CEMA Newsletter: November 2024

Member Spotlight: Courtney Bales, Oracle

Hear from long-time CEMA member and current board member Courtney Bales on what inspires him about our community, what he values most about his membership (hint: all of you!), and how CEMA has helped his career grow.

How long have you been part of CEMA, and how has your participation evolved over time?

I have been a member for 10 years. I have always found the CEMA organization and members inspiring and wanted to find a way to give back to the community which has given me so much over the years. I became a CEMA Board member in 2022.

What do you value most about being a part of the CEMA community?

I could list so many things that I feel bring value being part of CEMA. I will share the three that I feel are most important:

You, our amazing members who each share your unique perspectives and experiences, are extremely helpful to other members in the CEMA community. Over the years I have personally gained countless insights and advice which I have been able to apply to my own work. Additionally, over the year, I have learned how others apply best practices of operational excellence to their work that they do ech day.

The passion and dedication that each of my fellow board members I serve alongside bring to CEMA. This group of talented and experienced individuals truly care about each of you and work extremely hard to ensure that you get the most value and experience from your membership. All aspects of the member experience are curated with our members’ needs and requests top of mind.

How has being a CEMA member opened new doors or opportunities for you professionally?

The CEMA Summit education sessions that I have attended over the years have been extremely impactful and pivotal to my growth. Over the years the unique insights and the content offerings have helped me grow. Another important opportunity to mention is the value that networking with other members over the years have given me, I have made so many friends who are generous with their perspectives and advice, for this I am extremely grateful.

As an industry leader, what exciting trends or opportunities do you foresee shaping the events industry in 2025?

We are at the beginning of an exciting new era with artificial intelligence, The benefits I imagine that AI will bring to all of us is efficiency and increased productivity by optimizing processes required to complete tasks and reducing the time it takes away from each of our very busy days. I personally believe AI will give us the opportunity to make better decisions through data analysis using predictive models which will allow us to understand not only the financial and liability risk for our events but also will provide insights into our attendee personas, their behavior and how they felt about their experience from past events. This will allow each of us to make our events more meaningful and unforgettable. I have learned over the years that the event design, content, and objectives play a significant part in the overall success of your event; we often forget that it is the little things and attention to detail that your attendees will remember most. My goal after each event I produce is that each attendee leaves feeling like the event was planned with them in mind. Do pre and post event surveys, be thoughtful when deciding what to ask in the survey and pay attention to the results, they matter most.

What are the biggest challenges you anticipate for the events industry in the upcoming year, and how can we prepare for them?

Budget and less resources are a challenge now and this will continue next year. We are all being asked to do more with less. The cost of airfare, hotel rooms, and food and beverage are making each of our jobs challenging. My advice, if you are not a good negotiator find someone who is and ask them to mentor you. Take advantage of the relationships you have with your long-term vendors, there are so many companies that will work with you on your budget if everyone is reasonable. In times like these, it benefits everyone if we all work together to keep our events impactful while delivering them within the allocated budget.

Courtney Bales, Director of Business Operations focused on the internal management of day-to-day operation of Oracle’s Global Events organization. I’ve always been adept at building stakeholder trust, driving market share, and innovating best-in-class programming that surpasses competitive offerings. I am known as a subject matter expert (SME) in presenting program value services and negotiating multimillion-dollar contracts. I am an effective and open-communicative leader of teams exceeding 100 members. I am a regular and consistent liaison between client C-levels internal and external stakeholders. I excel at overall leadership and execution of large-scale events and travel programs for Fortune 500 companies, including Oracle, GE Capital, and Chrysler. I’m seen as a trusted advocate and strong company steward managing events and budgets to impact the bottom line positively.

In 2023, I was honored by being selected by Event Marketers for their 2023 B-to-B Dream Team, which recognizes ten marketers powering the b-to-b event industry’s metamorphosis with an eye toward sustainability, compassion, representation—and balance.