BMA Young Professionals: By You, For You

Spring Into Summer This Week!

Friday’s partnership event with the DU Marketing Association is quickly approaching, so be sure to get your tickets before they sell out!

In addition to the great networking, food & drinks, we have an incredible panel of local Colorado Marketing industry-leaders who will give some great advice on how to get ahead as a YP. Featuring Michele C. Lutz, Heidi Budreau, and Jennifer Nealson.

Register here for the Friday, May 18th event!

Cocktails & Conversations at Harmonic Media!

After the great success of our initial Cocktails & Conversations (C&C) event, the BMA Colorado Young Professionals are kicking-off a series of C&C events starting Thursday, March 22nd!  Join us for a night of networking and intimate conversations with the marketing team at Harmonic Media as well as Cohn Marketing.

C&C is a forum for making valuable connections with upper level marketing executives, a perfect setting for any young marketer in Denver looking to connect with their peers, learn more about the marketing industry, mingle with senior level marketing executives, and enjoy a fun night of food, conversation, and cocktails!

• Thursday, March 22nd                                                                    
• Harmonic Media                                                                                     
• BMA Members: $10                                                                                
• Not-yet Members: $15

For more information, check out our Facebook page (and while you’re there, go ahead and Like us!)

Please Register Here

Young Professionals Meet-up at Stranahan’s Whiskey!

Join us at the Rackhouse Pub inside of the world-class Stranahan’s Whiskey distillery to network with young marketers in your industry and to learn about the best whiskey in Colorado.  We’ll be taking you on a full tour of the distillery where you’ll learn about the process, ask questions, and even get to taste some of the Colorado’s best selections of distilled spirits. The Rackhouse also offers a wide selection of Colorado-made craft brews! This event is FREE for BMA members and non-members.  For more info, check out our website  and to RSVP, go to our Facebook page.

Thursday, February 16th 6pm-8pm, Tour 7pm-7:45pm

Bring a friend who hasn’t been to a BMA YP event, and the two of you get a free drink ticket!

Happy Hour specials include $1.50 set of 3 street tacos and $4 margaritas

New Year, New Thinking

The start of a new year seems to be the most practical, albeit cliche, time to make a commitment to improve something in our lives or the lives of others… join a gym, read more, save money, volunteer to help with those less fortunate… All great ideas, but if you’re looking to resolve to doing something more unconventional yet more personally gratifying, start thinking sideways!  Take these 10 steps to ignite new ideas in business as presented by BMA Colorado’s December Keynote speaker Tamara Kleinberg:

• Spontaneous collaboration - Create an atmosphere in your workplace where people and ideas are intersecting all day long (i.e. don’t limit yourself to conference rooms, have chairs in hallways and whiteboards in places where people who don’t work together day-to-day interact like near the elevator).
• Be emotional - Have passion for your ideas and express them. The term “There’s no crying in baseball” does not apply here!
• Smash! ideas - Be open to taking 2 or more completely unrelated thoughts and smash! them together (i.e. working out and playing cards can turn into a promotional piece of 52 exercises in a playing card deck).
• Take a break - Did you know employees at Google all receive a 20% break time benefit?  This isn’t on top of a 40 hour work week, but part of it. So if an employee works 40 hours per week, 8 hours (1 full day!) should be break time.  Rest or whatever you consider a “break” will only rejuvenate you and make your quality of work that much better.
• Trust - Use your intuition. If you believe in an idea, truly trust it and don’t give up.
• Ask - Stop assuming things, and start asking questions.
• Collaborate - This seems obvious for generating unique ideas but Tamara further cites Steven Johnson and his claim that the best ideas are a product of collaboration in his book “Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation”.
• Lean in - Literally.  Be physically open to new ideas by leaning in during meetings and conversations.  This propels you to be further engaged.
• Put it out there - Don’t be afraid. Don’t try to be perfect, that is the enemy of innovation. Just get your idea out there!
• Shock the system - Do what everybody else ISN’T doing. For example, when the majority of Americans were going to Blockbuster and local video rental shops, Netflix came along to provide a cheap and quick video delivery and streaming service that has since changed the face of video rentals in our country. 

For more on these and Tamara’s other tips (such as “Stalking”, “Breaking the rules” and “Brainstorms kill creativity”) for playing on the fringes of the proverbial box of thinking, check out her work at Imaginibbles.

Here’s to a happy, safe, and successful New Year!

-Nicole DeChristopher