On April 13th, the Los Angeles chapter of IPG’s Women’s Leadership Network (WLN) hosted our first event of the year, “Social Media Explosion! How Savvy Are You?” We had some of the leading gurus in our business share their perspectives, insights, and thoughts about the impact of social media on consumer marketing. The event took place at the IPG Media Lab—a perfect location for a discussion on emerging technology.
The event was structured into two parts: networking and cocktails followed by our panel and Q&A session. We wanted to encourage women to socialize with women from other IPG agencies, so we began our evening with a topical icebreaker. As the attendees signed in, we stuck a social media icon sticker on the back of each person. The idea of the game was that as you mingled around the room, the people around you (or behind you!) would give you clues so you could guess which social media icon you were, e.g. Facebook. It was a great way to start up a conversation with someone new as well as learn something about social media.
After the icebreaker, our Event Chairs Jordan Lucoff and Elisabeth Rosenson welcomed everyone and briefly discussed the WLN-noting both our past WLN LA events as well as the national webcasts. Kristina Lee, our Los Angeles Membership Chapter Co-Chair introduced the panelists and began the questions. She was such a pro, we nominated her to be our official WLN LA moderator!
Our panel included four guest speakers for the night: three from IPG companies and one from outside the organization. We were pleased to host: Raquel Krouse, SVP, Director Prophesee Social Media Solutions at Initiative; Dr. Natalie Petouhoff, Chief Digital Strategist at Weber Shandwick; Lori H. Schwartz, Chief Technology Catalyst at McCann Worldgroup North America; and Josh Ochs, Founder of Media Leaders. As you can see in the photos below, Lori joined us by Skype, another terrific way we showcased how relevant social media is to our industry.
The event concluded with Q&A as well as a social media trivia game hosted by our Membership Co-Chair Dawn Prowell. Overall, the event was very insightful, and covered all topics from how social media is affecting our industry to how one can better serve their client and/or company. It was wonderful to see all the WLN LA ladies, and we look forward to seeing you all again at our next event!