Great Events

For event professionals, IMEX is a familiar name. IMEX is an industry-leading exhibition for incentive travel, meetings, events and considered the heartbeat of the global business events community. Their two tradeshows have been running annually for almost two decades in Frankfurt and Las Vegas. In this episode, Carina Bauer, CEO of IMEX Group, talks to us about how their virtual event, Planet IMEX, went. She also shares insights on how IMEX made the decision to pivot to virtual and their approach to proving ROI without charging a fee for the event. Tune in!

With Virtual events being so prominent, many event planners have questions about integrating different platforms and their respective benefits. Lori Wildman, Senior Marketing Manager at DMA - DuCharme, McMillen & Associates, Inc. talks to us about her experience with moving her events to a virtual platform and how using different systems helps for one end goal. She also shares her views on how beneficial it is to use a virtual MC, other engagement strategies, and shares some alternative benefits that have been noticed by moving to a virtual platform.

From traveling to eating meals at in-person events, the current pandemic has impacted everything. Lou Marrocco, President of Brandywine Events, talks to Brooke and Cody and offers us some guidance on reopening strategies as we begin to consider in-person events again. In this episode, he shares what steps event-planners and hoteliers can take to not let fear or anxiety impact reopening plans. He also discusses different options that planners have to be sensitive to COVID19 while also keeping sustainability in mind at events.

With our current environment, several companies are taking preventative measures to limit exposure to employees, so what is the future of incentive meetings? Tahira Endean, Head of Events at SITE Global, talks to us about the state of incentive experiences for top performers. Hear her unique perspective on how companies can still keep incentive events alive during these times and how we can continue to provide that red carpet experience people have come to expect. Listen in to hear how companies can think about rewarding those people who are working hard in dangerous situations and some creative ideas to give top performers a meaningful reward.

The world has changed the way it operates and that includes how event planners need to think while working on international conventions. In this episode, Shawn Cheng, Project Manager at MCI and president of PCMA’s Canada West Chapter, shares his thoughts on the few things that international conventions are facing. You will hear more about the main reasons people attend conferences and how they need to be re-designed to work in the present scenario. He also talks about using gamification effectively to increase engagement in both virtual and hybrid event models.

We know recovery is inevitable and live events will eventually resume and there are a lot of questions. Will you be able to build the same kind of relationship in the virtual environment? How can planners maximize attendance and engagement on the rebound? How social distancing will impact events? How should planners build value to justify the cost once we go back to live events? and so on. We all have questions. In this episode Brendan Dell, Founder and President of B2H, shares his thoughts with Brooke and Cody on different business marketing strategies & best practices around messaging and communication that can help you succeed in the new world! As a special bonus, listen in to hear more about Cvent Connect Virtual! From August 25 - 26, we will provide 28 live breakout sessions, virtual meetups, appointments, and more. Check out Cvent.com/podcast and click on the Cvent Connect banner to learn more and register for free!

With Pride month in full swing, we invited Michael Newton, Team Lead of Europe Account Management with Cvent, back to the podcast to talk about diversity and inclusion and why it is so important for planners to be conscious of this while planning events. Michael not only has a wealth of knowledge but also as a subject matter expert, he shares his thoughts and ideas on how companies can get started with initiatives around diversity and inclusion. Listen in to hear his thoughts on launching and growing employee resource groups and what people can do to help support their LGBTQ+ colleagues especially during the current global situation. Another great option to take advantage of right now is to become certified in Cvent! Cvent is offering Certification Exams for FREE until the end of August. Anyone can certify in any Cvent Solution in just a few steps, even students! Tune in to hear how you can certify for free.

We all know that recovery is on the horizon and corporate travel will eventually resume, but not without some changes. Best practices and safety measures will be part of our lives and it will help in evolving corporate travel. In this episode we talk about how as travelers we will be responsible to make travel not only safe, but a success in the new world. Timothy Jones, Director of Corporate Travel at Cvent joins Brooke and Cody and shares some predictions about the phased approach on the future of Corporate travel. As a special bonus, listen in to hear more about Cvent Connect Virtual! From August 25 - 26, we will provide 28 live breakout sessions, virtual meetups, and appointments. Check out CventConnect.com/virtual to register for free today!

Ever wonder what industry leaders of other countries are doing in the current situation? In this episode we talk through what they are doing to show that London will be a safe destination to go back to and also hear about visiting London virtually and everything it has to offer. Tracy also shares a 3-phase approach to getting back to “normal” and how working with government leaders has better prepared them for the current situation. As a special bonus, listen in to hear more about Cvent Connect Virtual! From August 25 - 26, we will provide 28 live breakout sessions, virtual meetups, and appointments. Check out CventConnect.com/virtual to register for free today!

The transition from working in the office to working from home with all your family members happened so quickly in our lives. As we continue working from home some of us still find it difficult to maintain that much required work-life balance. We know it is hard to stay focused when we have all been home longer than we would like. In this episode we are joined by Stephen Carroll, Senior Director, Partnerships & Corporate Marketing at Cvent and his spouse Bernadette J. Carroll, Founder, and CEO of the Power Up Women’s Conference. They shared their ideas with us for creating a good life balance with your family while working from home during COVID. Another great option to take advantage of right now is to become certified in Cvent! Cvent is offering Certification Exams for FREE until the end of August. Anyone can certify in any Cvent Solution in just a few steps, even students! Tune in to hear how you can certify for free.

These are unprecedented times and ON24 is trying to do their part to bring us into the new normal. Listen as Cheri Keith, Director of Strategy and Research at ON24, talks about some great insights from their annual benchmark report, such as the changes in ideal dates and times for webinars in recent weeks. She also talks about how webinars are still thriving with virtual events being the point of focus during these times. She also shares what changes might be required from an event marketing standpoint when in-person events are back and how ON24 can help to evolve the event strategies once we return to our new normal. As a special bonus, listen in to hear more about Cvent Connect Virtual! From August 25 - 26, we will provide 28 live breakout sessions, virtual meetups, and appointments. Check out CventConnect.com/virtual to register for free today!.

In a time when everyone is trying to do something for society, we had the privilege of talking to someone who took actions during these unprecedented times to start an initiative to help first responders called #CompoundingHandoff. Lizzie Harbin Vice President of Public Affairs, Communications, Education, and Human Resources at PCCA not only pivoted to a virtual event but made it a success from 25 attendees to 400+ virtual attendees. While also starting a community movement to make hand sanitizer for first responders and used different platforms to engage their 3000+ member network for this great cause. As a special bonus, listen in to hear more about Cvent Connect Virtual! From August 25 - 26, we will provide 28 live breakout sessions, virtual meetups, and appointments. Check out CventConnect.com/virtual to register for free today!

In this third part of our Cvent Virtual Week series, we debunk the myth that virtual events are boring. That couldn't be more wrong! Our guests, Lauren Allison and Noel McWilliams, share their tips on how to make virtual events engaging for attendees. Whether virtual or in-person, events can still be engaging and accomplish the same goals for attendees. Tune in to hear everything they had to say!

We are halfway through Cvent Virtual Week and we are continuing to debunk myths around hosting virtual events! In the second part of our three-part series, our guests Taylor Bohn and Lauren Turner demystify the myth that is on many people's minds -- not having the right technology to put on a virtual event. Our guests talk through the technology you need to run a virtual event and how it's not as complicated as we may think!

It's Cvent Virtual Week and we are going to be debunking myths around hosting virtual events! In the first part of our three-part series, we tackle the myth around having to start from square one when switching to a virtually hosted event. Our guest Paulina Curto shares her tips for taking events originally planned for an in-person experience, to a virtual platform without having to start completely from scratch. Stay tuned for part two of this series that will focus on the tech side of virtual events!