{"id":3288,"date":"2022-08-31T10:34:15","date_gmt":"2022-08-31T10:34:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eventible.com\/learning\/?p=3288"},"modified":"2023-04-20T12:23:46","modified_gmt":"2023-04-20T12:23:46","slug":"speakers-corner-featuring-hannah-smith-director-worderist-com","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eventible.com\/learning\/speakers-corner-featuring-hannah-smith-director-worderist-com\/","title":{"rendered":"Speaker\u2019s Corner: Featuring Hannah Smith, Director, Worderist.com"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Tell me about<\/strong> <\/strong>your company<\/strong>, its work<\/strong>,<\/strong> and projects\u2026  <\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I help people create content that delivers results. I work with agencies and in-house marketing teams and offer training, coaching, and consultancy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What are the challenges<\/strong> posed by the<\/strong> industry you operate<\/strong> in<\/strong>? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hiring, developing, and retaining people is the biggest challenge in every industry right now. Creating work environments where people can thrive is difficult, and for far too long companies did little more than pay lip service to that stuff. I feel like finally things are beginning to change for the better now, but honestly, progress is slower than I\u2019d like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How has the COVID-19 pandemic changed the way you go about business? <\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a solo practitioner, things haven\u2019t changed that much for me. I guess I do more stuff via Zoom, and less stuff in-person, but that\u2019s no bad thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What trends do you see for the future? <\/strong> <\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think that remote work, (or hybrid-remote, where some folks are office-based at least some of the time, whilst others are fully remote) is here to stay. I think that\u2019s a great thing, but of course there are operational challenges for companies to navigate. However, I think those companies that create great work environments for remote, hybrid remote, and office-based employees will win out in the end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is your biggest objective as a speaker?<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I hope that people leave my talks feeling a little better about themselves, and more excited about their work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Could you share with us the points of discussion (the input that you provided) during <\/strong>your talk<\/strong> at <\/strong>MozCon<\/strong>?<\/strong>  <\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

My MozCon talk was essentially a catalogue of some of the biggest mistakes, and missteps I\u2019ve made during a decade working in Digital PR; and some thoughts on where I still think we\u2019re behaving a little wrong-headedly as an industry today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Folks can see my slides, and an accompanying write up here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a leader, what are the factors both professional and personal that drive you? What keeps you going?<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m incredibly fortunate to be doing a job which I love which makes keeping going a lot easier. But I\u2019m also a huge believer in the importance of both hobbies, and side projects \u2013 I do a bunch of things which are definitely not \u201cwork\u201d \u2013 they are deliberately designed in a way which means they\u2019re unlikely to yield any commercial benefit. I do them simply because I enjoy them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, I write a fortnightly newsletter called Manufacturing Serendipity<\/a>. It\u2019s basically a public experiment \u2013 a few years ago, I began wondering if it might be possible for me to create conditions where I\u2019m led to make interesting discoveries. Might paying attention to what I\u2019m consuming, where I\u2019m going, and how I\u2019m spending my time cause me to see the world a little differently? Might it even change how I think? It\u2019s a lot of fun to do, and people seem to enjoy coming along for the ride.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In your opinion, do digital events give you a similar level of feedback\/result vis-\u00e0-vis the live versions? What would you say were the biggest pros and cons of both formats? Which do you prefer?   <\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ugh. I wish I could say that virtual events offered the same sorts of levels of interaction as live ones, but in my experience, for the most part at least, that\u2019s not been the case. That said, last year I took part in a fantastic event<\/a> run by Isaline Muelhauser<\/a>. Rather than give an industry-focused talk, she instead encouraged me to give a talk and Q&A on my first love: fiction. The interactions with attendees were brilliant and it was a wonderful experience. But that was the exception, rather than the rule.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In terms of pros and cons, I love that virtual events offer people the opportunity to hear talks from folks without having to travel anywhere, and I think that they definitely have their place. However, when it comes to interactions with humans, in-person events win out for me.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I think that remote work, (or hybrid-remote, where some folks are office-based at least some of the time, whilst others are fully remote) is here to stay. I think that\u2019s a great thing, but of course there are operational challenges for companies to navigate. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":3297,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[144,789],"tags":[154,151,179,150,149,231,182,153],"acf":[],"rttpg_featured_image_url":{"full":["https:\/\/www.eventible.com\/learning\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Hannah-Smith-scaled.jpg",2560,1711,false],"landscape":["https:\/\/www.eventible.com\/learning\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Hannah-Smith-scaled.jpg",2560,1711,false],"portraits":["https:\/\/www.eventible.com\/learning\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Hannah-Smith-scaled.jpg",2560,1711,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.eventible.com\/learning\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Hannah-Smith-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.eventible.com\/learning\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Hannah-Smith-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"large":["https:\/\/www.eventible.com\/learning\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Hannah-Smith-1024x684.jpg",770,514,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.eventible.com\/learning\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Hannah-Smith-1536x1026.jpg",1536,1026,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.eventible.com\/learning\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Hannah-Smith-2048x1368.jpg",2048,1368,true],"cheerup-small":["https:\/\/www.eventible.com\/learning\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Hannah-Smith-175x117.jpg",175,117,true],"cheerup-medium":["https:\/\/www.eventible.com\/learning\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Hannah-Smith-450x301.jpg",450,301,true],"cheerup-full":["https:\/\/www.eventible.com\/learning\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Hannah-Smith-1170x782.jpg",1170,782,true],"cheerup-viewport":["https:\/\/www.eventible.com\/learning\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Hannah-Smith-2048x1368.jpg",2048,1368,true],"cheerup-768":["https:\/\/www.eventible.com\/learning\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Hannah-Smith-768x513.jpg",768,513,true],"post-thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.eventible.com\/learning\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Hannah-Smith-270x180.jpg",270,180,true],"profile_24":["https:\/\/www.eventible.com\/learning\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Hannah-Smith-scaled.jpg",24,16,false],"profile_48":["https:\/\/www.eventible.com\/learning\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Hannah-Smith-scaled.jpg",48,32,false],"profile_96":["https:\/\/www.eventible.com\/learning\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Hannah-Smith-scaled.jpg",96,64,false],"profile_150":["https:\/\/www.eventible.com\/learning\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Hannah-Smith-scaled.jpg",150,100,false],"profile_300":["https:\/\/www.eventible.com\/learning\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Hannah-Smith-scaled.jpg",300,201,false]},"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"Ranjana Konatt","author_link":"https:\/\/www.eventible.com\/learning\/author\/ranjana-konatt\/"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":"EVENT SPEAKERS<\/a> MozCon 2022 <\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"I think that remote work, (or hybrid-remote, where some folks are office-based at least some of the time, whilst others are fully remote) is here to stay. I think that\u2019s a great thing, but of course there are operational challenges for companies to navigate.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eventible.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3288"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eventible.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eventible.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eventible.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eventible.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3288"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.eventible.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3288\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eventible.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3297"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eventible.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3288"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eventible.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3288"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eventible.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3288"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}