Highlights from Fast Forward: 3Q Digital’s Fifth Annual Growth Summit
Published: October 8, 2019
Author: Molly Shotwell
Last Thursday marked our fifth annual Growth Summit and our fourth straight at San Francisco’s Oracle Park. This year’s theme, Fast Forward, brought us a look at growth drivers, leadership trends, and challenges that will help define the future of marketing.
- 3Q CEO David Rodnitzky started us off in the morning with a look at how data, testing, and accessible video production will be tomorrow’s digital growth drivers.
- Nik Badminton, Futurist and CEO of Exponential Minds, then took the stage for a presentation on the future of marketing and why we need to focus on creating wonder if we want to keep the attention of our audience.
- 3Q CRO Ellen Corrigan then led a panel called “Not Your Grandpa’s CEO: A Conversation with Tomorrow’s Leaders.” She was joined by three amazing women: Shahirah Gardner (Co-Founder of Finch), Shanna Tellerman (CEO and Co-Founder of Modsy), and Jessica Madrigal (Owner & VP of Bjork Construction). They discussed how leadership has changed, how some hurdles remain for those outside the traditional leadership model, and what makes a great leader today.
- 3Q VP of Growth Caitlin Halpert led the next panel with reps from our partners Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Microsoft; they discussed product roadmaps and channel trends.
- 3Q Business Development Manager Evan Magers led the room in a hysterical round of Kahoots where we gave away some fun prizes to attendees (like a signed Klay Thompson jersey!).
- One of the biggest highlights of the day was the fireside chat between David Rodnitzky and former U.S. Secretary of Commerce (and business-builder extraordinaire) Penny Pritzker. Throughout their chat they covered everything from the importance of company culture to macroeconomic trends and things you didn’t know about the Department of Commerce.
- Our afternoon workshops included:
- 3Q VP of Social Brad O’Brien, with reps from Facebook and Snapchat, talking about innovative ways to use creative on their platforms to best drive engagement.
- 3Q Creative Director Julia Thiel and Director of Creative Strategy Becca Debono, who shared the story of our Boosted Boards video shoot and production strategy – and our testing methodology to unearth the winning iterations.
- 3Q’s resident YouTube expert, Tom Leonard, who shared the stage with reps from YouTube and a YouTube Creator (Michelle Khare) to talk about Famebit, YouTube’s newest features, and influencer trends.
- 3Q VP of SEO Leslie To and Searchmetrics examined survey data that showed how divided SEO experts are on what drives growth – and covered what actually matters today and going forward.
- Our last session was the Humanitarian Spotlight, which we added into the rotation last year. This year we had two women from Send a Cow (including a former 3Qer, Angela Trumbaturi). Working across six African countries, Send a Cow helps people grow their own futures, on their own land and on their own terms. They are giving families the skills and confidence they need to get the most from their land. Families can grow enough food, earn a living and go after their dreams.
We closed out the day with some amazing activities during Happy Hour:
- NFL Hall of Famer Jerry Rice joined us for Happy Hour in the park’s Cloud Club and took photos with guests. He signed a limited number of footballs, which were given out to attendees who had won trivia question challenges throughout the day.
- We had batting practice and fielding on Oracle Field for the first time (previous years have been in batting tunnels) and got to make personalized baseball cards.
- And last but not least, we had adoptable puppies and kittens join us from Finding a Best Friend Rescue and PuppyLove. It would be an understatement to say they were a hit.
Thanks to all of our partners, sponsors, and especially clients and guests who turned out to make the day a memorable and educational one!
