Upcoming McKinney Workshop To Focus On Customer Experience

MCKINNEY, TX — (From Municipal Voice) Large and small companies, entrepreneurs, professionals and anyone interested in improving the customer experience can find innovative ways to understand and deepen their connection to the customer by attending an upcoming two-day workshop, set for Nov. 14-15 in downtown McKinney.

Led by two seasoned professionals in the field of customer experience, the two-day workshop provides practical, easy-to-implement methods of creating a stronger link with customers through classroom learning, interactive exercises, and a field based, immersion experience where the principles learned in the classroom are put into practice.

Called “Passport to Discovery: Customer Experience Through Cultural Immersion,” the workshop takes participants through a unique three-step process that results in a deeper, context-based view of the customer.

The first step is called Passport Essentials, providing a baseline for understanding the interaction from the perspective of anthropology and design thinking.

“The initial phase is an overview that includes the culture concept, the importance of building empathy for the customer, and the social context of the customer,” says Donna M. Romeo, PhD, Principal of Romeo Anthropological Consulting, LLC. “The combination of class discussion with team exercises allows for immediate practice of the concepts we introduce.”

Phase two is called Voyager Hands-on Cultural Immersion, where participants go “into the field” to investigate specific cultural contexts—where people live, work, play, socialize, and shop. They’ll put into practice the key methods, including observational research, material culture study, event analysis, and customer intercepts discussed in class.

Co-facilitator Melanie Kartalija, of Storyology Research, based in San Diego, says the field site visits accomplish two things. “First, we get to observe and identify elements of everyday culture discussed in class in a real-world situation, and second we get to walk in the shoes of customers in a structured way that reveals those subtle and often unseen clues that empower the participants with new knowledge.”

The final step is called Basecamp Return, reconvening the class in an open discussion and interactive session that serves as a translation and interpretation platform, compiling the field observations and putting them into a cohesive narrative, creating powerful stories, discerning common themes, identifying customer experience problems to solve, and transforming new ideas into business action.

“Discovering strategic business opportunities as we explore fresh ways of thinking about and understanding the customer experience creates new and more meaningful ways to tell the story of individual businesses,” says Dr. Romeo. “Seeing the world of the customer with fresh eyes through the lens of their own cultural views is critical to the success of any business.”

Kartalija’s specific expertise in guiding participants in creating effective narrative storytelling is essential to the process. “Digesting the clues and signals of the customer and then creating a credible story that encapsulates their experiences helps define the best ways to reach them with a transactional message,” she said. “That’s the basis for a deeper and more effective connection with the customer.”

The 2-day McKinney workshop is being held in historic downtown McKinney at the Grand Hotel. Overnight accommodations are available at the hotel. A second seminar is scheduled for Jan. 9-10 in San Diego.

Enrollment for the McKinney workshop is now open, please visit https://www.anthrodonna.com/upcoming-events.html

ABOUT ROMEO ANTHROPOLOGICAL CONSULTING – The firm was founded by Donna M. Romeo, a business anthropologist and customer experience expert with a PhD in applied cultural anthropology. For over 25 years, she’s helped global organizations across a wide range of industries see the customer through fresh eyes. Her work has contributed to innovations in customer experience, marketing, service design, and product development. A pioneer in her field, Dr. Romeo brings a unique inside-outside perspective to everything she does. While working as staff anthropologist inside Fortune 500 firms such as Pepsico, JCP, and Whirlpool, Dr. Romeo honed her ability to educate and inspire corporate teams to better understand the customer and translate anthropological insights into concrete business action. And, as Founding Principal of Romeo Anthropological Consulting, she brings a fresh perspective to understanding the customer, free from internal corporate business assumptions, biases and orthodoxy.

ABOUT STORYOLOGY RESEARCH -- Melanie Kartalija, a market research professional with a passion for qualitative research and storytelling, founded the company based in Del Mar, CA., specializing deep consumer insight through qualitative research. Kartalija’s 18 years of experience in television research (KFMB, KNBC, and KGTV), helped her understand the value and impact of storytelling. Utilizing expertise in both qualitative and quantitative research across industries, including television, banking, cosmetics, beverages, furniture and professional home services, Kartalija’s innate curiosity about what makes people tick led her to the field of marketing research. Using research to help clients develop new products, develop effective communications campaigns and better understand their target market are just a few of her favorite types of research.

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