creatives generally appreciated how I managed events and were sensitive to their time. I emailed strategically, wrote with familiarty and undestanding, posted memes on Linkedin, and relied on my network for a full slate of amazing reviewers at each event.
During my email campaigns and LinkedIn posting, I made it clear that I was not a robot 🤖! Creatives were then understandably open to joining - this was an event for people that still want to stay involved while not giving up an entire 1/2 weekend - leveraging the advantages of Zoom and still maintaining the intimacy to foster a real connection - that was key to my approach.
Onboarding Creatives ….
I managed the intake and quality control of every creative recruited to make sure they were prepped for what we expected regarding the day. I spoke to them about hiring, ensured thatwe had accurate info on accounts and interests, provided confidentiality when it came to information not meant for public consumption (RE; trends, challenges, etc.). I managed financial information with the goal of getting accounts payable to provide their honorarium on time, and acted as an advocate/intermediary to ensure that fiscal promise was fulfilled.
Creative professionals filled out a short googleform survey which minimized confusion and gave us extremely accurate information about what they needed to see. We were then able to share with photographers so they could make useful choices for their expertise!
After that, truly all they needed to do was long on to the event to meet some amazing artists suited to their categories!