F*** good – be EXCEPTIONAL! TRR 2018 Conference Wrap Up

Keen to kick goals in 2018, The Red Republic started the year off with a bang! Last month our Brisbane, Sydney and Gold Coast teams came together for our annual two-day conference at The Johnson. The theme for the conference: F*** good – be EXCEPTIONAL!

With glittered notebooks in hand, we spent the next two days learning and taking inspiration for how we can take our agency and clients to the next level in 2018. The room was full of some of the strongest, kick-ass women in the biz. It was hard not to leave feeling inspired and eager to take on the year. Below are some of the highlights I took away from my first conference with the team!

Our Inspiration for 2018

To kick us into gear, we heard from two incredibly inspiring and successful women. The first was founder and CEO of the Urban List, Susannah George and the second was founder of Bella Management, Chelsea Bonner.

Chelsea is the founder of hugely successful plus size modelling agency Bella Management and is a body positive warrior and Australia Day ambassador. She spoke to the team about the challenges she faced as she built her business and how she has seen the portrayal of women in the media evolve throughout her career.

For me, Chelsea was one of the toughest yet inspirational women I have ever met. She’s one of those “no BS” type of people and I loved it. Her holistic approach to model representation and mission to change society’s beauty standards was also nothing short of astounding! I learnt that you have to be resilient, persistent and confident in your beliefs to get where you want. It was also really nice to chat to her about how public relations can have a positive role in supporting her mission.

All being big fans of the Urban List, we were excited to get the chance to chat to CEO Susannah George. Not only is Susannah one of the only female media owners in Australia but like TRR, runs a business across multiple offices. Susannah gave the team insight into how she keeps her business and its culture firing. Becoming a savvy business woman through her career, there were three key points that stuck with me. These were:

1. Value your people
2. Keep pushing through no matter who puts you down
3. Stay true to your brand always

Her workshop titled “You Get What You Set” meant exactly that and is a phrase I’ll never forget.

Nailing all things communication

We were lucky enough to have highly sought after HR coach, Tina Radford share some her of communication expertise with us. Speaking about the art of communication, her refreshingly practical and straight forward approach to HR is just what we need to nail all things comms! As publicists, client satisfaction is our number one priority and every one of us has multiple clients with differing personalities and communication styles. After Tina’s session I walked away with a great deal of new knowledge on how to communicate effectively with different personalities, whether it be an introvert or extrovert.

Team building, don’t underestimate it!

Our team is our strongest asset, so we’re always looking for new ways to nurture and strengthen our relationships and team work. Enter, Escape Room… Picture this – four team members locked in a tiny room with no key and only a few clues to escape. Together we all managed to follow the clues and solve the mystery, which ultimately gave the key to our release (some with more hints then others mind you). Working towards a common goal united the team and promoted creative thinking. I highly recommend giving Escape Rooms as a go as a team building exercise!

How we craft our game-changing ideas

Our final session of the conference began with us lying on the ground and meditating for 30 minutes. The relevance? This time-out gave our brains the rest they needed to stimulate our most creative ideas during a group brainstorm. I found that brainstorming as a group created a positive snowball affect where each person’s ideas contributed a unique piece of the overall puzzle. Collaboration is key!

These two days were just what we needed to motivate us, so f*** good and be exceptional in 2018!