Lessons Learned

March 11, 2021
in Above and Beyond, Lessons Learned, TaylorMade Best Practices

Account Manager, Marianne Johnson, shares valuable guidelines for setting yourself up for success in your workspace. One of our TME mantras is presentation is everything.  Whether meeting with a client or attending a special event, arriving on location as your most poised and professional self has always conveyed an important message.  Despite the shift to virtual meetings and events over the past year, this basic concept still holds true.  After all, Room Raters isn’t just a popular Twitter account - it has inspired a new national pastime, evaluating and critiquing work-from-home...

February 11, 2021
in Culture, Lessons Learned, TaylorMade Best Practices

TME's VP of Talent Acquisition, Jen McNulty, shares key expectations you should have in place when introducing a new manager to your team.  Our Talent Acquisition services have grown and we are here to help you and your team achieve your goals!  There are many ways to ensure the successful onboarding of a new manager, our VP of Talent Acquisition, Jen McNulty, shares five key expectations to set when acclimating a new hire to their position.  1)   Over-communicate. Starting a leadership role within a new organization can be nerve-wracking for you and your...

June 1, 2020
in Lessons Learned, Social Media, The TME Team, Tips for Nonprofit Fundraising

My name is Marianne Johnson and I am an Account Manager at TaylorMade Experience. Two weeks ago I ran the most miles and raised the most money I ever have, all while in quarantine. During the initial COVID-19 pandemic stay-at-home orders, I created a bit of a routine for myself with a run marking my transition from day-time leggings to night-time leggings. While running provided peace of mind during this period of unknown, I wanted to run with more of a purpose. I signed up for A Wider Circle's Race To...

June 21, 2019
in Above and Beyond, Lessons Learned, TaylorMade Best Practices, The TME Team

How Understanding Our DiSC Profiles Strengthens the TME Team Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses, and we all know that playing to our strengths tends to produce superior results. As an organization, we began to wonder how we could best discover each team member’s strengths and how we could leverage them to better serve our clients. By examining more about what makes each of us tick, could we create an environment where each one of us could flourish? And how could we formulate our teams and assign accounts so that each...

December 29, 2015
in Culture, Lessons Learned, The TME Team

As we say goodbye to 2015 and welcome in the New Year, we love to take this time to acknowledge and appreciate everything we have in our lives. The sentiment of giving thanks is very important to us, and it’s something that we’ve made a cornerstone of TaylorMade Experience. In fact, we do a bunch of things to express gratitude throughout the year, including: We bring treats to meetings to surprise our clients with something sweet! We always send handwritten thank-you notes and a thank-you gift following a big project...

August 20, 2015
in Events, Lessons Learned, TaylorMade Best Practices

Whether you’re a corporation or a non-profit organization, annual events are a key component to your company’s success. Before we dive into the importance of why you need to have annual events, let’s talk about the why they need to happen annually. While we understand an event takes time, energy, and resources, it is vital to have one at least once a year—especially for non-profits. Here’s why: You want to stay in front of your customers and donors.  If you hold bi-annual events, you run the risk of donors or customers forgetting...

July 8, 2015
in Lessons Learned

Golden Rolodex: noun A magical list of names that results in immediate and large donations to your cause. See also: gold-filled pots at the end of rainbows and geese that lay golden eggs. First, the bad news: I am very sorry, but it’s true. The Golden Rolodex is a myth. During our years managing the fundraising process and conducting outreach on behalf of our nonprofit clients, we have yet to meet anyone who has a list of names they can call and immediately gather millions of dollars in pledges. Now, the good...

March 13, 2015
in Events, Lessons Learned

Planning red carpet events usually comes with an extra level of stress. Since you are working with VIPs and celebrities your job ends up seeming like a very precarious balancing act, trying to keep things orderly, flowing and on time. We know it's not easy so we came up with some tips to keep in mind. 1. Make two separate lines. The key is to keep the red carpet clear and free. Make a separate line for non-VIPs to go directly into the rest of the event. This way photographers and media can...

September 17, 2014
in Culture, Lessons Learned, TaylorMade Best Practices

The summer sadly has come to an end; all of us are back into our routines. Regardless of whether or not you have kids, you were once a kid. The practice, preparation, and simultaneous joy and anticipation associated with back to school can be translated into the following lessons that can be applied at work, both within corporations and nonprofit organizations. Jump back in with both feet – All major cities tend to have a lull in the summer; business slows and vacations are in full effect. Just like being a...

August 11, 2014
in Events, Lessons Learned, TaylorMade Best Practices

Are you getting a lackluster performance out of your board or event committee? Are you not producing the results you had desired? Are you rallying the teams and just not getting anyone to bite? We feel your pain! Effective boards and event committees are essential in creating outreach lists for invitations, sponsorships, and cultivating new donors, so their lack of involvement can be a significant problem to your bottom line. Whether your board or event committee is uninvolved, hard to engage and excite, or just totally unresponsive, there are several ways...