On January 26th, we hosted the first Digi-Cluster of 2021. Much like our previous Digi-Cluster back in October, this was a live, virtual event that took place using Remo. While we’re really looking forward to being able to meet face-to-face, it’s fantastic that we can use this technology to stay connected; it was lovely to catch up with everyone and get to meet new people.
Prior to the event, we asked our guests to fill out a survey that explored how agencies have reacted to the events of 2020, some of the challenges they’ve faced, and what they’ve learned over the course of the year. We wanted to get insight into how our community dealt with the past year and the impact it’s had on their businesses. The results were revealed during the event; thank you to everyone who contributed!
Here are some highlights in case you missed it!
Following an intro from our wonderful co-host and CEO of Clock, Syd Nadim, as well as some networking across virtual tables, we kicked off the event with our always popular 90-second pitches.
Thank you so much to all our pitchers who really kicked off 2021:
• Luke Aikman — Nudge Digital
• Mel Mack – Mack Digital Ltd
• The Chamber of Commerce Kickstarters; Danny, Lee & Kia
After the pitching session, the brilliant Chris Luff from the Chamber of Commerce interviewed kickstarters including Danny, Lee, Kia, Harry, Ines, Niamh and Rebecca about their valuable perspectives on the employment opportunities for young professionals in 2021. It was really enlightening to get a better understanding on some of the struggles these individuals have faced getting into employment and what we can do as a community to help.
Syd then introduced the group to Digi-Cluster Prime — an exclusive new membership that will enable us to come together as a community through co-working and collaboration. It’s a really great (and safe!) opportunity for those who want to get out of the same four walls of their work-from-home space and begin reopening networking channels in this exciting co-working environment. You can find out more about the Digi-Cluster Prime membership here, and register for it here!
We then met our special guest speaker, Spencer Gallagher. Having launched his first agency from a shed in a back garden, Spencer built a startup into the 8th largest digital agency in the UK. In 2011 he co-founded Cactus, using his experience growing digital agencies to help other businesses achieve success through a market-leading consultancy. Spencer joined us to review the findings of our survey and offered some really valuable insight and comparisons to the many agencies he’s worked with. The results of the survey, and some of the lessons learned in 2020, were definitely an eye-opener — it was fantastic getting Spencer’s perspective on them.
You can check out his awesome book Agencynomics here.
We ended the meeting in classic Digi-Cluster style with some virtual networking, beers and pizza while sharing opinions and chatting through the evening’s discussions.
We’d like to say a huge thank you to everyone involved in creating this event, as well as our speakers, 90-second pitchers, and of course, all of our guests! And extra-special thank you definitely has to go to VWV, our fabulous sponsors & the brilliant Chamber of Commerce for supplying us with the Remo platform and delicious pizzas!
Our first Digi-Cluster of 2021 was a big success and we’re looking forward to the next one in April, with tickets available soon! If you attended the event and have any feedback on how we can make the next one even better, we’d love you to get in touch.
If you missed our event, you can now watch it online here!