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9.19.2019 Austin, TX

Mighty Big Day

A Conference for Impact Marketing​

About the Conference

The Mighty Big Day is for mission-focused communicators who want to change the world.

Our 2019 Mighty Big Day Conference, held in Austin, TX, was a day of collaboration, education, and inspiration. Communications professionals from associations, universities, and nonprofits joined together to bolster their impact marketing and create their 2020 communications plan.

Check out the key takeaways from the 2019 Mighty Big Day.

“I’m excited to take this day to learn, strategize, and connect with fellow mission-driven marketers. It will be so valuable to step away from the day-to-day hustle, think big, and get creative.”
Tom Greer, Director of Communications
Texas Association of School Business Officials

Speakers & Agenda

On the Mighty Big Day, attendees heard from the experts at Mighty Citizen, communication pros from every mission-driven industry, and our keynote speaker, Rachel Muir.

  • Nick Weynand

    Nick is the CEO and Founder of Mighty Citizen. His drive and curiosity have fueled the transformation of Mighty Citizen from a humble beginning (when Nick was still an undergrad) to, now, one of the fastest-growing, most admired digital and branding agencies in Texas. Nick has overseen the strategy, design, and development of more than 600 projects—from small “brochure” websites to multi-million dollar integrated campaigns (and everything in between). Admired for his commitment to his clients’ success and sharp insights into business development and entrepreneurship, Nick is often tapped to share his hard-earned wisdom across the industry.

    Nick Weynand

  • Rachel Muir

    When she was just 26 years old, Rachel Muir founded Girlstart, a non-profit organization dedicated to empowering girls in math, science, engineering and technology. She was told as a child that girls are not good at math and science. One day, a major light bulb went off over her head and she decided to do something. She jumped in and started Girlstart in the living room of her apartment with $500 and a credit card. Several years later she had raised over 10 million dollars and was featured on Oprah, CNN, and the Today show. She veered away from the typical ED or CEO titles, and her business cards said, Rachel Muir, Girlstart, Fearless Leader.

    A winner of Oprah Winfrey’s Use Your Life award, Rachel is a three time finalist for Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year Award, was named “Outstanding Fundraising Executive of the Year” by the Association of Fundraising Professionals, and one of Fast Company Magazines “Fast 50″ Champions of Innovation.

    When Rachel finally came up for breath, she took a second look at a guy named Mark she grew up with (Mark’s and Rachel’s mothers went to the OB-gyns together). After knowing each other for only 33 years, they married. They have twin eleven year olds. She is a major planner, so one is a girl and one is a boy.

    Rachel has been featured in CosmoGIRL!, Texas Monthly, Glamour, and The Dallas Morning News, and most recently Fundraising Success Magazine. Her career includes leading an online fundraising consulting practice for a major software company and managing major gift portfolios for some of the country’s largest and most successful nonprofits. Rachel is a sought after fundraising speaker and keynote. In addition she leads retreats and custom trainings to transform people into confident, successful fundraisers.

    She has served on numerous boards and has the T-shirts to prove it.

    Rachel would one day like to have Michelle Obama’s arms, Kristin Wiig’s sense of humor and the nerve to say some of the absolutely astounding remarks that come out of Amy Schumer’s mouth.

    Rachel Muir

  • Rachel Clemens

    Rachel builds things. First, she built a career as a designer - working for some of the most recognizable names in advertising, including stints in London and Australia. Then, she returned to Austin, Texas and built Creative Suitcase - her own strategic communications firm.

    Over the next 11 years, Creative Suitcase helped organizations like United Way, Habitat for Humanity, The University of Texas, and countless others, raise money and awareness to improve their communities. In late 2016, Creative Suitcase merged with TradeMark Media, and together they became Mighty Citizen.

    As the Chief Marketing Officer, Rachel splits her days between promoting Mighty Citizen’s digital and marketing services and working directly with nonprofit clients on their branding, marketing, and campaigns. She is also a frequent speaker at local and national conferences and events.


    Rachel Clemens

  • Mike Steckel

    Mike can’t stop thinking. As User Experience (UX) Director, Mike oversees a team of information architects and online marketers who’re trying every day to build effective solutions for our clients. He’s involved at every stage of our projects—from the early days of discovery and research, through content strategy, and eventually to launch and testing.

    Mike’s a relentless examiner: Why this way instead of that way? How can we make this better? Who said we have to follow the rules?

    With extensive experience in all elements of UX design—including many years working for giants like National Instruments—Mike is one of the thinkers (and tireless doers) that Mighty Citizen runs on.

    When he’s not obsessing over a wireframe, content matrix, or user survey script, Mike enjoys reading, watching his three sons play soccer and music, cycling around his home in central Austin, and talking music of all kinds. (Don’t get him started on Radiohead.)

    Mike Steckel

  • Caroline Fothergill

    Caroline connects the dots. Starting in college, she worked with nonprofits of all sizes, spanning many issue areas, in search of an organization that spoke to her above all others. She found that she was equally invested in all of them. She also found that many of these organizations had something in common: Their marketing efforts didn’t do their work justice.

    After hopping across the pond to Dublin to receive her master’s in marketing (and a certificate for pouring the perfect pint of Guinness), Caroline returned to Austin and joined the Mighty Citizen crew.

    Here, she splits her time between traditional and digital marketing: creating content one day and tracking the results the next. For Caroline, it’s all about making sure the pieces of a client’s marketing strategy fit together and deliver.

    Caroline Fothergill

  • Andrew Buck

    Andrew writes. He writes copy. He writes taglines and headlines and titles. He writes messaging platforms. He writes surveys. He writes marketing strategies. (And he writes staff bios.)

    From an early age, Andrew has been obsessed with words—considering a mastery of language key to mastery of thought.

    That’s why he studied English and Communications at The University of Texas before beginning a long career in the world of nonprofit marketing and fundraising. Eventually, he combined his love of words with his love of performance to become a software trainer, traveling the country teaching fundraisers how to better manage their data.

    At Mighty Citizen, Andrew plays a dual role: helping craft our own marketing content and partnering with our clients on a variety of content projects—including research, messaging, strategizing, branding, and content governance.

    Outside of work, you can usually find Andrew performing improv at one of Austin’s many improv theaters. (Or reading. Always reading.)

    Andrew Buck

  • Rose Grandon

    A dedicated and collaborative team member, Grandon eagerly dives into executing brand building strategies, content creation, segmented marketing and social media efforts. Currently, Grandon serves as the Marketing Manager for the Texas Association of School Business Officials (TASBO), a state association with 7,000 members. There, she strategizes and markets more than 300 annual events, executed a rebrand of the annual and summer conference, and just wrapped up a complete website redesign project. She previously served as Marketing and Communications Director of the Texas Association for the Gifted & Talented (TAGT).

    Grandon is an active member and volunteer of the Texas Society of Association Executives (TSAE), where she has served on the Tech Talks Task Force (including Chair in 2017), on the magazine committee, as a conference ambassador and participated in Leadership TSAE. In September 2016 she received the TSAE Young Professional Leadership Award and in December 2018 earned her Certified Association Executive (CAE) credential through ASAE.


    Rose Grandon

  • Kami Geoffray

    Kami Geoffray joined the Women’s Health and Family Planning Association of Texas in 2016 and has served as its Chief Executive Officer since January 2017. Kami has a passion for improving the delivery of health and social services to vulnerable populations and has worked at non-profit and government organizations, on both the state and national level—most recently at the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC). Kami received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Rice University and her Juris Doctor degree from Tulane Law School.

    Kami Geoffray

  • Caroline Kazmierski

    Caroline serves as the Director of Marketing Communications at the Ed-Fi Alliance, where she is using her unique skill set to transform K-12 education through the use of data.

    Caroline has a track record of doing three things really well:

    1. Translating difficult concepts into relatable, digestible information
    2. Reaching people where they are and bringing them together
    3. Seeing the big picture and matching an organization’s vision with big goals

    Before joining the Ed-Fi Alliance, Caroline led communications and PR work at the Semiconductor Industry Association, Red Hat, the North Carolina Technology Association and for a Member of the United States Congress. Caroline graduated from Baylor University with a degree in Communications and Political Science.

    Caroline Kazmierski

  • Trevor Delling

    Trevor Delling is the Director of Marketing for the American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP), where he is responsible for association-wide marketing and promotional strategy, brand strength and positioning, creative direction and media production.

    Trevor has more than a decade of experience in nonprofit healthcare membership associations—spending years with the Texas Medical Association prior to his time with AANP. In such a niche space with a laser-defined audience, Trevor has become an expert in understanding potential members, targeting these specific groups and tailoring messages that speak directly to their complex needs.

    Trevor is originally from Buffalo, NY and still enjoys playing hockey—yes, there’s hockey in Austin! Trevor is also an accomplished bass player, dog lover and aspiring world traveler.

    Trevor Delling

Schedule
Session TitleTime
Meet & Greet—Breakfast Provided8:15am

Speaker

Nick Weynand

Time

8:45am

Details

Mighty Citizen’s Founder and CEO, Nick Weynand, will welcome you (and 100 of your professional peers) to the inaugural Mighty Big Day—giving you a glimpse into why we’re hosting this event and what’s to come.

Opening Remarks & Welcome
8:45am

Speaker

Rachel Muir

Time

9:00am

Details

Each of us has the power to impact someone’s life. We do it every day—usually without even realizing it. What happens when we decide to expand our impact? Join us for an engaging and inspiring talk celebrating individual impact, with our keynote speaker Rachel Muir, winner of Oprah’s “Use Your Life Award” and founder of the nonprofit organization Girlstart.

Keynote: From a Maxed-out Visa to Oprah: An Extraordinary Tale of an Ordinary Woman’s Decision to Change the World
9:00am

Speaker

Rachel Clemens

Time

9:45am

Details

Rachel Clemens, CMO at Mighty Citizen, will guide you through outlining next year’s communications plan for your organization. We’ll focus on the goals, tasks, processes, and channels that will make a measurable difference. Using a custom “workbook,” you’ll begin making decisions about what, precisely, you’ll need to do in 2020 to ensure a banner year.

Building Your 2020 Communications Plan
9:45am
Break10:30am

Speaker

Caroline Fothergill, Trevor Delling, Rose Grandon, Kami Geoffray, Caroline Kazmierski

Time

10:45am

Details

This moderated panel discussion will feature 3-4 leaders in the mission-oriented space who will share how they gleaned insights into their audiences. We’ll explore how to gain a deeper understanding of the people you’re trying to reach—including conducting user research, ensuring you communicate to each audience uniquely, and letting your picture of your audiences evolve over time.

Understanding Your Audiences’ Preferences and Perceptions
10:45am

Speaker

Rachel Clemens

Time

11:30am

Details

We’ll take a few moments to check back in on our 2020 Communications Plan, focusing specifically on how you’ll define your audiences and user personas.

Your 2020 Communications Plan: Audiences & User Research
11:30am
Lunch & Announcement of the Winner of the Mighty Big Grant11:45am

Speaker

Andrew Buck

Time

12:45pm

Details

Regardless of your role at your organization, creating high-quality content is part of your job now—and one of the surest ways to engage new people and convince them to give, join, donate, serve, etc. But how to do it?

In this practical session, we’ll look at how your organization can more consistently create engaging content. It’s easier than you think with a few best practices in place.

You’re a Publisher Now: How to Foster a Culture of Content
12:45pm

Speaker

Rachel Clemens

Time

1:30pm

Details

Let’s check back in on your growing 2020 Communications Plan, focusing this time on content goals, needs, and processes.

Your 2020 Communications Plan: Content
1:30pm
Break1:45pm

Speaker

Mike Steckel

Time

2:00pm

Details

Your website is holding you back.

It may suffer from cognitive load, a phrase used to describe an overabundance of information. Or maybe your donation form/membership sign-up isn’t optimized, making it difficult to move through. It could even be that you just haven’t given your audience enough reasons to care.

In this session, we’ll explore what makes for a successful mission-oriented website, from content to user flow to thank-you pages.

Anatomy of a Mission-Driven Website
2:00pm

Speaker

Rachel Clemens

Time

2:45pm

Details

It’s time to wrap up this initial phase of your 2020 communications plan by (a) making decisions about necessary website improvements, and (b) putting the finishing touches on your goals and processes. You’ll leave Mighty Big Day with a jumpstart on your planning, armed with new tactics and insights to make it thrive.

Your 2020 Communications Plan: Website & Final Plans
2:45pm

Speaker

Andrew Buck

Time

3:15pm

Details

Your brain is a trickster. It leads you wherever it pleases—while you remain completely unaware of its true motivations.

But now, thanks to advances in psychology, we professional communicators can recognize our brains’ habits—and make them work for us.

In this entertaining, interactive, example-filled workshop, we’ll explore our minds’ most surprising tendencies. And then we’ll explore how they intersect with your website, marketing materials, and overall brand strategy.

Hack the Mind: Using Psychology to Engage Your Users
3:15pm
Happy Hour at Friends & Allies and Austin Eastciders4:00pm

Location

Our 2019 Mighty Big Day was held at Springdale Station, a venue comprised of two historic train station buildings married together with a beautiful glass enclosure here in Austin, TX.

Address

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“It’s so important for marketers and communicators in social good industries to get together, learn, share what’s working, and push each other to try new things. I can’t wait for the Mighty Big Day!”
Kami Geoffray, CEO
Women’s Health and Family Planning Association of Texas

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