Employer brand
Compelling conferences
Creative direction, event design, brand experience design, theme development, facilitation
Once every year, all 150 people from Phase2’s distributed company get together in person for a company conference. P2Con is always an important moment to connect, set the course for the coming year, be inspired, and learn from one another. Each year was defined by a guiding theme — and a thoughtful employer brand experience to bring it to life.
Digital Experience that Advances the Human Experience. In 2020, amidst a world no one recognized, P2Con like everything else, became a virtual experience. Our theme for the year was simply our vision as we learned together how to create a digital experience to advance this deeply human experience. Through engaging all our senses, a progressive unboxing of meaningful items, and our employees sharing their talents, we experienced a truly meaningful time together, even while we were apart.
See me present about designing a successful virtual event at the 2021 Control the Room Conference “7 hours of zoom — in a good way!”
Being Here. A P2Con 2019, we took the time together in Park City, Utah to reflect on who we are being. As we settled into the momentum that comes with long term growth, we needed to lean into what will sustain us throughout this journey. Who do we need to be and what do we need to do in order to continue to grow together towards something truly great? Simply put - we needed to focus on Being Here.
Expand Your Experience. In 2018, Phase2 focused on growth and expanding into new capabilities and markets. In order to be able to grow our skills, our portfolio, our brand, our place in the market, and how we think, the team needed to step outside of their comfort zone and build on their incredible base of knowledge and expertise. Leadership recognized that the company was going to have to face the discomfort that comes with this change head-on and turn trepidation into enthusiasm. The theme captured both opportunities of the business and the location of the event, New Orleans.
Own Your Impact. Phase2 gathered in Portland, Oregon at a time when the company was recognizing the impact of its work on clients’ organizations and the world at large. Explore what the collective impact is and how that could be harnessed and leveraged - for individual benefit, for the benefit of the organization, for the benefit of clients, and all of the lives those organizations touch. This theme reminded the team that their work can make a difference, long after the project deadlines have come and gone.
Result: goes here.
Engaging the creative community at Design Portland
Creative direction, event design, brand experience design, theme development
Attracting talent in areas where an organization is looking to grow its capabilities can be challenging. As Phase2 looked to expand its creative capabilities, we looked to our local Portland Design Week event to actively engage the candidate market.
In 2018
2019
2020 - Long distance design 70 participants
Result: Event attendees grew every year, starting with 30 and reaching nearly 100 in 2020 including a total of
Inclusive, effective internship program - BuilDesign
Program design, recruiting, branding, marketing and promotion, career development planning
An agency needs all levels of seniority to appropriately staff projects, but finding a place for junior talent remained a hurdle as the necessary time for on the job learning and growth stressed fast moving agency work. With my team at Phase2, I developed an internship program called BuilDesign designed to address that very thing - in 14 weeks, the program equipped a multi-disciplinary class of interns to jump into client work, understanding the agency environment and how to create value and contribute their point of view from the start.
I spoke at numerous events and wrote thoroughly about the program and how to replicate this monumentally successful effort. Hear me speak about the program at Drupalcon Baltimore
Focus on diversity, equity, and inclusivity
Formed on the knowledge that diverse perspectives bring the very best and most challenging ideas, my team kept inclusivity, equity, and diversity at the heart of our recruiting and program development.
Our cohorts consisting of 45% women, 42% BIPOC, 18% career changers, and 12% LGBTQIA interns. [CAITLIN, CHECK THESE NUMBERS]
All interns were paid a fair wage to encourage the best talent - not just those who could afford to work without pay.
Mentors were trained to create an environment where all our candidates felt needed and wanted. And we talked to each class to learn how to improve for the next.
My team helped find industry employment for the additional 16 interns who were not a fit for the agency.
Key program components
Candidates focused on design, development, UX, and product management all learned in a cohort together, and they were encouraged to switch focus as they learned more about each.
The program trained and gave experience to aspiring managers at the agency who were paired with interns as mentors for the duration of the program. Mentor bootcamp training prepared them for this task.
Interns were hired as full time employees based primarily on their collaboration, ability to learn, communication skills, and agency polish and understanding - specific subject matter expertise was important, but secondary.
Result: Over three years of cohorts, the agency hired 18 thriving, diverse, and highly capable employees with an average tenure of over four years. Hires were 60% women and 40% BIPOC.
Employee welcome experience
Creative concepting, design prototype, creative oversight
New employees with great onboarding experience are 18 times more committed to their employer. For the Phase2 employer brand, that started with the welcome experience. From thoughtful welcome gifts designed to get new hires quickly read in on company lore and culture to welcome graphics to introduce new hires to existing staff, the employer brand experience created love and loyalty for the company and helped new employees feel more like coming home than starting a new job.
Result: The employee welcome experience contributed to tenure and loyalty well beyond industry competitors.
