We talk a lot about women’s initiatives on our blog, and have given many nods to our workshops. We introduced the concept and drive behind the workshops, and showed you some of the creative projects here. This past week, as we were making the commute to Columbus to facilitate workshops for two very different clients, it dawned on me that we had never shown the real Gild Collective workshop experience here. Admittedly, Kelsey and I are often too busy preparing and facilitating the experiences to pause, reflect, and photograph our surroundings, but this week we tried to do just that.
A newly created Morse Code Necklace and accompanying workshop note page from a client in Columbus, Ohio on Thursday.
A Week in the Life: The Gild Collective Workshop Experience
The Logistics:
This week was a busy one. We had three workshops, one on Tuesday morning here in Cincinnati, and two on Thursday (one morning, one afternoon) in Columbus. Most of our workshops pull from our six listed curriculum topics, but a Gild Collective workshop experience is always completely customized. Our client base is extremely diverse, and no two workshops are ever exactly the same. We are also always open to changing our proposed outlines if the client we are working with needs to adjust anything on their end or there is a significant shift in headcount, which can affect certain workshop activities.
For these reasons and many others, weeks where we are stacked with workshop facilitation often involve last minute supply count tweaks, adjustments to curriculum, and re-practicing said curriculums to ensure we are completely ready for our events. This week was no different, except it included some travel time, too.
The Workshops:
I mentioned above that this week we facilitated workshops for two different clients. Looking back on the week, I love that the two clients were so diverse in nature, because it shows the breadth of our offering. Both are clients that we have worked with before and will continue to work with in the future, and although they are very different from one another, the Gild Collective workshop experience is fulfilling and engaging for both groups.
Our average workshop length is two hours, and all three that we facilitated this week fit into that standard, with two being 2.5 hours in length and one being 1.5 hours. All consisted of customized content that was tailored to engage the specific groups that we were working with, as does each Gild Collective workshop experience, regardless of the client.
Client One: On Tuesday and Thursday we held workshops with two branches of a mid-size CPA firm that has offices across Ohio and Northern Kentucky. They are an exciting group of women to work with, as their women’s initiative is currently in the development and launching phase. We love to work with the organizers within this organization to brainstorm, develop content, and measure engagement. The women are excited for what’s to come, but entered the workshops somewhat skeptical to open up. We don’t mind this skepticism, however, because it makes the end result all the more satisfying.
For their inaugural event, this client chose our Leadership Development workshop.
Client Two: Our second client on Thursday was not a workplace at all, but rather, a professional organization called Women in Digital. This organization is best described in their own words through their pledge, which reads:
“As a member of Women in Digital, I acknowledge that there is far more work to be done to achieve true equality in the digital advertising, marketing and communications industry. And that while my particular employer may embrace gender equality and diversity; other women are still battling against internal forces which prohibit them from achieving their personal and professional goals.
I pledge to support my fellow members in any way I am able and to believe in myself, never forgetting my own strength. I also understand that even the smallest steps will have a significant impact on our collective goals.”
This group was different from the first for several reasons, not least of which being outside of a traditional workplace. We love the opportunity to work with professional membership organizations because women come prepared to engage, which means that we can dig deep right away and make a big impact.
For their Columbus Quarterly Event, Women in Digital chose a Fostering Mentorships and Relationships Workshop paired with the creation of our Morse Code Necklace.
I hope you enjoyed this weekly recap, especially being spared some of the less-than-beautiful “behind the scenes” moments (which include very worn sweatpants and scarfing Chipotle between events.)
As always, if you are interested in learning more about the Gild Collective workshop experience or have general questions about what we do, don’t hesitate to ask!