Speaking of Events

Creating Meaningful Customer Experiences - Tina Schippers - Speaking of Events - Episode # 040

Today’s guest is a highly skilled event management professional. She has been a member of EventFluence since 2008, and has been part of the event industry for 25 years. Please welcome to the show, the ever talented Tina Schippers! Tina is the Head of Events & Experiences at Allspring Global Investments, and she joins the host Kerri Garbis to talk about how events create deep human connections and how that can lead to increase in sales for your company.  Takeaways Events are a major driving force for business development. Change can come from events and so can growth, learning and sales. Events also create a human connection and that will always result in something good. During COVID, the event space forced everyone to work together and really change the way they had been doing things previously. This actually was better for the event space as it spurred some much needed changes into this industry. The event space is such a diverse space that covers all sorts of ground. It’s not just party planners, they are marketers, developers and connectors.  Market conditions are one of the challenges that the event space for financial space is facing. In that space, you need to be agile and able to pivot quickly. Being a financial services event planner requires that you are inviting the right people to the event and making sure you aren’t spending too much in an economic downturn. Events are a saturated market. There are so many events everyday so you need to find a way to differentiate yourself and your events from the rest to get people to attend. Katie’s favorite part of the event process is when the event is wrapping up so she can congratulate her colleagues on a job well done.   Quote of the Show 2:42 “Business development begins and ends with events.”   Links LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tina-schippers-94386513/ Website: https://www.allspringglobal.com/   Ways to Tune In: Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/a158d222-4beb-4c72-9569-0916e79a80f4/speaking-of-events Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/speaking-of-events/id1611059542 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/699re9JSEnwNXnrNLGLUkz Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuc3BlYWtpbmdvZmV2ZW50cy5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw?sa=X&ved=0CAMQ4aUDahcKEwiI6PWe2o73AhUAAAAAHQAAAAAQAQ&hl=en YouTube - https://youtu.be/QO5V3GBSQn0   Speaking of Events is produced by Ringmaster, on a mission to create connections through B2B podcasts. Learn more at https://ringmaster.com/

Marathoning Events - Carrie Furnari - Speaking of Events - Episode # 039

Today’s guest is a veteran marketing professional with over 20 years of experience. She excels at developing global market strategies and managing high performing teams. Please welcome to the show, Carrie Furnari! Carrie is the former Director of Events at JumpCloud, and not only does she have an addiction to running, but she also is passionate about putting on memorable events. Carrie joins the host Kerri Garbis to share her tips on how to create a successful and memorable event.   Takeaways When most people think of events, they think of cocktail parties and a beautiful design, but they don’t see all the hard work that is put into the event beforehand to make everything look seamless.  There is a level of execution that goes on after the event where you go over what went well and what didn’t so that next year you can run the event as successfully if not more so. When you are working with speakers, it’s important to refer to a speaker as “they”, rather than “him” or “her”. There are a mass amount of layoffs occurring in the world, and that doesn’t exclude the event industry. The best way to take care of an event professional is to make sure that they are taking care of after the event is over.  Carrie’s favorite moment in the event process is the final production because that is when she gets to see the event come together and have life.  Even though roadshows are a smaller event, they are actually more challenging due to the limited number of guests and the smaller venues. They require more thought to go into them and more attention to detail than regular events.   Quote of the Show 2:23 "[events] are not as glamorous as they look from the planning perspective"   Links LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carriepage23/ Website: https://jumpcloud.com/ Ways to Tune In: Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/a158d222-4beb-4c72-9569-0916e79a80f4/speaking-of-events Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/speaking-of-events/id1611059542 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/699re9JSEnwNXnrNLGLUkz Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuc3BlYWtpbmdvZmV2ZW50cy5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw?sa=X&ved=0CAMQ4aUDahcKEwiI6PWe2o73AhUAAAAAHQAAAAAQAQ&hl=en YouTube - https://youtu.be/ZrLmHqGTdMo   Speaking of Events is produced by Ringmaster, on a mission to create connections through B2B podcasts. Learn more at https://ringmaster.com/

Learning Through Global Events - Katy Romdall - Speaking of Events - Episode # 038

Today’s guest understands the importance of giving yourself enough time to put together an event. With over 10 years of event planning, she knows what it takes to make an event special and bring the community together. Please welcome to the show, Katy Romdall! Katy is the Director of Global Events at Duolingo. She joins the host Kerri Garbis to talk about the event planning industry and shares her thoughts on some of the biggest pieces of event planning.   Takeaways Putting on an event isn't as simple as people might assume them to be. To make an event successful and bring the community together requires more thought than putting it together last minute. If an event seems really well put together and seamless, that means there are a lot of incredible things that are going on behind the scenes and a great team helped to work together to achieve that goal. When you have people register for an event, it’s important to capture their email and send them reminders that the event is coming up.  The goal of any event is to provide high quality education and entertainment for people and the best way to achieve this is by having your speakers be properly trained. Other ways to achieve this are by making sure lines aren’t long and the food is good. There is a misconception that virtual events are going to be cheaper, but this isn’t necessarily true. Especially if you are looking to make it a high quality virtual event. Katy’s favorite part of the event process is being on set with her tam and filming.  Something that keeps Katy up at night is figuring out how to put all the aspects of a great event together. She wants to deliver what others are envisioning in their head and oftentimes go above those expectations.   Quote of the Show 3:55 “A successful event is one that is not just sort of thrown together last minute.”   Links LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katyromdall/ Website: https://www.duolingo.com/ Ways to Tune In: Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/a158d222-4beb-4c72-9569-0916e79a80f4/speaking-of-events Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/speaking-of-events/id1611059542 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/699re9JSEnwNXnrNLGLUkz Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuc3BlYWtpbmdvZmV2ZW50cy5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw?sa=X&ved=0CAMQ4aUDahcKEwiI6PWe2o73AhUAAAAAHQAAAAAQAQ&hl=en YouTube - https://youtu.be/3iLEdLqPH_A   Speaking of Events is produced by Ringmaster, on a mission to create connections through B2B podcasts. Learn more at https://ringmaster.com/

Bringing Together Creative Experiences - Ashley Grandis - Speaking of Events - Episode # 037

Today’s guest thrives off engaging and connecting with audiences, and probably knows more about animals than other event professionals. She is a results driven professional with a natural hunger to test and optimize success. Please welcome to the show, Ashley Grandis! Ashley is the Manager, Global Events at Cybereason and she joins the host Kerri Garbis to share her tips on professional event planning.    Takeaways Events allow for a marketing team to really connect with the people that they are trying to turn into potential customers. It brings the conversation deeper than just what the company can offer and is more likely to help close a deal. When you are planning an event, you want to think of a speaker that would best fit for the event you are working on. Whether the event is live or virtual, technology might not always cooperate the way you want it to. It's best to be prepared and have a backup plan just in case the technology goes wrong.  Ashley takes a lot of pride in her line of work, which makes it hard for her to let things go. That is one of the things that keeps her up at night. Originally, Ashley was very interested in being a paleontologist but after seeing a horse go through surgery, she realized that wasn’t her true passion and that she wanted to be in a line of work that involved being close with people.  Events allow for a person to bring together all sorts of creative experiences (axe throwing, happy hour, nascar etc) and mix it with marketing to attract people to your company.  Marketing is a valuable part across all departments of a company. It’s important to get to know the marketer within your company and see what you can do to help them.   Quote of the Show 3:35 “It's really enjoyable to be able to have these events where our sales teams are able to build relationships that go above and beyond just talking about technology.”   Links LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashley-grandis/ Website: https://www.cybereason.com/ Ways to Tune In: Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/a158d222-4beb-4c72-9569-0916e79a80f4/speaking-of-events Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/speaking-of-events/id1611059542 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/699re9JSEnwNXnrNLGLUkz Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuc3BlYWtpbmdvZmV2ZW50cy5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw?sa=X&ved=0CAMQ4aUDahcKEwiI6PWe2o73AhUAAAAAHQAAAAAQAQ&hl=en YouTube - https://youtu.be/PRrLw9L-6Fk   Speaking of Events is produced by Ringmaster, on a mission to create connections through B2B podcasts. Learn more at https://ringmaster.com/

Understanding Events - Karen Snowden Yee - Speaking of Events - Episode # 036

Today’s guest has spent more than 25 years navigating in Global C-Suite experiential keynote presentations. She has produced global event productions in China, Spain, Taiwan, among other places. Welcome to Speaking of Events Karen Yee! Karen is the former Director of Global Conferences at Gartner. She joins the host Kerri Garbis to share some of her insight into the professional event industry.   Takeaways When a client thinks about an event, they might not understand the differences between certain terms and confuse certain things. To help clarify, an event is not an experience and it is not a conference or a tradeshow, they are all different.  An event is where you go somewhere to hear someone speak on a certain topic, experience should be something that is immersive and a conference is a week long and could span multiple blocks of a city. The challenge that event producers face is trying to work speaker training into the budget ahead of time. If you don’t have speaker training, then your event won’t go as smooth as you are hoping it will.  Having time to rehearse your event is a key component for making sure that it is well organized. Otherwise there is a gap that is created between those working backstage and then the event will seem unorganized and chaotic.  When it comes to speakers, you want to make sure you don’t disrespect them but you also don’t treat them as loftier or better than any other part of the event process. At the end of the day, they are people too. Coming out of the pandemic, events had to be redefined in a sense because much everything had changed due to different guidelines.  Karen’s favorite part of the event process is when it is finally taken to stage and it goes live.    Quote of the Show 3:51 “Events are not experiences and not conferences.”    Links Twitter: https://twitter.com/7ftinside LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karen-snowden-yee-/ Website: https://www.gartner.com/en Digital Blue: https://www.digitalblue.co/   Ways to Tune In: Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/a158d222-4beb-4c72-9569-0916e79a80f4/speaking-of-events Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/speaking-of-events/id1611059542 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/699re9JSEnwNXnrNLGLUkz Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuc3BlYWtpbmdvZmV2ZW50cy5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw?sa=X&ved=0CAMQ4aUDahcKEwiI6PWe2o73AhUAAAAAHQAAAAAQAQ&hl=en YouTube - https://youtu.be/TcKMuJnvk7g   Speaking of Events is produced by Ringmaster, on a mission to create connections through B2B podcasts. Learn more at https://ringmaster.com/