For most small agencies, traditional strategic planning feels impossible: too slow, too theoretical, and quickly outdated. But that doesn’t mean you should just “wing it.” Real-time planning provides a way to think strategically while staying agile so you can make confident decisions even in the middle of client chaos. It’s not about writing a long report; it’s about creating a simple, flexible framework you revisit regularly to stay focused, aligned, and ready to act. In this session, we’ll walk through how real-time planning works, how to get your team involved, and how to build a process that fits your agency’s rhythm, not someone else’s spreadsheet. If you’ve ever thought, “We should really step back and think bigger,” this will show you how to do exactly that without losing momentum.

• Why real-time works especially well for small, fast-moving agencies.
• How to define your agency’s “strategic core”: mission, vision, focus areas.
• Identifying and prioritizing current opportunities, risks, and decision points.
• Using a rolling roadmap instead of a fixed annual plan.
• Tools that support ongoing strategy: check-ins, dashboards, scorecards.
• How to structure monthly or quarterly strategy conversations with your team.
• Making space for strategic thinking without pausing the business.
• Building a lightweight plan you can actually use and update.
• Steps to start now: create a 3-month strategic focus and schedule your first check-in.