About Building Awesome Events (An Event Marketing Podcast)
Welcome to "Building Awesome Events," the podcast where seasoned event marketers from leading companies like VMWare, HP, and Drift join your host Ankush Gupta to share their insights on the art of event marketing.
Tune in to learn about their personal journeys into the industry and discover their proven strategies for consistently delivering successful B2B events and business conferences. From event management to event marketing, this podcast covers it all.
Don't miss out on valuable tips and tricks from the experts in the field. #Events #EventMarketing #B2BEvents #BusinessConferences #EventManagement
Ep 18: In conversation with Noelle Peterson, Senior Director, Global Event Experiences & Field Marketing at UserTesting
In the 18th episode of Building Awesome Events, host Ankush Gupta chats with Noelle Peterson, Senior Director of Global Event Experiences and Field Marketing at UserTesting. Noelle shares her fascinating journey from law to event marketing and discusses how her unique background influences her current role.Tune in and discover:Transitioning Careers: Noelle reveals how her shift from law to event marketing unfolded, detailing how skills like negotiation and communication have been vital in her...
8 Aug 2024
Ep 17: In conversation with Hugh Forrest, Co-President & Chief Programming Officer at SXSW
In the 17th episode of "Building Awesome Events," host Ankush Gupta sits down with Hugh Forrest, Chief Programming Officer of SXSW, to uncover the magic behind one of the world’s most iconic events. Get ready to dive into the evolution, challenges, and triumphs that make SXSW a must-attend experience for innovators and creatives alike. Tune in and discover: 1. The Growth of SXSW: Hugh Forrest shares captivating anecdotes from the inception of SXSW, providing a glimpse into the humble be...
11 Jun 2024
Ep 16: In conversation with Nick Borelli, Marketing Director at Zenus
In the 16th episode "Building Awesome Events," host Ankush Gupta is joined by Nick Borelli, the Marketing Director at Zenus. Together, they explore the transformative impact of ethical AI on the event industry, discussing its application in facial analysis for improving attendee experiences while preserving privacy.
Listen to the episode which talks about the following:
1. Pandemic's Impact and Shift to Virtual Events: Nick reflects on the significant changes brought by the pandemic, especially the shift towards virtual platforms.
2. Role of AI in Event Management: Nick explains the concept of ethical AI and its application in facial analysis to gather anonymous attendee reactions and behaviors without infringing on personal privacy.
3. Networking and Human Connections: Both Ankush and Nick lament the limitations of virtual events in replicating the spontaneity and depth of in-person interactions. They discuss how AI can enhance, but not replace, the personal connections formed during physical events.
4. Marketing Strategies and AI's Influence: Nick discusses the enduring effectiveness of email in event marketing and the potential of AI to enhance targeting through better segmentation and personalization. He stresses the importance of genuine storytelling and leveraging personal recommendations over traditional advertising.
Join the conversation and deep dive into how ethical AI and advanced facial analysis are revolutionizing the way we understand and engage audiences at events.
#EventProfs #Zenus #FutureLeaders #AI #FacialAnalysis #Networking #B2BEvents
31 May 2024
Ep 15: In conversation with Erin McElroy, Former Program Director, Executive Programs & Events at IBM and currently Founder of Adhesion
In the 15th episode of Building Awesome Events, host Ankush Gupta is joined by Erin McElroy, Former Program Director, Executive Programs & Events at IBM and currently Founder of Adhesion. She shares her extensive experience in the field, particularly her transformative journey in event marketing at IBM and her insights on integrating technology and creativity to craft unforgettable event experiences.
Listen to this episode which talks about the following:
1. Career Transition: Erin discusses her shift from consulting to event marketing at IBM, highlighting how her diverse background helped integrate creative and technical skills.
2. IBM Experience: She describes her role in managing and evolving IBM's large-scale event strategies, focusing on audience-specific content and strategic goals like lead generation.
3. Experiential Events: Erin emphasizes the importance of engaging all senses in events to create memorable experiences tailored to the audience's needs.
4. AI in Events: The discussion covers the use of AI to enhance event experiences, including practical examples from Erin's projects at IBM, like AI-driven interactive robots.
Join the conversation and learn more about the evolving landscape of event marketing, the need for creativity, deep audience understanding, and the strategic use of technology to create impactful and memorable events.🎙️
#EventProfs #IBM #Adhesion #FutureLeaders #AI #ExperientialEvents #CareerJourney
6 Sept 2023
Ep 14: In conversation with Dale Hudson, Knowledge & Events Director at IMEX Group
In our 14th episode of Building Awesome Events, we dove into the fascinating world of events and sustainability with Dale Hudson, the Knowledge and Events Director at the IMEX Group.
Listen to this latest episode, which talks about the following:
1. A Unique Career Journey: Dale shares her journey from considering geography to becoming an event industry expert, all thanks to her passion for environmental issues.
2. IMEX's Evolution: Discover how IMEX adapted during the pandemic, offering both in-person and virtual experiences to keep their community engaged.
3. Empowering Future Leaders: Learn about IMEX's commitment to nurturing future event professionals through the Future Leaders Forum, providing valuable networking and career opportunities.
4. Speaker Engagement: IMEX welcomes engaging speakers for their events.
Join the conversation and get inspired by Dale Hudson's incredible journey and IMEX's dedication to empowering the next generation of event professionals. 🎙️ #EventProfs #IMEXGroup #FutureLeaders #Sustainability #CareerJourney
16 May 2023
Ep 13: In conversation with Raf De Kimpe, CEO at Fintech Week London
Raf De Kimpe, the CEO of FinTech Week London and Chief Commercial Officer at Disrupt Media, was our guest on the Building Awesome Events podcast. In this episode, Raf shared the story of how he transitioned from the business software side to the world of event management. He spoke about his early experience working at a software research company where he got involved in organizing events and developed a passion for the industry. Later, after moving to a FinTech ecosystem in Brussels, Raf saw an opportunity to launch a dedicated FinTech event in the vibrant London ecosystem, which led to the creation of FinTech Week London.
9 May 2023
Ep 12: In conversation with Ashly Priest, Former Head of Event Services at Hopin
In our new episode, Ankush Gupta interviews Ashly Priest, who has worked in event management for several years. They discuss her experience managing large-formatted events, such as the Women in Digital and Women in Analytics conferences, which aim to give a platform to women in STEM fields. They also talk about Priest's role as Head of Event Services at Hopin, a virtual event management software company. Priest shares that her team at Hopin worked with clients to ensure that their virtual events ran smoothly and that they aligned clients with the platform features they needed.
They also discussed the challenges that event management companies face as the world moves towards a hybrid model of in-person and virtual events and how the benefits and drawbacks of each mode of delivery need to be reconciled.
22 Mar 2023
Ep 11: In conversation with Lauren Grady, Strategic Events & Programming Lead at Vimeo
In the 11th episode of Building Awesome Events, Lauren Grady, Strategic Events & Programming Lead at Vimeo, smashed it out of the park and gave us so many nuggets, you would have to listen to the whole podcast to get it all, but to summarize, she spoke with us about:
-The importance of understanding all aspects of events to operate more efficiently.
-The role of an event content manager in an organization and how it can make or break an event.
-The need for a feedback system for attendees to express their opinions on the event and how it completes the loop of the event planning process.
-How she set up an internal global speakers bureau to streamline messaging and the speaker experience for events.
-How email marketing has been her number one source of registration, so perfecting email campaigns is crucial. This includes taking the time to segment the list, writing good copy, and tracking results.
-The importance of social proof and ways to seamlessly add it to your materials.
1 Mar 2023
Ep 10: In conversation with Allison Crooker, Director- Event Content at VMware.
Building Awesome Events is out with it's 10th episode with Allison Crooker, Director- Event Content, VMware.
-In this episode, Allison graciously shares with us her amazing journey and some of the highlights of her career, including her experience working with big event portfolios at NVIDIA (https://www.linkedin.com/company/nvidia/) and VMWare.
--She also talks about how she manages her current responsibilities at VMWare while pursuing her passion project with The Event Content Council and speaking engagements.
--Allison emphasizes the importance of analyzing post-event surveys and shares her thoughts on event reviews on Eventible.
--She even spills the beans on her number one channel for new audience acquisition and registrations.
--Plus, she gives some great tips on what she looks for when hiring new team members - and we hear there's even an #openposition (https://www.linkedin.com/feed/hashtag/?keywords=openposition&highlightedUpdateUrns=urn%3Ali%3Aactivity%3A7038458089649418241)
15 Feb 2023TRANSCRIPT
Ep 9 : Learn how to avoid the top mistake in event setup w/ Accelevents CEO Jonathan Kazarian
Building Awesome Events presents its 9th episode, an interesting discussion between Ankush Gupta, the Founder of Eventible.com (https://eventible.com/), and Jonathan Kazarian, CEO & Founder at Accelevents. (https://www.accelevents.com/)
During the conversation, Jonathan speaks about his journey from working at a hedge fund right out of school to hosting a fundraiser of about 1000 people to raise money for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and his search for the right technology to help him run the event.
Jonathan also talks about some of the events he has attended which has stuck on in his mind. Tune in to know more!
About the Host:
Ankush Gupta, Founder at Eventible.com (https://eventible.com/) - The TripAdvisor for Events
Ankush is a marketer with over 20 years of experience with global companies like the TATA Group and MPhasis. He is a pioneer in the space of B2B Media, having been nominated for a Digiday award for Publisher of the Year. Currently he is founder at - a platform designed from the ground up to help event profs get the word out and use the power of social proof to accelerate their event brand.
8 Aug 2022
Ep 8 : Talking in-person vs. virtual events and event tech stacks - a chat with Liz Caruso
Building Awesome Events presents its 8th episode, an interesting discussion between Ankush Gupta, the Founder of Eventible.com (https://eventible.com/), and Liz Caruso, CEO at Liz King Events and TechsyTalk (https://techsytalk.com/eventplanning/).
During the conversation, Liz speaks about how her love for events was kindled during her stint in an admin role at the career center at Columbia and being promoted thrice in the same year Liz became the go-to person for events which turned into a great learning experience for her giving rise to Liz King Events post that.
Liz also touches upon the importance of community marketing during the conversation. Tune in to know more!
About the Host:
Ankush Gupta, Founder at Eventible.com (https://eventible.com/) - The TripAdvisor for Events
Ankush is a marketer with over 20 years of experience with global companies like the TATA Group and MPhasis. He is a pioneer in the space of B2B Media, having been nominated for a Digiday award for Publisher of the Year. Currently he is founder at - a platform designed from the ground up to help event profs get the word out and use the power of social proof to accelerate their event brands.
8 Jul 2022
Ep 7 : Learn about the importance of planning and strategic thinking in events w/ Gerilynn Marburger, Dir - Global Events at Hewlett Packard
Ankush Gupta, Founder at Eventible.com (https://eventible.com/) dives into conversation with Gerilynn Marburger, Diretcor- Global Events at Hewlett Packard Enterprise (https://www.hpe.com/us/en/home.html), in this special episode of Building Awesome Events.
Learn how Gerilynn realized that events were the right path for her. Listen to her talk about a variety of important topics today for #eventprofs ranging from putting up a successful show, her opinion on picking the right technology platform, how curiosity is a key attribute in a candidate while making hiring decisions and her opinion on why social proof matters!
10 Jun 2022
Ep 6: Creating hyper awareness around events - a discussion w/ Bethany Murphy from Drift
A crucial element to a successful event is the innate ability to market and carry an event to production. In an engaging conversation, Ankush Gupta, Founder, Eventible, speaks with Bethany Murphy- Director of Global Events at Drift to better understand how events are executed, right from the stage where the event concept is on the drawing board to the actual live event.
From her personal story to her experiences, Bethany highlights aspects such as the role of good copy in communicating the right brand and event message and how it influences registrations and drives engagement. This and more on how a robust partner network can assist during the process.
5 May 2022
Ep 5: In conversation with Rachel Russell, Marketing Manager at ONE (previously Even)
Building Awesome Events presents its next episode. An engaging discussion between Ankush Gupta, the Founder of Eventible.com (https://eventible.com/), and Rachel Russell, Field Marketing Manager at Even (now ONE (https://www.onefinance.com/)). During the conversation, Russell speaks about how her love for events was kindled during the various events she organized. During her time at i4cp – an HR research company, she speaks about a proprietary conference that she put on during the pandemic.
She speaks about how the company she works at gives her purpose. “It's been such a great experience and the team's amazing. For people listening, if you don't know what it is, it's basically a company that enables hourly workers to access their earned wages before the two-week pay cycle. It has a really great mission that is helping people get out of the red.” She adds: “I never really had an organization that had such a profound mission. It gave me a purpose and that's why I've loved doing events for Even.”
About the Host:
Ankush Gupta, Founder at Eventible.com (https://eventible.com/) - The TripAdvisor for Events
Ankush is a marketer with over 20 years of experience with global companies like the TATA Group and MPhasis. He is a pioneer in the space of B2B Media, having been nominated for a Digiday award for Publisher of the Year. Currently he is founder at - a platform designed from the ground up to help event profs get the word out and use the power of social proof to accelerate their event brands.
25 Apr 2022
Ep 4: In conversation with Lindsey Cohen, Director-Event Marketing at Snyk
Ankush Gupta, Founder at Eventible.com (https://eventible.com/) dives into conversation with Lindsey Cohen, Director - Event Marketing, Snyk (https://snyk.io/) in this special segment of Building Awesome Events.
Learn how Lindsey got into event marketing and solved her way through 2020 and 2021. Listen to her talk about a variety of important topics today for #eventprofs ranging from producing & marketing a successful show, her opinion on adapting hybrid events to best fit her objectives, picking the right technology platform and working with the vendor team, making smart hiring decisions and her opinion on why social proof matters!
Lindsey Cohen, Director- Event Marketing at Snyk (https://snyk.io/)
Lindsey has been an event and marketing professional with more than a decade of experience providing strategic insight to drive ROI and brand awareness. She has been recognized for being efficient, detail-oriented and analytical. Resourceful planner with the ambition and passion to provide the highest level of strategic marketing and operational execution.
About the Host:
Ankush Gupta, Founder at Eventible.com (https://eventible.com/) - The TripAdvisor for Events
Ankush is a marketer with over 20 years of experience with global companies like the TATA Group and MPhasis. He is a pioneer in the space of B2B Media, having been nominated for a Digiday award for Publisher of the Year. Currently he is founder at - a platform designed from the ground up to help event profs get the word out and use the power of social proof to accelerate their event brands.
18 Jan 2022
Ep 3: In conversation with Richard John, COO at Realise
If you're someone who has found comfort in the wealth of streamed content delivered through the pandemic by platforms such as Amazon, Netflix and Disney, then you'll not want to miss this hilarious yet insightful chat about what event organisers and meeting planners can learn from the best brains in the entertainment world.
In this fireside chat we feature:
Richard John, C.O.O, Realise
Richard John is C.O.O. of Realise, which describes itself as ’the oil in the engine of events.’ He’s had a 30 year career in events, waving live experiences with the world of learning and development, and describes his role as ‘Corporate Jester.’ He’ll be talking with us about ‘Dent in the Sofa,’ a Realise e-book and video that discusses what lessons can event organisers learn from binge-watching TV through a global pandemic.
Your host and co-guest:
Ankush Gupta, Founder at Eventible.com (https://eventible.com/) - The TripAdvisor for Events
Ankush is a marketer with over 20 years of experience with global companies like the TATA Group and MPhasis. He is a pioneer in the space of B2B Media, having been nominated for a Digiday award for Publisher of the Year. Currently he is founder at Eventible.com (https://eventible.com/) - a platform designed from the ground up to help event profs get the word out and use the power of social proof to accelerate their event brands.
29 Nov 2021
Ep 2: In conversation with Victoria Matey, Event Psychologist & Consultant, Matey Events
As an event prof you've lived through a time of intense change to the way events have been conducted - the pandemic saw in-person events swing heavily towards virtual events and now back to in-person and hybrid formats.
These shifts have also affected your attendee behaviour and engagement patterns - from attendees embracing virtual formats to suffering zoom fatigue and now to looking forward to networking at live events once more.
As an event prof - you need to arm yourself with all the tools and know-how on understanding your audience and their needs and get on top of the hype that is being put out by the hundreds of virtual tech platforms given birth to by the global pandemic.
Our fireside chat promises to be an interesting exchange between two experienced marketers who will provide you with a framework to understand your audiences better through the application of behavioural science and walk you through a first of its kind review platform that you can use to amplify the hard work that you are putting into your shows.
Keep it simple - is the only mantra you need to believe in - and after watching this webinar you will understand why a focus back on the basic principles of marketing & human behavior will yield you the maximum gains.
1 Nov 2021
Ep 1: In Conversation with Sir Martin Sorrell, Executive Chairman, S4 Capital
In this interview with Eventible, Sir Martin Sorrell, Executive Director, S4 Capital, shares exclusive insight on the COVID-19 pandemic and the economy, the trends concerning remote working, his thoughts on reviewing as an aid to active decision making, and how we see a raging number of influencers across the global market.
In a statement he says: “Reviews are an ‘online word of mouth' " - This is powerful!” Also, hinting at how Eventible has an important role to play within the B2B events space, where individuals actively seek first-hand feedback before opting to attend an event.
Sir Martin also estimates how the world is foraying into the digital market and actively pursuing the digital way-of-life, while sharing his key interests of pursuing to learn to code and Chinese. Among other things, he also does enjoy Skiing, going to the gym and of course playing cricket!
Inside a recent episode
Ep 9 : Learn how to avoid the top mistake in event setup w/ Accelevents CEO Jonathan Kazarian
Published 15 Feb 2023 · Transcript excerpt
[…] I ended up building a solution to help with that first event got really good feedback from the attendees and from the organization that we put the event on for and they started wanting to use it for other events and I realized that I had something there. I could build a company around that. […]
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