Midlands Spotlight: Danielle Shaw, Events and Conference Manager
1. What made you want to be a marketer?
I studied English & Creative Writing at university because I liked it and I was good at it, not because I had any specific career goals - which made finding a career after graduation challenging! I figured out with some trial and error that marketing was a great fit for my skills, and it meant I could flex my creative muscles. 8 years later, I’m still really happy to have found my way into a career in marketing.
2. What excites you most about marketing?
I love that I’m not constrained to a particular industry and I can learn about a huge variety of markets and topics. If I decide an industry isn’t for me, I can move on without completely overhauling my career or re-training. I also love how fast marketing changes - there’s always more to learn and do.
3. What has been your favourite project you've worked on/a highlight from your career in marketing?
I helped develop a concept for a new product, design the branding, build the website, and launch the product. Seeing something I helped create through the whole life cycle was not only interesting but also really fulfilling. It was also hugely educational - it’s so important to understand your product back to front, and the audience who need it before you start trying to market it!
4. What would your advice be for fellow marketers?
Take advantage of the variety that marketing offers - you can go from working on an email campaign to a social media post to writing a design brief. All of those things need different skills and I’ve always done my best work when I can combine the knowledge and skills I’ve learned during my career so far.
5. Over the next 2-3 years, what developments in marketing are you looking forward to the most?
We’re entering an era where being greener/ more sustainable and more transparent about how we gather and use people’s data is really important. I’m hopeful both as a marketer and a consumer that businesses will understand how important these things are, and start reflecting them in their business practices and policies so we can all do our work in an ethical way.
About the Author
After graduating in 2016 with a BA in Creative Writing, I fell into a career in events marketing thanks to a university internship programme. Since then, I've worked in various roles across the industry, helping promote and manage events of every size, in person and online, across the UK and internationally. In 2022 I joined Stantec, an international engineering, architecture, and environmental consultancy, and work within the marketing team where I lead the events strategy for the UK and Ireland.
My day-to-day focuses on planning and attending various conferences and events across the water, transport, energy, buildings, and community development spaces.
I am passionate about the power of events and as an Events Ambassador for the Midland Regional Committee I'll be using my everyday skills to put together an exciting programme of events for marketers across the Midlands region.