communications organizationEarlier this week, I dropped my daughter off for her first day of eighth grade.

I might have teared up just a bit about this being her last year of middle school. (I know … we’re not here to get sentimental.)

But it got me thinking about beginnings.

Most people look to January as a reset.

New year, new you, and all that jazz.

Me? I’m partial to August.

Back-to-school gets me every year.

There’s something about fresh school supplies, the return to a solid schedule, and the optimism of a new planner that makes me excited.

And that’s why we asked this #SpinSucksQuestion to our wonderful community on Slack.

When it comes to your communications organizations, what are you most excited about this fall?

Business-Style Learning for Communications Organizations

Mike Pirtle:

I’m most excited to start pushing my brand development workshops and growing our mastermind group.

Paige Worthy:

Earlier this year, I made a decision to invest in my business in the form of becoming a StoryBrand Certified Guide.

I’m so pumped for my four-day trip to Nashville in September, where I’ll attend a live two-day StoryBrand workshop and pursue my certification afterward.

It’s a big step for my business and brand, and I can’t wait to see how I can leverage what I learn in how I interact and work with my clients.

Christopher S. Penn:

Learning, learning, learning. I’ve cleared through most of the basic data science courses IBM has to offer, so I’m eager to get my hands on some of the more advanced material, like building deep learning models.

Personal Development and Business Upgrades

Lukas Treu:

I’m starting a new job soon as a content strategist with a company that is introducing a new five-year strategic plan a week after I begin … all of which is pretty exciting.

I’m looking forward to an opportunity to help the organization get a better handle on who is doing what with content, how we can prioritize tasks and how we can use content to better answer questions that stakeholders are asking each day in the marketplace.

Katie Robbert:

Reorganizing our services and products into a coherent workflow so it’s even easier for people to see what we do and what they need.

Tressa Robbins:

We have some exciting changes happening—launching officially during #PRSAICON so everyone will have to stay tuned!

Heather Feimster:

Pumped that it’s NOT conference season, so I can pivot to more long-term content strategy work instead of event planning and logistics. I love the spring events, but change is good!

Kevin Mercuri:

Everyone gets back to work in the fall and the energy is palpable. PR folks are gunning for holiday gift guides and new clients come aboard. It’s a great period that ends with the holidays.

Also, I dislike the hot weather and would much rather be outside in a sweater. Give me a fall afternoon in the woods or a sunny winter day on a mountain with my snowboard!

Shane Carpenter:

Repositioning information on the website so it makes more sense to people how we work, who we’d like to work with, and what we services we offer.

Fall Into the Comments With Your Organization’s Plans

See what I did there?

I’m a sucker for a well-placed pun.

We want to know your plans for your communications organizations this fall.

Are you planning on taking part in more professional development?

Maybe you want to use the fall to set aside some time to really focus on new communications strategies.

We ask a question like this every week in the Spin Sucks channel on Slack.

It’s completely free to join and a great place to meet and exchange ideas with other communicators like yourself. If you’re interested, fill out this form here.

In the meantime, whatever your plans are, let’s hear them!

Whitney Danhauer

Whitney is living in Central Kentucky with her husband, Michael and her daughter, Evie Rose. She's an avid reader, an even more avid movie watcher, and loves nothing more than a well-placed pop culture reference. By day she writes about all things communications for Spin Sucks, by night she writes about whatever she wants. Her first novel, Good Riddance, was released in October of 2015.

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