An EPIC Talk with SHELLEY SATHER, CORINA ENACHE, RICHA RAI & LAURA REISS Overview Our thid EPIC Talk on the latest strategies, opportunities, and challenges of gig work. Last year’s presentation covered how to get started, find work, make an impact, and navigate a career path—watch it here. This year, panelists from 4 countries addressed these topics with a specific focus on surviving and thriving in the context of major social change and economic flux around the world. By sharing wisdom and pragmatic strategies, we can build the collective support to succeed as creative, agile independents. Presenters Corina Enache is a hybrid of two worlds, a strategist in product innovation and an MsC in cultural anthropology. She has been working as an anthropologist in the technology space for the last 4 years having led assignments for companies such as KLM, Wintec, PwC and Harmoney. She is also the co-host of the global podcast project The Human Show, where she interviews social scientists and industry people talking about...

An EPIC Talk with SHELLEY SATHER & HAL PHILLIPS Approx 85 minutes Overview Calling all independent consultants and freelance ethnographers! Join seasoned and successful freelancers Shelley and Hal for a presentation and discussion about strategies, opportunities, and challenges of gig work. They will share their own stories of taking the leap from employee to freelancer and offer tips on getting started, finding work, making an impact, and maintaining a presence. They’ll address the realities and challenges that independents face so you’ll leave on stronger footing for taking your next step—whether you’re starting or growing your independent practice. They’ll also explore some of the challenges freelancers face in maintaining a career path, managing commitments, and staying connected. Presenters Shelley Sather is a seasoned independent Ethnographer and Design Researcher, with deep expertise in designing studies for emerging products and technologies. She began her research career in commodities software design,...

Instructors: MARTHA COTTON, gravitytank SHELLEY SATHER As practitioners, EPIC people continually work to help our teams, organizations and clients understand the value of ethnographic approaches and “the ethnographer” as a team member. We help colleagues and clients to think and work differently, adapting the value we bring to the organization’s existing work flow and process. In this tutorial, Martha Cotton shares the curriculum gravitytank developed to teach their clients—including many Fortune 500 companies—to work differently and in a way that better supports innovation and design thinking. This tutorial gives you concrete strategies and behaviors you can use in your own work practice and for creating change in your organizations. Martha Cotton is a partner at gravitytank, where she helps lead research discipline and external marketing. Her career began at eLab in 1990s, and has included leadership roles at Sapient, Hall & Partners, and HLB. She has worked across a wide variety of industries as an applied...