Community Matters
By: Carl Smith
Tags: Entrepreneurship, Conference, Web Design, Digital Marketing, Digital Marketing Agency

As the world changes, there is one constant. We are better together than we are alone. When we connect to share our experiences, our successes, and our failures, we go further and faster than we ever could on our own. This is especially true if you run a digital agency.

As agency owners we’ve done a good job of laying the groundwork for how we build products, but we haven’t focused on how we build our industry. We have a great opportunity to show the world how a diverse spectrum of digital professionals can work together to make things better for all of us. The next step in making this happen is getting together at Owner Summit 2017, February 20–22 in San Diego.

If you aren’t familiar with Owner Summit, it’s much more than an event. It’s a gathering. An opportunity to improve your company and help others improve theirs. And not just for a few days, but for as long as you choose to be a part of the community. It’s truly an opportunity to evolve your business and get peace of mind that you aren’t alone.

Owner Summit Video

The State of the Industry

After a year like 2016, having a community to support you is a very welcome change. With over 900 shops in the Bureau community, we’ve heard hundreds of stories about the volatility that was experienced. From pipelines drying up to some shops having their best year ever. From hiring sprees to a fear of layoffs. Make no mistake, there are trends among the shops that struggled and those that succeeded. What’s your billing methodology? Are you located or distributed? How do you manage projects?

Sharing the findings from our State of the Industry report will help you to understand real changes you can make to impact your business in 2017. It will also answer the question: is it just us or is everyone experiencing this?

Topics Discussed

Nearly 100 owners have secured their spot and voted on their preferred topics for discussion. Currently, these are the areas of focus in priority order:

Business Development Leadership Strategies Process Leadership Team Structures Pricing Models Success Metrics Marketing Scoping and Estimating Culture Communication

Other topics that are vying for a top spot, but will definitely be discussed are:

Tools and Resources

Agency Collaboration

Avoiding Burnout

Alternate Revenue Sources

Staffing

When you decide to join us, you’ll get to cast your vote for the topics that matter the most to you.

Leveraging Our Collective Knowledge

Because Owner Summit is a vibrant mix of smart and experienced people, we want to leverage all of the brain power we can. With that in mind, the programming is organized to have thought leaders share concepts on best practices and proven techniques. Then, we’ll dig into those same topics and others in open discussions where we all share thoughts, experiences and ideas. There is also time for scheduled one-on-one conversations with subject matter experts in finance, process, leadership and legal.

Connections

When you get 150 digital agency owners together, you find smaller groups that share a special connection. Maybe it’s the number of people in your shop, or the way you run projects or where you live? During lunches and other social activities you’ll find yourself with new faces that share something in common with you. Are we going to tell you what it is, or leave it for you to figure out? You’ll have to wait and see.

Building The Future Together

Diversity isn’t just a nice thing to have or talk about. It’s even more than a competitive advantage. It’s a competitive requirement. In the years ahead, the talent we need to run our shops will choose to work at companies that have a broad spectrum of people. Collectively we can make that happen.

We’ll be donating $100 from your ticket to Girl Develop It, a nonprofit that provides affordable and judgment-free classes for women to learn development. Then we’ll connect them with shops in the Bureau community to help get their new careers underway.

But that’s only part of the effort. We will also be welcoming shops owned by those that are underrepresented in the Bureau community. And we’ll do that by offering tickets to owners that might not otherwise attend. Much like our world, outreach to others is a critical part of building a healthy community. And with your help, we will connect the dots that make all of us stronger.

Long After You Head Home

The true value of Owner Summit is the connections you make. And in 2017, the Bureau will be launching a new community site that keeps us all connected. Evolving from our current Slack channels, the new community site will offer:

Agency Collaboration Support

Agency Directory

Agency Resource Sharing Support

Discussion Channels

Education Opportunities (webinars)

Job Board

Knowledge Base

Local Meet-up Support

Mentoring Support

Primary Research Access

Resource/Tools Directory

As part of your ticket to Owner Summit 2017, you’ll have access to the discussion channels for owners and an opportunity for full membership for either yourself or your entire company. The cost for full membership will be $30/month for an individual or $300/month for a company. More details on membership in the Bureau community will be shared in the months ahead.

Who’s Attending

To see the other shops you’ll be connecting and sharing with, please check out the Owner Summit 2017 website . You can scroll down to see the logos of the attending shops. Trust us, you’re in great company.

Logistics

Owner Summit 2017 will take place from February 20–22 in San Diego at the beautiful Paradise Point Resort. It’s 44-acres of island magic with a mile of sandy white beaches. One of the things we’re most excited about is having some of the sessions outside in the warm sunshine and fresh air!

Tickets are $1,450 and include admission to the event, opening reception, breakfast and lunch on both full days. You’ll also enjoy an opening night social event and a karaoke jam session to close out our time together. While you’ll be responsible for your own dinners, we will have light appetizers at the social events.

We have negotiated a Lanai Garden room for you. The group rate is $174/night plus taxes. When you buy your ticket for Owner Summit 2017 you’ll get a link via email to reserve your hotel room. You’ll be responsible for the cost of your accommodations.

Questions

If you have any questions at all, please reach out to us directly at help@bureauofdigital.com. We’d love to have your voice included as we work together to create the best industry on the planet.