If you’ve been following us on social media, you may have noticed our work week looked a bit different last week.
We got away from our desks and laptops, put those OOO notifications on, and got together in Memphis for a week of connecting and collaborating in person.
As a fully remote-optional company, our team spans far and wide. We’ve got our core offices in Memphis and Nashville, but we also have team members in Arizona and Oklahoma and Florida, Italy and Brazil and tons of stops in between.
Despite doing the majority of our communicating on Slack and Zoom, we're a team that deeply values our time together, so when our annual Speak Week comes around, we make the most of it. We spent the week focusing on turning regular-Zoom-call friendships into the real deal and honing in on how to be the best partners we can be for our clients in 2023.
If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to work at Speak, here’s a glimpse into what most of us would call our favorite work week of the year.
Adventure Awaits
This year’s Speak Week theme was Adventure Awaits. We donned our adventure gear—bandanas and compasses and water bottles and field notes journals… oh, and Sharpie Gel Pens because they’re our VP of Marketing and Sales’ absolute favorites, and because even rugged adventurers deserve a good ink flow and comfortable grip—and we were ready to embark.
On day one, Jacob, our CEO, took us through what adventure means for us as we chart our path this year. We set our focus for the week, and for 2023 as a whole, on deepening our partnerships with our clients.
We talked in teams about ways we can bring even greater value to our partnerships. We set our sights on creating new paths for client communication and organizing our teams so that each client, whether they’re working on a website design project, have an audience growth retainer, or even just tapped us for a few quick turn needs, receives well-rounded digital marketing expertise.
And don't worry, we made sure to take plenty of pup breaks, too. Hi, Maple!
Part of deepening our partnerships also means getting to know the people and organizations we work with – their missions, their goals, and their needs – more closely. The best way to re-engage that effort? Getting out there and spending time with our local clients!
We got to chat with the marketing team at the Memphis Zoo, a long-time partner of Speak, about what they value and look for in a great partnership. The Zoo team is doing incredible work to share the stories of the animals in their care and drive deeper patron loyalty through exciting events and campaigns.
… and of course it wouldn’t be a trip to the Zoo without paying some of our favorite friends a visit!
Next, we headed to the National Civil Rights Museum, a pillar of Memphis and a beloved partner of ours. The incredible team at NCRM led us through a tour of the museum, and, well, if it isn’t already on your bucket list to visit the museum, it absolutely should be.
After our tour, we sat down with the marketing team at NCRM to hear more about their efforts for 2023 to ensure their vital mission reaches as many folks as possible.
Next we headed to Wiseacre Brewery, whose website we had an absolute blast designing in 2021. It was an uncharacteristically warm day for January, so we got to sit outside, have a beer, and be together as a team.
We ended our day of Memphis adventures celebrating a Grizzlies win. The Grizz aren’t a partner yet, but Grizzlies' Marketing Team, if you see this… hit us up. 😉
On the final day of Speak Week, we crowned our 2023 Team Choice Award Winner, Burchie Ellinger, who was voted by the rest of the team for the way she exhibits our core values. As a brand strategist, Burchie truly goes above and beyond for the partners she works with.
And this year, we decided one award simply wasn’t enough. In The Office “Dundies” fashion, we transformed our HQ conference room into a Chilli’s, and Business Development Strategist Adam Duncan announced the winners of the first annual Speakies.
A round of applause for a few of the winners:
Designer Corinne Diesley took home the "Fine Work" Award
Accountant BJ Maxwell received the "Best Over 30" Award
And VP of Creative Services Matt Ervin won the "Busy Bee" Award
Clearly, we got up to a lot this past week. As we all return to our regularly scheduled programming and our respective offices or WFH set-ups this week, we're feeling a renewed excitement about continually finding new ways to be the best possible partners for our clients this year.
We'd love to hear from you!
Whether you're in need of a new website or website redesign, a full-service digital marketing partner, or have a campaign or specific project in mind, our team would love to become an extension of your team to help you get your mission and message out there and accomplish even more in 2023.
Let's Chat.