August 26, 2025 • 18 mins
In this special episode of Sales Pipeline Radio from the Innovation Pavilion at Cvent CONNECT 2025, Matt spoke with Megan Martin, VP of Marketing and Innovation at EMC Meetings & Events.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Matt Heinz (00:15):
All right.
Welcome back to Cvent CONNECT.
We're here on the show flooroutside of the Innovation Pavilion.
Just having a great time talking to alot of Cvent customers, people of the
industry, people that just are livingand breathing events on a regular basis.
Very excited to have with this todayfor this session, Megan Martin.
She's the VP of Marketing andInnovation at EMC Meetings and Events.
Welcome.
Megan Martin (00:33):
Thank you.
Glad to be here.
Matt Heinz (00:34):
How's the show been so far for you?
Megan Martin (00:35):
Amazing.
Yeah.
EMC won, uh, Excellence Award last night.
Matt Heinz (00:39):
Congratulations.
Megan Martin (00:39):
So we're running a high
Matt Heinz (00:40):
That's amazing.
Megan Martin (00:41):
From winning the big award last night, so we're having a great time.
Matt Heinz (00:44):
That is awesome.
Well, there's so many things wecan talk about in this session.
I want to talk about content.
Yes.
Which is at the heart of all events.
But, you know, if you're at an eventlike Cvent CONNECT, there's content
you're experiencing this week, butthat's not the end of the content.
And we're gonna talk about like, how doyou plan for the right content in the
room, but also make sure you're getting along tail of value for that content in so
(01:04):
many different formats and opportunities.
So, we're gonna get into that in a minute,but maybe let's start with you and just
talk about what's your role at EMC.
Megan Martin (01:10):
Yeah, so I'm the VP of Marketing and Innovation.
Mm-hmm.
So obviously the marketing side, Ido all the marketing things mm-hmm.
For the agency.
Mm-hmm.
We're a full serviceevent planning agency.
I also do a lot of innovationand consulting with our clients.
Mm-hmm.
So, as we know, eventplanners are super busy.
They don't necessarily always havethe time to look for the new tech or
(01:31):
the new ways and the new processes.
So I try to keep my fingeron the pulse of the industry.
What's new what's coming, what techs?
Mm-hmm.
What new formats can we introduce?
So as our clients are trying toinnovate, we can innovate with them
and we can really be that consultativearm that they can lean on us and be
like, how do we make this better?
Yeah.
And we always have the solution for that.
Matt Heinz (01:52):
I mean, for the event profs watching and listening to this, they know
that like there are so many things thatgo into it, like how good is the coffee?
How close is the hotelto the convention center.
Content is part of that, Yes.
But like, help me understand, likefor the best customers, for the best
in class events, where does contentfit into the planning function?
Megan Martin (02:07):
Yeah.
I think people come toevents for two reasons.
Networking, the social aspects.
Mm-hmm.
And then the content, right?
They wanna learn something.
So when we're thinking aboutcontent, we're not just thinking
talking heads, we're thinking value.
Mm-hmm.
So what are we gonna deliverthat's not Googleable.
Yeah.
We have to have those moments wheresomeone's gonna come and be able to
consume a piece of content that theycan't find anywhere else on the internet.
(02:29):
Right.
And what value does that bring them?
Right.
So we spend a lot of time lookingat intent data with our clients.
Mm-hmm.
You know, we talk a lot about thefunnel and like trying to do content
for different parts of the funnel.
Mm-hmm.
I think the funnel is dead.
It's more of a playground.
Mm. Ashley Foster wrote a whole bookabout this that was very inspiring
to me, and she's spot on with it.
(02:51):
People are coming in at different areas.
They're not coming in through a funnel.
Maybe they're coming in sideways,they're not always gonna buy.
And so are they looking at content from,I just wanna be an expert in this field.
Mm-hmm.
And I need to learn more.
Yeah.
So you're the expert and help me educate.
Mm-hmm.
Or I wanna know about your product.
Mm-hmm.
So give me product marketing things.
(03:11):
I think Cvent CONNECT does apretty good job at that as well.
Like there's things about marketing,there's sessions about sales.
Mm-hmm.
There's sessions about the productand how to use it more efficiently.
Mm-hmm.
So when we think content, we think intent.
Yep.
And so why are we producing thispiece of content and how are
we gonna continue to use it?
Who is the audience and what valueare they gonna gain from consuming it?
Matt Heinz (03:32):
Well, you mentioned the importance of data and the importance
of intent data and to be able to,even at a conference like this where
you have thousands of people, how doyou then customize that experience?
For those different roles, thosedifferent people here, based on where
they're at, either in that buyingplayground or in their customer journey.
Megan Martin (03:47):
Yeah, I think a lot of conferences organize their
content based on topic areas.
Mm-hmm.
Instead of the value or why.
Mm-hmm.
If I'm coming to the conferencejust for networking, tell me all the
ways and all the areas I need to go.
Yeah.
So that I can meet asmany people as possible.
That's right.
You know, if I'm coming to learn becauseI need to be a better sales person.
(04:07):
Mm-hmm.
Or I need to be better at using,you know, the Cvent platform.
Yep.
Tell me all the sessions.
Right.
Not just in a singular track.
So that's when we thinkabout intent data mm-hmm.
That we're looking at.
And then the post follow up, like somuch of data creation has to think
way before the event even starts.
Yep.
And so a lot of our clientsare creating run of shows for
(04:28):
content, just like they would theoperational execution of the event.
Mm-hmm.
So these sessions are gonna produce this,and we're gonna have this outcome for them
and these people are in charge of that.
Yeah.
Or we wanna capture this at this session.
And so there's almost like a run of showevery single day of what they're capturing
so they can look and say, oh, we noticedyou had this session saved on your agenda.
(04:50):
Mm-hmm.
But you weren't able to make it.
They didn't scan into the session.
Right.
Here's a webinar.
Here's a podcast recording, right?
Here's a white paper onthat topic that you missed.
Matt Heinz (04:59):
We're here on the show floor at Cvent CONNECT with Megan Martin.
She's the VP of Marketing Innovationat EMC Meetings and Events.
There's so much great contentand experiences and moments at
conferences like this that arevaluable in the moment and then are
sort of either lost or forgotten.
Right.
We're onto the next session,we're onto the next conversation,
and we lose that content.
Like why are we so bad at that?
And how can companies and event marketersget better at creating the long tail
(05:23):
for the content that they're enabling?
Megan Martin (05:25):
I mean, at the end of the day, the teams are just siloed, and so
a lot of the times, you know, the eventpeople are moving straight on mm-hmm.
To the next event.
Yep.
They're not necessarily thinkingabout repurposing that content.
And marketing is following up onleads, working with sales, and how do
we outreach to the attendees, right.
And not necessarily thinking about.
Wow, we just captured five days or fourdays worth of these soundbites and all
(05:48):
the things, you know, if you have a planin place before you even start the event.
Yeah.
You know how to repurpose it for6, 9, 12 months, and then you have
this year round cycle where you'rejust hyping it up for the next year.
That's right.
You've fed that feed all year long.
Matt Heinz (06:03):
So could you gimme an example of what that would look like?
So yesterday morning opening keynote,Reggie does like 15, 20 minutes on stage
and it's a broad swath of like where hesees the industry going and not getting
into products, but it's sort of more ofthe CEO perspective, like as a content
team sitting in the back of the room,how do you take that session, which is
now a recorded video with transcripts,like what do you do with that?
Megan Martin (06:25):
So for him, something like that.
I mean, that's like a trends piece, right?
Mm-hmm.
So, I mean, beyond the roadmap, that'sa whole nother probably six months
of content I could push on this Cventroadmap that you talked about, right?
Thinking about the industry trends,that can become a white paper, a
LinkedIn carousel, we can push itout and six months we can be like,
oh, are these trends coming true?
(06:46):
Mm-hmm.
Are they still on track?
A year from now, we cansay, oh, were we right?
Did those trends happen?
But beyond just the organizer,so, Cvent producing.
Why aren't all of your ambassadors also?
Yes.
So what about all the influencers?
What about your exhibitors?
What about your sponsors?
What about your attendees?
Like they should be like, oh,I sat in this general session,
Reggie said we should do this.
(07:07):
That's right.
I'm seeing that in my business.
And you have now all these other peopletalking about your event that you can then
repurpose their content just like you'rerepurposing your own keynote from Reggie.
So you know, one 20 minute trendskeynote from Reggie yesterday.
Mm-hmm.
Could turn into thousands of impressions.
Yeah.
If you include exhibitorsponsors, attendees, influencers
(07:29):
that were in that room.
Matt Heinz (07:30):
So if you're listening and watching this, you're thinking,
boy, we just had our event.
Like whether it was yesterdayor last month, and you're like,
we haven't done any of that.
The opportunity's still there.
You can take that content.
You could still do all of these things.
Absolutely.
Better yet, if your conference iscoming up in the next few weeks or
months, and you can plan for this.
Yes.
So what are some of the keys to peopleand companies thinking and planning
before the event even happens to be ableto take advantage of this in the moment.
Megan Martin (07:53):
That's where there needs to be so much more collaboration between the
sales, marketing and events team becausea sales team is gonna look at, okay.
What are people saying andhow do I leverage that as
like a sales enablement piece?
Mm-hmm.
So that I can drive mypipeline, I can close sales.
Mm-hmm.
So sales are gonna look at allof your content in one way?
Yeah.
You should give it to them andtell them and say, what out of this
(08:14):
agenda, what out of these sessions?
Mm-hmm.
Like what do you need toknow so we can capture it?
So then we have sales enablementpieces for the next six months.
That's right.
And we know what our audience is thinking.
Marketing's gonna come in and be like,oh, that would be a great TikTok piece.
That would be a great LinkedIn piece.
Mm-hmm.
Here's five takeaways.
Mm-hmm.
Here's what we heard.
You know, Billy on the street stylefrom the hallway conversations.
(08:35):
You know, marketing's gonnalook at it from one lens.
Yeah.
And then your event, people are gonnalook at it from a different lens as well
of like what areas were most active, whatwere people loving so we can continue
to drive these personalized experiences.
Yeah.
So those are one agenda, threecompletely different perspectives,
but they all need to be talkingprior to even going on site because.
(08:57):
If you go in with a plan, mm-hmm.
You can execute and actuallyproduce six months worth of content
post-event rather than waiting tillit's over and then having to think.
Okay.
Now you have so muchdata, you're overwhelmed.
You're drowning in it.
You're drowning in thiscontent, and you're like, we
don't even know where to start.
Like if you go in withthat sort of run of show.
Mm-hmm.
As soon as it's done, you're executing.
(09:17):
Absolutely.
And not having to create.
Matt Heinz (09:19):
So you go in with a plan, you go in with a run of show,
and then the event happens, andthen serendipity happens as well.
Right.
Of course.
People walk by, you're like,I wanna get them on video.
Or something happens in an unexpectedway, or you know, we've gotta run
a show for this session right here.
Some things that I knew that you'vebeen working on that I wanted
to make sure to ask you, but I'malready asking you a question.
It wasn't on the run a show.
And so how do you balance that plannedeffort to help make an event successful
(09:42):
with opportunities for things that pop up.
Megan Martin (09:45):
I mean, that's just where you have to be flexible.
Yeah.
I mean, we know that even froman event design standpoint.
Mm-hmm.
Like there's always gonna be things thathappen that you're not prepared for.
Yeah.
But that's even more important tohaving a plan because if you're
always trying to play catch up.
Everything is unexpected andserendipitous at that point.
Right.
Right.
Where if you can structure itand you know, going in, okay,
(10:07):
we know we have people there.
Mm-hmm.
Oh, there's this greathallway conversation going on.
Yeah.
We know we have a team in that areaand they have a break right now.
Let's go capture some of that.
Or we have a downtime, let'sgo get some more B roll or.
You know, on the street conversations,it's just about being flexible
and when you have a plan, you havethe capacity to be more flexible.
Matt Heinz (10:28):
So clear opportunity to repurpose a lot of this into content
that you can then reshare withyour audience, with your customer.
I think, you know, we now see agreater opportunity to make that a
community element, right, where it'snot just us as brands publishing that
out to our constituents, but gettingthem to communicate peer to peer.
Yeah.
So how do you take some of that contentand the experiences in an event and use
that to spark a community that createsand shares content with each other?
Megan Martin (10:51):
I think you have to encourage it.
When we think about thought leadership,like anyone can do that now.
Mm-hmm.
With platforms like LinkedIn andInstagram and TikTok and everybody
wants to share their experience and tomake it easy for them to do that, like
have the Instagram backdrop moment.
Mm-hmm.
You know, give them the spaces to betheir own content creator because when
you make it easy for them to sharetheir experience, people will do it.
(11:13):
Yeah.
And so give them the tools.
Maybe have an area wherethey can record the video.
Yeah.
Or give the testimonial and thenthey can easily share it out.
Or, you know, even the pre-event of that.
Mm-hmm.
Like people wanna go wheretheir friends are going.
That's right.
You know, and having it easy where.
You know, tools like Snowball, InGo,Gleanin where they can quickly share
and being like, I'm going to CONNECT.
(11:33):
Mm-hmm.
Who's gonna be there?
I posted something up, you know?
Mm-hmm.
I'm gonna be there.
Who's gonna be there?
Yeah.
Am I gonna see my friends?
What should I not miss this year?
Matt Heinz (11:42):
One of the tradeoffs of having a community start to
create its own content is youlose a little control, right?
For you lose little control of thebrand, the consistency, where's the
right balance between sort of brandconsistency and authenticity of
content that's coming from peers.
Megan Martin (11:56):
I think that's where you have to be engaged.
Mm-hmm.
Like when we think aboutcommunity, we think engagement.
Yeah.
And if you're keeping a pulseon those ambassadors mm-hmm.
And you're commenting, liking, mm-hmm.
Actively resharing their content.
Mm-hmm.
That kind of helps you keep a littlebit of control because, they know,
you know, you're always around, you'rewatching, they want to hear it, and
(12:19):
I think people will be more honest.
Yeah.
And you create moreauthenticity in that way.
Mm-hmm.
That, you know, you can justkeep the conversations flowing.
Yeah.
Matt Heinz (12:28):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, I think one of the things thatI'm hearing from you is that like
there's the content we create andthen there's the content we inspire.
Yes.
Talk a little about what that means, andthat's not just amongst the attendees
and your customers and prospects.
It's among the people at your verycompany and your partners, the
people in your ecosystem Yeah.
That are there andinspired by that as well.
What are some of the best practicesand even sort of the triggers and the
(12:48):
motivators to really inspire people touse your content as a launching point.
Megan Martin (12:52):
For sure.
I mean, that's where thoughtleadership comes in, so.
Mm-hmm.
Back to your example of Reggie's keynote.
Mm-hmm.
Why I could go easily on my platform now.
I mean, like, this is what I heardthe trends are in the industry.
Here's what I agree with.
Here's maybe what I'm questioning.
Yep.
You know, and then I can sort of spreadthat message, you know, even wider.
I can inspire conversation, youknow, what are you guys hearing?
(13:15):
This is what Reggie said, yeah.
Here's what I'm thinking.
Yep.
What's our community think?
Are we way off base?
What do we love?
What do we hate about it?
Mm-hmm.
You know?
The beauty of the events industry, we allwork on so many different kinds of events.
Yeah.
Consumer events, business events, youknow, executive dinners, huge conferences.
We all bring a differentperspective to it, but there's
(13:35):
so much learning opportunity.
'cause at the end of the day, it'sall humans going to these events.
Matt Heinz (13:40):
Yes.
Megan Martin (13:40):
And so there's a lot of connectivity that I think we miss because
we don't share more widely and openlyand inspire people to think outside
of their, you know, initial circle.
Mm-hmm.
For inspiration.
Matt Heinz (13:51):
So we just got a few minutes left.
I think, you know, there's the commonplaybook of repurposing content.
You know, you've got your blog post,you've got your social media post,
you've got, you know, converting intosmall video clips and email nurtures.
I, I'm curious if there's a contentformat or type or tactic that
you don't see very often used.
That is actually really powerfuland I'll give you an example that I
think is powerful that I've heard alot of people starting to use now is
sort of behind the scenes content.
(14:13):
Mm-hmm.
Right?
Like showing Reggie in the greenroom, like showing some of the prep
that people don't typically see.
Yeah.
I think, I mean we see thatin the media world, right?
Like bloopers and clips on the,beyond just the episodes of just,
you know, the actors being realbetween takes, people dig that stuff.
Megan Martin (14:27):
Yes.
Matt Heinz (14:27):
Talk about that or any other sort of formats
that you think are hidden gems.
Megan Martin (14:31):
I mean, that's definitely one.
Mm-hmm.
I mean, people want authentic,they want the bloopers.
Mm-hmm.
They want pre start doingthat pre-content Yeah.
Like have your speakers beinglike, here's what I'm prepping for.
Yeah.
What should I talk about in my session?
The one piece that I think is mostunderutilized is you have these
captive audience at these events.
Mm-hmm.
And then we don't dopolling in our sessions.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So if we started using interactivepolls more in these sessions, I mean,
(14:55):
that's great pieces of data Yeah.
That you can then dump into data tools.
You can then validate Reggie's thoughtson the industry, you know, ask a
couple questions at the beginningof every session and then share
that out and being like, here'swhat the audience at Cvent said.
Mm-hmm.
You know, 80% is.
Blah, blah, blah, whateverthe question might be.
Yeah.
I don't think we utilizepolling enough in the moment.
(15:18):
Yeah.
And to be able to, you know, usethat post event or even pre-event,
Matt Heinz (15:23):
it's amazing to be like when we're not at events, we work
so hard and sometimes pulling teethto get people to answer questions.
And yet when you get a few hundred peoplein the room staring at you, and we still
don't and we don't ask the questions.
Yeah.
Huge.
I love that you brought that up.
'cause that's a huge opportunity.
Yeah.
All right.
We've been talking a lot about bestpractices for content repurposing.
I love a good best practice, butI also love a good dumpster fire.
Gosh.
So if I were to talk about dumpsterfires or cautionary tales, things
(15:45):
people might not think about on theirown unless they have experienced
the pain of it themselves, whathave you seen that maybe stands out?
Megan Martin (15:51):
I mean, immediately my brain goes back to like
Fyre Festival stuff, right?
And so like,
there's a balance between beingauthentic and sharing behind the scenes.
Mm-hmm.
But then if things arenot going well Yeah.
Like being very careful about sharingthose behind the scenes moments.
Right, right.
And you know, things can go viral veryquickly for all the wrong reasons.
(16:15):
That's right.
But keeping in mind it's howyou respond to those things.
Exactly.
More so like eventually something'sgoing to go viral and people
are gonna have conversationsabout something that goes wrong.
I mean, there's dumpster fires everywhere.
Yeah.
It's more on then how you respondto that and, take it with grace.
Mm-hmm.
And I think a lot of people whoown some of those dumpster fires
end up coming out on the better endwhere you're like, man, we effed up.
(16:36):
Like, yeah, we own that and here's whatwe're gonna do to do better tomorrow, the
next day, next year, whatever it may be.
Matt Heinz (16:42):
I think there's something to be said.
I think there is a line there for sure.
I think there's also something to besaid for, you know, sort of creating
some empathy with your audienceand letting them see, like, listen,
we all live in glass houses, man.
Like we're all.
This is never all perfect.
Exactly.
In terms of having this get done.
So yeah.
As we wrap up here, I'm curious as you seethis moving forward, you know, we've got
AI playing a bigger role in creating thedata for us to be able to leverage events.
(17:02):
We're seeing more of a hybrid format wherean event here may tie into a pre or post
virtual event and then other channels.
How is that gonna impact our contentopportunities in the next couple years?
Megan Martin (17:13):
I mean, AI is streamlining a lot of the processes.
Like, look, I will die on this hill.
That AI is one of the best things thatever happened to the events industry.
Mm-hmm.
I mean, people are gonna be craving morehuman to human interaction and I think
our jobs just got way more important.
Yep.
Into the future.
And when AI is used properly, it canstreamline and make things a lot more
(17:35):
efficient, which gives us back thespace and the time to be creative
and kind of push the boundariesof what we're capable of doing.
Yeah.
Because we have tools like AIthat are doing a lot of the
like mundane, tedious work.
Yeah.
That sucks up a lot of our time.
Yeah.
We can now automate all of those things.
Yeah.
To give ourselves that creative spaceto like create better experiences,
(17:56):
create better content, and push whatkind of content we're putting out there
because we don't, you know, have toanswer 300 emails in a day anymore.
Matt Heinz (18:03):
That's right.
That's right.
Love it.
Megan Martin from EMC, thank youso much for joining us today.
Megan Martin (18:07):
Yeah, glad to be here.
Thanks for having me.
Matt Heinz (18:08):
Thank you.
All right.
Welcome back to Cvent CONNECT.
We're here on the show flooroutside of the Innovation Pavilion.
Just having a great time talking to alot of Cvent customers, people of the
industry, people that just are livingand breathing events on a regular basis.
Very excited to have with this todayfor this session, Megan Martin.
She's the VP of Marketing andInnovation at EMC Meetings and Events.
Welcome.
Megan Martin (00:33):
Thank you.
Glad to be here.
Matt Heinz (00:34):
How's the show been so far for you?
Megan Martin (00:35):
Amazing.
Yeah.
EMC won, uh, Excellence Award last night.
Matt Heinz (00:39):
Congratulations.
Megan Martin (00:39):
So we're running a high
Matt Heinz (00:40):
That's amazing.
Megan Martin (00:41):
From winning the big award last night, so we're having a great time.
Matt Heinz (00:44):
That is awesome.
Well, there's so many things wecan talk about in this session.
I want to talk about content.
Yes.
Which is at the heart of all events.
But, you know, if you're at an eventlike Cvent CONNECT, there's content
you're experiencing this week, butthat's not the end of the content.
And we're gonna talk about like, how doyou plan for the right content in the
room, but also make sure you're getting along tail of value for that content in so
(01:04):
many different formats and opportunities.
So, we're gonna get into that in a minute,but maybe let's start with you and just
talk about what's your role at EMC.
Megan Martin (01:10):
Yeah, so I'm the VP of Marketing and Innovation.
Mm-hmm.
So obviously the marketing side, Ido all the marketing things mm-hmm.
For the agency.
Mm-hmm.
We're a full serviceevent planning agency.
I also do a lot of innovationand consulting with our clients.
Mm-hmm.
So, as we know, eventplanners are super busy.
They don't necessarily always havethe time to look for the new tech or
(01:31):
the new ways and the new processes.
So I try to keep my fingeron the pulse of the industry.
What's new what's coming, what techs?
Mm-hmm.
What new formats can we introduce?
So as our clients are trying toinnovate, we can innovate with them
and we can really be that consultativearm that they can lean on us and be
like, how do we make this better?
Yeah.
And we always have the solution for that.
Matt Heinz (01:52):
I mean, for the event profs watching and listening to this, they know
that like there are so many things thatgo into it, like how good is the coffee?
How close is the hotelto the convention center.
Content is part of that, Yes.
But like, help me understand, likefor the best customers, for the best
in class events, where does contentfit into the planning function?
Megan Martin (02:07):
Yeah.
I think people come toevents for two reasons.
Networking, the social aspects.
Mm-hmm.
And then the content, right?
They wanna learn something.
So when we're thinking aboutcontent, we're not just thinking
talking heads, we're thinking value.
Mm-hmm.
So what are we gonna deliverthat's not Googleable.
Yeah.
We have to have those moments wheresomeone's gonna come and be able to
consume a piece of content that theycan't find anywhere else on the internet.
(02:29):
Right.
And what value does that bring them?
Right.
So we spend a lot of time lookingat intent data with our clients.
Mm-hmm.
You know, we talk a lot about thefunnel and like trying to do content
for different parts of the funnel.
Mm-hmm.
I think the funnel is dead.
It's more of a playground.
Mm. Ashley Foster wrote a whole bookabout this that was very inspiring
to me, and she's spot on with it.
(02:51):
People are coming in at different areas.
They're not coming in through a funnel.
Maybe they're coming in sideways,they're not always gonna buy.
And so are they looking at content from,I just wanna be an expert in this field.
Mm-hmm.
And I need to learn more.
Yeah.
So you're the expert and help me educate.
Mm-hmm.
Or I wanna know about your product.
Mm-hmm.
So give me product marketing things.
(03:11):
I think Cvent CONNECT does apretty good job at that as well.
Like there's things about marketing,there's sessions about sales.
Mm-hmm.
There's sessions about the productand how to use it more efficiently.
Mm-hmm.
So when we think content, we think intent.
Yep.
And so why are we producing thispiece of content and how are
we gonna continue to use it?
Who is the audience and what valueare they gonna gain from consuming it?
Matt Heinz (03:32):
Well, you mentioned the importance of data and the importance
of intent data and to be able to,even at a conference like this where
you have thousands of people, how doyou then customize that experience?
For those different roles, thosedifferent people here, based on where
they're at, either in that buyingplayground or in their customer journey.
Megan Martin (03:47):
Yeah, I think a lot of conferences organize their
content based on topic areas.
Mm-hmm.
Instead of the value or why.
Mm-hmm.
If I'm coming to the conferencejust for networking, tell me all the
ways and all the areas I need to go.
Yeah.
So that I can meet asmany people as possible.
That's right.
You know, if I'm coming to learn becauseI need to be a better sales person.
(04:07):
Mm-hmm.
Or I need to be better at using,you know, the Cvent platform.
Yep.
Tell me all the sessions.
Right.
Not just in a singular track.
So that's when we thinkabout intent data mm-hmm.
That we're looking at.
And then the post follow up, like somuch of data creation has to think
way before the event even starts.
Yep.
And so a lot of our clientsare creating run of shows for
(04:28):
content, just like they would theoperational execution of the event.
Mm-hmm.
So these sessions are gonna produce this,and we're gonna have this outcome for them
and these people are in charge of that.
Yeah.
Or we wanna capture this at this session.
And so there's almost like a run of showevery single day of what they're capturing
so they can look and say, oh, we noticedyou had this session saved on your agenda.
(04:50):
Mm-hmm.
But you weren't able to make it.
They didn't scan into the session.
Right.
Here's a webinar.
Here's a podcast recording, right?
Here's a white paper onthat topic that you missed.
Matt Heinz (04:59):
We're here on the show floor at Cvent CONNECT with Megan Martin.
She's the VP of Marketing Innovationat EMC Meetings and Events.
There's so much great contentand experiences and moments at
conferences like this that arevaluable in the moment and then are
sort of either lost or forgotten.
Right.
We're onto the next session,we're onto the next conversation,
and we lose that content.
Like why are we so bad at that?
And how can companies and event marketersget better at creating the long tail
(05:23):
for the content that they're enabling?
Megan Martin (05:25):
I mean, at the end of the day, the teams are just siloed, and so
a lot of the times, you know, the eventpeople are moving straight on mm-hmm.
To the next event.
Yep.
They're not necessarily thinkingabout repurposing that content.
And marketing is following up onleads, working with sales, and how do
we outreach to the attendees, right.
And not necessarily thinking about.
Wow, we just captured five days or fourdays worth of these soundbites and all
(05:48):
the things, you know, if you have a planin place before you even start the event.
Yeah.
You know how to repurpose it for6, 9, 12 months, and then you have
this year round cycle where you'rejust hyping it up for the next year.
That's right.
You've fed that feed all year long.
Matt Heinz (06:03):
So could you gimme an example of what that would look like?
So yesterday morning opening keynote,Reggie does like 15, 20 minutes on stage
and it's a broad swath of like where hesees the industry going and not getting
into products, but it's sort of more ofthe CEO perspective, like as a content
team sitting in the back of the room,how do you take that session, which is
now a recorded video with transcripts,like what do you do with that?
Megan Martin (06:25):
So for him, something like that.
I mean, that's like a trends piece, right?
Mm-hmm.
So, I mean, beyond the roadmap, that'sa whole nother probably six months
of content I could push on this Cventroadmap that you talked about, right?
Thinking about the industry trends,that can become a white paper, a
LinkedIn carousel, we can push itout and six months we can be like,
oh, are these trends coming true?
(06:46):
Mm-hmm.
Are they still on track?
A year from now, we cansay, oh, were we right?
Did those trends happen?
But beyond just the organizer,so, Cvent producing.
Why aren't all of your ambassadors also?
Yes.
So what about all the influencers?
What about your exhibitors?
What about your sponsors?
What about your attendees?
Like they should be like, oh,I sat in this general session,
Reggie said we should do this.
(07:07):
That's right.
I'm seeing that in my business.
And you have now all these other peopletalking about your event that you can then
repurpose their content just like you'rerepurposing your own keynote from Reggie.
So you know, one 20 minute trendskeynote from Reggie yesterday.
Mm-hmm.
Could turn into thousands of impressions.
Yeah.
If you include exhibitorsponsors, attendees, influencers
(07:29):
that were in that room.
Matt Heinz (07:30):
So if you're listening and watching this, you're thinking,
boy, we just had our event.
Like whether it was yesterdayor last month, and you're like,
we haven't done any of that.
The opportunity's still there.
You can take that content.
You could still do all of these things.
Absolutely.
Better yet, if your conference iscoming up in the next few weeks or
months, and you can plan for this.
Yes.
So what are some of the keys to peopleand companies thinking and planning
before the event even happens to be ableto take advantage of this in the moment.
Megan Martin (07:53):
That's where there needs to be so much more collaboration between the
sales, marketing and events team becausea sales team is gonna look at, okay.
What are people saying andhow do I leverage that as
like a sales enablement piece?
Mm-hmm.
So that I can drive mypipeline, I can close sales.
Mm-hmm.
So sales are gonna look at allof your content in one way?
Yeah.
You should give it to them andtell them and say, what out of this
(08:14):
agenda, what out of these sessions?
Mm-hmm.
Like what do you need toknow so we can capture it?
So then we have sales enablementpieces for the next six months.
That's right.
And we know what our audience is thinking.
Marketing's gonna come in and be like,oh, that would be a great TikTok piece.
That would be a great LinkedIn piece.
Mm-hmm.
Here's five takeaways.
Mm-hmm.
Here's what we heard.
You know, Billy on the street stylefrom the hallway conversations.
(08:35):
You know, marketing's gonnalook at it from one lens.
Yeah.
And then your event, people are gonnalook at it from a different lens as well
of like what areas were most active, whatwere people loving so we can continue
to drive these personalized experiences.
Yeah.
So those are one agenda, threecompletely different perspectives,
but they all need to be talkingprior to even going on site because.
(08:57):
If you go in with a plan, mm-hmm.
You can execute and actuallyproduce six months worth of content
post-event rather than waiting tillit's over and then having to think.
Okay.
Now you have so muchdata, you're overwhelmed.
You're drowning in it.
You're drowning in thiscontent, and you're like, we
don't even know where to start.
Like if you go in withthat sort of run of show.
Mm-hmm.
As soon as it's done, you're executing.
(09:17):
Absolutely.
And not having to create.
Matt Heinz (09:19):
So you go in with a plan, you go in with a run of show,
and then the event happens, andthen serendipity happens as well.
Right.
Of course.
People walk by, you're like,I wanna get them on video.
Or something happens in an unexpectedway, or you know, we've gotta run
a show for this session right here.
Some things that I knew that you'vebeen working on that I wanted
to make sure to ask you, but I'malready asking you a question.
It wasn't on the run a show.
And so how do you balance that plannedeffort to help make an event successful
(09:42):
with opportunities for things that pop up.
Megan Martin (09:45):
I mean, that's just where you have to be flexible.
Yeah.
I mean, we know that even froman event design standpoint.
Mm-hmm.
Like there's always gonna be things thathappen that you're not prepared for.
Yeah.
But that's even more important tohaving a plan because if you're
always trying to play catch up.
Everything is unexpected andserendipitous at that point.
Right.
Right.
Where if you can structure itand you know, going in, okay,
(10:07):
we know we have people there.
Mm-hmm.
Oh, there's this greathallway conversation going on.
Yeah.
We know we have a team in that areaand they have a break right now.
Let's go capture some of that.
Or we have a downtime, let'sgo get some more B roll or.
You know, on the street conversations,it's just about being flexible
and when you have a plan, you havethe capacity to be more flexible.
Matt Heinz (10:28):
So clear opportunity to repurpose a lot of this into content
that you can then reshare withyour audience, with your customer.
I think, you know, we now see agreater opportunity to make that a
community element, right, where it'snot just us as brands publishing that
out to our constituents, but gettingthem to communicate peer to peer.
Yeah.
So how do you take some of that contentand the experiences in an event and use
that to spark a community that createsand shares content with each other?
Megan Martin (10:51):
I think you have to encourage it.
When we think about thought leadership,like anyone can do that now.
Mm-hmm.
With platforms like LinkedIn andInstagram and TikTok and everybody
wants to share their experience and tomake it easy for them to do that, like
have the Instagram backdrop moment.
Mm-hmm.
You know, give them the spaces to betheir own content creator because when
you make it easy for them to sharetheir experience, people will do it.
(11:13):
Yeah.
And so give them the tools.
Maybe have an area wherethey can record the video.
Yeah.
Or give the testimonial and thenthey can easily share it out.
Or, you know, even the pre-event of that.
Mm-hmm.
Like people wanna go wheretheir friends are going.
That's right.
You know, and having it easy where.
You know, tools like Snowball, InGo,Gleanin where they can quickly share
and being like, I'm going to CONNECT.
(11:33):
Mm-hmm.
Who's gonna be there?
I posted something up, you know?
Mm-hmm.
I'm gonna be there.
Who's gonna be there?
Yeah.
Am I gonna see my friends?
What should I not miss this year?
Matt Heinz (11:42):
One of the tradeoffs of having a community start to
create its own content is youlose a little control, right?
For you lose little control of thebrand, the consistency, where's the
right balance between sort of brandconsistency and authenticity of
content that's coming from peers.
Megan Martin (11:56):
I think that's where you have to be engaged.
Mm-hmm.
Like when we think aboutcommunity, we think engagement.
Yeah.
And if you're keeping a pulseon those ambassadors mm-hmm.
And you're commenting, liking, mm-hmm.
Actively resharing their content.
Mm-hmm.
That kind of helps you keep a littlebit of control because, they know,
you know, you're always around, you'rewatching, they want to hear it, and
(12:19):
I think people will be more honest.
Yeah.
And you create moreauthenticity in that way.
Mm-hmm.
That, you know, you can justkeep the conversations flowing.
Yeah.
Matt Heinz (12:28):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, I think one of the things thatI'm hearing from you is that like
there's the content we create andthen there's the content we inspire.
Yes.
Talk a little about what that means, andthat's not just amongst the attendees
and your customers and prospects.
It's among the people at your verycompany and your partners, the
people in your ecosystem Yeah.
That are there andinspired by that as well.
What are some of the best practicesand even sort of the triggers and the
(12:48):
motivators to really inspire people touse your content as a launching point.
Megan Martin (12:52):
For sure.
I mean, that's where thoughtleadership comes in, so.
Mm-hmm.
Back to your example of Reggie's keynote.
Mm-hmm.
Why I could go easily on my platform now.
I mean, like, this is what I heardthe trends are in the industry.
Here's what I agree with.
Here's maybe what I'm questioning.
Yep.
You know, and then I can sort of spreadthat message, you know, even wider.
I can inspire conversation, youknow, what are you guys hearing?
(13:15):
This is what Reggie said, yeah.
Here's what I'm thinking.
Yep.
What's our community think?
Are we way off base?
What do we love?
What do we hate about it?
Mm-hmm.
You know?
The beauty of the events industry, we allwork on so many different kinds of events.
Yeah.
Consumer events, business events, youknow, executive dinners, huge conferences.
We all bring a differentperspective to it, but there's
(13:35):
so much learning opportunity.
'cause at the end of the day, it'sall humans going to these events.
Matt Heinz (13:40):
Yes.
Megan Martin (13:40):
And so there's a lot of connectivity that I think we miss because
we don't share more widely and openlyand inspire people to think outside
of their, you know, initial circle.
Mm-hmm.
For inspiration.
Matt Heinz (13:51):
So we just got a few minutes left.
I think, you know, there's the commonplaybook of repurposing content.
You know, you've got your blog post,you've got your social media post,
you've got, you know, converting intosmall video clips and email nurtures.
I, I'm curious if there's a contentformat or type or tactic that
you don't see very often used.
That is actually really powerfuland I'll give you an example that I
think is powerful that I've heard alot of people starting to use now is
sort of behind the scenes content.
(14:13):
Mm-hmm.
Right?
Like showing Reggie in the greenroom, like showing some of the prep
that people don't typically see.
Yeah.
I think, I mean we see thatin the media world, right?
Like bloopers and clips on the,beyond just the episodes of just,
you know, the actors being realbetween takes, people dig that stuff.
Megan Martin (14:27):
Yes.
Matt Heinz (14:27):
Talk about that or any other sort of formats
that you think are hidden gems.
Megan Martin (14:31):
I mean, that's definitely one.
Mm-hmm.
I mean, people want authentic,they want the bloopers.
Mm-hmm.
They want pre start doingthat pre-content Yeah.
Like have your speakers beinglike, here's what I'm prepping for.
Yeah.
What should I talk about in my session?
The one piece that I think is mostunderutilized is you have these
captive audience at these events.
Mm-hmm.
And then we don't dopolling in our sessions.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So if we started using interactivepolls more in these sessions, I mean,
(14:55):
that's great pieces of data Yeah.
That you can then dump into data tools.
You can then validate Reggie's thoughtson the industry, you know, ask a
couple questions at the beginningof every session and then share
that out and being like, here'swhat the audience at Cvent said.
Mm-hmm.
You know, 80% is.
Blah, blah, blah, whateverthe question might be.
Yeah.
I don't think we utilizepolling enough in the moment.
(15:18):
Yeah.
And to be able to, you know, usethat post event or even pre-event,
Matt Heinz (15:23):
it's amazing to be like when we're not at events, we work
so hard and sometimes pulling teethto get people to answer questions.
And yet when you get a few hundred peoplein the room staring at you, and we still
don't and we don't ask the questions.
Yeah.
Huge.
I love that you brought that up.
'cause that's a huge opportunity.
Yeah.
All right.
We've been talking a lot about bestpractices for content repurposing.
I love a good best practice, butI also love a good dumpster fire.
Gosh.
So if I were to talk about dumpsterfires or cautionary tales, things
(15:45):
people might not think about on theirown unless they have experienced
the pain of it themselves, whathave you seen that maybe stands out?
Megan Martin (15:51):
I mean, immediately my brain goes back to like
Fyre Festival stuff, right?
And so like,
there's a balance between beingauthentic and sharing behind the scenes.
Mm-hmm.
But then if things arenot going well Yeah.
Like being very careful about sharingthose behind the scenes moments.
Right, right.
And you know, things can go viral veryquickly for all the wrong reasons.
(16:15):
That's right.
But keeping in mind it's howyou respond to those things.
Exactly.
More so like eventually something'sgoing to go viral and people
are gonna have conversationsabout something that goes wrong.
I mean, there's dumpster fires everywhere.
Yeah.
It's more on then how you respondto that and, take it with grace.
Mm-hmm.
And I think a lot of people whoown some of those dumpster fires
end up coming out on the better endwhere you're like, man, we effed up.
(16:36):
Like, yeah, we own that and here's whatwe're gonna do to do better tomorrow, the
next day, next year, whatever it may be.
Matt Heinz (16:42):
I think there's something to be said.
I think there is a line there for sure.
I think there's also something to besaid for, you know, sort of creating
some empathy with your audienceand letting them see, like, listen,
we all live in glass houses, man.
Like we're all.
This is never all perfect.
Exactly.
In terms of having this get done.
So yeah.
As we wrap up here, I'm curious as you seethis moving forward, you know, we've got
AI playing a bigger role in creating thedata for us to be able to leverage events.
(17:02):
We're seeing more of a hybrid format wherean event here may tie into a pre or post
virtual event and then other channels.
How is that gonna impact our contentopportunities in the next couple years?
Megan Martin (17:13):
I mean, AI is streamlining a lot of the processes.
Like, look, I will die on this hill.
That AI is one of the best things thatever happened to the events industry.
Mm-hmm.
I mean, people are gonna be craving morehuman to human interaction and I think
our jobs just got way more important.
Yep.
Into the future.
And when AI is used properly, it canstreamline and make things a lot more
(17:35):
efficient, which gives us back thespace and the time to be creative
and kind of push the boundariesof what we're capable of doing.
Yeah.
Because we have tools like AIthat are doing a lot of the
like mundane, tedious work.
Yeah.
That sucks up a lot of our time.
Yeah.
We can now automate all of those things.
Yeah.
To give ourselves that creative spaceto like create better experiences,
(17:56):
create better content, and push whatkind of content we're putting out there
because we don't, you know, have toanswer 300 emails in a day anymore.
Matt Heinz (18:03):
That's right.
That's right.
Love it.
Megan Martin from EMC, thank youso much for joining us today.
Megan Martin (18:07):
Yeah, glad to be here.
Thanks for having me.
Matt Heinz (18:08):
Thank you.
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