Sometimes we need to see a bigger world, like the one provided by our LinkedIn feed, but with RTO being de rigueur, we need to get to know the people in our neighborhood.
We’re continuing to try new things to bring the people in our profession closer together this year as we transition to becoming a nonprofit educational organization (application pending), including this special local edition newsletter.
This new ICN Member Exclusive Content feature, which we’re tentatively calling the ICN Field Report focuses on communicating with ICN members, one state at a time, based on demand and interest. This month, we’re publishing 6 such newsletters, and each will be found in our LinkedIn Members-Only Group upon its release.
Special Edition Table of Contents
- California Field Report
- Eight Great Tips for Hosting a Local ICN Event
- Networking by volunteering for the greater good
- Active Insights Job Seeker List in 2025 & California Seekers
- The Insights Job Referral List in 2025 & California Jobs
- Support the ICN: Donate $5 or more to our new nonprofit
If you have questions, comments, or suggestions about this effort, we’d love to hear from you at ICN@insightscareernetwork.org. This report will also be posted to our LinkedIn Group – a great place to talk to other ICN members.
California Field Report
🔍 The ICN has reached out to our colleagues in your state for news and suggestions on where to go to connect with people in insights and in adjacent areas. We need each other, and we need to be with other people regularly for our personal health and for the health of our careers. Get out and meet more people this year!
In addition to the events and organizations listed below, consider touching base with your alma mater, its alumni associations, and their student-led organizations. 68% of ICN members have an advanced degree. You all have an alma mater. This semester is when universities across the country are at their most active. The real world is coming fast now is the time to get engaged as a volunteer, mentor, or networker.
In our internal figures, California has had the most lopsided seeker-to-job referral ratio in the country. The recent economic and labor trends have not been kind to the labor force. At all.
Here’s a tiny selection of conferences and events happening in the area this year. If you know of events we should promote – the more local, the more grassroots, the better – let us know!
SF BAY
- Call for Speakers Deadline Approaching: 10/27-28 IIEX West San Francisco
- 1/21/26 San Francisco SF BIG (Bay Area Advertising, Marketing, and Media) New Year’s Party
- 1/21/26 Launch by Product Marketing Alliance, Silicon Valley
- 1/29/26 AMA SF AMA SF x UC Berkeley Extension: Career Accelerator 2026 “Marketing Yourself in a Changing Market”
- 5/11-15 Learners Research Week in San Francisco. Sold out, join virtually
- 5/20/26 SF BIG Pickleball Tournament
Southern California
- 2/23-26 Etail West (retail Insights), Palm Springs
- 5/7 Go to Market Summit Los Angeles
- 5/13-15 American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR) 81st annual, Los Angeles
Q1 West Bonus: 3/26-28 Las Vegas 40th Annual Insights Conference by the South Central and West Conference
Local organizations to join:
- Insights Association West Chapter who is planning monthly meetups around San Diego, Orange County, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, as well as other metro areas in the West
- SF Bay Area Researchers connect on LinkedIn
- San Francisco American Marketing Association Chapter
- SFBIG (Bay Area Advertising, Marketing, and Media)
- San Francisco Women In Research (WIRe)
David Shimada, from SF Big, reminds us, “Meeting in person is key, and seeing someone and speaking with them is vital. A LinkedIn or other social connection is good, but that’s not true networking until you really know them by name and build some rapport. And don’t miss our pickleball tournament in May.”