In this episode, host Rachel Moore and experts from Smyle and Bizzabo explore the fundamentals of strategic event design. The panel features professionals from Smyle — James Howitt, Director of Client Experience & Development; Sophie Hulf, Senior Creative Strategist; Nick Thomas, Technical Director; and Jacob Palmer, Producer — and from Bizzabo — Kacie Finance, Vice President of Sales.
Together, the panel discusses key pain points and priorities, such as defining event briefs, integrating technology, and understanding audience needs.
Here’s what you’ll hear about in this conversation:
[00:00:00] Welcome to Event Experience by Bizzabo, the podcast where we bring the best and brightest event experience leaders together to share stories, tips, and lessons learned from creating some of the world's biggest events. I am Rachel Moore, your podcast host. In this episode, event design is on our minds as we delve into how to incorporate the why into today's experiences.
[00:00:31] Our discussion features experts from Bizzabo Studios from experiential agency, Smyle: James Howitt, Director of Client Experience and Development; Sophie Hulf, Senior Creative Strategist; Nick Thomas, Technical Director; and Jacob Palmer Producer. From Bizzabo, we're also joined by Kacie Finance, Vice President of Enterprise Sales, and yours truly as the host.
[00:00:54] Keep listening to learn how technology and thoughtful design can transform event experiences, improve attending engagement, and deliver measurable results. We have a full house in this episode of Event Experience.
[00:01:17] Rachel Moore: Well, hello everyone. We're so glad you're here. I'm Rachel Moore, and I'm the host of Bizzabo's Event Experience podcast. Welcome to Designing for Impact: Mastering the Art of Strategic Event Design. We'll explore event design from the fundamentals to the future that awaits us as technology continues to evolve and elevate what we can deliver. Our goal is to empower you with knowledge and practical tips to help you apply thematic concepts and visuals into thoughtful event design that will be the most meaningful for your attendees, coordinate both physical and digital elements of your event design into a cohesive landscape that results in rave reviews and off the charts attendee engagement, and grasp the power of technology coupled with creativity to craft future event experiences with confidence and success.
[00:02:09] We're going to talk specifically about how Bizzabo Studios rises to the occasion to help the entire event experience reach new heights through tech and collaboration.
[00:02:19] And we'll explore the capabilities and possibilities within Bizzabo Studios, a creation by Smyle and Bizzabo, and the specifics around how events like yours can benefit from support through this partnership.
[00:02:32] All right, without further ado, let's begin our journey together. It is my pleasure to introduce today's speakers.
[00:02:39] First up, we have James Howitt. James is the Director of Client Experience and Development with Smyle. James' primary focus is to bring brands to life in live environments, and he believes that live events are at the heart of storytelling. James' go-to event day shoes are dependent on the event, from Jordan 1s, to classic white and emphasis on very white sneakers. For him, it's all about representing the client and the event in style. James, welcome to our discussion.
[00:03:07] James Howitt: Thank you very much. Hello everybody.
[00:03:09] Rachel Moore: Next, let's welcome Sophie Hulf. Sophie is Smyle's Senior Creative Strategist, and she is a visual communicator out to make an impact. In addition to her creative work within Smyle, she is also the founder of This Way Up, a leadership initiative for women and nonbinary professionals.
[00:03:27] Sophie goes with Birkenstocks when she's on the ground at events. Thanks for joining us, Sophie.
[00:03:32] Sophie Hulf: So excited to be here. Thank you.
[00:03:34] Rachel Moore: Awesome. And our third panelist is Nick Thomas. Nick is the technical director at Smyle, and his skills ensure that technical strategies deliver successful events on repeat.
[00:03:45] With both eyes on event production, he wields exceptional physical, virtual, and hybrid events. And Nick's event day shoes are a super comfy pair of running shoes. Glad you're with us today, Nick.
[00:03:57] Nick Thomas: Thanks, Rachel. Really happy to be here.
[00:03:59] Rachel Moore: And coming in as our fourth panelist is Jacob Palmer. Jacob is a Digital Project Manager at Smyle.
[00:04:05] He works with clients to deliver seamless event experiences by leveraging technology. His normal daily routine includes carrying projects from conception through to on-site delivery, spanning creative ideation, UX, UI Design, Software, Web Development and Testing. You get the idea. Jacob wears Clark's Wallabies for his go to event day shoes.
[00:04:27] Jacob, thank you for joining us.
[00:04:29] Jacob Palmer: Hi Rachel. Hi everyone. Thanks for having us.
[00:04:31] Rachel Moore: And our final panelist is our very own Kacie Finance. Kacie is the Vice President of Enterprise Sales at Bizzabo. Focused on customer relationships, Kacie helps brands with their go-to market strategy, with Bizzabo's innovative technology and features.
[00:04:47] Kacie's shoe choice for important events are Air Force 1s. Glad to have you here, Kacie.
[00:04:52] Kacie Finance: Thanks, Rachel. Glad to be here. And I'm wearing the blush Air Force Ones right now.
[00:04:56] Rachel Moore: Excellent. Well, everyone, we have a full house of panelists. So let's get started, shall we? Before we dive into our key topics, we want to check in with you. Which aspect of event design are you consistently challenged by?
[00:05:09] Maybe it's defining a clear brief and objectives. Maybe it's delivering on both audience and business needs. Perhaps it's integrating technology into the attendees' experience, or it could be lack of internal expertise. So let me ask each of our speakers, and we're going to do a really quick roundtable, which pain point you've heard the most from event designers?
[00:05:29] James, I'll start with you first.
[00:05:31] James Howitt: I think for me, the thing I hear most is probably about defining the brief, and connecting a client's objectives back to the audience.
[00:05:40] Rachel Moore: All right, Sophie, how about you?
[00:05:42] Sophie Hulf: Definitely the first one, but I'm biased because that's my job, but I see that a lot.
[00:05:46] Rachel Moore: Excellent.
[00:05:47] Nick, what's your take?
[00:05:48] Nick Thomas: I'm also going to be quite biased here and I'm going to say integrating technology, because I think a lot of people know what they want the experience to be, but they don't know how to make that happen. And they've got some ideas, but they're just at a loss as to how to piece it all together.
[00:06:03] So yeah, we, we see that a lot and we help a lot of people out with that part.
[00:06:07] Rachel Moore: I bet. And Jacob, what about you?
[00:06:09] Jacob Palmer: Yeah, I would echo Nick's sentiment really. And much like Sophie, uh, that issue potentially keeps me in the job.
[00:06:15] Rachel Moore: Well, that's what pain points do. Kacie, I wanted to go to you as well. What's your perspective on a pain point?
[00:06:20] Kacie Finance: So I think there's one on here that kind of ties everything together. And what I'm hearing most often is delivering on both audience and business needs, making sure that you can integrate the technology, define the clear brief and also get those SMEs in seat, often plays into our ability to speak to both sides of the equation.
[00:06:38] Rachel Moore: All makes sense. And you covered quite a spectrum there. Well, let's
[00:06:41] get into everything we're going to discuss today.
[00:06:44] The art of event design should be recognized, but at the same level as winners of the world's most revered award shows. Am I right?
[00:06:51] That's how Smyle sees it. They begin with a client's challenge. They seek to answer through an experienced theme, and they evolve that idea into a full-scale event meant to wow attendees, reward sales teams and sponsors, and generate recurring revenue. When event designers power their efforts through strategic problem solving and innovative technologies, there's no limit to what we can achieve.
[00:07:15] To borrow from a movie quote, "We all love when a plan comes together." The partnership between Smyle and Bizzabo, resulting in Bizzabo Studios at a very high level, brings together excellent event design strategy with exceptional event tech and planning tools. But we're here in part to dig deeper into that. So I'm going to take this first question for this first segment over to Nick.
[00:07:36] Bizzabo Studios, what is it all about? Do share.
[00:07:39] Nick Thomas: Well, to give you the really quick elevator pitch, you just touched on it yourself, but ultimately we're here to combine Bizzabo, an industry-leading technology with everything that Smyle has to offer with award-winning agency and production services, the key part to this is it's really approachable and it's piecemeal.
[00:07:59] So, you know, we're really here to support the whole Bizzabo community through this partnership. We're really, really excited about the partnership and I know we're going to deep dive and get into a real explanation as we move on through this.
[00:08:12] Rachel Moore: Absolutely. And James, I'm going to take this next question over to you. Because some of some of our attendees may not be familiar with Smyle yet, but we want to change that today. Can you tell us a bit about Smyle and what makes you different from most event delivery agencies?
[00:08:25] James Howitt: Yeah, of course. Well, just to start, we're actually 21 this year. So we can now legally drink in the U.S. There's a few things that we sort of pride ourselves on. Really starting with our approach, it's an insight-driven approach. So we always think about the audience.
[00:08:39] We always think about the brand. We always think about the external environment that we're in to help build our creative solutions. And that helps us connect the audience and that brand to really drive positive outcomes for our clients.
[00:08:53] Also, I want to talk about our people. Everybody talks about our people. Everybody talks about their own people in this industry as well. But we can sort of prove it with our NPS score. We're sort of like 86 net promoter score, I think. And if you, if you take Apple, as an example, they're at 62. We always ask our clients after every event that we deliver for them, what were the key things that they thought about Smyle.
[00:09:14] And it's always, feedback on our people. They always talk about our Smylers, as we call them. And that's something that we're super proud of. And I think the mix of that insight, the mix of those people and the talent that we have, allow us to really consider what our client's objectives are. And how we bring that to life using the talent that we have, talent mapping across our business into objectives and into the client's brands.
[00:09:37] Ultimately we end up with a really, really great experience that we can amplify for them.
[00:09:41] Rachel Moore: I gotta say, I mean. It's one thing to like say that you've got great people, but when your NPS score is, is really providing the evidence behind that, at such an astronomical high score, that's, that's wonderful.
[00:09:52] And of course you've got a bunch of your people with you right now. So it's got to feel nice from their standpoint to be like, yep, we're pretty awesome. So I'm excited to have you all, you know, be able to represent Smyle here, in person, if you will. Nick, I'm going to bring this next question back over to you.
[00:10:07] Why let's let's get into the why, why did Smyle and Bizzabo create Bizzabo Studios and how does it deliver on all of the key elements of strategic event design?
[00:10:16] Nick Thomas: Great question. I think it's fair to say that Bizzabo and Smyle have been working really, really closely for about four, just over four years now.
[00:10:24] We've had a lot of experience in that time and we're really proud that we've delivered some of the biggest events that have ever taken place on the Bizzabo platform together in that partnership.
[00:10:36] We're very much in a post-pandemic world now, things shifted, clients' expectations shifted, and I think we've tried to stay ahead of the game here, and we see a lot of opportunity here.
[00:10:50] With this partnership, we really do offer a holistic approach for clients. They're seeing a lot of benefits from having full agency and production support as well as their Bizzabo-powered events like normal.
[00:11:03] And Klik, we see a huge amount of success about a year ago. We thought we need to open this up. Until about a year ago, it was only really, with shared clients that we had between us.
[00:11:14] We sat down, and we thought, how do we open this up? And Studios was born. And I think it's really, really, opened up the opportunities for the whole of the Bizzabo client base.
[00:11:26] So yeah, we're super excited and we think we're only at the beginning of this journey. So yeah, really excited to see where this is going to go to be honest.
[00:11:33] Rachel Moore: Well, it does sound exciting. And I love that we mentioned Smyle is old enough to drink in the United States.
[00:11:38] So, I mean, we've got a long future ahead of us to see it, watch it continue to grow and continue to help customers, which I'm going to segue over to a question for Kacie, from a customer success standpoint, how does a partnership like Bizzabo Studios result in improved revenues for clients and also delight for their attendees and customers.
[00:11:57] Kacie Finance: Yeah, well, I think Bizzabo is just over a decade old and we've got 21-year-olds over here at Smyle. So collectively,a couple of decades of experience and, I couldn't be more thrilled when we all sat down together, almost a year ago today, we were all really excited.
[00:12:11] We were bullish about this partnership. But, you know, of course, we didn't know what we didn't know. And what's been most exciting to see is that our customers have really embraced it. And, to your question about, how does it result in improved revenues? I think revenues can come from a number of different directions, either direct or indirectly through paid tickets that you may see increase when you have a cohesive design and the expert skills that the graphic designers and technical directors and producers like Jacob can bring to the table.
[00:12:42] Or you may see that your sponsors are benefiting from just a better designed, more cohesive, community-driven event that really speaks to your brand. One of the things that I hope we speak about, today is just this idea of, brand and brand awareness and how do you capture it and how do you measure it and how do you really build that into the overall strategy, because, of course, if you can bring that to the experience on-site for your attendees, it'll ultimately result in that more delightful experience that you alluded to earlier, Rachel.
[00:13:13] So I'm excited to dig into the strategy component in just a few minutes here.
[00:13:17] Rachel Moore: Oh, well, I always love it too, by the way, when our speakers segue for me, right into what we're about to talk about. I'm not arranging this, everybody. It's just happening organically. I promise.
[00:13:26] James, can you define metrics used to measure brand awareness?
[00:13:31] James Howitt: From our perspective, it's always about understanding first that the objectives around where that brand is going, what it is that you're trying to deliver. And then we can look at ways of measuring that, whether that is talking to the audience, whether that is looking at the outcomes of the experience, whether those be sales related, whether they just be a brand affinity.
[00:13:52] So it's really important that when we're defining the objectives of an event of a project, that we look at how best we can measure those. Because it's not only just about measuring the audience, it's about giving our clients the opportunity to understand what's happened and take that back into their own businesses.
[00:14:07] Sophie Hulf: I think also, Rachel, it's really about brand awareness amongst who. Like 1% brand awareness amongst the world, or 80% brand awareness amongst your target audience. It can be a completely misleading metric depending on the scope that you're looking at.
[00:14:23] But it's a really interesting point. And definitely one that events can really help tackle. But like all things of events measurement is such a hot topic. And it's something that's improving all the time. And something that we're really kind of leading in space in. But if we ever find the magic key, I will let you know. Work in progress with the work with the awareness.
[00:14:42] Rachel Moore: Let's talk about metrics. Again, just drives right back to, one thing we need metrics for is to devise strategy. And so let's get into this a little bit. Going into our next topic, as with so many aspects of life, excellence starts with the fundamentals. Those best of the best practices that get us as close to perfect as possible.
[00:15:01] In fact, as we'll learn, strategic event design starts long before any design has happened at all. And so this is going to be really interesting to talk about how, what kicks that whole process off. So Sophie, I feel like we've heard this word a lot, but no one seems really clear on what it means.
[00:15:18] So I'm going to ask you to define this. What is strategy?
[00:15:21] Sophie Hulf: Yeah, it's totally bounded around, it's seen like a plaster, just, oh, it's our strategy, that'll solve it. And it's also really misused either as a to do list of, like, objective activation, and executional stuff, like, give us three breakout rooms in the stage, and some people think that's a strategy.
[00:15:38] Or a wish list, which is much broader, like big goals, quite vague generally. And ideally, a strategy should land somewhere in between. So in short, the way we think of strategy is that it's a plan of action that increases the likelihood of success.
[00:15:52] That's again, still really, really broad, but really good strategy is super easy to understand. So it's not about sounding really smart, it should be able to kind of land to your grandmothers, like pretty instantaneously, and they kind of get it.
[00:16:05] So taking away the information is just as important as what you share. Also, vitally, it needs to be rooted in the truth. So there's a great deal of research, insight and understanding to make sure that we are not building our foundations on sand. And that we're actually illuminating path forward that is really robust and that we can go back and say that this is going to work because we, you know, we're going to ABC, we've really done our homework.
[00:16:29] Ultimately, to have a kind of a universal plan of action, which starts with creative strategy at Smyle, which is the kind of message that we want to land. This is like the audience take away the concept, the theme, the red thread, whatever you call it. It's, you know, the big idea.
[00:16:43] And then from that comes down come strategy and experience strategy, which broadly say, how you say that message and where you say it.
[00:16:50] So not literally, not like we want it on the wall, but how do you, um, convey that message so that it's inferred, particularly in an event, through every single touch point that your audience interact with. So it's like a holistic feeling that they kind of embody and they walk away feeling the way that you want them to feel and thinking about your brand.
[00:17:09] Rachel Moore: I love your answer there too. There's a few aspects I love about it. It's like, keep it simple. I think what is that acronym? Keep it simple, stupid. It's KISS or whatever, where it's like, there's no need to like use really gigantic words when you're developing a strategy, it might feel like you have to because it's very businessy and stuff, but you're really just make it as simple as possible so that you can easily understand it quickly. And then, actuate on it.
[00:17:29] And then, um, I love that you also really define that there's multiple aspects to the strategy or multiple strategies within it that each has its own purpose.
[00:17:38] Super important to think about where maybe you don't have to draft a strategy that just, Oh, it's got to encompass everything, but you can have those kinds of subset strategies. I love, I love your point there.
[00:17:47] Well, I am going to bring this next question to you again, Sophie, because, I think this one really could be something that can help our event designers here who are listening.
[00:17:57] Can you talk us through your first steps when a new brief lands on your desk? How do you make sure that the output will deliver on client objectives and that the results don't feel like a cookie-cutter event from one to the next.
[00:18:10] Sophie Hulf: Yeah, totally. So we, I think we deliver about 500 projects a year. So we see a lot of briefs and that's a lot of potential for cookie-cutter events. But they're, they're not, they all are unique and different and the output is always different because the context of every brief is different. And that's why it's so important to look past the brief and get to what I think of as like the real why.
[00:18:30] So why is this brief on my table at all? And the marketeer will say, and the brief will say, it's to raise awareness or it's to drive pipeline or whatever it is. And like, yes, those are really important objectives. But above that, what's going on at business level, cultural level, a global level? Why is our audience feeling the way they do about our brand? What's going on there?
[00:18:52] And often that piece is overlooked in a tactical brief, like an event brief. But it's also really, really important because unless we know what the problem is, we can't go about solving it.
[00:19:02] And to that point, what is most important is what our audience want. What they care about. Because standing in the way of our business goals, standing in the way of that pipeline and that awareness is an audience challenge.
[00:19:13] And often as brand marketers, we forget that audiences and brands want almost always completely different things. And brands can fall into a trap of thinking that their product and service is like the hero, like the main character of the story. And it's not, it's the cape, if anything, it's an accessory.
[00:19:32] The hero is the consumer, you know. We all use products and services to reinforce a story that we're telling ourselves about the kind of people we are. Which sounds like a lot of like word goop, but, we are the hero of our lives and everything else is just an accessory to that like internal narrative of the kind of person you are, what you care about, et cetera.
[00:19:51] And if you can begin to understand that world as it relates to your brand, your product and your service, we can begin to understand why our audience not doing what we want them to do to this. Like why is this brief here? What do you want them to feel as a result about our brand and our products? What do you want them to think educationally?
[00:20:11] What knowledge do you want to impart? And what do you want them to do? why are they not quite there yet? And that's a really interesting space then. You've got like a bridge you can cross, a strategy. So the strategy and the concept needs to be derived to solve that audience problem. This is the confusion of strategy of thinking, our brand wants to do this, just solve it.
[00:20:29] But what does our order, is if we can solve that we are removing the obstacle from the business goal, which will then follow. So roundabout answer. Sorry, Rachel. I, once you get me started on strategy, I'm like boring as hell probably, but I love it. I'm so passionate about it. One piece of advice would be to not dive into ideas straight away because we do not know yet what your problem is.
[00:20:52] So how can you possibly solve it? If you brief your creative team and you say, give me an event, what did I say? Three breakout rooms and a stage and 200 seats and raise awareness. They will just be completely turning. And even if they create a great event, it will not solve your problem because they've not been able to illuminate and solve the audience problem.
[00:21:14] But once you have those kind of like big pieces in place, you're able to like distill that into a concept. As I said, like the red thread begins to tackle that gap.
[00:21:25] What the audience wants, the brand wants, and from that, kind of everything else can fall out. Like all your activations, all your technical enhancements, all your interactions with the audience, in anything, in the campaign or in an event, whatever it is.
[00:21:39] Rachel Moore: Uh, no, you answered that perfectly because, obviously I love all the points everyone's making, but just really giving yourself the space, giving event designers the space to not like, Hey, turn creative now go, you know, just be creative and whip up an event.
[00:21:53] But, oh my gosh, you mentioned something in there too, that I think is at the heart of not just events, but marketing in general. When you're trying to get accomplished results. And I know Kacie probably thinks about this as well, where it's like, who's the hero at the center of the story? Who's the hero at the center of what we're trying to plan here?
[00:22:10] And it is the attendees. And, you know, it's like you said, it's very easy to conflate attendee need versus brand or business need. And just balancing those two is, you know, is the challenge.
[00:22:20] But I love that you pointed that out and also just saying there is a process to follow here and don't just, I know we all want to rush events out the door, especially when we're getting 500 briefs on our desks a year, but, uh, just take your time and get through there.
[00:22:34] I'm gonna Sophie and Nick, I'm going to have you both kind of answer this next question. You know, we think about strategy. And our brains may not immediately draw the correlation to how technology is a crucial component of that events overall design. How can event profs thread their strategy through to executional elements to ensure that that technology delivers?
[00:22:55] Take it away, Sophie and Nick, what say you?
[00:22:57] Nick Thomas: I think it's really key here that we absolutely don't want to be, putting out cookie cutter type projects.
[00:23:06] We don't want each project to look the same, unless it's a roadshow. Basically we do want a common way of working and also we want to challenge ourselves. So we have put together this sort of framework and as you can see, this really starts with discovery. It's about us scoping all aspects of that, you know, what are the aspirations, what are they looking to achieve?
[00:23:27] And that moves through to the creative ideation, which, Sophie's just touched on, it's, what's the concept, what are they looking to achieve from this? And then really, we want to have all of that foundation laid out before we start thinking of the how. So we're all aligned on what we're trying to achieve.
[00:23:47] And like, I think it's really important to say that we're an experience-led agency. The point here is you can achieve that same experience in many, many ways. So what we do is we work our way down this process. And at each point we challenge ourselves and we will check in. There'll be a whole team meeting and all ideas on the table.
[00:24:09] There's no harm, especially the further left you are, the more vocal we want people to be, because we want to have considered everything at that point. And then ultimately when we come into creative development, you know, we've got some great concepts. We know what we want that experience to be.
[00:24:27] This really is our moment to decide how do we do that? Sky's the limit at this point. We can be discussing all options, regardless of budget. We don't want to consider budget at this point. That's for implementation, which is the next phase. And Jacob's going to touch on how we actually deliver on this.
[00:24:46] But I think it's really in the creative development stage that we want to bring in technology. And as I say, it's the experiences that we're trying to achieve first. And then we, go back from those experiences to really work out all the different routes possible. So that's kind of how we weave technology in.
[00:25:04] Our goal really is that attendees even know what technology has gone into this. We want it to be a seamless, great experience for them. And, of course, there are some wow moments with technology. But, you know, on the whole, you just want a nice, seamless experience. So Sophie, I don't know if you want to add anything that I've missed there.
[00:25:28] Sophie Hulf: No, I completely agree. I think a strategy, strategy is all well and good, but it's only as effective as it's adhered to. And we do a lot of pitching, in which case you build out like a lovely deck and you really lay out the story and you have a manifesto and a concept and whatever. The audience doesn't see that.
[00:25:43] They just show up. They don't care like about the background story and all the, you research that's been done, they only have to go on, you know, the touch points, which in a lot of cases are technology. It's from the very registration, all the comms, until the metric, like any surveying at the end. And every single touch point is inferring to them something about the brand.
[00:26:03] So it's really important that the detail, the devil is in the detail and it's how that strategy kind of weaves through to the end point that actually delivers the impact that you're looking for.
[00:26:12]
[00:26:13] We'll be right back with more event experience after the break.
[00:26:17] Event enthusiasts. Are you hungry for the latest event, trends and insights pop open your laptop, pull up your favorite browser and head to the Bizzabo blog. That's bizzabo.com/blog for fresh perspectives and expert takes on what shaping the world of events. Plus subscribe to get blog updates sent to your inbox every two weeks and never miss an article from bizzabo.com/blog. Do more that matters with Bizzabo.
[00:26:49] We're back with more Event Experience to ask our experts about how business strategy and event tech walk hand in hand.
[00:27:00]
[00:27:01] Rachel Moore: It sounds like, both strategy and tech are fundamental to a customer successful event. How do you guide customers toward considering both, strategy and tech when they approach Bizzabo for help with the designing their next experience?
[00:27:16] Kacie Finance: Yeah, I think it's important to remember that there's a business strategy, which we spoke about at the beginning.
[00:27:22] There's a team strategy. There's a brand strategy. There's an event strategy. And,when we're getting to know a customer, we're so much more than a technology.
[00:27:31] We're so much more than a supplier. James mentioned earlier, the Smylers and the Bizzaboers are equally invested and committed to our customer success. And so we, when we first get to know you, we want to understand the why. So if he mentioned earlier, everything goes out the window. If you don't actually understand the why.
[00:27:47] And I, I couldn't agree more, knowing that at 30, 000 feet and all the way at ground level is so incredibly important. When I'm thinking about guiding our customers and offering thought leadership around how to approach designing their next event, it really starts with that question.
[00:28:06] A lot of times, results in the next step being an introduction to this guy here above me, Nick Thomas, our Technical Director at Bizzabo Studios, you know, in a deep dive into exactly what do you want to accomplish? Let's attach ourselves to those outcomes and really make sure that we're focusing on curating that experience first.
[00:28:24] The technology will fall into place as I've heard so many of my colleagues say, right? We can pull in third-party tools. We can stand the platform up to accomplish your goals, but let's make sure we're really focusing on that audience and the attendee experience first and foremost, and then tracking that back to, make sure everybody still has a job at the end of the day, right?
[00:28:44] I mean, I want my customers' teams to grow, and I want their events portfolio to grow in kind. So, I think when we first started out, we wanted to prove that technology plus services equals success. And I think we're seeing, and I wholeheartedly believe in it.
[00:28:59] Rachel Moore: Amazing answer. Thank you for that.
[00:29:00] And yeah, I agree that you're bringing it. You're weaving it all together again, focusing on the why we're here, which should be we start where we finish, right? With executing on these. Well, I think it's time we talk about actual execution. So we're gonna get in events and let's get into the final section We've talked about strategic fundamentals and we've learned about the origin of Bizzabo Studios and how strategy needs tech to deliver exceptional design. Which leads us to real-world examples of what's possible with events today.
[00:29:33] All of these emphasizes the pressure, and I know we all feel it. We feel it collectively, from the continuous innovation and the growing importance of technology that we all have to use as we create dynamic event experiences.
[00:29:46] So, let's talk about that pressure with the people who are feeling the pressure, but still executing these awesome experiences. Jacob, I know we've had you sitting up here with us, but, it is, it is your moment. So I'm going to take this next question to you. We can look at your flagship events that service prime examples of thoughtful event design.
[00:30:04] Can you walk us through some aspects of your events that best demonstrate success and how Bizzabo Studios transformed those events atmospheres.
[00:30:13] Jacob Palmer: Yeah, sure. I'd love to. Um, and I think I'll kind of reference the most recent event. I've been on something we delivered just a month ago, an international conference paid for, a major international client.
[00:30:22] There are kind of key pieces they need to support with initially, where creative design support, development support for like a really complex web build, and then a comprehensive ticket registration, and session registration system.
[00:30:35] So with those being the three key things that we were able to come in and support with, if we're starting right at the beginning of the project, they're looking for design support, well, a beautiful thing about working with this team was we're able to look at the design needs and not look at them in isolation, but look at how they need to be realized on the website, what's possible within the website, and how much further those assets might be taken beyond that. So then to look at kind of complex build this client had an incredibly large agenda, tons of ancillary events. Take some paid for, some with special audiences.
[00:31:08] Just a ton of information that needed to be represented on this website, but in such a way that the user, the attendees, able to come in, interact with it, not be overwhelmed in any way, take away the key messages, the key information that's relevant for them engaging with the site, but also engaging with the event when it comes to delivery.
[00:31:26] So some of those pieces, this was an event that the project was over close to a year, so loads of different phases to that website. And they, like I said, had a ton of content that needed months and months to be developed, but they obviously wanted to get that in front of the user nice and early. So we're able to leverage the Bizzabo API to build out a custom homepage element that gave this really top line view of what's going to be on in each day, what's the topic matters? Where would it be good for you to interact with it? What are your key areas that interest you? So that was just one element.
[00:31:58] And then, I think Nick mentioned earlier, wanting to kind of encourage the seamless experience. And the best thing is if they don't know there's been some tech involved or if they just haven't had to think about any issues and there probably hasn't been any.
[00:32:10] So we dropped all around the site, loads of really helpful, just small pieces of information in the form of ticker tape, banners on the agenda page, and all related to, is it logging in or, session registration, how do I save and build my agenda? So it's ready for me when I get on site.
[00:32:24] So after implementing all those things, when we did get to site and you're talking to some of the customers, you found that they had a real strong grasp of what was available to them, where it was, when they needed to be there.
[00:32:35] They had some really pertinent questions about certain things where there might be overlap and you could just tell they'd really, absorbed what was put out there by the client and us. And that obviously leads to them having a much more frictionless experience when they get on site. It goes nice and smooth. They spend less time at help desk and more time in sessions.
[00:32:52] So all in all, I think that was like really successful from the client's perspective and ours. And in terms of transforming those event atmospheres, I kind of touched on how the customer's journey has improved. But also, from the client's perspective, having us on site, having delivered the website, having delivered all the registration elements, built the app, and integrated with Klik the badging software.
[00:33:13] Knowing that we were there to kind of handhold all of those pieces for the client, you could tell that compared to previous years, it was just a completely revolutionary kind of moment for them. And having that trustworthy set of hands just meant that it was one less thing for them to worry about.
[00:33:30] They were obviously still very busy. But you know, it's one thing off their plate, which is nice.
[00:33:35] Rachel Moore: I'm sure this is a dream scenario. Everybody's kind of listening to this thing. Oh my gosh, please, can I have that? Because we all know what it's like when you're, okay, let me hand this off to, or, you know, like somebody else take care of this and there's a little trust factor that goes in there, but then to know that you're handing it to someone, okay, I can reliably trust in the fact that they're going to deliver this.
[00:33:53] And then it did. It just, it had such a ripple effect of not only making the attendees feel like I have got all the communication I need to choose my adventure and have a great experience with all the aspects of this event. But then the people behind the scenes are also feeling that like, Oh, this is so great. It's, it's removing friction. It's saving everybody time because they're not having to, Hey, attendees are confused and mass.
[00:34:16] Jacob Palmer: Let's go take care of that. It just sounds like, like again, strategy plus tech just made the dream come true. Which is what everybody wants, Exactly. And you can always tell when it's going well and being well received because more and more people come out from the client's team and ask you to do other bits.
[00:34:32] So, um, yeah, it's good.
[00:34:34] Rachel Moore: Yeah. And well, Jacob and Nick or Jacob or Nick, I'll, I'll let you decide which one of you wants to tackle this one. Can you share how tech-enhanced design boosts event outcomes that all event profs are expected to deliver.
[00:34:47] Jacob Palmer: Sure. Yeah. So I touched on Klik, the smart badging software that is now part of Bizzabo, and that being implemented at this previous event I was talking about.
[00:34:55] That was obviously a huge piece of tech that is key to that user experience. It's around their neck for the whole five days of the conference. And that not only boosts outcomes for the client in that they had all of the analytics dashboards, we have to track what sessions were popular, where people were during breaks.
[00:35:12] And if they had kind of moved into the next session, seeing where hot spots are, where maybe we need to do simple things like send more cleaners because everyone's loitering around on a certain area. So that was hugely beneficial for the clients. Taking that kind of tech-enhanced approach. But then from the customer experience, I couldn't tell you how many times I turned around and walked down the corridor and saw two people finishing conversation, looking like they had a great time, go to step away from each other and turn around.
[00:35:38] And you see the faces light up as they draw for their smart badge, change, change details, and you could just tell that was something they were really enjoying and it was echoed at the help desk. When people were talking to us, they could not stop praising how this tech had made their experience at this conference so much easier.
[00:35:54] They weren't walking away with a wallet full of business cards. They just had everything nicely contained within their app. And we're already reaching out to each other via that mechanism.
[00:36:02] Nick Thomas: I think a lot of people really struggle with hybrid. There's an online audience, but it's an in-person event. So it's like, okay, so it's a hybrid event, but you, you're not sure how to approach that. So like, I know it's a spin on the question, but I think the key thing for us is we are content first. And we want to make sure the right people are joining the right conversations and experiencing the right hearts of that content being delivered. Even to the point where if you're capturing it on site, it may or may not be relevant to be capturing it live and broadcasting it live.
[00:36:33] Maybe you're capturing it and packaging it up for a post-event. I think this really straddles the strategy and technology, like it's down to the set design, the technology in which you're capturing it with or broadcasting it. There's a huge piece to this. And I think that's where a lot of clients are really leaning into us as an agency.
[00:36:54] Cause we're very much, you know, we're experienced first, content first in our approach. So slight spin on the question, but yeah, that's, that's an area where we are seeing a lot of engagement with clients.
[00:37:07] Sophie Hulf: So I really echo that, Nick. And actually even you said we're content and experience first, but we're ultimately kind of problem first and whatever solution effectively solves that to bring it right back to the beginning, like that real why.
[00:37:20] Where it be that content experience, even campaign, like, we're in the business of solving clients problems and succeeding for them, to reach our audiences in the most effective ways. And the technology is just like a suite of amazing tools that we have to do that, agnostic of the format.
[00:37:35] Rachel Moore: I think that we're going to make that a quotable "problem first." Should be everyone's approach to pretty much anything. If you're working on anything for a customer.
[00:37:43] But I love that because that just keeps that at the forefront. That's the focus is what are you trying to solve for your attendee. For your audience. Kacie, I want to bring this, uh, kind of wrap this, tie this up with a bow before we go to a round table question and for the next question.
[00:37:56] But, you have the unique perspective of ensuring that a customer feels success from a business standpoint through every stage of the deal. How has Bizzabo Studios impacted that success from the customer standpoint?
[00:38:09] Kacie Finance: So it's, it's, it's a great question. And we've spoken about reducing friction and saving time.
[00:38:15] And isn't it a great thing to have time back, right? If we can save you from having to, look for an outside agency. If we can save you from having to go seek third party to drop technical drawings and, you know, work on the scenic construction of the event. If we can bring in a graphic designer, if we can bring in an incredible digital producer like Jacob, who already knows by the way, the platform that you're working with, right?
[00:38:41] I mean, I cannot overstate the power of having subject matter experts in the room from the very beginning. So you're not needing to, you know, train the trainer and work with your agency, and work with your freelancers, and your contractors to explain to them how to use your chosen platform. It's already there for you.
[00:38:59] So the learning curve is eliminated. They're bringing best practice. They're all, they're showing up as thought leaders and they're starting from that point of the brief as real problem solvers, right? Bringing what they do best to the table and just, really eliminating a lot of the, this sort of unnecessary friction points that can go into the sort of pre-planning and planning moments of putting on an event that's already causing you stress.
[00:39:26] So, where I see, the most customer success coming from, it's really in their ability to kind of empty a little bit of their brains, right? Their collective brains and focus on what we've been talking about through this whole conversation.
[00:39:41] Focus on the why, focus on the outcomes, focus on connecting their business needs to the audience needs. And really put a lot of their other concerns and worries in the incredibly capable hands of our Smyle partners and our Bizzabo Studios team.
[00:39:55] So it's just been, James mentioned earlier the really record-breaking NPS that Smyle boasts. And I'm excited to say that we see the same scores when we're talking about Bizzabo Studios. And that's really important for us. We want to make sure that our customers and their attendees are delighted and they're having an exceptional experience from start to finish.
[00:40:16] Rachel Moore: Great point. Yeah. And to your point, I mean, that's what we want is we want the proof to be in the pudding. The metrics come back saying people are happy with this. They had a great experience.
[00:40:25] But I have one final round table question for everyone here because, of course, something we want to look at are, is motivation. We want to motivate ourselves.
[00:40:33] We kind of learned about what's possible here, but we're talking to the experts right here on this call. So let's ask. I'm going to go around and I will start with Jacob and then we'll kind of move around.
[00:40:43] Are there any additional sources of inspiration or trends that we ought to be following to stay ahead of the curve going forward?
[00:40:49] So, Jacob, I'll go with you first.
[00:40:51] Jacob Palmer: Yeah, well, I suppose. The trend, and it's a bit of a cop-out answer, but is integrating technology. So many people are used to coming off years and years of doing conferences, doing roadshows, going to these events and having a pretty much to borrow a term from earlier, cookie-cutter experience, even across different brands and event types.
[00:41:09] Bringing a little bit of technology that gives someone a slightly different experience, they're going to really notice that experience and it's going to, it's going to be something memorable for them because it's, hopefully you've chosen a pain point somewhere.
[00:41:20] There is friction and use technology to solve that. If you remove that, even if the technology is something new and they're a bit of a technophobe, they're going to prefer the new experience because you've removed something that potentially detracts from every experience they have at every event they go to.
[00:41:34] Rachel Moore: Great answer. Sophie, I'll go to you.
[00:41:37] Sophie Hulf: Yeah. So I try to look outside of events entirely for inspiration and look at kind of broader consumer trends. What's going on in the world, how people are reacting to all of the marketing, not just events as a silo.
[00:41:49] And it's hard to say because it's so audience-specific. But I think what we're seeing, particularly in the back of the pandemic, although that was a long time ago now, is that people more and more want authentic connection and with their kind of brand ambassadors as well, like they don't want the hard sell, they don't want to be schmoozed, they want to connect with humans.
[00:42:06] And so integrating opportunities to like ease those connections and ensure like sincere authentic conversations and really carefully vetting actually your, um, your ambassadors so that they really represent you as a brand. It's really important.
[00:42:21] Rachel Moore: Excellent. Nick, I'll take it over to you next. Inspiration or trends.
[00:42:24] Nick Thomas: Something we have a Smyle is we actually have an innovation channel that's company-wide. As Sophie mentioned, like, you get everything in there that could be something someone's seen while out shopping, you know, it could be a retail, could be a theater experience. It could be a movie, could be literally anything.
[00:42:44] And I think the key thing Is to be considering what all markets are doing, not just ours. Because I think, you know, it is it's about the experience. So I think it's always trying to deliver fun memorable experiences and, without looking outside of what we're doing day to day, you don't think differently.
[00:43:05] So yeah, I mean, all ideas from small to humongous. And I, and I think we all looked at the sphere in Vegas for about a month. Once that launched, but thankfully we've moved on past the sphere, but that's still going strong, but yeah, it's good to see what all industries are doing, I think is, is really key.
[00:43:25] Rachel Moore: All right. I'm going to take this, Kacie, how about you? Inspiration trends?
[00:43:28] Kacie Finance: Going off of this sort of authenticity point that Sophie made, just, don't overlook the power of community. I think it's in those authentic human connections that you can really breed loyalty and advocacy and build up those ambassadors.
[00:43:42] And I think, we all understand and we know how important events and community are together. And we've had this conversation for decades now about how do we create continuity from event to event? And, you know, especially how do we build that into our strategy. But I think technology is at a place now where it's actually ready to help us do that.
[00:44:02] And so pay attention to some of those exciting tools that are hitting the market that allow you to really speak authentically and capture the attention of those, this loyal community members that you've been, um, working with for so many years.
[00:44:16] Rachel Moore: Excellent. So great discussion, everyone, as always. No wonder folks were flocking to register for this topic. So let me take it to a question. How can you measure whether the strategy and goals have been met?
[00:44:29] Sophie Hulf: So it's very specific to what those goals are. I would suggest when you're in the process of creating your objectives to have this at the back of your mind from the very beginning.
[00:44:40] So it's such, it gets said all the time, but making sure those objectives are smart, so they're really measurable. There's more and more actually at the moment around, um, like return on emotions. There's loads of interesting tech that you could have in a live event that like gauges people's expressions.
[00:44:53] We've even like trialed as an agency, fans like measure your heart rate. You can put sensors onto the floor to see who's standing where and well time. This is something we've been doing a little bit more recently. So there's a lot of interesting technology that is helping forward this area. I think it's also important, though, to acknowledge that not all positive impact is immediate.
[00:45:15] Like, lots of marketing is so subtle and comes at you, like, throughout the course of your day, your week. That we can't attribute very easily the positive outcome to a piece of marketing that you've seen and experienced. So it's easy to like, want this like metric data to take your bosses, your stakeholders to say, look, it was worth it.
[00:45:35] But there's also an argument to be had behind not everything worthwhile comes down to a percentage uptick of everything. If it was, we would have so many, so much boring content in the world. So surveying, of course, we do a lot of that. Pre-reads in the registration, so you get, you can get like a before and after a little bit.
[00:45:57] Often asking kind of how people agree with to what degree people agree with a statement. So say you want to, one of your objectives might be, you want to increase perception of our brand as a thought leader, say. You would ask at the beginning in the registration, to what degree do you agree? And then ask the same at the end.
[00:46:17] So there is things you can do that are like, a little bit more qualitative. But it's not a perfect science, and I think events and experiential is particularly lagging with this measurement, but also, it shouldn't be the be-all and end-all, is my thought.
[00:46:32] Thanks again to our panel of experts, James Howitt, Sophie Hulf, Nick Thomas, Jacob Palmer and Kacie Finance for joining us on event experience. And thank you for listening. If you're enjoying the show, we'd love to hear it. Connect with us on social and subscribe, rate, and review us wherever you're listening.
[00:46:52] Also, don't forget to share the show with your colleagues and friends. You can find transcripts of each episode and key takeaways on bizzabo.com/podcast. On behalf of the team, thank you. We'll gather again soon for a new episode of Event Experience.
