September 18, 2025 • 16 mins
In this special episode of Sales Pipeline Radio from the Innovation Pavilion at Cvent CONNECT 2025, Matt spoke with Amanda Young, Sr. Director, Global Events at ConnectWise.
Don't miss an episode! Subscribe to Sales Pipeline Radio or tune in live Thursdays at 11:30 PT | 12:30 MT | 1:30 CT | 2:30 ET on LinkedIn (also available on demand). In just 20 fast-paced minutes, host Matt interviews the brightest minds in sales and marketing, delivering actionable advice, best practices, and insights for B2B sales and marketing professionals. Sales Pipeline Radio was recently recognized as one of the 25 Best Sales Management Podcasts and Top 60 Sales Podcasts—don’t miss out! You can subscribe right at Sales Pipeline Radio and/or listen to full recordings of past shows everywhere you listen to podcasts! You can even ask Siri, Alexa and Google or search on Audible!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Matt Heinz (00:15):
All right, awesome.
We are back on the CventCONNECT show floor right
outside the Innovation Pavilion.
Very excited to havewith us for this episode.
Amanda Young; she's the Senior Directorof Global Events at ConnectWise.
Amanda, thanks for joining us.
Amanda Young (00:25):
Thank you for having me.
Matt Heinz (00:26):
Oh my gosh, there's so much we could talk about here.
I think, you know, you've, you'vebeen doing events for a long time and
-Amanda Young: Too long.
We're all on a journey, right?
And so I think that what I wannatalk about today is like the idea
of building a great event and agreat event experience, but really
focusing on the ROI of that event.
Where the rubber meets the road andhow to make sure that you have an
event and a great event experiencethat is delivering business results.
So maybe talk about through yourcareer, what that journey's been like?
Amanda Young (00:48):
Yeah, I mean, I, I've started, I mean,
where, where to begin, right?
And I guess the best way to say it, I wasat a pivotal point in my career where this
head of analytics at this company I wasworking for in Cambridge, Massachusetts
said to me, what do you wanna do?
Do you wanna tell me about the foodand beverages we're serving, or do you
(01:09):
wanna tell me what the event is worth?
Matt Heinz (01:10):
Yeah.
Amanda Young (01:10):
And I had no idea what that meant.
Matt Heinz (01:12):
Okay.
Amanda Young (01:12):
And he said, if you can't figure out how to tell me what
the event is worth then your careeris never gonna go up from here.
Just stay in food andbeverage, go back to hotels.
He literally, it was a hard conversation,but it was a pivotal moment in my career.
I think I was 27, 28 [years of age].
Matt Heinz (01:27):
Yeah.
Amanda Young (01:28):
It was this, you know, CEO of this analytics
company gave me that [advice].
And from there I started to figure outhow to, you know, what is the event
worth; what is the pipeline worth; howexpensive are the people in the room...
really started to figure out what thatmeant and that's how my journey started.
Matt Heinz (01:45):
So as time has gone now, I think like we have executives
and teams that still want a lot outof events, but we constantly hear
this, "do more with less" question.
Amanda Young (01:52):
Right.
Matt Heinz (01:52):
Always from our executives saying like, "we need more", but you're
gonna have fewer resources to do that.
And "we expect the sameif not better results".
Events are not cheap.
Amanda Young (01:59):
Mm-hmm.
They're not.
Matt Heinz (02:00):
So how do you apply a "do more with less" mentality to an event?
Amanda Young (02:05):
Oh, it's a good question.
I think we're running into fixed coststhat are non-negotiables right now,
just because of the way the world isworking: your food and beverage costs,
audio, visual costs, even print signagecosts; there's these things that you need
for your event to be powered that arenon-negotiables, but when we start talking
about "do more with less", you really haveto look at what you're investing into the
(02:29):
creative strategy of your event, then whatyou're looking into the data from your
event, how you're crunching those numbers,what you're doing with that information,
and making sure you have a plan.
You need to have a creative planfor what you're gonna execute
on site as the experience.
You need to invest in that.
You don't necessarily have toinvest into the data calculation
(02:49):
of all the different activitiesthat are going on at your event.
We have demand gen teams; we have yourfield marketers who are running the trade
show booth - you just have to set thosetasks up with them in advance so that
they're looking at that data coming fromthe event throughout the whole process.
If you don't have a plan for that, goinginto it, then you're not gonna be able
to say what the event is worth, but itactually doesn't cost that much money; it
(03:13):
just costs taking tasks off their plate,setting up the plan in advance for them
to actually crunch that information.
Matt Heinz (03:19):
Yeah.
How do you find that balance betweenmaking the right investment, creating
the right customer experience, andhaving the right business outcome?
Because sometimes spending lessmoney actually is counterproductive
to the results that you want.
Sometimes spending more money createsa great business experience, but
actually is not material to the outcomeyou're looking for in the business.
When you've got people in events, you'vegot salespeople, you've got demand gen
(03:41):
folks, you've got creatives, you'vegot people behind the scenes doing
filming, you know, sessions like this.
How do you make sure everyone isaligned and has some consensus
around how to make those trade-offs?
Amanda Young (03:51):
Right.
It's difficult, like let's focus rightnow on our tier one proprietary events.
It's a trade show you're doinga large product launch at.
Your annual Cvent CONNECT conference.
We host four similarconferences to this a year.
It's really important for theperson who owns that event to make
(04:11):
sure they're outlining what theiroutcomes need to be: is it a revenue
number, a sponsorship number?
A certain amount of sessions?
A certain amount of pipeline?
And it's really important to make sureyou lead the planning of that workshop
kickoff, your monthly check in with ELT;that you have those outcomes and you're
constantly measuring to them and seeingwhere you're at, then making decisions on
(04:33):
if you're gonna hit those goals or not.
If you don't have a business leaderthat isn't outlining those outcomes,
you should be raising a flag on that.
Sometimes, you know, people inevents they have one goal, like
people are very micro in their onegoal, and it could just be pipeline.
When you're doing these big proprietaryevents, , it's macro outcomes you need:
(04:53):
you need brand impressions, you needpipeline, revenue goals; if you're not
setting those with your events, makesure you're putting a red flag up to an
executive to say, "Hey, we, we need theseoutcomes in order to determine the ROI
on the event", and it's okay to raiseyour hand and show concern if you're
not seeing true measurable outcomesfor an event that you're planning.
Matt Heinz (05:13):
Absolutely.
Very excited to have talkingto here with, Amanda [Young].
She is the, Senior Director ofGlobal Events at ConnectWise.
Also the president of the PatriotsFan Club of Charleston, which I told
you I wouldn't bring up 'cause we'veonly got 20 minutes here today.
So we may get there eventually.
When you get to a proprietary eventlike this, it tends to be sort of
at the same time every year, andsometimes you get bigger and bigger,
and sometimes it gets into differentcities, but like, you know, we're sitting
here like Cvent CONNECT is in June.
(05:35):
That doesn't always correlatewith the best timing from a
customer journey standpoint.
You have different customersat different renewal periods.
You have different prospects that are atdifferent stages of their buying journey.
How do you coordinate with the salescustomer success account management
teams to ensure that the event is havingthe biggest impact possible on driving
net new sales and retention renewals?
Amanda Young (05:55):
Yeah, I'll give you an example.
When I started with ConnectWise abouta year and a half ago, we didn't
operate our events across work streams.
People were doing tasks within a littlebucket that didn't make sense for them
to do it and one of those was recruitmentdemand gen. In our company, we do
call it demand generation that drivespipeline, also drives event recruitment.
(06:17):
We made really clear rolesand responsibilities of
what people had to handle.
So that was step number one.
So make sure in your organization youdo have clear roles and responsibilities
of who manages recruitment.
Who manages the pipeline cycle?
Where do you get that information from?
Step two, when you start to askwhat their calendar looks like,
like we all know, end of month isa really bad time to throw events.
(06:40):
Salespeople are closing deals; it reallymakes your sales leadership anxious to
have, you know, we bring in, let's say75 sales professionals to our events-
it does hurt sales leadership to dothat, so I recommend to stay away from
the last week of the month, especiallythe last week of a quarter, but talk
to your demand gen people to see ifI host an event in November, it is
(07:02):
to close business for the end of theyear or is it to fill pipeline for Q1?
And start having those questions.
That will make the way you set up thebooth, the way you go after leads, the
way you calculate information, you'llstart making the decisions based on
what that is, rather than just cometo the booth, scan a lead, right?
If you wanna close business, you gottawine and dine 'em a little bit more.
(07:22):
If you just wanna fill the pipeline,you know, you gotta leave 'em with
a little bit of surprise, you know,looking for what's around the corner.
So those are my, my two steps thatyou can take to make sure you're
lining up with them correctly.
Matt Heinz (07:34):
Well, there's doing that at the event itself, right?
But the events are not an island.
So how do you make sure there's somecoordination before, during, and after the
event to ensure that the event is not anisolated event, but that it is sort of a
central point, maybe an accelerator withina broader go-to market play and campaign
that is driving those business results.
Like with the sales and marketing teamstogether, how do you make sure that works?
Amanda Young (07:54):
In a perfect world events would line up to product launches, and
then from there you talk to your demandgen team about "what's happening with the
leads that come out of this?" Is it anacceleration or is it to fill the funnel.
I think you have to havethose conversations, but it
doesn't line up that way.
Especially in technology,you know, products take a
little bit to launch, right?
(08:15):
I keep my teams very focused on theproduction of the event; I don't have
them jump in and out of those other workstreams; and then the conversations that
I have with my CMO, my chief productofficer, our head of brand, what is
coming up for the product launches.
And then we look at that and thenwe hand that information over
to the demand generation team tofigure out what that pre, during,
(08:38):
and post plan looks like my team'sresponsible for giving them the data.
But they're really responsible for thefollow up on those actions so I take
a very work stream focused approach.
Everybody knows what work streaminterlocks with other work streams
because if you have one person who'sworried about all of that and doing
all that work, it's gonna fail.
Matt Heinz (08:58):
Yeah.
Well, and having that understanding upfront, having consensus that that's the
right approach to take is important.
Talk about the role oftechnology to enable that; to
really make that actually work.
Amanda Young (09:08):
Yeah.
Well, I find this conference interesting.
Yesterday we were asked aboutpersonalization at events and what
are you doing in personalized events?
I said, well, what I did lastweek when I was at a conference,
I ran for 1,200 people.
With how fast AI is working, how theseapps, like specifically at like Cvent
they're creating is changing; whatI'm doing in six months is totally
(09:28):
different than what I did last week.
So I think, you know, with technology,it's about the data and it's about
looking across who's going to our booth;who's going to the sessions about our
products; who's stopping by our coffeestand; who's having a meeting with our
executives in the executive meeting area?
You have to look across thosechannels where you're capturing data.
(09:50):
You put it into AI tohelp you find some trends.
That's how I'm using it now.
My head of demand generation, hehas some more calculations; he
use a little bit more formulaic.
But I'm constantly talking to himabout, "Hey, here are channels
where I'm capturing information.
I'm gonna give it over to you.
Give me back the top 50leads you're seeing from this
(10:11):
cross channel information.
And I'm gonna do something with it."
Matt Heinz (10:14):
What have you learned around sort of prioritizing the right data?
Coming out of events, like there'sso much data we're capturing, so much
data we're seeing, there's tons of datathat's, you know, in a data lake somewhere
that we're not even thinking about.
And this is where I think agenticAI and tools like Cvent can really
help you by not knowing what data tolook for, but asking the questions
you care the most about, andhaving the tools do that for you.
But what are some of the signals you'vefound that actually move the needle?
(10:36):
To prove and generate event ROI?
Amanda Young (10:39):
I find when they come to your booth and they go to your
education sessions that is your bestway to show engaged activity cause
not only are they engaging, they'regoing to the session, they're hearing
education from your product leaders.
And then they're going toyour booth to see the demo.
One of the other things that I do is,is when we set up our booths and we have
our products similar to what we're seeingat Cvent, we put a table in front of it.
(11:03):
We put a table, my husband always had afunny saying: he said, " why am I gonna
sit at a table when I can stand at a bar?
It's so much more fun".
And we take that approach with our boothand 'cause people, when they stand, you
sit in a kitchen island, you stand ata bar, you're so much more comfortable.
We track the time that they stand thereand matching that up to the education
sessions you get the most qualified data.
(11:25):
And I don't think you should not begoing to a trade show unless you have
education happening around it, and maybeyou can't get a session during that event.
Do a, a round table at a coffee shop,do something where you can match your
booth with some sort of education,because you'll find that those
will be the most qualified leads.
Matt Heinz (11:46):
Right.
I wanna talk about scorecards.
And I know that there's all thisdata sort of often manifests
itself in a cascade of scorecards.
The scorecards you use in operationalteam may not be the level of detail
you wanna show to the leadership team.
So when you go back to theC-Suite, what's on that scorecard?
What are the metrics you'reshowing to prove event ROI?
Amanda Young (12:02):
Going to over 500 trade shows a year, across all the businesses,
our scorecards, we measured, youknow, "ROI per square inch" because
we had sophisticated tools to do that.
Now with ConnectWise we keep itsimple and we keep it consistent.
You know, so with our proprietaryevents, we measure, again, growth
(12:23):
of the event, pipeline in the room,top sessions; we keep it consistent
of what they're gonna look at.
We link them to Power BI dashboardsthat are powered by our demand
generation teams, and every single eventthey see that consistent scorecard.
They know where to access it.
Matt Heinz (12:38):
Yeah.
I love it.
Just a few more minuteswe've got with you here.
I you're running a prettyhigh velocity program.
How do you think about likewhere events are heading next?
Because I mean, you have to havea long view of where events are
going in event like this, like comestogether like, you know, one to two
years in advance in terms of whereit's gonna be, how big it's gonna be.
When you look out and see like the trendsof events, what people are willing to go
(12:59):
to versus what we're now expecting justto have on our screens in our home office.
How are you thinking about thenear term future of events?
Amanda Young (13:06):
I think it's a really hard question.
Because the industry is tellingus to book contracts out.
I have some contracts that arebooked out to 2030, because they
are saying there's limited space.
Post-COVID, we exploded.
I'm very concerned we're looking ata crash because they change the way
people operate at events are changing.
(13:27):
I don't wanna tell you tonot book your events out.
I am saying I'm worried about someof the events I have contracted out
because I think, again, right now,everybody came back from COVID.
They want more, more, more events.
And then we're gonna go back to a worldwhere we want less events, but bigger.
So it it's almost like itbreathes in, it breathes out,
(13:49):
it breathes in, it breathes out.
Yeah.
So I'm not really planning,I mean, I'm contracted out.
I'm planning for next year,my next year with my team.
I'm taking a portfolio approach, andwhat I mean by that is I'm looking at
my agency resources, my audio, visualresources, and my team will be set
up as a portfolio versus by project.
(14:09):
And I'm doing that becausemy events are changing.
And if I can bring on agencies andvendors that know they're gonna get
a certain level of business fromme across the year, I don't have to
buy into saying, I got 5,000 peoplein November, 1,200 people in June.
And I would recommend anybodywho has a decent sized events
(14:30):
team to take that approach.
Because again, i'm really worriedthat those of us who are booking
far out, our executives are bookingfar out, we're gonna have to start
changing those contracts because Idon't see these conventions sticking
to the dates that they've bookedlong term over the next four years.
Unless your associations,they do [book out in advance].
Matt Heinz (14:47):
But yeah, four, five years is a long time.
Amanda Young (14:49):
It is a long time, but the industry's telling us
book out, book that out, and I'veseen it crash before in my career.
Matt Heinz (14:56):
Yeah.
I mean, but your point aboutthe ebb and flow, right?
Whether it's sort of the, you economicconditions or pandemics or whatever
it is; that ebb flow will continue.
It'll be really interesting to seehow innovations like AI and even
sort of automation, self-servicechange that game as well.
And I'm curious as we wrap up here,like, you know, with a little bit of
a crystal ball, like the bar seems tobe getting higher for events overall.
Amanda Young (15:17):
Yeah.
Matt Heinz (15:17):
Production quality, education, quality experience.
The bar seems to be getting higher forpeople sort of get on a plane versus
saying like, "I can watch this onYouTube, right?" Or, "I can do this
for my home office." In that lens,what do you think we need to prioritize
in the future of events to reallymaintain not just the experience but the
results we generate for the business?
Amanda Young (15:37):
We saw Q1: everybody was traveling.
Then we saw the data for Q2 (15:39):
people aren't traveling as much; I think
it was down 30% in the keynoteyesterday that they talked about.
You gotta make sure youhave a story to tell.
You gotta make sure youhave survey results.
You're capturing survey data on site atany event that you're going to, you have
a story to tell about what's happening atthe event, because that can be the only
driver of what you're gonna do with it.
(16:00):
You know the dollars and the cents.
You know the outcomesthat are coming from it.
And then you give it to leadershipto say, make a decision.
And really we have to stop beatingourselves up about it, like virtual's
fine, but unless it, what, one minute, 40seconds, like people aren't consuming it.
You know, they are consuming it here;everybody just makes sure they have
(16:22):
a story to tell about their event.
So when the question comes toyou about this, you can speak
to it intelligently given thescenarios of how to move forward.
And then let them decidehow to move forward.
Matt Heinz (16:32):
Amanda Young, Senior Director of Global Events at ConnectWise.
Thanks for a few minutes here on the show.
I really appreciate it.
Amanda Young (16:36):
Yeah, I know.
Thank you.
All right, awesome.
We are back on the CventCONNECT show floor right
outside the Innovation Pavilion.
Very excited to havewith us for this episode.
Amanda Young; she's the Senior Directorof Global Events at ConnectWise.
Amanda, thanks for joining us.
Amanda Young (00:25):
Thank you for having me.
Matt Heinz (00:26):
Oh my gosh, there's so much we could talk about here.
I think, you know, you've, you'vebeen doing events for a long time and
-Amanda Young: Too long.
We're all on a journey, right?
And so I think that what I wannatalk about today is like the idea
of building a great event and agreat event experience, but really
focusing on the ROI of that event.
Where the rubber meets the road andhow to make sure that you have an
event and a great event experiencethat is delivering business results.
So maybe talk about through yourcareer, what that journey's been like?
Amanda Young (00:48):
Yeah, I mean, I, I've started, I mean,
where, where to begin, right?
And I guess the best way to say it, I wasat a pivotal point in my career where this
head of analytics at this company I wasworking for in Cambridge, Massachusetts
said to me, what do you wanna do?
Do you wanna tell me about the foodand beverages we're serving, or do you
(01:09):
wanna tell me what the event is worth?
Matt Heinz (01:10):
Yeah.
Amanda Young (01:10):
And I had no idea what that meant.
Matt Heinz (01:12):
Okay.
Amanda Young (01:12):
And he said, if you can't figure out how to tell me what
the event is worth then your careeris never gonna go up from here.
Just stay in food andbeverage, go back to hotels.
He literally, it was a hard conversation,but it was a pivotal moment in my career.
I think I was 27, 28 [years of age].
Matt Heinz (01:27):
Yeah.
Amanda Young (01:28):
It was this, you know, CEO of this analytics
company gave me that [advice].
And from there I started to figure outhow to, you know, what is the event
worth; what is the pipeline worth; howexpensive are the people in the room...
really started to figure out what thatmeant and that's how my journey started.
Matt Heinz (01:45):
So as time has gone now, I think like we have executives
and teams that still want a lot outof events, but we constantly hear
this, "do more with less" question.
Amanda Young (01:52):
Right.
Matt Heinz (01:52):
Always from our executives saying like, "we need more", but you're
gonna have fewer resources to do that.
And "we expect the sameif not better results".
Events are not cheap.
Amanda Young (01:59):
Mm-hmm.
They're not.
Matt Heinz (02:00):
So how do you apply a "do more with less" mentality to an event?
Amanda Young (02:05):
Oh, it's a good question.
I think we're running into fixed coststhat are non-negotiables right now,
just because of the way the world isworking: your food and beverage costs,
audio, visual costs, even print signagecosts; there's these things that you need
for your event to be powered that arenon-negotiables, but when we start talking
about "do more with less", you really haveto look at what you're investing into the
(02:29):
creative strategy of your event, then whatyou're looking into the data from your
event, how you're crunching those numbers,what you're doing with that information,
and making sure you have a plan.
You need to have a creative planfor what you're gonna execute
on site as the experience.
You need to invest in that.
You don't necessarily have toinvest into the data calculation
(02:49):
of all the different activitiesthat are going on at your event.
We have demand gen teams; we have yourfield marketers who are running the trade
show booth - you just have to set thosetasks up with them in advance so that
they're looking at that data coming fromthe event throughout the whole process.
If you don't have a plan for that, goinginto it, then you're not gonna be able
to say what the event is worth, but itactually doesn't cost that much money; it
(03:13):
just costs taking tasks off their plate,setting up the plan in advance for them
to actually crunch that information.
Matt Heinz (03:19):
Yeah.
How do you find that balance betweenmaking the right investment, creating
the right customer experience, andhaving the right business outcome?
Because sometimes spending lessmoney actually is counterproductive
to the results that you want.
Sometimes spending more money createsa great business experience, but
actually is not material to the outcomeyou're looking for in the business.
When you've got people in events, you'vegot salespeople, you've got demand gen
(03:41):
folks, you've got creatives, you'vegot people behind the scenes doing
filming, you know, sessions like this.
How do you make sure everyone isaligned and has some consensus
around how to make those trade-offs?
Amanda Young (03:51):
Right.
It's difficult, like let's focus rightnow on our tier one proprietary events.
It's a trade show you're doinga large product launch at.
Your annual Cvent CONNECT conference.
We host four similarconferences to this a year.
It's really important for theperson who owns that event to make
(04:11):
sure they're outlining what theiroutcomes need to be: is it a revenue
number, a sponsorship number?
A certain amount of sessions?
A certain amount of pipeline?
And it's really important to make sureyou lead the planning of that workshop
kickoff, your monthly check in with ELT;that you have those outcomes and you're
constantly measuring to them and seeingwhere you're at, then making decisions on
(04:33):
if you're gonna hit those goals or not.
If you don't have a business leaderthat isn't outlining those outcomes,
you should be raising a flag on that.
Sometimes, you know, people inevents they have one goal, like
people are very micro in their onegoal, and it could just be pipeline.
When you're doing these big proprietaryevents, , it's macro outcomes you need:
(04:53):
you need brand impressions, you needpipeline, revenue goals; if you're not
setting those with your events, makesure you're putting a red flag up to an
executive to say, "Hey, we, we need theseoutcomes in order to determine the ROI
on the event", and it's okay to raiseyour hand and show concern if you're
not seeing true measurable outcomesfor an event that you're planning.
Matt Heinz (05:13):
Absolutely.
Very excited to have talkingto here with, Amanda [Young].
She is the, Senior Director ofGlobal Events at ConnectWise.
Also the president of the PatriotsFan Club of Charleston, which I told
you I wouldn't bring up 'cause we'veonly got 20 minutes here today.
So we may get there eventually.
When you get to a proprietary eventlike this, it tends to be sort of
at the same time every year, andsometimes you get bigger and bigger,
and sometimes it gets into differentcities, but like, you know, we're sitting
here like Cvent CONNECT is in June.
(05:35):
That doesn't always correlatewith the best timing from a
customer journey standpoint.
You have different customersat different renewal periods.
You have different prospects that are atdifferent stages of their buying journey.
How do you coordinate with the salescustomer success account management
teams to ensure that the event is havingthe biggest impact possible on driving
net new sales and retention renewals?
Amanda Young (05:55):
Yeah, I'll give you an example.
When I started with ConnectWise abouta year and a half ago, we didn't
operate our events across work streams.
People were doing tasks within a littlebucket that didn't make sense for them
to do it and one of those was recruitmentdemand gen. In our company, we do
call it demand generation that drivespipeline, also drives event recruitment.
(06:17):
We made really clear rolesand responsibilities of
what people had to handle.
So that was step number one.
So make sure in your organization youdo have clear roles and responsibilities
of who manages recruitment.
Who manages the pipeline cycle?
Where do you get that information from?
Step two, when you start to askwhat their calendar looks like,
like we all know, end of month isa really bad time to throw events.
(06:40):
Salespeople are closing deals; it reallymakes your sales leadership anxious to
have, you know, we bring in, let's say75 sales professionals to our events-
it does hurt sales leadership to dothat, so I recommend to stay away from
the last week of the month, especiallythe last week of a quarter, but talk
to your demand gen people to see ifI host an event in November, it is
(07:02):
to close business for the end of theyear or is it to fill pipeline for Q1?
And start having those questions.
That will make the way you set up thebooth, the way you go after leads, the
way you calculate information, you'llstart making the decisions based on
what that is, rather than just cometo the booth, scan a lead, right?
If you wanna close business, you gottawine and dine 'em a little bit more.
(07:22):
If you just wanna fill the pipeline,you know, you gotta leave 'em with
a little bit of surprise, you know,looking for what's around the corner.
So those are my, my two steps thatyou can take to make sure you're
lining up with them correctly.
Matt Heinz (07:34):
Well, there's doing that at the event itself, right?
But the events are not an island.
So how do you make sure there's somecoordination before, during, and after the
event to ensure that the event is not anisolated event, but that it is sort of a
central point, maybe an accelerator withina broader go-to market play and campaign
that is driving those business results.
Like with the sales and marketing teamstogether, how do you make sure that works?
Amanda Young (07:54):
In a perfect world events would line up to product launches, and
then from there you talk to your demandgen team about "what's happening with the
leads that come out of this?" Is it anacceleration or is it to fill the funnel.
I think you have to havethose conversations, but it
doesn't line up that way.
Especially in technology,you know, products take a
little bit to launch, right?
(08:15):
I keep my teams very focused on theproduction of the event; I don't have
them jump in and out of those other workstreams; and then the conversations that
I have with my CMO, my chief productofficer, our head of brand, what is
coming up for the product launches.
And then we look at that and thenwe hand that information over
to the demand generation team tofigure out what that pre, during,
(08:38):
and post plan looks like my team'sresponsible for giving them the data.
But they're really responsible for thefollow up on those actions so I take
a very work stream focused approach.
Everybody knows what work streaminterlocks with other work streams
because if you have one person who'sworried about all of that and doing
all that work, it's gonna fail.
Matt Heinz (08:58):
Yeah.
Well, and having that understanding upfront, having consensus that that's the
right approach to take is important.
Talk about the role oftechnology to enable that; to
really make that actually work.
Amanda Young (09:08):
Yeah.
Well, I find this conference interesting.
Yesterday we were asked aboutpersonalization at events and what
are you doing in personalized events?
I said, well, what I did lastweek when I was at a conference,
I ran for 1,200 people.
With how fast AI is working, how theseapps, like specifically at like Cvent
they're creating is changing; whatI'm doing in six months is totally
(09:28):
different than what I did last week.
So I think, you know, with technology,it's about the data and it's about
looking across who's going to our booth;who's going to the sessions about our
products; who's stopping by our coffeestand; who's having a meeting with our
executives in the executive meeting area?
You have to look across thosechannels where you're capturing data.
(09:50):
You put it into AI tohelp you find some trends.
That's how I'm using it now.
My head of demand generation, hehas some more calculations; he
use a little bit more formulaic.
But I'm constantly talking to himabout, "Hey, here are channels
where I'm capturing information.
I'm gonna give it over to you.
Give me back the top 50leads you're seeing from this
(10:11):
cross channel information.
And I'm gonna do something with it."
Matt Heinz (10:14):
What have you learned around sort of prioritizing the right data?
Coming out of events, like there'sso much data we're capturing, so much
data we're seeing, there's tons of datathat's, you know, in a data lake somewhere
that we're not even thinking about.
And this is where I think agenticAI and tools like Cvent can really
help you by not knowing what data tolook for, but asking the questions
you care the most about, andhaving the tools do that for you.
But what are some of the signals you'vefound that actually move the needle?
(10:36):
To prove and generate event ROI?
Amanda Young (10:39):
I find when they come to your booth and they go to your
education sessions that is your bestway to show engaged activity cause
not only are they engaging, they'regoing to the session, they're hearing
education from your product leaders.
And then they're going toyour booth to see the demo.
One of the other things that I do is,is when we set up our booths and we have
our products similar to what we're seeingat Cvent, we put a table in front of it.
(11:03):
We put a table, my husband always had afunny saying: he said, " why am I gonna
sit at a table when I can stand at a bar?
It's so much more fun".
And we take that approach with our boothand 'cause people, when they stand, you
sit in a kitchen island, you stand ata bar, you're so much more comfortable.
We track the time that they stand thereand matching that up to the education
sessions you get the most qualified data.
(11:25):
And I don't think you should not begoing to a trade show unless you have
education happening around it, and maybeyou can't get a session during that event.
Do a, a round table at a coffee shop,do something where you can match your
booth with some sort of education,because you'll find that those
will be the most qualified leads.
Matt Heinz (11:46):
Right.
I wanna talk about scorecards.
And I know that there's all thisdata sort of often manifests
itself in a cascade of scorecards.
The scorecards you use in operationalteam may not be the level of detail
you wanna show to the leadership team.
So when you go back to theC-Suite, what's on that scorecard?
What are the metrics you'reshowing to prove event ROI?
Amanda Young (12:02):
Going to over 500 trade shows a year, across all the businesses,
our scorecards, we measured, youknow, "ROI per square inch" because
we had sophisticated tools to do that.
Now with ConnectWise we keep itsimple and we keep it consistent.
You know, so with our proprietaryevents, we measure, again, growth
(12:23):
of the event, pipeline in the room,top sessions; we keep it consistent
of what they're gonna look at.
We link them to Power BI dashboardsthat are powered by our demand
generation teams, and every single eventthey see that consistent scorecard.
They know where to access it.
Matt Heinz (12:38):
Yeah.
I love it.
Just a few more minuteswe've got with you here.
I you're running a prettyhigh velocity program.
How do you think about likewhere events are heading next?
Because I mean, you have to havea long view of where events are
going in event like this, like comestogether like, you know, one to two
years in advance in terms of whereit's gonna be, how big it's gonna be.
When you look out and see like the trendsof events, what people are willing to go
(12:59):
to versus what we're now expecting justto have on our screens in our home office.
How are you thinking about thenear term future of events?
Amanda Young (13:06):
I think it's a really hard question.
Because the industry is tellingus to book contracts out.
I have some contracts that arebooked out to 2030, because they
are saying there's limited space.
Post-COVID, we exploded.
I'm very concerned we're looking ata crash because they change the way
people operate at events are changing.
(13:27):
I don't wanna tell you tonot book your events out.
I am saying I'm worried about someof the events I have contracted out
because I think, again, right now,everybody came back from COVID.
They want more, more, more events.
And then we're gonna go back to a worldwhere we want less events, but bigger.
So it it's almost like itbreathes in, it breathes out,
(13:49):
it breathes in, it breathes out.
Yeah.
So I'm not really planning,I mean, I'm contracted out.
I'm planning for next year,my next year with my team.
I'm taking a portfolio approach, andwhat I mean by that is I'm looking at
my agency resources, my audio, visualresources, and my team will be set
up as a portfolio versus by project.
(14:09):
And I'm doing that becausemy events are changing.
And if I can bring on agencies andvendors that know they're gonna get
a certain level of business fromme across the year, I don't have to
buy into saying, I got 5,000 peoplein November, 1,200 people in June.
And I would recommend anybodywho has a decent sized events
(14:30):
team to take that approach.
Because again, i'm really worriedthat those of us who are booking
far out, our executives are bookingfar out, we're gonna have to start
changing those contracts because Idon't see these conventions sticking
to the dates that they've bookedlong term over the next four years.
Unless your associations,they do [book out in advance].
Matt Heinz (14:47):
But yeah, four, five years is a long time.
Amanda Young (14:49):
It is a long time, but the industry's telling us
book out, book that out, and I'veseen it crash before in my career.
Matt Heinz (14:56):
Yeah.
I mean, but your point aboutthe ebb and flow, right?
Whether it's sort of the, you economicconditions or pandemics or whatever
it is; that ebb flow will continue.
It'll be really interesting to seehow innovations like AI and even
sort of automation, self-servicechange that game as well.
And I'm curious as we wrap up here,like, you know, with a little bit of
a crystal ball, like the bar seems tobe getting higher for events overall.
Amanda Young (15:17):
Yeah.
Matt Heinz (15:17):
Production quality, education, quality experience.
The bar seems to be getting higher forpeople sort of get on a plane versus
saying like, "I can watch this onYouTube, right?" Or, "I can do this
for my home office." In that lens,what do you think we need to prioritize
in the future of events to reallymaintain not just the experience but the
results we generate for the business?
Amanda Young (15:37):
We saw Q1: everybody was traveling.
Then we saw the data for Q2 (15:39):
people aren't traveling as much; I think
it was down 30% in the keynoteyesterday that they talked about.
You gotta make sure youhave a story to tell.
You gotta make sure youhave survey results.
You're capturing survey data on site atany event that you're going to, you have
a story to tell about what's happening atthe event, because that can be the only
driver of what you're gonna do with it.
(16:00):
You know the dollars and the cents.
You know the outcomesthat are coming from it.
And then you give it to leadershipto say, make a decision.
And really we have to stop beatingourselves up about it, like virtual's
fine, but unless it, what, one minute, 40seconds, like people aren't consuming it.
You know, they are consuming it here;everybody just makes sure they have
(16:22):
a story to tell about their event.
So when the question comes toyou about this, you can speak
to it intelligently given thescenarios of how to move forward.
And then let them decidehow to move forward.
Matt Heinz (16:32):
Amanda Young, Senior Director of Global Events at ConnectWise.
Thanks for a few minutes here on the show.
I really appreciate it.
Amanda Young (16:36):
Yeah, I know.
Thank you.
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
Cardiac Cowboys
The heart was always off-limits to surgeons. Cutting into it spelled instant death for the patient. That is, until a ragtag group of doctors scattered across the Midwest and Texas decided to throw out the rule book. Working in makeshift laboratories and home garages, using medical devices made from scavenged machine parts and beer tubes, these men and women invented the field of open heart surgery. Odds are, someone you know is alive because of them. So why has history left them behind? Presented by Chris Pine, CARDIAC COWBOYS tells the gripping true story behind the birth of heart surgery, and the young, Greatest Generation doctors who made it happen. For years, they competed and feuded, racing to be the first, the best, and the most prolific. Some appeared on the cover of Time Magazine, operated on kings and advised presidents. Others ended up disgraced, penniless, and convicted of felonies. Together, they ignited a revolution in medicine, and changed the world.