April Meeting: Putting Research into Action

The April meeting of RCC was held at the Church of Scientology on 8th Avenue South. We had a lunch and learn with two guest presenters: Sheila King & Magda Vaughn. Sheila is CEO & Founder of King Research Solutions LLC, and Magda is the Senior Research Manager at MaritzCX. They gave a fabulous presentation on the best practices for fully utilizing research and how it impacts planning and future projects. 

Due to the interest in their presentation, they have made their PowerPoint available at this link for anyone interested in reviewing the information. 

 

Thank you to the Church of Scientology for being wonderful hosts, and to Sheila and Magda for taking the time to share this valuable information with us! 

March Meeting: The Great Reset

The March meeting of RCC was held at the United Methodist Communications building on 12th Avenue South. We had a lunch and learn with Kalinda Fisher who has created a series of community round tables around sometimes difficult conversations which she has dubbed "The Great Reset." 

The Great Reset centers on monthly conversations. At these meetings, participants discuss a topic of interest, covering a variety areas -- some controversial.

Kalinda says her goal is to create groups like this throughout the community to teach people how to talk, even disagree and still walk away -- friends. And she has succeeded. The Great Reset is now in California, Wisconsin, Illinois, New York, Tennessee and Ohio.

Kalinda is always welcoming new participants in the Great Reset, and encourages people to start up their own conversations, which she will help to get rolling. To find out how to be involved, contact Kalinda: 

Kalinda Fisher ~ kalinda14@icloud.com
Follow The Great Reset on Twitter & Facebook!

February Meeting: How to Lead When No One Listens

The February meeting of RCC was held at the General Council on Finance & Administration for the

United Methodist Church on Music Row. We had a lunch and learn with Reah Aitkin, the Regional Development Director of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital on how to engage volunteers and get participation ...in other words, how to lead when no one listens.

Reah gave a friendly, open discussion on the topic of engaging volunteers. She included tips about the right kind of swag to incentivize, as well as tips on recruitment, and various levels of volunteers (from your one time volunteer to your brand ambassadors and committee members).  

It was a fabulous discussion and all attendees learned so much! A big thank you to Reah for sharing with us, and thank you as well to our wonderful hosts, GCFA! 

To view archives of past meetings, visit the RCC Nashville blog.

Our next RCC meeting is March 5, 2019 from 11:30 - 1:00 with guest presenter Tim Earnhart of Werkshop Branding.

January Meeting: What Makes an Idea Stick

The January meeting of RCC was held at the United Methodist Communications building on 12th Avenue South. We had a lunch and learn with Laura Buchanan, Senior Creative Content Specialist at United Methodist Communications. Her passion for writing, strategic messaging and connecting with audiences comes from a 12-year career in nonprofit fundraising and faith-based communications. 

Her topic on “What makes an idea memorable?” comes from the book, “Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die.”

Buchanan’s presentation covered six basic ways to make content relevant and interesting: 1) keep it simple and easy to understand, 2) drop in something unexpected to grab attention, 3) make it concrete so they remember, 4) ensure the information is credible, 5) create an emotional connection with the content, and 6) tell a story. 

It was a fabulous discussion and all attendees learned so much! A big thank you to Ms. Buchanan for sharing with us, and thank you as well to our wonderful hosts, UM Com! 

December Meeting: Strategic Marketing

The December meeting of RCC was held at the United Methodist Communications building on 12th Avenue South. We had a lunch and learn with Lori Whitbey, Senior Marketing Specialist for Schneider Electric, who shared 5 ways to make strategic marketing easier. 

The 5 Ways to Make Strategic Marketing Easier: 1) Think, 2) Where do you want to be? 3) Best route to get to the destination, 4) Implement, and 5) Think More. 

She shared a graphic with the concept of Learn-Feel-Do as a way to enlighten, educate and bring awareness to your target audience through conversion. In other words, first bring awareness about your product, service or brand, then educate them on why they would want your product, and finally convert this to actual sales. 

It was a fabulous discussion and all attendees learned so much! A big thank you to Ms. Whitbey for sharing her expertise with us, and thank you as well to our wonderful hosts, UM Com! 

November Meeting: The Importance of Video

The November meeting of RCC was held at the Muslim American Cultural Center in North Nashville. We had a lunch and learn with Judith Black of Upshot Media, who shared the importance of video in communicating your message.

She shared key tips to ensure your message gets across including her main message: have GREAT audio. She said that if the video quality is perfect and the audio is bad, it will look amateur, but if the audio is perfect and the video quality is bad, it will be seen as artistic. The most important point of video is to have excellent audio and your message will land with your audience.

Another key tip she shared was that you want to get your audience to relate emotionally with your message. Your video should have an emotional impact, taking your audience from "So?" to "Oh!" as she put it.

Judith said that those companies using video to market their services or products are growing 49% faster than companies that aren't using video. We live in an audio visual world, and need to produce videos to reach people, especially videos that are 2-3 minutes long at most, since people expect videos to be fast.

Judith is happy to connect with any communicators who want to engage further, and shared her contact info:

Judith Black
Producer/Partner
UPSHOT MEDIA
310-721-0017
www.GetTheUpshot.com
Judith@GetTheUpshot.com

October Meeting: Storytelling in Digital Media

The October meeting of RCC was held at the Tennessee Conference of the United Methodist Church in South Nashville. We had a lunch and learn with Sophia Agtarap, Director of Communications for Vanderbilt Divinity School. 

Sophia shared how to get your message across to the vastly different audiences we are trying to communicate to in today's fast-paced digital world. She also discussed her position with Vanderbilt Divinity School, including sharing a PowerPointon this which included a 4x4 model for knowledge content. This was an excellent visual to see how an idea can spread, be discussed and grow.  

Sophia is happy to connect with any communicators who want to engage further, and shared her contact info: 

sophia.agtarap@vanderbilt.edu
615.322.2442 [office]