Presentation:

Companies develop a set of guiding principles to help define the type of work culture they want to create. One of Tentcraft’s guiding principles is “Fun & A Little Weirdness.” That provides a window into Tentcraft’s unique culture that also includes a call for “Humility” and “Hard Work.” In order to deliver the type of creative, high quality, customer-focused solutions Tentcraft wants to provide for customers, they acknowledge the importance of hiring “A” players and making sure they’re a good culture fit. Their goal is also to “Create a Great Place to Work” for their team members to stay engaged and motivated.

In this presentation, CEO Matt Bulloch will share some of the practices Tentcraft has put into place to hire and retain top talent and create a work environment that supports and reflects their guiding principles. He’ll highlight some of the things they have done to help grow the company from a small, two-person offshoot of Britten Banners to their own company serving North America with over 100 employees and projected revenues of $20 million by 2020.

Matt Bulloch, President and Co-founder of TentCraft

Matt manages all aspects of TentCraft, a rapidly growing global advertising company in Traverse City with over 100 employees manufacturing custom-branded tents used for outdoor promotions for companies. In his role, he is responsible for developing and executing overall business strategy targeting experiential and event marketing agencies, consumer products, colleges and the Government. TentCraft and its sister company Gemba Marketing now have a client list that includes companies like Home Depot and JC Penney and several popular celebrities.

Prior to his position at TentCraft, Matt held positions at Apple, inc, as an intern, as a Wall Street Analyst for a Private Fund group, a Firefighter for the United States Forest Service and served in the Army National Guard.

Matt was selected as a 40 Under 40 recipient as one of the regions most influential professionals under 40 in 2017 by the Traverse City Business News. Matt is married to his lovely wife Kelly and they have three children.

Featured Book:

2 Second Lean by Paul Akers

Tentcraft has credited Akers book with helping to shape its current culture. The book helps companies find ways of growing and empowering their team members by giving them simple tools they can use to take ownership of improving something in their own work environment every day. Unlike many other books that discuss the more technical and complex side of lean, 2 Second Lean takes an approach that makes it into a process that is simple and fun and that empowers and grows team members. Akers suggests that the reader not set a goal of implementing lean in their organization, but instead, to start with the intention of creating a culture of “world class problem solvers.” His focus is on developing people not processes although process improvement is definitely a focus. One of his recommendations is for a team to “just start a daily meeting” where they discuss how to spot the eight deadly wastes and how to make improvements. This approach has resulted in Akers’ company, Fastcap, to be much more successful and profitable than similar sized companies (and without employee overtime!). He also recommends that team members film their improvements with their phones and post them which results in a high level of employee engagement and enables everyone in the organization to see improvements immediately. Contrary to other improvement initiatives with a high failure rate, Akers has seen a much higher level of sustainability using the process he recommends.

Akers does not believe in charging people to share what they’ve learned. His book is available online for free in pdf, audiobook, and multiple languages on his website. Here’s another site with all sorts of resources and sample 2 Second Lean videos.

Schedule

11:00am – Doors Open // Sponsor Expo // Networking

11:20-11:45 – Lunch Buffet Open Networking Continues

11:45-12:50 – Welcome, Featured Presentation

12:50-1PM – Q & A and Wrap-up

NOTE: No Refunds on orders, but you can make attendee substitutions if you create an Eventbrite account. 

Bulloch