We Call It Community

Hi everyone.

I decided for this week’s video to be an excerpt of my remarks that I plan to make at our TGB Meet JPM reception.

I’m actually recording this before the reception, just so you know.

Although over a hundred people will be there, that only represents about an eighth of our community, so I want everyone to be able to hear this.

I’m so incredibly grateful to be here with all of you, especially amid everything happening in the world, sending healing thoughts to our neighbors in Southern California.

But wow. Look at how far we’ve come in a year. Look at the energy here. I get asked all the time, what do you mean by community?

This is what we call community, the joy of seeing old friends, the excitement of making new ones. Because you know that when you enter a T two B space, whether in person link this one or virtually, you know, you’re among your people. How tonight came to be represents the best of our community.

Our reception at last year’s JPM was our very first in person event.

Ever. One of my industry communicator friends who wasn’t even able to come, was telling everyone he knew that they should come.

It turns out that that friend was a former colleague of Heather Pierce at Fleischman Hillard.

She showed up to the funky Chinatown Art Gallery where we were last year, and by the time she was headed out the door, she made sure to tell me that her office was right around the corner.

As many of you know, T two B is converting to a freemium model to help support our growth and sustainability.

We hope that pro membership will become a standard benefit that employers offer for comms teams across our industry.

After a lot of experimentation last year, we’ve solidified our 2025 programming into three main areas, building connections, knowledge sharing, and strategic learning.

One of our first programs this year is our peer learning practicum, which is our peer coaching group program that opens for enrollment this Wednesday. This was one of our most popular offerings last year because it created a space for real talk and for new relationships to form and flourish, including for senior folks like most everyone who will be in attendance at the reception.

We have an amazing set of volunteers leading the cohorts this year, and getting a spot in a peer coaching group is guaranteed if you’re a T two B Pro member.

So I hope you’ll will all consider going pro, joining the peer learning practicum, and importantly, advancing our profession and our collective impact.

Thank you again for being here and for believing in our mission and what we can do together.

Let’s go 2025.