Masterclass in Creative Operations – Series 2

Session 1 - The VALUE Framework: Prioritize, Protect Capacity, Prove Impact

Tuesday September 1, 2026
8AM PDT / 11AM EDT / 4PM BST / 5PM CEST

Context:

In-house creative teams lose strategic ground one unvetted request at a time. Without a structured system for deciding what deserves their attention, teams end up treating every project as equally urgent - which leads to constant firefighting, mounting burnout, and creative output that never quite connects to business goals. 

This session introduces the VALUE Framework, a five-step system designed to help in-house creative leaders claim the organizational authority they need to prioritize strategically, protect their team's capacity, and demonstrate measurable impact to leadership.

• Why the root cause of most creative team struggles is not inefficiency but a lack of organizational authority, and what to do about it.
• How to use structured intake questions to surface the true business priority behind any request.
• A three-tier model for categorizing work by strategic impact, so your team always knows what to protect and when to push back.
• How to set and defend healthy capacity ratios - and why having a system gives you the standing to say “no”.
• How to communicate tier decisions to stakeholders, so the system gets adopted rather than resisted
• A reporting approach that shifts the conversation with leadership from output to outcomes

A practical 90-day roadmap for implementing the framework, starting with an audit you can run immediately.

Jesse Krinsky, Founder, In Focus Consulting

Session 2 - Revenue Recognition: The most misunderstood number in your business

Tuesday September 8, 2026
8AM PDT / 11AM EDT / 4PM BST / 5PM CEST

Context:

Revenue recognition tends to get labeled as a “finance thing”. In reality, it’s being shaped every day by delivery, resourcing and client decisions. Which means if you work in Creative Ops, you’re already influencing revenue (whether you know it or not). 

In many businesses and creative teams, the link between what’s been invoiced and what’s actually been earned isn’t clean. Projects move, scope creeps, work gets blocked, priorities change. Before long, revenue is being reported based on billing cycles or best guesses, rather than what’s genuinely being delivered. 

That’s where Creative Ops comes in. You’re closest to how the work actually flows. You can see where things stall, where effort goes, where value is created. But the financial view of that work often sits somewhere else, out of sync with what's really going on. 

This masterclass is about joining the dots. The session leaders have spent 40+ years in agency ops and finance, dealing with exactly this problem in the real world. Not a lecture on accountancy, rather a practical look at how revenue recognition actually works in messy, fast-moving creative environments, and how to make it reflect reality.

1. What revenue recognition actually is (and isn’t) 

Strip it back to first principles. Earned vs invoiced vs cash. Why so many definitions exist and where they go wrong. 

2. Why some businesses get it wrong 
Common habits: invoice-date reporting, gut feel forecasting, and “it’ll come out in the wash” thinking. Where this creates false confidence. 

3. Complexity in plain sight
Retainers, projects, change requests, delays, blockers. Why agency delivery models make clean revenue recognition harder (and more important). 

4. A practical model for getting to earned revenue 

Simple, usable approaches to recognizing revenue properly. Percent complete, milestones and how to apply them without over-engineering it.

5. Making it stick: behaviors, cadence, accountability

Weekly WIP, ownership in the team, linking delivery to commercials. Turning it from a finance exercise into a business discipline. 

Charlie Lycett-Smith, COO, North & Nest

Ali Holliday, CFO, North & Nest

Session 3 - Achieving Efficiency & Effectiveness in the Age of AI

Tuesday September 15, 2026
8AM PDT / 11AM EDT / 4PM BST / 5PM CEST

Context:

As expectations of in-house teams continue to rise, many organizations are looking to AI and other new technology to unlock efficiency. But tools alone do not solve structural problems. Without the right operating model in place, teams can still struggle with unclear workflows, inconsistent briefing, poor utilization, stakeholder misalignment, and burnout — all of which limit performance long before technology can add value.

In this session, Julia Arenson, Director at IHAR, will explore what operational readiness really looks like for modern in-house teams, and why effectiveness starts with stronger foundations across people, process, and technology. Drawing on experience working with global in-house teams, a practical perspective on how to assess whether a team is truly set up to perform in the age of AI.

The session will: 

• Examine the difference between BAU “factory” work and higher-value creative and strategic work, and why that distinction matters when designing a more effective in-house model. 
• Unpack the common structural blockers that prevent teams from operating at their best, from poor brief quality and unclear expectations to under-utilized technology and unsustainable ways of working.

Delivering:

A practical diagnostic framework to assess a team’s current state, identify the biggest operational gaps, and prioritize the changes that will have the greatest impact.

• What operational readiness means for in-house teams in the age of AI.
• Why new tools often fail to deliver results when core foundations are weak.
• What a healthy, effective in-house operating model looks like beyond cost savings.
• How to distinguish BAU production work from higher-value creative and strategic work.
• The most common structural blockers affecting in-house team performance.
• How to diagnose gaps across people, process, workflow, and technology
• How to prioritize changes that improve effectiveness in practical, sustainable ways

Attendees will leave with:

• A clearer understanding of the foundations required for AI to deliver real value
• A practical lens for assessing whether their operating model is helping or hindering performance
• A stronger understanding of the issues that most often hold in-house teams back
• A framework for identifying priorities across people, process, and technology

Julia Arenson, Director, In-house Agency Review

Session 4 - Beyond the Leadership Table: Protecting the Future of Creative Value

Tuesday September 22, 2026
8AM PDT / 11AM EDT / 4PM BST / 5PM CEST

Context:

Creative Operations has spent years earning its place at the leadership table. But once we're there, what are we responsible for?

As AI accelerates, budgets tighten, and organisations look for new ways to increase efficiency, many of the decisions shaping the future of creative work are happening outside of creative teams. Procurement, finance, technology and transformation functions are increasingly influencing how creative work gets done, often without fully understanding the impact on quality, capability and people.

As the intersection between creativity, business and technology, Creative Operations leaders are often best placed to understand the impact these decisions have on creative value, capability and people. Our responsibility is to help organisations navigate them with greater clarity and confidence.

This session explores the conversations Creative Operations leaders need to be part of, the issues they need to understand, and the role they can play in shaping what comes next.

• How the responsibilities of Creative Operations leadership are changing
• Why AI conversations need Creative Operations voices at the table
• How to represent creative value in discussions about efficiency, automation and cost reduction
• The difference between protecting jobs and protecting capability
• How to engage effectively with procurement, finance, technology and executive stakeholders
• Why leaders need to look beyond productivity metrics and focus on long-term value creation
• The opportunities and risks shaping creative work over the next five years

This session is about the responsibility that comes with leadership.

Not just to improve how creative work is delivered, but to help organisations make better decisions about what creative work is for, how it is valued, and what must be protected as the environment around us changes.

Nicky Russell, Managing Partner, WDC

Session 5 - A Guide to In-House Creative Leadership Development and Growth

Tuesday September 29, 2026
8AM PDT / 11AM EDT / 4PM BST / 5PM CEST

The Inside Out Pathway 

• A diagnostic and professional development tool for in-house creative leaders and their teams.  
• Enables in-house creative leaders to benchmark themselves and their teams in ways that are relevant to their objectives. 
• Delivers the clarity needed to identify a personal leadership learning journey.
• Evaluates how a team is positioned within the business.
• Identifies skills gaps and opportunities.
• Benchmarks career impact.
• Helps creativity earn its seat at the top table.
• A guide for navigating careers. 

Delivering:

• How to identify your creative team's maturity and your capabilities as a creative leader. 
• How to map your creative leadership journey across four ‘Zones’: 
  • Executional.
  • Supporting.
  • Strategic.
  • Visionary (the Blue zone)
• How to reflect on your current leadership position and potential for growth within the Inside Out® Pathway. 

The Inside Out ® Pathway is not just a model. It is a call to action. It is a catalyst for creative change, and a roadmap for in-house creative leaders to take their rightful place in the C-Suite.

Emma Sexton, Founder, Inside Out® Community