Today's #EventIcons guests recently launched a conference in 90 days, growing their attendance from 0 to 5,000 people. That event was a fantastic PLX conference focused on partner marketing.    Partner marketing is a strategic relationship between two entities that aim to accomplish common goals, like increasing event attendance, building brand awareness, or marketing your products. And while you may be familiar with influencer marketing in B2C, a popular approach to partner marketing,...

The pandemic put a strain on everyone in the events industry, and it’s pushed some of our longest-serving professionals into other careers or even retirement, leaving a vacuum for other professionals to fill. It’s this need for experienced and knowledgeable event professionals, along with the revitalization of events, that led today’s guest, Bradley Cocks, to transition from doing to educating.  Bradley is an experienced event professional with an impressive 20 years of history in the...

Ashley Lawson is a big name in the travel meetings and incentives industry. Recently featured on the SITE Global and IMEX Instagram accounts, she’s also been featured closer to home. In a recent Event Brew episode on event inspiration, Deanna named Ashley as someone she goes to for inspiration and to bounce ideas off. Eager to learn more about Ashley, we’ve decided to bring her on for today’s #EventIcon episode! Ashley currently serves as the Vice President of Business Partnerships at Achieve...

Throughout 2022, we discussed how event professionals could talk business and engage with the C-suite. We also talked about trends we witnessed and expected to see in 2023. That’s why we’ve brought Jim Kelley on today’s episode of the #EventIcons. Jim is an experienced leader in the events industry. Currently the Vice President of Marketing and Industry Relations at Fern Expo, he has a long history of working in events, tradeshows, and conferences. Jim describes himself as a continuous...

Attendee arrival has changed in recent years. Before the pandemic, attendees would have booked hotels and made transportation arrangements in the days or weeks leading up to the event. With online events, they’ve cut that time down to a few minutes, and no one understands this better than today’s #EventIcons guest, Arianna Black. Arianna has a long-standing relationship with events. Recently, that relationship has grown to focus on meaningful connections in virtual events. She says, “My...

The events industry is on the cusp of change. As we exit the pandemic era, companies are looking to understand how they can drive event growth and how events can, in turn, drive growth for their business; that’s why we’ve brought on a special guest for this episode of #EventIcons, Mark Kilens.  Mark is the CMO of Airmeet, a leading virtual and hybrid event platform. He previously worked at Drift as the VP of Content and Community and at HubSpot as the VP of Marketing. Mark comes to us today...

Event planners and organizers are always considering how to push the envelope of event design. But with progress comes risk, the risk of failure. C2 Montreal is an event known for pushing the boundaries of events and inspiring industry-wide progress. #EventIcons has invited Anick Beaulieu of C2 International to chat with us.

On the last episode of #EventIcons, Erica Bishaf said, “A lot of organizations put about 60 - 80% of financial risk into one live event.” Unsurprisingly, companies are heavily invested in attendee satisfaction. Often, event planners turn to metrics and engagement as a measure of an event's success. That's why we've brought on an expert on all things attendee engagement, Ryan Costello.  Ryan is the founder and Chief Strategy Officer of Event Farm. Today, hundreds of organizations use Event...

Community is the hot new buzzword in the events industry, and for a good reason. The ROI of building a community is staggeringly high. A thriving and engaged community can grow your revenue by hundreds of thousands of dollars. That’s why this #EventIcons podcast has a very special guest, Erica Bishaf.  Erica is the founder and CEO of Campfire Social. She brings 20 years of experience with business strategy, market research & insights, and consulting. She’s an expert in building...

Endless Events has recently celebrated its 15th birthday and we’ve decided to mark the occasion by hosting a very special #EventIcons episode in which our listeners could ask us any questions they want about Endless’ past, present, and future. The 15-year special was hosted by no other than the CEO and Founder of Endless Events, Will Curran. Three members of the Endless team have also kept him company: Keaton Watson, Director of Sales and Operations, Karmen Jericevic, Sales Development...

The #EventIcons podcast is back with a very special guest: Hubilo's CEO Vaibhav Jain. Hubilo is the leading global virtual and hybrid event technology company. Under Vaibhav's leadership, Hubilo has raised over 150 million in less than a year from leading hedge fund and venture capital firms globally. And it still continues to grow exponentially internationally.    Vaibhav's vision is to create a solution that works for every possible industry where content and community come together...

After a month-long break, the #EventIcons podcast is back in all its glory! This week's iconic guest is the knowledgeable Gianna Gaudini, an event marketing strategist who understands events inside and out. She worked as Marketing Events Lead at Google for nine years and Head of Events at AWS for nearly two years. Even more importantly, she has founded her own company in 2018. Check out Gianna's website: she's established herself as an industry leader as well as an author and course...

It’s been nearly two years since event planners first witnessed mass event cancelations and scrambled to plan virtual events. Since then, we have seen the landscape of the events industry change dramatically. But just as we thought that we were getting through the worst of the pandemic-related uncertainty, the Omicron variant came and took over the world. Event planners essentially have three options: to cancel, to postpone, or to pivot. But how to choose? Since strategizing Omicron is one...

This week, the #EventIcons podcast comes with a three-day delay, but we’re so excited about this amazing episode that we couldn’t wait any longer to share it with the world! First, let’s get the most exciting part out of the way. Will is joined by a brand new host: the fabulous and inquisitive Karmen Jericevic, AKA the Event Opportunity Creator at Endless Events. Some of you might remember her from the episode we did with the Endless team about managing virtual fatigue. As she constantly...

We’re back today with a very special episode of the #EventIcons podcast. Will’s guest is Isaac Holt, the Master of Technimagic at Endless Events. This week, he put on the shoes of the podcast’s host and did quite an amazing job. Will and the live audience had a lot of questions for our new host. To make him feel welcomed and at ease, they mostly talked about technical production, but also touched on the future of virtual events and hybrid events – the works. So, press play, and please...

New week, new guest, new host! #EventIcons is back with a very special episode! Recorded at Event Tech Live, Will had a great conversation about the evolution of SXSW with none other than their former Chief Innovation Officer, Scott Wilcox. Today, Scott has a new consulting venture, Here and Tomorrow. We’ve talked about SXSW (South by Southwest) before in this podcast’s history. We’ve watched them do their first-ever 4K live stream, and included them on the list of our favorite events in...

Do you consider yourself an entrepreneur? Today’s iconic guest, Deanna Nwosu, thinks that all event and meeting planners should nurture an entrepreneurial spirit. She joins Sarah to talk about her vast experience in the events industry, what the future holds for event organizers, and the importance of community engagement. For almost 20 years, Deanna has worked on fundraisers, conferences, trade shows, and other events ranging in size from 10 to 20,000 attendees. Creating an ideal attendee...

When we talk about movement at events, our minds might go to walking around the venue at in-person events or walking to the fridge if we’re attending a virtual experience. But what if we told you that a little movement goes a long way even before or during speaker presentations? Taking care of the health of the attendees is a growing trend in the events industry – and we’re not just talking about COVID-19 compliance at events. PCMA EduCon 2021, for example, hosted a gamified health challenge...

Planning a safe event is by no means something that is new in the world of event planners, but it has definitely gained new meaning in the last 18 months. When we think of staying safe and sound at events these days, our minds first go to COVID-compliance officers, screening procedures, and hand sanitizers. And since the #EventIcons podcast is all about talking about the hottest topics in the events industry, we brought on a special guest who specializes in all things event safety and...

There is only one thing that seems to be certain in these trying times in the events industry: virtual events are here to stay, no matter the state of the pandemic and our personal preferences. And that’s why it’s time to talk about virtual event production -again. The #EventIcons podcast strives to talk to the very best in the events world. And wow, did we deliver this week! Today, we don’t introduce you to one, but two #EventIcons guests: Kara Gladish and Sheehan Hubbard from Socio. For...

The year 2020 has established itself as the year of the pivot in the events industry. Since then, countless #EventIcons guests were brought on the podcast to talk about how they turned their in-person events into virtual ones and the importance of their community in these trying times. And because no two stories are the same, we’re back this week with another one! Host Events is a Boston-based company that focuses on building community through top-notch virtual experiences. Today, Sarah...

Before the pandemic hit us, we took genuine human interactions at events for granted. Attendees mingled, networked, formed everlasting bonds, and had a great time while doing all of that. As the industry pivoted to virtual events, virtual audience engagement became one of the most talked-about challenges. How do we replicate genuine interpersonal dynamics in the virtual world? Is it even possible? Today’s #EventIcons guest thinks that it definitely is. The iconic Steve Gottlieb is a serial...

Last year, the virtual revolution completely transformed the events industry. We shifted our focus from venues to online platforms and brainstormed all kinds of ways to keep the audiences glued to the screens. And even though in-person events are making a glorious comeback, virtual events are here to stay. Moreover, they need to keep evolving! That's why on today's episode of #EventIcons, we will talk about reimagining the virtual experience. One size certainly doesn't fit all: when planning...

Event platforms took the events industry by the storm. So much so that they can be considered as the new venues! There's more of them each year and some of them are even attracting huge investments. We've had countless enthusiastic guests talk about them on #EventIcons before, but today's guest is a little bit different. He says: down with third-party event platforms! Saroosh Gull is the CEO of Eventcombo and he is on a mission to disrupt the entire $1 trillion event industry. He's all about...