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‘We always call ourselves the Baird family, and treating everyone in that way — especially at our annual meeting and recurring events, which are celebrations of our culture and our successes — is very important.’
Staying on Message Robert W. Baird & Co.’s culture emphasizes transparency, shared destiny, and celebration — values that are made part of its annual meeting. In addition, each year’s annual report theme — this year, it’s ‘Staying True’ — is communicated throughout the conference.
“We always follow the main company culture guidelines,” Woelfel said, “and they flow into all the work that we do.” First and foremost, Baird is looking for seam-
Ann Woelfel, CMP
‘We always follow the main company cul- ture guidelines, and they flow into all the work that we do.’
less and flawless execution of its meetings, which begins with understanding the core objectives of the program — and that in turn means working with internal stakeholders to determine ahead of time what those might be. From that point forward, it’s all about getting the details right, to create the ideal Baird experience. “That means thinking about creating the essence of our culture in every step of the process,” Woelfel said, “from the first pieces of correspondence until [the attendees] are back on the plane on the way home.” Baird’s annual meeting takes place in Milwau-
kee, alternating years as its own freestanding, 700-attendee event that’s webcast live to all of Baird’s U.S. branch locations and as a co-location with a private wealth-management symposium. To get company culture just right — with its emphasis on transparency, shared destiny, and celebration
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— Woelfel and her meetings team work closely with a variety of internal departments, the marketing group chief among them, “to create concepts that embody the Baird story.” Each year the company’s annual report has a theme that also is carried over to the annual meeting. This year’s theme is “Stay- ing True” — and, Woelfel noted, “We want them to feel that theme throughout the conference.” Because Baird has been identified as a Best
Company to Work For, it may come as no surprise that making its employees feel valued is key. “We always call ourselves the Baird family,” Woelfel said, “and treating everyone in that way — espe- cially at our annual meeting and at recurring events, which are celebrations of our culture and our successes — is very important.”
THEY INVOLVE THEIR BIG NAMES Kati Quigley, CMP, is the senior director of world- wide partner group marketing for one of the big- gest companies in the world: Microsoft. (She’s also a former chair of the PCMA Board of Directors.)