Event Highlights

Sponsored by MC

Panelists: Rodrigo Espinosa, SVP Marketing Strategy/Head of Brand Experience MC2; Julie Lynch, Head of Global Events F5; Sara Ann Straw, Sr. Event Strategy Manager, Sage (now at F5)

At this CEMA Summit Ignite Session, seasoned event marketers from both brand and solutions provider communities led an interactive discussion on how behavior shifts, amplified during the pivot to digital and hybrid events, have dramatically changed audience expectations and have obliged event marketers to discover new ways to harmonize engagement mixes for audiences and design immersive experiences for multiple channels.

The panelists agreed that today, event participants want event content to be like the rest of their digital content – personalized, digestible, and accessible on their timetable. Two provocative insights framed the discussion:

• We have a great opportunity to leverage all of our channels to engage our audiences intellectually and emotionally to educate, enlighten and entertain them in a meaningful manner. 
• We can also fail miserably to accomplish real engagement by overlaying traditional content into a digital environment or assuming a creative virtual element will translate seamlessly into a live experience.

The key to success is to understand your audiences intimately and learn how to shape, personalize, and optimize content delivery based on their preferred mix.  

The panel and participants also shared key wisdoms learned in the “pivot:”

• Let your audience inform the best way to structure content delivery: If you are trying to determine whether to go live only, live first, virtual first or omnichannel, put your audience front and center and work back to solution.
• “One-size fits all” approaches do not work. Gratefully that practice is pretty much dead.  One could argue that today, it is more important to know your audience than to have great content. By matching content to the needs and interests of your different audience personas, you’ll have a better chance of connecting with them and driving deeper engagement.
• Linear content delivery is boring. Sequential slide decks are so 2010.  Coach your speakers away from linear presentations, work with them to spice up presentations with different content pallets: video, pre-taped features, short-take commentary, interactive chat, and real-time audience input. Invest in pre-production and have professional event directors run the show.
• Dare to be edgy – but know your limits. Creative ideas don’t always translate to all audiences. Craft experiences that keep your audiences eager and intrigued but not uncomfortable.    
• Take cues from how other industries have adapted the customer journey. Retailers use preference and interest data to introduce customers to new products that align with their needs and tastes. Your live and on-demand digital content can do the same. 
• Humanize digital environments.  Nothing will replace in person connections, and it’s essential to ensure that you are not isolating or alienating your audience for the sake of digital expediency.  “Cameras on” can help participants feel included and relevant.  Polls and chats can spark stimulating conversations. Collaborative exercises promote inclusion.  Breakout rooms allow attendees to self-select into areas of high interest. 
• Give all marketing disciplines a seat at the event planning table.  Use their input to determine how your event can be the hub for richer, ongoing customer engagements.  Can they hold one-on-one conversations with sales teams or product experts? Are product demos and training available? Is educational or advisory content available post event for continuous lead generation?

CEMA SUMMIT 2021 Personifies the Strength, Creativity, Ingenuity and Resilience In Our Industry

Last month, 175 events industry luminaries convened at the iconic Arizona Biltmore to share insights, inspirations and ideas, and engage together in Lighting the way to Live Events.

CEMA Summit 2021 kicked off on Monday afternoon, with the first round of Ignite Sessions in which expert panelists shared their experience and insights on our most pressing issues – solving virtual and live event gaps, transforming events into digital experiences, delivering tailored, personalized experiences, that path forward with hybrid events and how to delight audiences despite new health and safety requirements. A really interesting new slant to the sessions was that the panelists were also able to engage the participants to work together brainstorm on strategies for addressing their big challenges.

Each room set-up for the sessions were “layered lounges” that delivered diverse experiences for attendees designed to promote both safety and comfort.

Photo credits throughout article: Two Dudes Photography

There were so many brilliant insights that it’s hard to pick the most memorable ones, but here are a few gems:

• It’s time for a new ”p-word,” it’s not a pivot, it’s a pirouette. Constantly anticipating, adapting, and acting in the face of continual change.
• We need a new vocabulary for events the reflects the changing dynamics in audience experiences.
• We need to rely more on data and use AI and ML to inform event format and content decisions.
• Audiences prefer bite-sized, digestible content and the ability to curate their own experiences.
• Our role has evolved from event strategists to influencers and changers of behaviors.

Kicking off Tuesday morning CEMA’s own Kimberly Gishler was “caught” dressed for a virtual event as she pirouettes on to the live stage.

 
Our keynote speaker Erin King introduced us to the PUB (Personal Useful Brief) approach to creating persuasive social content. Erin’s advice: preview before posting. swap out “I” for “you” in your message headers. Make posts useful – show them what they can’t see. Be brief – know when to land the plane!
 

 
In our second Summit Townhall, the panelists weighed in on the progress and ongoing challenges we’ve faced since the “pivot” in 2020. Key insights included:

• There is value in both in person and digital, it’s not either or.
• Platforms need to allow brand essence and unique experiences to pull through.
• Digital is global and can help increase reach and remove barriers to participation.
• Consider moving from one mega event to smaller moments layered in with digital experiences.
• Don’t mess with what is working (the wisest idea!).

Presenters: Kavin Schieferdecker, Moderator, Senior VP, Convention Division, Philadelphia CVB; Colleen Bisconti, Vice President Global Conferences and Events at IBM; Vivian Eickhoff, Sr. Director, Global Events, Microsoft; Sara Straw, Sr. Event Strategy Manager at Sage; Raime Merriman, Vice President Marketing, Hubb 

 
At lunch we were treated to a taste of the new Smart Women/Human I Like (SWIRL/SHIRL) online meetups. Each table engaged in a fun, light-hearted icebreaker – “two lies and a truth,” and then in honor of the lunch sponsor, Visit Dallas, we each got to recount our most memorable (or notorious) Dallas experience.

After lunch we all headed over to the Innovation, Solutions and Growth Idea Builder Rooms. We put our planning skills to the test, worked in mini teams to develop event strategies to maximize reach, engagement, and ROI, and learned how to use data for building insights that can shape future events.
Among the great ideas shared:

• Content that travels to audiences through Roadshows+Pop-Ups, Brand Festivals and Community Summits.
• Compelling event result stories that match key data insights to audience interests and concerns.

During Idea Builder sessions, we were challenged to think beyond traditional models of audience engagement – to develop strategic individual moments of impact. We acknowledged that what audiences need today may not be the same in three months. We explored how to treat in-person and digital as two parts of a whole, and to deliver tailored, connected experiences in both venues.
 

 
Perhaps the biggest takeaway from the Summit was that no one really knows where this journey will end up or how long it will take. We’re all still figuring it out. We’re rediscovering our love for events and re-igniting creativity and innovation. We need to make the journey fun for teams and audiences. We’re excited about the new experiences we can create with our vision, technology, and most importantly, our passion for our craft.

CEMA Summit has always been a space for human connection and joy, so it goes without saying that it was marvelous to be there in person to reconnect and celebrate our creativity, ingenuity and resilience… and share in the joy of being a CEMA member… especially at the BIG dance-off on Tuesday night!

Panelists: Matt Mongoven, SVP, Brand Experience, Freeman; Kristen Koenig Director, Digital Channel Sales & Partnerships, Freeman; Megan Morrison, Sr. Program Manager, Event Strategy, CDW; Angie Smith, Atlassian; Moderator: Lisa Van Rosendale. SVP, Brand Experiences, Freeman

At this Ignite Session, a panel of seasoned event marketers from both brand and provider communities shared their insights on the art of strategy, understanding human behavior both live and online to align with brand goals and optimizing the science of data analytics.

The discussion kicked off with a shared recognition that event executives – both on the brand and solutions provider sides – have been looking for “lifelines” and ways to plan, design and create with minimal visibility into what is around the corner. It has been a year of scenario planning for all of us.

All agreed that a good way to address uncertainty in direction is to lean into key learnings from the past year.  For example, digital events in 2020 were often virtual versions of live events with typical 30-60 and 90-minute sessions. Attendee data across multiple verticals and varying audience segments indicate that a disciplined approach to content delivers the best results.  It also indicates that online participants prefer bite-sized, consumable content. They also want to curate their own experiences, which makes it critical to understand a comprehensive attendee journey.

The panel also discussed the pros and cons of developing customized solutions vs. going with a SaaS solution. The consensus was that it’s not an either-or decision, similarly to what we encounter with LIVE events where we decide what properties go to a Tier 1 event versus what goes to a Tier 2 event.  The key is employing the solutions that offers the best opportunity to innovate, differentiate and scale – up and down. It’s important to be intentional and create an authentic experience – no matter how you do it.

There were scores of other great insights shared. Here are a few of the most memorable ones:

• Event experiences must consider the entire eco system including but not limited to: customers, partner community and co-workers – and the event content strategy and platform technology must enable connections among the three.
• Event participants have become far more sophisticated about platforms and have higher expectations for user experience (UX) and user interfaces (UI). It’s our job to design an easy-to-navigate user experience, they don’t want to do the work for us.
• Digital content – their audiences are free to roam the world.
• To break through platform noise, develop a platform review and matching service that can match platforms to customer needs and culture and use analytics (AI and ML) to eliminate evaluation bias.
• Content must be deliberate, intentional, and authentic. Having an engaging, relevant, timely message is essential. Production can keep the story dynamic and interesting, and we should be open to using different content delivery mechanisms, including non-human presentations.
• Multi-channel which was embraced a few years ago is no longer acceptable and LIVE/HYBRID events are now part of the Omnichannel strategy.
• We need to change the conversation from Covid to crisis resilience. More disruption will happen, so EMs must develop a strategy for “force majeure” scenarios.

Session participants were invited to help crowd source solutions to real challenges the panelists were facing. For example, to motivate digital event audiences to return to the event experiences post event, hold impromptu live fireside chats (like Clubhouse), offer creative or unique information incentives (e. g. Easter eggs or sneak peeks), or have surprise, live expert drop-ins on your on-demand platform.

Of course, the parting wisdom was that since we’re all looking at the hazy crystal ball, we should turn to the amazing CEMA community for insight, expertise, and support.

Kimberley Gishler

Addressing the successes of the merger with PCMA

CEMA Summit has always been a space for human connection and joy, so it goes without saying that it was marvelous be there in person to reconnect and celebrate our creativity, ingenuity and resilience… and share in the joy of being a CEMA member…especially at the BIG dance-off on Tuesday night! Enjoy the smiles and hugs in this video and especially the dance moves at the end.

Networking is Always “Spicey” at Summit

On the first day attendees chose either tequila tasting, Full Circle team building or a contest for making salsa.

While each had a festive vibe, our CEMA family brings it when the word contest is involved, and we have it on tape—watch it here.