Latest Updates: Spring 2019
Studies show that Springtime is best for strengthening connections, and setting goals; not necessarily completing them. As we leave behind the more temperate weather, we are entering a busy and exciting time of year at the office full of events, conferences, awards, and professional development opportunities; all happenings that we are eager to share with our followers! So please, enjoy reading about what we’ve been up to recently and what's coming around the corner in this round of spring updates!
Awards and Recognition | Community Involvement | Featured Blog Post | Community Involvement | Tools and Technology | Conferences | Professional Development
Awards and Recognition
DesignHammer Named Finalist for 2018 When Work Works Award
DesignHammer took home two Gold Awards in this year’s Hermes Creative Awards, an international competition for creative professionals, judged by the Association of Marketing and Communication Professionals. The winning submissions were for the Referring Physicians website for Duke University Health System and the Highland Composites website for Highland Industries. This was DesignHammer’s second year of competition, with projects winning one platinum, two gold, and two honorable mentions in 2018.
Community Involvement
2019 Full Frame Documentary Festival
Thanks to an awesome website build back in 2016, DesignHammer was recognized as “Contributor Level Sponsors” for the 2019 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival. As a result, we were given a very generous amount of tickets to share with our clients, partners, friends, and families! Here are some reviews from the four DesignHammer staff members who jumped at the opportunity to give up some work time in exchange for free tickets to the featured films, the chance to explore the iconic Durham food scene, and to play amateur film critic for a day or two.
Tools and Technology
Officevibe
There are mixed feelings on anonymous surveys among HR professionals. Some feel it is a way to gather honest employee feedback, while others feel a need for such is indicative of a broken corporate culture. Anonymous feedback has been a goto tool for corporate HR and leadership since the days of paper notes slipped into a suggestion box. Now replaced by fancy digital alternatives, a wide feeling is the system fails leadership if they can’t ask follow up questions in an attempt to act on the suggestions. This, however, is a shortcoming in implementation as much as it is in philosophy. When it came to rolling out an anonymous suggestion process at DesignHammer, we turned to Officevibe, which offered threaded chats between staff and managers while maintaining anonymity. This, however, was only a small part of Officevibe’s feature set, which is to capture the pulse, or vibe of a workplace through a wide range of approximately 125 questions, sent only five at a time per survey period (either once per week, every two weeks, or once per month). Managers can also create custom surveys, with anonymous feedback, on any topics of value to their organization.
Officevibe offers insight in the form of ten alignments, including the general relationship between employee and manager, personal growth, feedback, and happiness. Easy to read scores and graphs allow managers to see changes over time, and quickly asses aggregate employee job satisfaction. Officevibe is free to use, though costs $4 per user/month for cross-team analytics and other enhanced reporting.
Featured Blog Post
DesignHammer’s Favorite Underground Movies
The anticipation leading up to the recent Full Frame Film Festival sparked much chatter around the office about everyone's favorite underground films. They may not be documentaries but this list is well worth the read, and the films are worth the watch! Take a look at the DesignHammer staff's favorite underground film picks, and read why each team member thinks you should give their fringe film a try.
Conferences
Upcoming AENC 2019 Spring Conference
Just a quick reminder to our followers that the 2019 AENC Spring Conference is just days away! This year’s conference, taking place March 2nd-3rd at the lovely Hilton Durham near Duke University, will feature an “intensive boot camp” facilitated by John S Foster, who will educate novices and old pros alike on the newest strategies & techniques used by professional negotiators. You don’t want to miss out the opportunity to network and learn from the many, accomplished professionals who frequent the Association Executives of North Carolina conferences, you can trust us. If you are interested then It's not too late to register, and if you do plan on attending don’t forget to stop by the DesignHammer booth to say hi!
Professional Development
T-REX Annual Summit
A few weeks ago I had an awesome opportunity to attend the T-REX annual summit, a two-day event that featured presentations from sales, marketing, and executive leaders of some of the best tech and B2B organizations in the world. It was hosted at the Carolina Theatre in downtown Durham and proved to be a great learning and great networking opportunity. T-REX (The Revenue Exchange) Media LLC is focused on giving back to the revenue-generating community of sales and marketing leaders by providing platforms (like conferences), for collaboration to empower learning, sharing and networking with like-minded individuals in a social and fun environment. My favorite presentation was by Brad McGinity the CRO of 15Five; an employee engagement and performance management software solution for businesses worldwide. He spoke about the steps his own organization takes to keep employees engaged, satisfied and productive, as well as the importance of managerial feedback when it comes to professional development. His ideas seemed both perceptive and useful, so I took notes and was happy to share my newfound knowledge with the office the following day.
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