I just got back from a great lunch with some of the smartest people in the Triangle world. It was the prize that we gave away at the April 6th Raleigh Media Leaders event.
We met up at Raleigh’s best Asian restaurant, The Duck and Dumpling. I hadn’t met Brooks Bell (Founder and CEO of Brooks Bell Interactive) or Jesse Lipson (CEO of ShareFile) before so I was happy to make those new connections. I had met Michael Hubbard (CEO of MediaTwo Interactive) before, and always enjoy talking with him about the current social media landscape. The winners of the lunch were Jenni Bruckman who is the Senior Marketing Manager at Coldwell Banker Howard Perry and Walston, Maura McDonald who is a freelance designer running McDezigns and Theresa Spera who is the Director of Programs and Member Services for the Automotive Aftermarket Suppliers Association.
After some really good edamame and handmade sweet potato chips we got into some brief introductions and some questions.
Mailing list questions, how to start, how to refactor and how to get opt-n when you buy a third-party list. What I found really impressive was the insightful questions Brooks asked while trying to get to the root of the problem, the on-the-fly solutions Jesse has used in the past to overcome similar problems and the new metrics Michael suggested as better indicators than just “opens”.
We spent some time talking about the changing face of both real estate and automotive. Theresa shared a great story about traditional snail-mail versus email. It’s important to remember that the best medium is the one that works.
I love the idea of a casual lunch like this as a way to make new connections. The Media Leaders were generous with their expertise and time, the winners were also allowing us to cut into their busy schedules and that’s always appreciated.
All the participants are people who should be on your list of people to know in the Triangle. All of them are on Twitter except Theresa, but she did acknowledge that the peer pressure is getting unbearable, so soon she will relent.
- Michael Hubbard as mediatwo
- Brooks Bell as brooksbell
- Jesse Lipson as ShareFile
- Maura McDonald as MCDezigns
- Jenni Bruckman as jennibruckman
Thanks to the entire Raleigh Media Leaders team, Brian McDonald, Morgan Siem, Sarah Burris and Dan London.
Eda what? Were those the green things? Thanks again Phil for being a gracious host! Great to see everyone and nice to meet a few of you as well!
Very cool door prize, it seems. I would love to attend a lunch like this someday and just bask in the collective knowledge around me. Raleigh Media Leaders is good people!
What an impressive group of people! Sounds like a great lunch & a great conversation. Theresa – join us on Twitter!
@Michael – I can’t believe you didn’t eat those, they were great.
@Joshua – It’s a great prize, I have to thank Jeremy Smith for the original idea.
I know I had an awesome time and was so happy to finally meet the infamous Michael, Brooks & Jesse. Thanks for the thoughts on solutions…look forward to hopefully brainstorming together more in the future. Many thanks to Phil and Duck & Dumpling for orchestrating such a great lunch!
@Jenni – see what good timing your email problem turned out to be? 😉
Uh oh, what did I do now? I am not used to getting thanked, much less for original ideas. I just tend to copy everyone else’s… muuuuaaaaaaaah. Great photo guys. Looks like it was a lot of fun. Sorry I missed my second media leaders event. I am sure I will be there for the 3rd one.
Phil great recap of another awesome Lunch with the Leaders! Yes, Jeremy was our sounding board on getting creative quickly to create a quality and unique prize! Thanks to both of you for making it happen along with the rest of the team. Thanks to our Leaders as well for giving up their time and it sounds like they enjoyed it as much as the winners!
Nice to meet everyone and enjoyed being there. Good luck to all of the winners and feel free to ping me if you have questions.