PERQ’s Felicia Savage shares the early successes of Agile Marketing Indy and the specific changes that have led to the organization growing significantly after a year in operation.

In March 2017, Eva Jackson (PFL, Emplify) kickstarted a series of morning “coffee & conversation” meetings, where marketers in the Indianapolis area could discuss their experiences with Agile — a process improvement methodology typically used by developers and engineers that’s since been leveraged by marketers. For several months, Eva successfully corralled Indy’s brightest, most talented marketers in the wee hours of the morning and allowed them the opportunity to engage in meaningful conversation and the opportunity to take away action items. It was from these meetings that Agile Marketing Indy was born.

Recruiting the expertise of PERQ VP of Marketing, Muhammad Yasin, Eva was able to turn a fun get-together into a full-fledged monthly workshop event similar to the likes of Powderkeg, where featured subject matter experts share their wealth of knowledge as well as their experiences with marketing, process improvement, and tech.

The last time TechPoint spoke with Eva about Agile Marketing Indy, the organization was in its infancy, but it was swiftly growing. A little over a year later, Agile Marketing Indy has evolved into an impressive stakeholder in Indy’s tech and marketing communities, thanks in part to these significant but positive changes that occurred in just the last few months:

  • PERQ’s Muhammad Yasin is officially named co-founder.
    • Since the fruition of Agile Marketing Indy, Muhammad has played an instrumental role in the development and implementation of AMI’s meetings. PERQ was the first meeting spot for AMI’s coffee and conversation meetings, and given the fact that PERQs marketing team was already leveraging agile heavily, it just made sense.
  • Agile Marketing Indy officially became an LLC.
    • Around the one year anniversary of AMI, Eva and Muhammad made the decision to finally make the organization a bona fide LLC. Although still a non-profit, the business aspect made things more official, and it allows Eva and Muhammad to open a bank account (under the organization’s name) and use funds to better improve the experience for event attendees. This means better venues, more prominent speakers and more exposure to the rest of Indianapolis’ marketing and tech communities.
  • Agile Marketing Indy has a board now.
    • Arguably the biggest change that has occurred since Agile Marketing Indy’s development is its brand new board. Realizing how much work they would have ahead of them for future events, Eva and Muhammad decided that it would be a good idea for the organization to have a board consisting of members who could own specific tasks that make the events possible in the first place. On the board, there are two Communications Co-chairs who are primarily in charge of promotions/PR; two Events co-chairs who are responsible for event facilitation; one for Programming and another for Sponsorships. Given the tremendous amount of work that goes into hosting just one event, it only made sense for there to be seasoned veterans to help make the magic happen.

Agile Marketing Indy is an organization that continues to grow like a million unstoppable weeds. It’s kind of an odd analogy, but I feel like it’s accurate. As a Communications co-chair for Agile Marketing Indy, it’s really been interesting to see how the organization has evolved since all these changes have taken place. As the organization continues to learn from attendee feedback and board member contributions, there is no doubt that the event and organization will continue to grow!

Join AMI on Oct 17th for their next meetup at zWorks in Zionsville. Tickets are going fast, so reserve your spot now.