Menu
Marketers and Creatives at the High 5 Conference
By Tricia Lucas | Leadership
The High 5 Conference, hosted by the Triangle AMA, was a complete sell-out this past week in downtown Raleigh, NC. The conference was conceived in 2013 to bring local marketers and creatives together to share inspiration, to collaborate, and to celebrate the talent that is right here in the Triangle. While the local community support was strong, The High Five Conference is gaining national attention. Conference attendees came from 20 different states, up from 14 at last year’s conference. In January, The High 5 Conference was included in Forbes Magazine called High Five “One of the Top Marketing Conferences to Check Out.”
Conference Sponsor Sprinklr
The conference had four optional 1/2 day workshops, five strong keynotes, 20+ breakout sessions, and provided hundreds of marketing strategists, creative directors, designers, product managers, writers, and communicators an opportunity to learn the latest in teamwork, partnership, and collaboration in new and unexpected ways to achieve marketing and creativity symbiosis.
High 5 Conference Presenter Dean Logan
Ann Handley, cited in Forbes as the most influential woman in Social Media and author of Everybody Writes: Your Go-to Guide to Creating Ridiculously Good Content, got things started by delivering an energizing keynote on…yep… you guessed it… creating ridiculously good content.
Inspiration was everywhere. Orange jackets, graphic recordings by Drawing Insight, The AMA inspirational wall, and the world’s only SWAG Lottery Machine by BrandFuel were just a few of the creative props spotted at the The High 5 Conference.
Ann Handley takes her turn at BrandFuel’s SWAG Lottery Machine
Drawing Insight’s graphic recordings displayed
High 5 Conference Guest presenters included Scotty Monty, Phil Buckley, Kristina Jaramillo, Jonathan Opp, Dean Logan, Chris Moody, Shane Johnston, Denise Jacobs, Nikki Villagomez, Jake Finkelstein, Alan Hoffler, Andrew Pearson, Mihali Stavlas, Lenny Terenzi, Marty Kelso, Ed Timberlake, and Geoff Ables, Melissa Eggleston, Meredith Oliver, Evan Carroll, and crowd favorite David Rendall.
Triangle AMA’s Past, Present, and Future Presidents (Evan Carroll, Stan Phelps, Karl Sakas)
Hug your Haters, the book title of keynote speaker, Jay Baer, provided the perfect entertaining and informative closing event of the conference. The best-selling author shared hilarious examples of haters gone wild and why it is important to embrace your customer complaints.
Closing Keynote Speaker Jay Baer
My favorite Baer demonstration of customer service was the PR stunt, developed by KLM’s ad agency, DDB & Tribal Worldwide Amsterdam. The point of the video, starring adorable beagle named Sherlock was to highlight the fact that KLM’s Lost & Found team sometimes returns lost items to travelers before they even know they’ve lost them. It was a charming way to “illustrate that KLM goes above and beyond for their passengers.” The must-see video can be found here.
Sherlock brought the Awwwww factor to Jay Baer’s presentation
Baer’s message was on track with the overall conference messaging – delivering superior customer service through marketing and creative collaboration, innovation, and inspiration. Clearly, the customer was and will be the biggest benefactor of the conference.
The afterparty at Jimmy V’s
Five Favorites: My five favorites about this years High Five include the vegan lunch, Ann Handley’s dress, Sherlock, Jimmy V’s after-party, and the weather. Many may remember that last year’s conference fell in the middle of “Snowmageddon” so this year’s milder weather didn’t go unnoticed nor unappreciated.
Updated on February 16, 2018. Don’t miss the upcoming 2018 High Five Conference in Raleigh, NC, February 26-28th. You won’t want to miss Keynotes Aaron Draplin, Amanda Valentine, Jackie Huba, Spike Jones Tamsen Webster, and Will Reynolds.
High Five Conference Team 2017
The High Five Conference, conceptualized by Evan Carroll and led by a team of volunteers, is hosted by the Triangle AMA. For more than 35 years the Triangle AMA has offered marketing professionals the opportunity to learn and grow through professional development and networking. With more than 700 members strong the Triangle AMA is largest marketing association between D.C. and Atlanta.
This year’s High Five volunteers include: Angie Patterson, Annie Pearce, Ashley Nuzum, Austin Henly, Barbara Sharnak, Brian McDonald, Casey Overcash, Catherine Locke, Christie Montague, Danny Rosin, Elizabeth Ruf, Evan Carroll (2014 Director), Gene Pinder, Jennifer Wright, Jessica Zappulla, Josh Vaughan, Karl Sakas (2016 Director), Katie Connors, Kelly Gelinne (2018 Director), Kris Matson, Lars Bredahl, Lauren Godwin, Leah Dorsey Harris (2017 Director), Liz Miller, Mary Beth Munz, Morgan High, Rebecca Horton, Sam Fortenbery, Stan Phelps (2015 Director) and Ted Seward, Terry Beal, Tim Rosenberg, Tracy Russell-Beck, Victoria Centeno, and Will Hardison.
Tricia Lucas has over 25 years of demonstrated success in recruiting, marketing communications, and social media and helps technology companies recruit more efficiently by focusing on: Recruiting Efficiencies, Employer Branding, and Social Media.
At Lucas Select, based in Raleigh, NC, we are passionate about technology startups and about sales and marketing as professions and have built extensive national networks of top-performing executives and managers. Unlike typical staffing agencies and headhunters, our recruiting services ensure that your company maintains a sustained growth model that is supported by strong sales management, talent recruitment at scale balanced by on-going people development while aligning with your Company’s core values.
Tricia Lucas has over 25 years of demonstrated success in recruiting, marketing communications, and social media and helps technology companies recruit more efficiently by focusing on Recruiting Efficiencies, Employer Branding, and Social Media.