Last week, as I stopped in at my local library branch, my branch librarian signed me up for the summer reading challenge. While I’m not especially motivated by getting stickers on my chart, I do enjoy checking off the boxes over the course of Summer for my learning activities.

If you haven’t participated recently in a summer reading challenge. it’s evolved a lot over the years. While reading books is still encouraged, it’s really become more of a summer learning and exploration challenge, including:

• Listening to podcasts
• Watching a movie or video
• Participating in a webinar
• Taking a course
• Visiting a museum
• Reading a blog
• Writing something

All Marketers Need a Development Plan

This got me to thinking. As marketers, we’ve got to commit to life-long learning if we wish to keep our skills sharp and remain employable. When we’re heads down and focused on work deadlines, it can be tough to make this happen. But over the summer, between our own vacation time and the slower pace at work as our customers and colleagues take their own vacations, we’ve got an extra window of time that we can at least partially use to focus on our own professional development.

At the start of this year, we held a #ContentChat focused on creating a career development plan. Many of our community members shared that they both struggled with identifying the right activities to support their development objectives and finding time to actually participate in those activities. And that’s where the Content Chat Summer Reading Challenge comes in.

Your Content Marketing Summer Reading Challenge

In our next #ContentChat, on Monday, June 4, 2018, at 12 noon Pacific, we’re going to be sharing our go-to sources for content marketing learning, exploration, and inspiration. Print out this chart and keep it with you during the chat and start to put together your to-read and to-play lists.

If you’d like to get a head start on the chat by putting together your recommendations, here’s what we’ll be covering:

• Q1: What is the most recent marketing, content marketing, or business book you read that we should all add to our reading lists? #ContentChat
• Q2: What are the marketing, content marketing, or business podcasts you listen to regularly and always learn something new from? #ContentChat
• Q3: Are there any email newsletters focused on marketing or business that you recommend? Share a link! #ContentChat
• Q4: Which blogs do you regularly read for marketing and business education and inspiration? #ContentChat
• Q5: Have you taken a marketing or business course in the past 6 months that you highly recommend? #ContentChat
• Q6: Are there any marketing, content marketing, or business communities you are a member of and would recommend joining? Share a link and tell us why. #ContentChat
• Q7: Is there a marketing, content marketing, or business-related webinar or video you’ve recently watched and would recommend? #ContentChat
• Q8: What is one thing you’d like to learn this summer and aren’t sure where to start. After you answer, reply to someone else’s answer with a source you’d recommend for their learning quest. #ContentChat

I can’t wait to see what everyone has to share!

6/11 Update: If you missed the chat, check out the recap and get inspired!