August has come to an end, and so has summer! We wrapped it up on an excellent note - flew to Moscow for the AGIMA Partners’ Weekend’23 conference. The event took place on the 24th and 25th of August in what was once the capital's most "delicious" spot – "Red October".
We were promised presentations from top digital practitioners, valuable insights from major market players, case studies for business development, and informal chats post-lectures. And you know what... They delivered.
IT conferences are unique tools for professional and personal growth. They provide knowledge and inspiration, as well as networking opportunities. We not only had a great time with a like-minded community, but also partnered with several agencies.
Sharing feedback and takes from our insiders who attended the APW 2023 meeting.
Vyacheslav Egorov, CEO of Mediaten
In 3 days, we got acquainted with many directors. We brainstormed with them and realized that we're all in the same boat. 27 warm leads and intensive negotiations with a view to future cooperation.
The APW event once again confirmed that the problems are identical for everyone: from small digital agencies to IT market giants. During our interactions with the leaders, we realized that the main difficulties are related to staff, clients, and company development. This is why I found the presentations by AGIMA's founder Alexander Bogdanov, "Business Diversification of a Studio" and "10 Leaders Instead of One", to be most useful.
In the first lecture, Alexander demystifies the somewhat complex concept of "diversification" in simple terms. It's mind-blowing! He makes it clear that one shouldn't put "all eggs" in one basket, i.e., one direction. One needs to move, experiment, and emulate a particular situation.
The second case reveals why and how to scale top management in a company. This is the very reason one should attend such events. Alexander directly talked about what not to do to avoid the mistakes they made during their growth phase.
I'd also like to highlight the topic "Expansion in Clients through Marketing Tools and Cold Sales" by Vitaliy Doschenko, New Business Director of AGIMA. It's that case when you build a sales department, do it twice, and shut it down because it "doesn't work". And then Vitaliy steps in and structures the entire sales process, research, metrics. He lays out all the secrets of success to you.
We truly had a productive few days. I was also pleased with the brand recognition of MediaTen among colleagues. It gave us confidence that we are moving in the right direction, as representatives from not just Yekaterinburg but all over Russia recognize us.
Anastasia Vikhareva, Deputy CEO Mediaten
A wonderful community of like-minded individuals. Once again, I realized the importance of promoting all of the company's top players rather than focusing solely on one leader.
For me, Alexander Bogdanov's thoughts became an interesting takeaway. He emphasized that one of the problems of many companies (including ours) is that everyone knows only one person. And that is usually the owner or founder.
However, it's essential to promote all the top members of the team, as it covers a broader audience with potential clients. Often, people associate a company with its team members. They remember them better than the brand itself.
Top managers should be introduced to the entire market. They should be speaking, writing, traveling, networking, etc. Each of them should create a relevant and resonating circle around themselves. This leads to the second takeaway - we should not "boast" about how great it is to work at our company, but rather how amazing the specialists we already have are. It's an excellent tag for the company's leadership and overall strategy, which we are already trying to implement.
Dmitry Kuzbozhev, IT director of Mediaten
For me, the most valuable were the presentations on development management. After listening to them, you realize that you need to implement your plans sooner since they have already been tested and work successfully for our peers.
Andrey Nepryakhin's 'Business Approach to Development Management' and Vitaly Chesnokov's 'Forming a Pipeline of Affordable Specialists' are two topics that led me to useful conclusions for our company.
Andrey, the director of the AGIMA development department, gave an excellent presentation revealing all aspects of the internal arrangement of processes. He explained the organization of each department, how it's divided, and how interactions occur between all parts of the complex development mechanism. Key aspects such as employee motivation and in-depth calculation of KPIs with real examples were also addressed.
Vitaly's lecture, CEO of QSOFT, is that moment when you listen to a case study and realize that some of the processes already implemented in your organization, which were found through trial and error, are used by others. And they work not only in one or two companies but in quite large organizations. This fact suggests we are moving in the right direction.
In addition to what was mentioned, approaches that are currently in our thoughts but have not yet been implemented were discussed. This gives an impetus to actions and further development.
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We thank the organizers of AGIMA Partners’ Weekend’23 for a truly vibrant event. Thanks for the interesting case studies from speakers, recommendations from colleagues, and new acquaintances. As a result, we have an endless number of useful tools and fresh ideas. We're already actively discussing them, looking to implement them soon in practice. See you at the eighth APW 2024 conference!
