In this episode, you’ll learn about content’s dual role in events: driving revenue and creating impact. Nazya Ayaz discusses the significance of understanding event goals and understanding cultural nuances as event professionals craft winning content. This episode is packed with actionable tips and expert guidance for event professionals looking to elevate their content strategy.
Nazya leads the content strategy and development for all Catalyst’s events and helps create world class experiences that are a melting pot of innovation, inspiration, and insights for the Catalyst community.
Here’s what you’ll hear about in this conversation:
[00:00:00] Rachel Moore: 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'm Rachel Moore, your podcast host.
Rachel Moore: The word content can have two meanings for event profs. It can be what your audience experiences from your event, and it can be how they feel or don't feel after experiencing it. Our guest is the Director of Event Content for Catalyst, Nazya Ayaz, and she's about to help us see content as an aspect of our events that creates both revenue and impact.
Rachel Moore: With out-of-the-box content ideas and an honest look at what drives today's events, Nazya is about to launch us into new tactics for crafting our next event experience.
[00:01:00] Rachel Moore : Welcome back to the podcast, everybody. I am really pleased to give you a brief introduction about our guest today.
Rachel Moore: Since 2004, she has been immersed in the world of event planning. And I do mean immersed with roles at the Human Capital Institute, IQPC Worldwide, and S&P Global.
Rachel Moore: Today, she is the Director of Event Content for Catalyst, a global nonprofit, building workplaces that work for women. Which I love because I happen to be a woman, so I'm automatically biased. I'm really happy to welcome Nazya Ayaz to the Event Experience podcast. Nazya, welcome to the microphones today.
Nazya Ayaz: Thank you, Rachel, for having me. It's a pleasure to be here.
Rachel Moore : Thank you, pleasure is all mine so far and our listeners as well. And I gave such a brief intro to you, and I really want to give you the opportunity, hand the mic over to you, as it were. Can you please tell us more about your role, about your world, you know, your daily world, and kind of where you're coming from in your current role [00:02:00] and as our guest today.
Nazya Ayaz: Sure, I'm happy to. So I actually landed in the events world back in 2004. And this was in Singapore. So I graduated in 2002, right when SARS had hit Asia Pacific. So I was unemployed. I did journalism as my major. I did professional communications. And I was unemployed for about a year, and then in 2004, I got a job as a conference producer for IQPC, which was a global MNC, but a U.S. based organization.
Nazya Ayaz: It was at IQPC that I learned a lot of the skills of the trade. How do you research the market? What questions do you ask someone that you cold call? And how do you build a program based on research? And as I moved along, of course, then I got posted to London in a more sort of a senior role with the same organization.
Nazya Ayaz: And that's where I started to work on some of [00:03:00] the larger events, which we call stage 2s. And really took charge of not just content, but also revenue as well. How do we scale an event from stage one to stage two, looking at sponsorship strategy, looking at sales strategy, marketing strategy, and whatnot.
Nazya Ayaz: And then from there onwards, still with the parent company, which is Pentalonium Systems, I joined WBR and they only did large scale events. I continued in that direction, pretty much did a little bit of freelancing for like you mentioned early Human Capital Institute, which is for talent management.
Nazya Ayaz: I also did events for the finance industry. But majority of my experience has been with the energy markets at S&P. I also led the programming and development for events, for the energy and commodity markets there. And I've been very fortunate to actually work on a variety of models for a variety of [00:04:00] regions, understanding the cultures that drive some of the strategy behind these events.
Nazya Ayaz: And how do you actually, use content, which is central to, in my view, event, the wider event strategy. And how do you use that to not just drive revenue, but create impact and also, penetrate new markets as well.
Nazya Ayaz: By the way, the views expressed today are my own, and not of my employers. So I just want to mention that before we jump into the discussion.
Rachel Moore : I think that's perfect and we welcome your views today because we, you see, you segwayed that so nicely for me because we're excited to talk to you today about content. I want to talk specifically, program content for events, which is an aspect of experiential design that probably has our event prof listeners trying every hack possible to come up with content that drives revenue and delivers impact.
Rachel Moore : All right, let's segue into some get to know you questions.
Rachel Moore : I [00:05:00] ask this of all of our guests and I, maybe we're becoming the new go-to source for people before they go shoe shopping, But let me ask you this. What are your go-to on-the-ground event day shoes?
Nazya Ayaz: Hands down, my Roland Mouret over the knee leather boots. They are like badass, they're comfortable and they go with everything.
Rachel Moore : All right. I am going to go Google this because that sounds amazing, and badass to boot. So which that was no pun intended. Sorry. I had to go there. Awesome. Thank you for that rec. Uh, what are you listening to watching or reading these days that you cannot put down?
Nazya Ayaz: The System Sunday Newsletter by Ben Meer not sure if you're familiar with, him, but he's like this internet personality, IG influencer, and talks about systems thinking. How you can have a better life or drive personal growth through systems thinking. So definitely check him out.
Rachel Moore : I'm totally going to, that just made me perk up anyway. I love [00:06:00] systems and processes. And so I have a feeling that'll be my new love language. Great. I'm totally going to check that out. Is there a particular social post or a piece of media or even a hot take about events that you found interesting lately?
Nazya Ayaz: Yep. So I think most of our listeners would be familiar with Julius Solaris. He's, you know, the event influencer on LinkedIn and also on socials. And one thing he mentioned that has stuck in my mind is, the event begins before the event. So before your program starts, really, the audience experience starts from maybe when they land at the airport. Or when they check in at the reg desk, all of that, you have to look at it. And that has really stuck with me.
Rachel Moore : So true and accurate because yes, he's mentioned quite often in that particular question. So excellent.
Rachel Moore : Can you please share with us how you and your team create content that achieves both of those goals, the revenue and the impact?
Nazya Ayaz: When I look at content, I [00:07:00] take it as a central to the wider event strategy, as I mentioned earlier. And I could be a bit biased in my view, but I really do think content is queen, like without content, people are just coming together and mingling. Which is fine too, but that's not what I do. I create experiences centered around content. And that delivers not just revenue, but also impact.
Nazya Ayaz: So how do we do that? When we look at the strategy, you have to look at what the event goals are, right? What are you? So having the end in mind first, what are we trying to achieve? Are we trying to inspire the audience?
Nazya Ayaz: Are we trying to educate the audience? Are we trying to make the audience have a collaborative experience? Like, What is it? Right? And once you have clear objectives in mind, you'll be able to shape the content for those objects. So if it's inspirational, you want to have a keynote storyteller, for example, who's able [00:08:00] to inspire the audience.
Nazya Ayaz: They may not have the subject matter expertise of that specific industry, but that's not their job. Their job is to inspire the audience. So you're just being very clear about those kind of things. If it's educational, then of course you want subject matter experts to come and be able to share the insights and their strategies and tips.
Nazya Ayaz: If it's collaborative, then the format really guides that, directs that, in the sense, okay, is it going to be a workshop? So the audience members can actually do peer to peer learning. Or can we have a moment in the general session, for example, where the audience is able to feed back to the stage to the speakers.
Nazya Ayaz: So that's what mean by what exactly are you trying to achieve in terms of your, the goal at the end. And having that front of mind first. Once that is clear of course, one other thing that you have to be very clear [00:09:00] on is, who is your audience, right? Who are you trying to create this product for?
Nazya Ayaz: Because if you don't understand your audience, that's a recipe for disaster. So who are you creating the product for? Because they are the ones who are going to pay to attend. So understanding their pain points. What are their pain points? And this is where research comes in, speaking to the market, like really speaking to them, having relationships with them.
Nazya Ayaz: Once you have your finger on the pulse, you'll know what sort of trends are happening in the market that's going to impact your audience. So really bring that and covering that in the content programming.
Nazya Ayaz: One thing I like to look at is, there are two things usually, human psyche, we're driven by. It's either greed or fear, right? So I do B2B events. So really, it's more like for companies attend the type of events are put together. So typically for companies, you either try to make more money or you're trying to survive. So it's greed or fear.
Nazya Ayaz: So what are you actually [00:10:00] injecting in your programming? Which emotion are you tapping into through your programming? So you gotta look at that, right? So I would say that are some of the key things that someone, as a content person, you have to look at when it comes to shaping up content.
Nazya Ayaz: Another thing I want to talk about is when we talk about audience, right. Now, you can have an audience that could vary. So it could be cross industry, it could be your C Level, it could be your mid level folks. They all would have very different needs. Your CEOs are not going to attend workshops.
Rachel Moore : Right.
Nazya Ayaz: Their needs are, I want to meet someone of my level that I otherwise wouldn't have opportunity for. Like to meet, right? So how can I create that for this person, this buyer persona? How can I create that? Oh, maybe a CEO think tank. A really high level topic usually bodes well for the C Suite. But when we talk about your middle manager folks, [00:11:00] or even some of your junior folks, it has to be a bit more tactical, right?
Nazya Ayaz: Because that's what's going to draw them, that's what they need for their day to day job. This is why I mentioned like, understanding your audience is super important.
Rachel Moore : Right.
Nazya Ayaz: And one of the things that I've done in the past before, and this seems counterintuitive, is I have actually taken the hottest topic out of the main agenda. And people would be like, why would you do that? Is because I want to make money.
Rachel Moore : Yeah.
Nazya Ayaz: So now let me explain.
Nazya Ayaz: I'm not saying don't cover it in the main agenda. It would be weird to not cover it at all. But have it at a very high level, right? Have it at a very high level. When it's super hot, usually, a 20-, 30-minute general session on it is not going to do it justice because people are hungry for more information. You take that out of the main programming, you build it as a separate, you can call it whatever you want, a [00:12:00] masterclass or it could be a separate luncheon, whatever you want to call it, however you want to format it, take it out of the main program, do it as a separate add on. And charge people for it. Because if it's hot, they will pay to attend.
Rachel Moore : That's right.
Nazya Ayaz: Okay?
Nazya Ayaz: But make sure that you deliver on your promise that the content and the substance is there indeed. Because you don't want people paying extra to attend that and then the expectations about being that. So, I find most of the time, people don't mind paying as long as they get the value out of it.
Nazya Ayaz: So that is one, sort of, quick and dirty way to actually drive more revenue with the same content. You're just taking it out and doing a deeper dive on it separately. And then, of course, one way, especially recently, like post pandemic, what I've been finding is, people want interaction with people.
Nazya Ayaz: They want networking. They are hungry for that human touch. So [00:13:00] how can we use content to create these multi sensory experiences, right? What you can do is you can have, like an art exhibition, for example, like if we are talking about diversity, equity and inclusion, we want to talk about promote women and their skills and whatnot. Why not have an art exhibition that is led by independent women artists, right? And then share their stories and then you can have like a listening, you know how they have in museum exhibits, you have the headphone and you listen, and then the narrator basically talks about that art, what that piece is about, right?
Nazya Ayaz: Or you can have an independent designer trunk show where you're promoting these independent women designers. If it makes sense, of course, it needs to make sense. Either from a content standpoint or from an experience standpoint. These are just some of the ways I would, I mean, there's so many ways to do it, right?
Nazya Ayaz: But these are some of the ways that I can share from my experience. And one thing I want to just mention is, revenue may not always create [00:14:00] impact, but impact will always create revenue.
Rachel Moore: We're back with Nazya Ayaz I as to discuss how a team can support content creation that drives impact and revenue.
Nazya Ayaz: A lot of the times, I think event teams want to be able to grow their market share, but find themselves like, okay, how do I go about doing this? I would say again, what is the goal and objective for the launch? I always start with, what is the objective? Because we [00:15:00] just need to be clear on what are we trying to achieve?
Nazya Ayaz: So if we are trying to achieve more revenue, okay. Or are we trying to achieve more impact, or are we trying to bring a customer journey further down, in terms of like their buyer journey. What are we trying to achieve?
Nazya Ayaz: So there are two ways that you can actually expand your market share. One is either you launch in a completely different market, so meaning region. So if I'm in, say, in North America and I want to launch the same event that I'm doing, which is doing exceptionally well, I'm going to do it in an APAC in Asia Pacific, right? So you can do that, right?
Nazya Ayaz: The other way to do it is through being in the same region, through seniority or function.
Nazya Ayaz: So right now I'm tapping into, let's say I only do events for the C level suite. Now I want to tap into the middle management, right? But it still is in the same region. There's so many ways to do this. Now, [00:16:00] again, going back to your goal and objective. What are you trying to achieve? Who is your audience?
Nazya Ayaz: And what problem are you trying to solve? So if the problem is, oh, we have a mature market here, but APAC is the new market. We know that's the problem that we have a maturing market, we need to find new revenue streams, or expand a market share there. If the problem is, oh, we're hearing from the industry that the middle managers is where a lot of companies are investing in terms of, I'm going to give an example, for example, AI, right?
Nazya Ayaz: What is the impact on certain jobs? Like, do we need upskilling and reskilling and all of that? Which level of workforce is this going to impact in terms of investment, or even, retrenchment, who knows, right? So fear versus greed.
Nazya Ayaz: When you look at that, then you're like, okay, I want to target the middle managers. Or the folks who are directly involved in this subject area, [00:17:00] where it's impacting them directly. And that's a market share that you're capturing. So those are the two ways.
Nazya Ayaz: And once you figure out what problem you're trying to solve, you'd have your goal, your objective, you know, the audience you're trying to build a product for, you do a SWOT analysis.
Nazya Ayaz: SWOT analysis, I'm sure you're familiar with it. It's something that is super important for building a strategy from the outset up, and, for the folks who may not be aware of it, SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. You want to have a very clear picture of what that is.
Nazya Ayaz: So Strength and Weaknesses are internal. So to your Team and Opportunities and Threats are external. Once you figure that out, what you gotta do is you got to research some of these things, which I mentioned, pain points. But if it's a different region, culture is huge. It can make or break the event strategy.
Nazya Ayaz: So culture is massive. For example, I did events in the Middle East, and [00:18:00] there is a culture around how genders mix at an event. There is also a culture around and this is, I'm talking about maybe like, I don't know, like 15 years ago, where they would just show up with wads of cash, like here, 20, 30 grand. They'll just pay on site. Like, how is that? Are your teams prepared for things like that?
Nazya Ayaz: Maybe the, and I'm giving an example that may not be relevant today, this is from 15 years ago, right? Everything is more digital now, but I'm seeing like small little things like that, you have to understand. Like in Asia, WhatsApp is like a major form of business communication, right? WhatsApp is actually a marketing tactic built into the marketing plan. In the U.S. you would never think of WhatsApp as a marketing channel. So, It's just things like that, and China has its own, specific I'm forgetting the name, but, version of WhatsApp.
Rachel Moore : Is it WeChat?
Nazya Ayaz: WeChat. Thank you.
Rachel Moore : But you're right.
Nazya Ayaz: Yeah, there you go. So it's like, how are you going to communicate with your audience and culture is really important because that's going to inform you as the content person or the event strategy lead, the lens they're going to experience the event from. So that's one thing. And of course, there are other things like budget like, the budget is going to be very different from countries and to cities.
Nazya Ayaz: And then finally accessibility, how accessible is this market, number one. And also logistically and operationally. So if it's an onsite event, can your attendees get there? Or is it safe for women? Just things like that, I would say you should consider.
Nazya Ayaz: And I know that ties in nicely to like barriers and challenges. So I touched a little bit about operational challenges, but there can be language barriers too. I have put events in Thailand, and I had to do research with the folks over there, and I can't speak [00:20:00] Thai.
Nazya Ayaz: So it's just things like that. Like, how do you know, work around those challenges. Do you need someone on site on the ground there as part of your team, at least temporarily, to make sure that issues don't arise and things run smoothly. So things like that, you have to be mindful of.
Nazya Ayaz: And finally, what I want to talk about is risks. So whenever you're launching into new markets, it is a risky venture. But it doesn't have to be a venture. I mean, risks should be taken as long as they're calculated risks.
Nazya Ayaz: So how do you minimize risks? One thing I would say is, go out and get a sponsor, right? Before you launch something into a new market, make sure there's someone there to partner with you who has skin in the game just as you do. Who has vested interest, right? Make them a sponsor, give them the benefits or whatever that may look like, but bring them on board to minimize your financial risks.
Nazya Ayaz: And usually when you [00:21:00] have a sponsor, chances are, for that new market or for that new topic, they would have insights because they have vested interests. Or they might have connections. So you can really, really leverage that relationship to build a product, to leverage their networks and connections. So you know you're actually targeting the right audience and getting through to them.
Nazya Ayaz: The other way to do it all, maybe can do it virtually. You want to test the ground. Okay, doing an onsite event is too risky, let's do virtual, dramatically, it's going to cut down your costs. So that is one option.
Nazya Ayaz: And then I did talk about a little bit, this was with sponsors, but you can also do this with, you know, you can partner with an industry organization who has a really good solid database, right?
Nazya Ayaz: For example, I want to launch an oil and gas event, and I would partner with the society petroleum engineers, because I know that's, anyone who isn't in the oil and gas industry is a member of that organization, right? So [00:22:00] I would partner with them. Because you want to create a product that people know about.
Nazya Ayaz: You can build the best product, but nobody knows about it, no one's going to attend.
Rachel Moore : Those are, oh gosh, this is like a masterclass by the way. Thank you for being so forthcoming with just really giving some solid guidance for our listeners and for me as well. But, uh, it's really educational and even explaining SWOT and things like that, but I mean, it's so helpful to be able to look at these. And this is certainly going to help our listeners tackle these things. And finally, the easiest question of all, where can our listeners find and follow you online?
Nazya Ayaz: The best way to find and follow me is on LinkedIn. My profile is my name. So Nazya Ayaz. And yeah, I look forward to connecting with a lot of you listeners out there on LinkedIn.
Rachel Moore: Nazya's skill up advice for our [00:23:00] listeners is all about setting boundaries for everyone's benefit.
Nazya Ayaz: I would say practice your “No”s. But before you can practice your “No”s, so you can say yes to the things that matter. You have to be really clear about your vision and what you're trying to achieve. Because a lot of the times, you know, you're going to get opportunities come your way or asks and people coming your way, hey, do this. It's going to, it's going to be beneficial to the program, but then you really have to take a step back and look at it in a way that, is this the best approach for my vision, or should I keep the space for the right opportunity to come along? And I know I'm speaking sort of like in very abstract terms, but what I mean is, if it's not a hell yes, then it's a no.
Nazya Ayaz: And that comes from experience. So I don't expect, you know, you're being first year in the job to immediately know like, yes, this doesn't align with my vision. I mean, it comes from experience, but really [00:24:00] content creation is a mix of structure and art.
Rachel Moore: Thanks again to Nazya Ayaz for joining us on Event Experience, and thank you for listening. If you're enjoying the show, we'd love to hear it.
Rachel Moore: Connect with us on social, and subscribe, rate, and review us wherever you're listening. 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.
