Checked In with Splash
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Checked In with Splash
Notes from the Adobe Summit Floor: Best Booth Activations, Wraparound Events, & More
In this episode, host Camille White-Stern shares her observations and top takeaways from this year's Adobe Summit.
She discusses the best booth activations, out-of-the-box wraparound ideas, and the surprising piece of swag that everyone lining up for.
Plus, she explains her simple process for deciding whether or not to invest in a booth at third-party events.
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This is Checked In with Splash. Hey friends, welcome back to Checked In If you're a new listener here. I'm Camille White-Stern. I lead experiential marketing here at Splash, and I'm deeply obsessed with helping other marketers reach new heights of success and unlock new levels of career growth, all by breaking down the keys to impactful event marketing and the steps required to achieve event-led growth.
Camille White-Stern:In today's episode, I am sharing my keen observations, all of my takeaways from the Adobe Summit, which happened just last month. I'm going to be covering some of the best booth activations I saw out-of-the-box, wraparound event ideas, how to decide booth or no booth, and so much more. So let's go ahead and get checked in, okay. So let's begin with that first major question booth or no booth? How do you decide what to invest in when it comes to third-party conferences and trade shows, and what are all the factors to consider? Well, something that I think about first and foremost is answering the question what is the percentage or how many people in my ICP are going to be attending and or sponsoring a particular conference or trade show? In the case of Adobe Summit, adobe is one of our customers, so, of course, I saw it as an opportunity to engage with one of our key accounts. Beyond that, I knew that there was going to be a pretty good amount of people prospects, potential customers and other customers that would be on site again either attending or sponsoring the conference. But when I compared it to all the other conferences and trade shows that are happening throughout the year and looked at my budget which unfortunately is not unlimited I know shocker wouldn't it be so nice if we all had unlimited budgets? I had to really decide what my level of investment was going to be here. I think I've talked about this before, but we have a tiered investment approach and strategy for thinking about our conference and trade show presence at Splash that I developed, and one of the primary factors that I really consider here again is what is the percentage or what's the concentration of our ICP that will be in attendance. So in the case of Adobe Summit, I decided that our presence was going to be what I call a tier two presence, so we were going to have a boots on the ground team and also invest in one or two wraparound or ancillary events.
Camille White-Stern:So that's how I kind of generally think about booth or no booth. I know there's this pressure and maybe a misconception that if you don't invest hundreds of thousands of dollars into a booth activation, you're not going to stand out at a conference, you're not going to reach your revenue goals. But I vehemently disagree with that mindset and that way of thinking and, honestly, some of the best ROI I've seen from third-party events comes from the scrappy, almost guerrilla style marketing approach to showing up and having a really impactful presence. So no shade to those who do invest in a major booth activation. If you have the budget and it makes sense for you in terms of the ROI that you're going to generate, by all means go for it. But don't let that thinking hold you back. There are really creative ways that you can show up to a conference and meet your meetings goal, meet your op gen goal and ultimately see that ARR added right. You want to close, win revenue from your investment and let me tell you, it is possible, even if you don't have a mega budget, to invest in a booth or more traditional conference sponsorship package. So that's how I think about booth or no booth. So let's really dive into what I saw at Adobe Summit this year. I want to get into some of the best booth activations and again, this is shout out to the people who had the budget and they thought really creatively about how they were going to utilize that budget spend.
Camille White-Stern:Selfishly speaking, I would say the booth and activation that I probably benefited from the most was the LinkedIn headshot station. I don't know how many people can relate to this, but it had been probably about five plus years since I had gotten professional headshots done and I had been really dragging my feet around scheduling a time, getting it done, making sure I looked presentable, and probably one or two weeks leading up to Adobe Summit, I almost caved and opted for AI generated headshots, which, if that is something you've done again, no shade to you. Kudos love the scrappiness. But I didn't do it, and I arrived on site the first day of the conference and was so excited to see that LinkedIn was offering professional headshots. Of course, they used Adobe to do some beautiful headshot editing and I got two done, not one, but two. Yes, I went back two days in a row, so I think that was one of the most effective activations that I saw. The line was super long each day, but it moved efficiently, which means they got a ton of engagement. Yes, they're collecting emails, they are getting leads, essentially, and also I got to walk away with an item that I will use probably for at least the next five years to come. Let's be honest so loved the LinkedIn headshot booth. I have to also shout out Stencil's sloth giveaway that they were doing because it had everybody talking about it. I do, ironically, think that sloths are very funny, but I was surprised at how many people were really activated over getting this little sloth stuffed animal. So, stencil, shout out to you the sloth is slothing, it's working.
Camille White-Stern:Another activation that I saw that I really liked and pulled me in was ObservePoint's hat screen printing activation that they had at their booth. You got to pick the style hat that you wanted and they had a few different options for things that you could have printed on your hat. It was quick, efficient, didn't generate a super long line, but it's a piece of swag that I would actually wear. So, again, I think the best giveaways that you can have when it comes to swag at a conference is something that is going to be useful and or get people talking. If it's not going to do one or both of those things, you're probably wasting your money, because people will take the swag whether they're interested in it for real or not, and then they're likely to leave it in their hotel room. I will not say who I did this to, but I did feel bad for some other booths. I did take their swag and I did leave it in the hotel room ultimately. So shout out to ObservePoint Love the hat activation.
Camille White-Stern:Another one that I really loved, just because it was really fun and creative, was Chex Whac-a-Bot. Not only was it an innovative way to get people engaged because it was a fun game, but it was for sure on brand for them and their solution and their product and what they do for their customers. So I believe that this was Joanna Li's idea. So, Joanna, kudos to you. I loved the Whac-A-Bot. And then, finally, this was something really interesting PWC incorporated a social giveback element to their booth activation, which it's becoming more and more trendy to do this, but I think it's okay to hop on a trend when you're actually doing something positive in the world, right. So they had a spin the wheel activation that ultimately you pick a ball or something and you get to decide which charity you're going to donate to on behalf of PWC. So again, it was out of the box, it was creative and people love to feel like they're having a positive impact in the world. So anytime you can incorporate a cause for good or some social give back aspect to your event or your activation, I think it's a win-win. So I loved that.
Camille White-Stern:Okay, now let's talk about some of the out of the box wraparound event ideas. Going back to my first question booth or no booth? If you don't have the budget for a booth, fret not, you can still have a massive impact and create a lot of buzz during a conference. I think that shameless plug. I think Splash did that.
Camille White-Stern:We hosted a private event at the Sphere, which was so cool. Not only is it a new venue, so that was definitely a draw for people, but it was something that they are likely to not be able to experience elsewhere, or on their own dime, potentially. So we rented out a private suite. We had a waitlist going. We had so much interest for it. We had a full suite at the end of the day and we got to enjoy Darren Aronofsky's film Postcards from Earth, which was super cool. We had food. We had food, we had drinks in the suite and it was just a really fun time. People stayed all the way to the end, which you know, a lot of times with these wraparound events, that's not always a guarantee. So shout out to Haley and Chelly on my team for planning such an exceptional experience pun intended and that was really fun to get to host.
Camille White-Stern:Similarly, I think Sendoso crushed it with their real retreat, which they hosted in the Venetian Canyon Spa. It featured puppies, massages, yummy treats and so much more, and I mean, who can argue with getting a massage when you're on site at a conference, you're walking around, you maybe got a heavy bag with you. Sometimes the thing you want most is just to stop and get some pampering, get some self-care, and so I thought that that was such a creative way for them to have a presence without necessarily having to invest so much in a booth. So shout out to Sendoso for that. To invest so much in a booth so shout out to Sendoso for that.
Camille White-Stern:Now, let's talk beyond the events and activations. The reason why you're going to invest in a third party event is because you're trying to probably generate pipeline for your revenue team right, and so there are some interesting things that I saw happening and some things that we did ourselves as our team to make that a reality. First, I would say, tag teaming on a ground strategy with a strategic partner. So we hosted our wraparound event with one of our partners, Vendelux. But beyond hosting a wraparound event with them, we also partnered up for our boots on the ground strategy and anytime we were able to make a warm intro to one of our contacts to Vendelux, or vice versa, it was really successful and went a long way.
Camille White-Stern:Know it can sometimes just be a little awkward to go up to someone or go up to a booth and try and spark up an interesting conversation out of the blue, especially when they are running the booth and they are busy trying to engage with their own prospects and customers. So having someone to provide that warm intro and facilitate that connection was a pro tip I will absolutely be trying to replicate in the future. In addition to that, my notes on kind of like interesting conversations that happened and how we were able to make those conversations happen. We did. I know everyone is a little hesitant sometimes to invest in some sort of like handout, postcard style handout or pamphlet. We did do that and I would say it was very successful for us. So on one side of the postcard we had just a free piece of content, a valuable resource that had a QR code. You scan the QR code and it took you to a free event ROI calculator that anyone can download and start using today. And on the other side of that, we had another QR code that allowed us to book demos live on the spot, which, if you know anything about the value of a conference and trade show strategy, the name of the game is not only logging and getting those meaningful conversations, those meetings on site, but you want to get a follow-up meeting right. Especially when you work in the SaaS space, you want to get a demo booked. So having something that we could hand out, have folks easily scan and book that meeting, book that demo in real time worked wonderfully for us. In real time worked wonderfully for us. Another interesting observation was we weren't only using it as an opportunity to get a demo booked.
Camille White-Stern:I was on site with my team, obviously, and I used my conversations to also generate partner plays right and get those activated. So I was not only talking about like, hey, how's the booth going, what's your event strategy? Like this year, I would ask people to interesting questions like, well, what's your next conference, what's your next trade show? And if it aligned with my strategy. I was kind of planting seeds and or kind of laying a foundation to then follow up with those people and generate partner discussions. So, hey, can we partner on a wraparound event together? Or do you want to do x, y or z together and join what we're doing at the next conference or trade show, where there's overlap, especially with your ICP? So, just thinking outside of the box, in terms of what the value of the conversation is, yes, you're trying to generate pipeline for your sales team, most likely, but you can also be thinking about what you can learn from these people to inform your future marketing strategy and or how it can inform your partner marketing strategy. Okay, here are my final thoughts, because I'm going to wrap it up and keep it short and sweet for today.
Camille White-Stern:Don't forget being on site, being out in the world connecting with your prospects and customers. It's an opportunity to capture content. You don't have to invest in a full-on production team. One of my onsite team members used her iPhone. She shot b-roll the whole time and then we were able to edit that b-roll into a really fun, crisp recap video that we posted on our socials after. So shout out to Danielle for being our content capture for the week and then, speaking of your onsite team and taking advantage of the people on your team who are on the ground with you, don't forget that this is a really wonderful opportunity to bond as a team, especially when you're part of a remote workforce, right? So bake in time for things like a quick team huddle or team lunch, team dinners. Those go a long way in not only making sure you're successful on site during the week, during the conference, but you're building relationships with people that you might not see in person every day, and that's also going to go a long way for future team success. To go a long way for future team success.
Camille White-Stern:My final things to think about tips, observations, especially for a market or a city like Las Vegas, where Adobe Summit was hosted, if you're planning any wraparound or ancillary events or activations, try to keep them as close to the conference venue as you can. It is definitely much harder to get someone to show up to a venue that is even a five or 10 minute drive away than it is to get them to do a five minute walk within the same casino or resort, and with that in mind, I would also say plan ahead, because sometimes the venue holds. Those options that you have within the near vicinity of where the conference is happening, get booked up way far in advance. So if you are thinking about being a little bit more scrappy with your budget, a little bit more strategic with your conference and trade show strategy and planning a wraparound or ancillary event instead of or in addition to your booth activation event instead of or in addition to your booth activation, definitely put that hold, get that deposit down on the best venue that is closest to the conference venue as possible, and you will be setting yourself up for success in terms of not only driving registration but getting people to actually show up, which we know is one of the keys of driving event ROI. All right, friends, I rambled a lot, but hopefully you got some fun nuggets and takeaways Again. These are my observations and thoughts on the Adobe Summit. Our team had a great time. We hit 122% of our meetings goal team. We were able to hit our OpGen goal and we're about 30 days post-conference and we're starting to see that come through in terms of pipeline generated and I'm really confident that we'll be able to close, wind a lot of that pipeline and be able to mark this as a super successful and worthwhile investment on our part.
Camille White-Stern:If you have any questions about what I covered today in this episode, or anything that I didn't cover, you can always reach out to me. I am an open book. Anyone who knows me knows I love to share. I love to collaborate, co-create, brainstorm with other marketers. You can find me on LinkedIn Search for my name, Camille White-Stern, or you can always email us through the podcast, and you can email us at podcast@ splashthat. com.
Camille White-Stern:If you enjoyed this episode, go ahead and like it. Give us a rating, tell a friend to tell a friend. Share this with your marketing team if you're thinking about how to stand out at your next conference or trade show or how to think about your third party event strategy in general. And until next time, take care. All right, folks. That's it for today. If you enjoyed today's episode or are a fan of the podcast in general, please let us know. Support this show by subscribing on your preferred podcast platform and, while you're at it, leave us a rating. We so appreciate feedback we receive about the show. So if you ever want to get in touch, you can email us at podcast at splash thatcom or, better yet, join our Slack community where you can message me directly. Last but certainly not least, if you're a marketer using events to help your business grow and want to learn how Splash's platform can take your events to the next level, like we have for MongoDB, UCLA, Okta, Zendesk or even Sweetgreen, visit our website at www. splashthat. com. Until next time, take care.