Once we get into the holiday season, it seems like time flies even faster than it already does. Much of my November was spent planning and working on large-scale annual productions, not the least of which wrapped up last weekend and tonight: the sixth annual iheartretail.com Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday Shopping Guide and the Triangle Merry Mingle.
The iheartretail.com Shopping Guide is a labor or love that I’ve diligently compiled for the last six years running to direct shoppers’ deal-hungry dollars to local and indepdent retailers, rather than massive national chains – especially those that open on Thanksgiving and in the wee hours of the following Friday morning. In the borrowed words of my pal Mike G. – “ain’t nobody got time for that!” Aside from being a labor of love, it’s also the single most significant traffic driver to iheartretail.com all year long and also generates a significant amount of new email subscribers, so while it takes me days to compile, it’s worth every bit of benefit to the retailers featured and to the overall success of my website. If you’re a local retailer and want to make sure I have you included next year, drop me a line to join my retailer email list!
As also mentioned above, the Triangle Merry Mingle is an annual networking event hosted by TIMA, Triangle AMA, AdFed, and AIGA – all local professional organizations for those in advertising, marketing and design. The event is a great chance to see nearly everyone in the industry, and lots of former colleagues and dear friends, while supporting a great cause, the Triangle Spokes Group, which provides bicycles for needy children in the Triangle for Christmas.
Speaking of TIMA, we wrapped up our 2014 programming in events with a great networking event in Morrisville at the new Blackfinn Ameripub and will be ushering in a new volunteer board for 2015. I’m excited to remain on the board in the role of Events Director and can’t wait to share more from that early next year.
And when it comes to volunteer boards, more is always merrier right? I’m excited to be joining the Raleigh Public Relations Society for 2015 as their Sir Walter Raleigh Awards banquet chair. Not a huge commitment, but that’s plenty for this girl!
Things were relatively smooth sailing at WRAL.com in November, as we geared up for the launch of a newly redesigned mobile news app, as well as the 43rd annual HighSchoolOT.com Holiday Invitational Basketball Tournament. Both require a tremendous amount of planning, pre-production and execution, so I’m personally thrilled to have had ample time to begin addressing each in advance. My team there also enjoyed some group learning at our annual visit to Internet Summit and with a Triangle AMA class, Mad Libs for Business.
On the Raleighwood Media Group side of things, I happily welcomed a new client to our growing client roster (thank you kindly for the referral, Evan Roberts!) and can’t wait to share some December success stories on their behalf in my next monthly wrap-up. I’m also negotiating a new office space on Glenwood South and can’t wait to get in and get a First Friday cocktail party on the calendar for 2015. There’s just something so exciting about having a real brick and mortar presence in Downtown Raleigh.
Adding another “first” to the list of things I’ve adventured into this year, I boarded an Amtrak train for a 7-8 hour ride to Delaware, along with Mom, Dad, and Johnnie Bud to visit Mandy and Joe in Delaware for their first Thanksgiving away from North Carolina. We had a great time kicking back, doing some shopping at Rehoboth Beach on Small Business Saturday, and taking a scenic drive through the massive (but completely abandoned this time of year) Ocean City, MD.
The first of many holiday parties kicks off this weekend, along with a great deal of “wrapping the year up with a bang” work, so I wish you all the best in this final month of 2014. Make it a great end to the year!