Today at SEER we started doing something we’ve never attempted before.
Knowledge Bombs. 
What the heck are "Knowledge Bombs"?
Before getting into the “definition” I’ll start with where we even got the idea. It came from our President, Crystal O’Neill who initially heard about it being an extremely successful method of uniting departments in a more creative fashion. She and Wil had been invited to Google with 8 other agencies and Jim Price from Empower Media Marketing shared it. All in all, the end goal is to encourage cross-team conversation, collaboration, and education. What better way to gain knowledge than to learn from the people that you pass by in the hall (but may not work hand-in-hand with) everyday?
As the name aptly describes, we took 1 hour out of our Friday to run around the #searchchurch for rapid-fire 20 minute sessions dispersed throughout the office (to give you a mental picture: think back to high school, running to class trying to make it before the bell rang.) We were presented with a host of information on specific topics that were relevant to SEER in some way, shape, or form.
Why do this, you ask?
Because we’re “hacker / tinkerer” types. That’s why. The process of allowing a culture to develop and grow means that hackathons aren’t just for building code, but can also be helpful in building a culture too.
We saw it as a great opportunity to allow people from different divisions to work together when they normally wouldn’t. Team members who may work in SEO, PPC, Analytics, Sales, Marketing, etc. could leverage the proficiencies of others and learn something new. We have many people who come from unique backgrounds (teaching, writing, sales, you name it), and we wanted to give them the chance to share their skills with people in an informal and fun (yet educational) way.
But wait! It wasn’t all about web marketing and search either. Topics were covered such as how to how to pitch from Wil Reynolds, Emma Still showed us hacks to save time in Gmail, Steve Copus described the importance of effective questioning, Lana Cooper provided brainstorming ideas for content, Ethan Lyon explained how to learn about audiences and find contact gaps, David Hur talked how to quality assure a website, and Harris Neifield went into detail about a common question: how to ask for money. These are only a few, and the list of topics will continue to grow as we dive further into our knowledge bomb sessions.
It’s all about culture
At SEER we put a huge focus on our people and our culture. Knowledge Bombs gave team members the opportunity to share their knowledge and experiences with others in a collaborative format. This helped in building new skills, hone and even broaden productivity, and just pick up a little something new they may not have known before.
So what did we learn?
It’s only been a couple of hours since our first knowledge bombs concluded and we’ve already been hearing how much our team gained from them. Rest assured, our next ones are in the works.
Make sure to check out the pictures from today on Facebook!
