Reflections + learnings from my first brand strategy workshop

When I decided to start Elyse Ash, LLC in August 2023, I saw the benefits of working for myself immediately. These benefits include things like:

• Working directly with the clients I want to
• Finding pricing and projects that feel good in my bones
• Achieving true flexibility in how and when I work
• Sharing the knowledge and information I’ve learned throughout my career
• Collaborating with other strategic, insightful, trustworthy, and FUN human beings whom I respect and adore
• Saying YES to spontaneous opportunities that pop up

One of my favorite (and easiest) spontaneous yeses was deciding to partner with Craig Pladson from Brave Co. to run our own Brand Strategy Workshop.

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On Friday, February 16, 2024 Brave Co + Elyse Ash, LLC hosted our first workshop in-person at The Coven in Minneapolis. With 13 attendees working across various industries (e.g. healthcare, retail, consulting, B2B), it was a unique opportunity to both share methods Craig and I have helped run throughout our careers and also get new ideas from the incredibly talented and multifaceted business owners in attendance.

Here are 4 things I learned from running my first Brand Strategy Workshop as Elyse Ash, LLC and not just Elyse Ash, Employee of XYZ Agency:

1. No shade, but IRL just hits different. Zoom and remote working tools have done wonders for our society and businesses (esp during the height of the pandemic). But it’s also impossible to recreate the energy of in-person collaboration. Early on in our planning process, Craig and I decided to make the event in-person only. While we knew this would limit who could attend, we also craved the excitement and energy that can really only happen in a shared space.
2. Preparing for the session took…longer than I thought. When you work with someone as buttoned up as Craig, you’re going to spend a lot of time trying to create an A+ experience. I’m glad we spent so much time planning and outlining the goals of the session and what we were going to share; I just severely underestimated how long it would take to essentially build a curriculum, promote the event, create the slides/agenda, design the printouts and get them printed, book the space, shop for snacks…it was a lot of work. And all of those details took extra time and investment. I believe it was well worth it…it’s just something I wish I had more insight into at the beginning.
3. Ask for info from attendees before the session, not just feedback after the session. The week of the session, we sent out an email sharing some extra information about the workshop (parking, details on refreshments, etc.). But the primary goal of the email was to learn from the attendees what they were hoping to get out of our time together. Most of the attendees responded and shared why they signed up for the session and this helped us bake in extra information that would be relevant to the specific attendees. This is a clear benefit of limiting the number of attendees (we knew we didn’t want more than 20 people)...but with creating a small, trusted cohort, we were able to tailor a lot of discussions and topics to the specific interests and roles of our attendees. We also sent around a recap email after the session with relevant links, a PDF of the worksheets as well as a Google form asking for feedback.
4. Work with someone you know + trust. I’m grateful I was able to collaborate with Craig; we’ve worked together in various capacities over the last 8 years and have developed a trusting working relationship. Planning and facilitating the workshop together was just so much more fun and less stressful. We could bounce ideas off each other, hold one another accountable and I think it also just added to the vibe of the session. Some feedback we received from an attendee, “I love that you had two of you leading it and the energy that added - you play off of each other very nicely and keep things fun, comfortable and engaging.”

If you attended the session, what were your favorite parts or learnings?

Thanks to everyone who attended and for all of those who offered support, encouragement and feedback. It was a fantastic learning experience and I’m excited to see what the future holds!

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