Associates Share Their Wide Range of Expertise During Inaugural Unconference Series

Last month associates participated in SMG’s 2023 Kick-Off Week, an annual event dedicated to strategy alignment, innovation focus, and overall company goals. It’s a great time for the entire organization to gather (remotely, of course) and get a deep dive from the leadership team on top priorities for the year.

But this year, it wasn’t just execs who took center stage.

For the first time, SMG held an “unconference”—a series of associate-led sessions highlighting a wide variety of topics. The entire process, from start to finish, was associates driven. First, associates submitted presentation ideas, ranging in topics from tips + tricks in PowerPoint to improv concepts for business. Then all associates had a few days to vote on their favorites, narrowing the selection down to the Top 9. On the day of the unconference, associates—along with members of the leadership team—chose 3 sessions to attend, with the option to view additional recorded sessions later.

The unconference was a big hit—even leading to multiple requests for a quarterly cadence vs. annual. Here are a few of the presentations from the inaugural event:

Unconference Session: SMG Around the Globe

Since SMG’s transition to a remote-first model last year, we’ve expanded our workforce to more than 35 countries around the world. In this roundtable session, 9 associates shared facts about their home country—from fun bits of trivia and unique customs to differing cultural norms. Attendees built a stronger connection with associates near and far.

Unconference Session: Recognition in the Workplace

Presented by SMG’s Employee Experience (EX) team, this session covered all the ins and outs of associate recognition—including why it’s important, how to do it properly, and which specific milestones and events to celebrate. Attendees were also encouraged to share a meaningful recognition they’ve received as an associate, either from leadership or in a peer-to-peer situation.

Unconference Session: Designing SMG’s Future Products

Associates from all departments got a peek at the inner workings of SMG’s UX team and its primary goal to leverage SMG’s current expertise to solve our clients’ real problems. While we can’t give away the specifics of all the cool things we have planned, we can say 2023 is going to be one of our most innovative and exciting years to date.

Unconference Session: Dealing with Stress

No matter your job or role within the company, stress is going to rear its ugly head at some point. The key is to learn how to best manage those stressors and find a way to turn negative tension into productive energy. In this session, attendees learned how stress impacts the body, ways to minimize stress triggers, and how stress can actually be used as fuel to accomplish tasks.   

Ready to Join SMG?

As a remote-first company with a globally distributed workforce, we’ve got team members all over the world collaborating to build globally scaled industry solutions for our clients.

That level of flexibility means our talent pool is off the charts and our associates have a better handle on work-life balance. But even with a distributed workforce, our global community remains strong and engaged. We learn together, celebrate together, and grow together.

If you’d like to learn more about SMG’s culture and view our open opportunities, check out our careers page.