08 What Do You Do When the Keynote Derails — and So Does the Vibe? with Mark Kilens

What happens when your keynote speaker goes rogue and the whole audience walks out? Megan Martin is joined by Mark Kilens, creator of HubSpot Academy, Drift’s former VP of Content & Community, and current VP of Marketing at EasyLlama. They unpack what to do when events go sideways... and how to bounce back.

They play “Funnel Vision,” a high-stakes game of GTM tactics and event chaos, and talk about why splashy moments like llamas in booths or celebrity Cameos won’t fix a funnel that doesn’t focus on people first.

What You’ll Learn:

• Why your keynote must align with the mood of the moment—or risk losing the room

• What event pros can learn from the People First Go-To-Market strategy

• Which splashy stunts actually drive pipeline (and which are just tote-bag distractions)

• How to avoid over-gating your event content and start measuring what actually matters

• A reminder that every keynote, session, and speaker should serve the audience—not just your brand
  

About the Guest:

Mark Kilens is the VP of Marketing at EasyLlama and founder of TAC Insider. He’s known for creating the HubSpot Academy, scaling Drift’s 65,000-person community, and building the People First GTM model used by modern marketers across the globe.

Got an event disaster story? 

Head to eventaboutitpodcast.com to share it and get featured in a future episode. 

And don’t forget to listen to the Dynamic Dialogue After Show with Mark where we dive into AI-powered event tech, building your personal OS, and why alignment is officially out.

Keep growing, keep laughing, and for the love of panels, keep eventing about it.

• Connect with Megan Martin HERE
• Connect with Mark Kilens HERE