{"id":2592,"date":"2021-01-27T07:00:51","date_gmt":"2021-01-27T07:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thenextweb.com\/?p=1335585"},"modified":"2021-01-27T07:00:51","modified_gmt":"2021-01-27T07:00:51","slug":"what-the-hell-is-a-chief-meeting-designer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/?p=2592","title":{"rendered":"What the hell is a Chief Meeting Designer?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

For those of us in the startup scene, it\u2019s become pretty mundane to deal with all sorts of \u2018wizards\u2019 and \u2018ninjas\u2019 on a daily basis. But despite the onslaught of \u2018quirky\u2019 and \u2018free-thinking\u2019 job titles, I can\u2019t help but to stop every once and again and wonder \u201cwait\u2026 wtf is this person\u2019s job exactly?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s why I got curious when I came across Juraj Holub, the<\/span> Chief Meeting Designer at Slido<\/a>. Was this yet another case of a fluffed-up startup jargon title? What does someone in that role do all day? Are they taken seriously at all? With all of these questions racing around in my head, I reached out to Holub to get to the bottom of this.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now, to be honest, the first idea that came to mind when I heard \u2018Chief Meeting Designer\u2019 was pretty ridiculous. I simply imagined a dude who\u2019d barge into even the lowliest internal company meetings, just to tell people they were doing their quick catch up <\/span>wrong<\/span><\/i> \u2014 then he\u2019d launch into a 20-minute slideshow, presenting in excruciating detail how it should be done.<\/span><\/p>\n

Fortunately for Holub, Slido, and my faith in mankind, my guess was completely off. <\/span><\/p>\n

Why on earth would a startup need a Chief Meeting Designer?<\/b><\/h2>\n

\u201cThe title actually came about because of the mantra we\u2019ve had since the very early days of Slido. Focus on the success of the client and everything else will follow: growth, revenue, and so on,\u201d Holub tells me from his home in Slovakia, where Slido is headquartered.<\/span><\/p>\n

But how does that title relate to client success? Holub explains that Slido is a Q&A and polling platform that helps people to get the most out of events \u2014 and more recently, internal meetings \u2014 by bridging the gap between speakers and their audiences.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/i><\/a>Juraj Holub, Slido\u2019s Chief Meeting Designer, dropping some knowledge.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cSoon enough, we understood that if we really want to grow as a company, we have to really focus on the success of our clients\u2019 events. In other words, the better they implement Slido as part of their conferences, the bigger the exposure, and the better the experience for everyone: audience in the room, event owners, and for us.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

A tool could never improve meetings and conferences on its own. So Holub, who began as a content marketeer in the early days of Slido, started gathering all the lessons they were learning about organizing more engaging sessions with their clients.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI became a sort of the hub of the knowledge for those lessons. I started writing about those best practices, publishing them on the blog, but also working very closely with the clients and advising them before, after, and in between their conferences.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Holub started \u2018living the brand\u2019 by continuously improving Slido\u2019s internal meetings and promoting the company\u2019s core mission of making meetings and conferences better wherever he could \u2014 thereby establishing himself and the company as a thought leader in the space.  <\/span><\/p>\n

Okay, the role makes sense\u2026 but what about the title?<\/b><\/h2>\n

Holub says Slido\u2019s co-founder, Peter Komornik, is the one who deserves the credit for the title. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cPeter believed in this title and the thought leadership strategy from the very, very early days. <\/span>He understood this was an important strategic area for us that we\u2019d need to build if we wanted to succeed \u2014 so we took a leap of faith.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

It seems that leap paid off. After bootstrapping and a few angel investments, Slido is now at 160 employees and Cisco has announced its <\/span>intention to acquire the company<\/span><\/a>. Slido was still just a small operation when Holub first joined, so the importance Komornik put on the thought leadership strategy from the beginning is commendable. <\/span><\/p>\n

Hearing all this, I get why Holub\u2019s role is an essential one\u2026 but<\/span> we still need to understand what \u2018Chief Meeting Designer\u2019 actually means.<\/p>\n

So let\u2019s break down the exact components of the title to get to the bottom of this.<\/span><\/p>\n

What\u2019s up with the \u2018Chief\u2019 in the title?<\/b><\/h2>\n

\u201cI think we cling too much to titles in general. We\u2019re chasing C-level titles, we\u2019re chasing VPs and senior stuff in our titles, but fundamentally I think each one of us should ask what are we passionate about?\u201d says Holub, explaining that he is engaged with all parts of the business, but his title highlights the part which makes him tick.<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s an admirable answer, but I still push him on that it must be nice to be a \u2018chief\u2019 \u2014 I sure as hell wouldn\u2019t mind that title bump.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFrankly speaking, it is nice,\u201d Holub concedes and laughs. \u201cBut what I said still stands.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

What the \u2018Chief\u2019 does convey, in Holub\u2019s mind, is how serious Slido is about this aspect of its strategy. It signals to everyone, both inside and outside the company, that this is a fundamental part of the company\u2019s mission. <\/span><\/p>\n

<\/i><\/a>The Chief moderating an internal meeting.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Meeting\u2026 not events?<\/b><\/h2>\n

Since March 2020, Slido has been improving its product to help corporates to get the most out of their internal meetings, but it started out serving live events \u2014 yet the title has been Chief <\/span>Meeting<\/span><\/i> Designer since the beginning. How come?<\/span><\/p>\n

Holub explains that within the events industry meeting used to work as a generic term to encapture all the use cases for Slido, events, meetups, conferences, and so on. Then eventually internal meetings were added on top of that, but this part of the title has been a blessing.<\/span><\/p>\n

Despite looking like startup jargon at first glance, Holub says the title has worked great as a conversation opener with new corporate clients as people get intrigued about what his role is and there\u2019s clearly a lot of interest now in improving meetings. <\/span><\/p>\n

In that sense, the title has served much better than \u2018VP of Brand\u2019 because instead of just pushing the core ideals of the brand, you live them.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe core of my role is that you get the most out of the time you spend together, whether it\u2019s in person, 3,000 people, conference, or five team members on a call.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Ooh la la, a designer!<\/b><\/h2>\n

Being a \u2018designer\u2019 sure sounds fancy, but Holub and Slido didn\u2019t actually come up with the term \u2018meeting designer.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe person who actually came up with that title was <\/span>Maarten Vanneste<\/span><\/a>, he even established a <\/span>Meeting Design Institue<\/span><\/a>,\u201d Holub explains. \u201cHe coined the term \u2018meeting architect\u2019 \u2014 or \u2018meeting designer\u2019 later on \u2014 and it\u2019s really about putting the user experience first. Just like designers do.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIn this case, the user is a meeting participant or a conference-goer. So just like if you\u2019re building an application around great user experience, you want to create a great meeting around the participants \u2014 that\u2019s where the connection lies.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

But is the role here to stay?<\/b><\/h2>\n

\u201cI certainly hope so!\u201d Holub chuckles. \u201cBut as I said, meetings will always be important to us as a company. We will always need to have someone to capture insights on how to improve them and own that knowledge internally \u2014 but also spread it externally.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Finally, Holub encourages startups not to be afraid of unconventional job titles if it reflects the core mission of the brand.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cVery often the potential of turning employees into brand ambassadors and evangelists remains untapped. Successful companies really live and breathe their product and what they believe in.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Got any weird jargon job titles at your startup that actually kinda make sense? Let us know at [email protected]<\/span><\/a>!<\/em><\/p>\n

Published January 27, 2021 \u2014 07:00 UTC <\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For those of us in the startup scene, it\u2019s become pretty mundane to deal with all sorts of \u2018wizards\u2019 and \u2018ninjas\u2019 on a daily basis. But despite the onslaught of \u2018quirky\u2019 and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2593,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2592"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2592"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2592\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2593"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2592"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}