Melbourne’s strategy community gathers for inaugural Neighbourhood Strat Chats event

Over 45 of Melbourne’s strategy and marketing community gathered this morning for the first ever ‘Neighbourhood Strat Chats’ event in South Yarra.

Neighbourhood Strat Chats, a free and open community of individuals with a strategy background, is an initiative from Neighbourhood Strategy’s founder and CSO Jacqueline Witts.

Says Witts: “Strategy can sometimes be a bit of a lonely pursuit, and I wanted to connect with and connect up other strategists.  I put a small post on LinkedIn a month ago, thinking I’d get six or eight interested for a coffee, and was blown away at the response.  We’re already over 110 members in the group.”

This morning’s event saw the official launch of the community, and an address from Witts who shared her experiences as a strategist: “We are thrilled with the turn out this morning, and clearly there is a network of passionate, energised strategists who are hungry to share.  Generosity is clearly at the heart of this community.”

Clemenger strategy partner Mike Ronkoske shared his perspectives on the power of culture to influence behaviour at scale: “Culture is the operating system for everyday life…and fame is the most contagious fuel to accelerate the cultural change.”

The group is planning future events to foster greater connection between strategists and seeks to raise the value of strategy in business and creative.

Says Witts: “We asked our community when the last time they had a satisfying strategic chat and over 46% stated it had ’been a while’.  That broke my heart, but equally it validated why so many people are raising their hand to be involved.  I’m really excited for the next event, which we hope will be a Sydney based one.”

Neighbourhood Strategy is an independent collective of experienced strategists specialising in brand strategy, research and marketing team support.