Question

Topic: Career/Training

Top Learning Opportunities

Posted by Anonymous on 12/1/2004 at 7:05 PM ET 125 Points
I'm a director-level marketer at a large insurance company and am looking for some outside-of-my-industry learning opportunities to keep my mind stretching. Does anyone have any favorites that can keep a strategic mind sharp, a creative mind thinking outside the box and a marketer on top of best practices?
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RESPONSES

  • Posted by Peter (henna gaijin) on 12/1/2004 at 7:17 PM Accepted
    I would consider joining marketing associations like the American Marketing Association, and then taking parts in their activities (lunches, seminars, meetings, conferences, etc.).

    Staying active with Marketingprof's Know-How Exchange could also work.
  • Posted by mgoodman on 12/1/2004 at 10:17 PM Member
    I have had an experience with a few clients that might work for you and your colleagues.

    Sending 6 or 7 people to a 2-day seminar will cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $5-10,000, plus travel expenses. For that price you can hire a consultant who will tailor his/her remarks to your needs.

    Contact a few of the experts on the KHE top 25 and see if they're interested and available, and ask what topics they might recommend for your group.

    I recently completed an assignment like this for a major global corporation, and they seemed very pleased with the content and the presentation. They sent a dozen of their senior marketing managers (from all over the world) to a central location (California), and I prepared several seminar-like discussions for them, facilitated a session devoted to their specific problems, and then fielded general questions. I thought it went very well (and I suspect they do too.)
  • Posted by SRyan ;] on 12/1/2004 at 10:41 PM Member
    I'd like to second Peter's motion regarding MarketingProfs and this forum. Quite a few people have remarked on how much they gain from regularly participating in the Know-How Exchange.

    Yes, I know it's not an event like you requested... but I can imagine that it would stimulate a lot of ideas and conversations if you and your colleagues followed some of the Q&A action going on here! Spend a few minutes each morning browsing the new questions. (It can be addictive, though.)

    Shelley
  • Posted by ReadCopy on 12/2/2004 at 6:30 AM Member
    Peter gets a third vote from me on this forum, it needn't take up much of your time to think creatively here.
    Also look around your region, any groups set up to help new businesses ? I am sure they would value a senior marketer to offer new business startups free marketing advice!
  • Posted by telemoxie on 12/2/2004 at 8:33 AM Member
    If you really want to stretch your mind, you might look for an opportunity to give back knowledge, rather than to receive it.

    Some say the best way to learn something is to teach it. Maybe that is why so many people (myself included) get so much out of helping others on this forum.

    Certainly this forum exposes you to real world practices and problems across industries, but more importantly, to up-to-the-second tactics from folks in the trenches across marketing disciplines.

    Other opportunities to "give back" might include speaking at business association meetings, helping train the economically disadvantaged, writing a book...
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