Ask Splash Anything: How Do I Maximize My Event Budget?

In this episode of Checked In, Haley Kaplan and Chelsea Hill from Splash's experiential marketing team launch the first installment of Ask Splash Anything, an advice series for event marketers.

To kick off our new series, we polled our audience on the top questions they wanted us to answer.

Here's what they asked:

• How do you maximize event budget?
• How do you make a big impact and get results with a limited budget?
• What are some creative events and activations to do with a lean budget?
• How do you map the user experience from your event page to your actual event?
• What's the best way to prep and plan for an event with a small team?
• How do you engage and motivate your sellers and/or revenue team around your events?
• What's the best way find event locations and manage communications?

Tune in to hear Haley and Chelsea answer each of these questions with real life examples and practical strategies you can start using immediately.

Have a question for a future Ask Splash Anything episode? Send it to us at podcast@splashthat.com.
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If you enjoyed today's episode, let us know. Support our show by subscribing and leaving us a rating. If you want to get in touch with our team or be a guest on our show, email us at podcast@splashthat.com. We'd love to hear from you.

Learn more about Splash: https://www.splashthat.com

Connect with Haley: https://www.linkedin.com/in/haleykaplan

Connect with Chelsea: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chelsea-hill13

Follow Splash on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/splashthat-com

Transcript

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Camille Arnold 0:01

This is Checked In with Splash .

Haley Kaplan 0:05

Hi everyone , welcome back to another episode of Checked In . If my voice doesn't sound familiar or if this is your first time tuning in , hi there , my name is Haley Kaplan , and joining me today is Chelsea Hill . You might also hear me call her Chelly , very common , and I will probably only refer to her as Chelly during this call . So if you hear that , that is who she is . But we are on the experiential team here at Splash , so this means that we help plan and execute our full event strategy , from thought leadership webinars to strategy sessions to in-person events like our Magic Spark Dinner series , to our third party event presence at conferences and trade shows . So we kind of wear many hats here , especially as they relate to events here at Splash , and we're excited to chat with y'all today .

Chelsea Hill 0:47

We wear so many hats , these hats included , that we're wearing right now , and I am so excited to be here with you , haley . As Haley said , I am Chelsea aka Chelly . If you meet me out in the wild , I will respond happily to both , please . They're interchangeable . A little context on why we're here today At our last webinar , we asked our audience to share a list of the top questions and topics they wanted us to cover in an Ask Us Anything style episode . So today that's what we're doing . We are diving into all of your burning questions . Think of this episode as a marketing version of Dear Abby . It's our very own advice column for all our fellow event pros out there . Okay , so let's kick things off with a couple of questions related to everyone's favorite topic of budget . Haley Budgets yes , budget Ball game it's a Home run , no , how ?

Haley Kaplan 1:39

to get a home run . How ?

Chelsea Hill 1:40

to get a home run out of your budget Out of your event's budget . Yeah , so to start kind of like a bigger picture , the people want to know how to maximize your event budget .

Haley Kaplan 1:53

What a question out of the gate swinging , Am I right ? So yeah , so there are lots of ways . I love this question because there are so many ways that you can maximize your event budget and I feel like the past couple of years everyone's heard the do more with less . So I feel like the best way to kind of approach this question or to give advice for this question is to kind of chat through it in three parts . Part one is kind of like deciding what events you should do , throw , attend , sponsor , etc . In your event mix . Then part two , kind of like how do you make a big impact with those specific events ? And then part three is how do you get creative with those events .

Haley Kaplan 2:34

That's the kind of way I think our team always approaches our events budget . Everyone's kind of getting into 2025 planning , so you're given like , okay , you have 150,000 for the whole year for your events budget . So kind of thinking it through in these three parts is how our team approaches . So I feel like kind of maybe part one is talking through deciding what events you should throw , do , et cetera , to maximize that budget . And what do we talk about so frequently , Anjali ? And what do we talk about so frequently Anjali . What's like our way to approach that Is ?

Chelsea Hill 3:08

it event-led growth . It's like might be event-led growth that sounds so familiar . It might be something we've mentioned here or there in the past and just like a little background again , when we say event-led growth , we just mean using events to grow your pipeline .

Haley Kaplan 3:25

Yeah , and strategically placing them throughout the buyer's journey , and that's kind of your ticket to maximizing budget . So when you think about what events you should throw , think about the full funnel and what are you trying to accomplish at each stage in the buyer's journey ? To accomplish at each stage in the buyer's journey and how do your events fit into those specific goals in a very impactful and cost-effective way ? So kind of thinking at diversifying your events portfolio . Obviously you'll have like owned events . Those could be webinars , they could be dinners . The ones that are a little more tricky of maximizing your budget are the bigger investments when it comes to your events . So those are your sponsoring trade shows , hosting a roadshow , things like that sort , because I mean some conferences . Your whole event budget could be like swooped up in one to just sponsor a booth , which is crazy and definitely not a way to maximize your events budget . So you want to make sure you've got a variety of events in there . And when it comes to for those bigger conferences because they are a very important part of the event mix , you want to make sure , when you're thinking about those ones picking trade shows or conferences , that your ICP is like front and center . So the investment you make in that in-person event is going to maximize the most return . So kind of like for us .

Haley Kaplan 4:51

We for a while used a tool called Vendolux which was really really helpful in identifying conferences and trade shows that capitalize on who your target audience is . And at Splash , chelly and I have the really fun job of targeting field and event marketers . You , listeners , are our ICP and the tricky part about our ICP is you're at every conference because you're the one activating at the conference and the trade show . But how we've approached what would maximize our budget and our investment would be the ones where it really is targeting you . So your inbounds , your foresters , your events where marketers show up not only activating but also attending .

Haley Kaplan 5:34

So the tricky part sometimes with conferences and trade shows is the sponsoring of it is a big investment and you don't want to just do that . So one of the best ways to maximize it is thinking what can you do outside of the conference and who could you potentially maybe partner with or grab other buckets to maybe try and minimize those costs for you ? So I think that kind of brings us to part two is kind of how , chelly , how are you thinking about making a big splash with a small budget or a small footprint at one of those events , and how are you approaching the making big impact at events ?

Chelsea Hill 6:14

Love the pun . Thank you for that .

Haley Kaplan 6:17

Oh my God , yeah , pun intended , pun not intended , absolutely intended .

Chelsea Hill 6:20

All puns are intended . Oh my God Missed the drums on that one . Yeah , just all puns are intended . Oh my God , miss the drums on that one . Yeah , just all puns are intended in this episode . I will just tag onto your beautiful , well said points are just to like totally zoom out for any super , super new crew . If you don't have an ICP set , maybe do that first .

Chelsea Hill 6:41

Step one Very important we know who we're reaching out to . We are marketers , marketing to marketers , so I think figuring that out is paramount to knowing where to put your focus so you don't waste time , because there's one thing we know in events is you want every minute you can get yeah , that's more true Always excited to talk about more bang for your buck . Here we are huge fans of the wraparound events . You might also hear them as ancillary or fringe events , but these are things that we're really big believers in , at Splash in particular , because you can really like curate these experiences to again the people that you really want to be there . So , yes , you're going to be on the ground , maybe boots on the ground on the conference floor and talking to everyone and anyone , which is such an awesome experience in itself , but then to be able to complement that with a smaller , curated , delightful group of like-minded humans .

Chelsea Hill 7:41

For us in particular , again , that's like-minded marketers . For us in particular , again , that's like-minded marketers who are kind of understand each other's problems . That adds so much value to us without really having to pay the big bucks of having a booth at a conference . I'd say I don't know . Do you feel like we've touched on everything there ? What else do you think , haley ? I feel like that's great .

Haley Kaplan 8:05

I kind of alluded to it earlier , but if you're doing wraparound events , a great way to make a big splash at these big events is to tap into the partner ecosystem . So there's a lot of companies that come in and sponsor these conferences or big events , trying to identify partners that have similar interests whether they're similar , a tangential company to what you do and going in with them on an ancillary or fringe event not only cuts costs for you but it expands your reach of who you're trying to attract and get to attend your event during those bigger conferences . Attract and get to attend your event during those bigger conferences . So , for example , this year at Inbound , Chelly is our boots on the ground experiential representative , which she's going to crush it at , but we're partnering with Sendoso and Mobley on our dinner there to not only cut costs for each of us for our presence , but also to expand our reach of audience , since we have similar target personas . We're all reaching out to marketers .

Chelsea Hill 9:11

We're trying to get marketers in our world in their world , and I'm so excited to see how it plays out because it's been so positively well-received up to this point 100% , and I feel like when we say expand your reach , it's not just about expanding your leads or contact reach , it's also your brand . Reach , your brand is now on three different companies . Using this example , three different companies , promos and LinkedIn posts , and someone who maybe has never heard of one Now here's the other one . So I think that's just so cool and when you find the people that are really fun to work with , like we have , then it's just like an added bonus that you now have like a great new crew and fun people to be on site with and share in the craziness .

Haley Kaplan 10:02

Oh my gosh , totally . And there are like so many tools out there too that help support you identifying partners and identifying overlapping target accounts too . So definitely take advantage of them if this is something that you're looking into expanding on with your program . Yeah , I think those are some really great points on how to make a bigger splash with a smaller budget . Chelly , I would love for you to take this next part , kind of kick us off with it with . Not only are you having to figure out what events you're going to , how you kind of maximize your footprint at that event or make the most of the budget for that event , but what are some creative ways that you are approaching these events ? Everyone can host a dinner on the side , but what are some creative things and activations that you can do if you even do have a tighter budget to play ?

Chelsea Hill 10:59

with . I know this is such a relatable one . I feel like we really feel this one .

Haley Kaplan 11:04

Oh my gosh yeah .

Chelsea Hill 11:05

Most of us probably do those that have a really unlimited budget . We are envious and please tell us everything about it and let's talk so we can like partake in your dreams . But that said , and all jokes aside , it's a tough order but it's totally possible and I think it's just one if you're lucky enough to have a creative team to bounce ideas off of . I know that's like always always such a beneficial part of like our work process . Haley and I are constantly ebbing and flowing in and out of silly and serious conversations and ideas and it's really kind of like where the magic lies . And as far as like personal workflow goes . But answer your question , actually and I dare I quote Dave Matthews it's not where you are , but who you're with .

Chelsea Hill 11:57

That really matters , and I say that not to be like so crazy cheesy but , you know like you're getting the people together that you want to be together and you know , have sort of the same general concerns and views and topics of conversation . I think one that's like automatically going to be more engaging for everyone . So , instead of just putting things out into the wind and saying yes to everyone that wants to attend and trying to figure out how to engage all of these different kind of styles of humans and what they might be most interested in , already starting with like a smaller group of like targeted people , like I feel like like step one , dial it down a little bit . Let's get in there , let's get some like-minded people so we can then focus on the content and focus on , like what that group might enjoy . How we do this a lot is is using the apply to attend model . So instead of just like RSVP to attend , it's you apply to attend . That way we can sort of make sure that everyone that's there is going to get value Maximum value is always key and also , like that helps cut down on cost automatically , because you don't have to feed a hundred people or provide beverages for a hundred people or provide swag for a hundred people . You're just providing it for , you know , 20 or 30 maybe . So we're automatically cutting on costs down there just with that model in place . And then we love a good swag , of course , if you can swing it and get something fun and unique to your brand , like Pendo's Dinosaur that they always give out . We love a pink dino , but if that's not in the cards for you , we totally get that too .

Chelsea Hill 13:44

And I think , adding in a fun interactive game . Big fans of trivia over here . We'll be working that into an upcoming dinner actually . So stay tuned , we'll let you know how it goes . A little friendly competition , a little team bonding . We are also big fans of adding in a coot to some of our events . If you haven't heard of that game before , it's super fun , interactive , really like a great conversation starter and highly recommend mixing in some fun questions along with like topical questions to like really get the conversation going . I just feel like there's so much that we can talk about on this not to sidetrack us too much , but I am totally going to put you on the spot and please share your potential Halloween costume .

Haley Kaplan 14:27

Oh boy , I told you that in confidence , okay . So for context , I live near a mini golf course and I walk by it every single day when I go on my morning walks or afternoon walks , and it is like mystical fairyland themed , and there are little garden gnomes that exist outside of the cute little houses and I was like wouldn't it be fun if I also dressed as a garden gnome and took a photo shoot at the Magic Castle ? So that is my potential Halloween costume this year . If you have Halloween costumes that you're doing , please email us , let us know . We'd love to talk about them . Now I have to put you on the spot , chelly . Sorry , we sidetracked . We're here . We love themes too . Creative events play on holidays , huge , huge fan in unconventional ways or conventional ways . But , chelly , now you have to share your Halloween costume . It works both ways .

Chelsea Hill 15:23

This is so sad . I don't even have one . I don't , I have no idea . I always want to do something with my pup Kaya . She freezes , if you even like . Think about putting a coat on her . So I don't think she'd do well in a costume , but I'm always envious of like . I live in New York and so at Tompkins , where there's always a dog parade for Halloween .

Chelsea Hill 15:45

So , like there's just dog costumes out the wazoo on Saturday a month in October , and they are phenomenal and it's always my , my life goal . But it's not happening this year , that's for sure , because this little girl over here , she wouldn't be caught dead , got it . So I'll have to report back .

Haley Kaplan 16:06

You'll have to report back . You'll have to report back . Yeah , if anyone else is dressing up their dogs , let us know . If they're able to put a costume on their pup , send it through , let us know . We love the animals . That could be like a fun something to play on an activation at a conference or trade show , like giving out something for your dog , if you were going to do some kind of swag . People love bringing stuff home for their pets or their kids , so if you were like wanting to hand something out your booth that wasn't like a pen or a water bottle , like things that are pretty standard , tap into like something for your animals at home . People love that swag and then it just lives at your house with your branding just all over it .

Chelsea Hill 16:54

Animals , babies , something that someone will actually use and appreciate is so nice . And also on the point of pets , I know we've all probably experienced the best activation of all time , which is when you get to play with puppies , which , if you're working with an adoption agency , it's usually like super affordable and it's just that whole . Anything that they ask for really just goes to cover travel and care for the dogs during that time , or cats . So like , just on that note , that's like a super fun idea If have the space and like you're able to find a great rescue or adoption center to work with . We love , we love the pups over here . The pups , so many pups , so many pups . Haley , I would love to get into a little bit of the meat and potatoes of the event itself event planning . Let's do it before we do that , because I'm just going to like keep throwing curve balls at you if we're going to stick to the baseball theme .

Haley Kaplan 17:48

Oh , my God , wow , this sporting has really made its way from from beginning to middle here . I'm obsessed .

Chelsea Hill 17:55

Amazing . We're really going with the theme I I need to know , in the vein of meat and potatoes , what is the prime potato form .

Haley Kaplan 18:04

Oh god , chelly . No , you can't ask that question , and I mean think of an answer on the spot . I feel like this is one of the hardest questions .

Chelsea Hill 18:13

I ask that like fully not being able to answer it myself .

Haley Kaplan 18:15

So I know I'm like I hope any curveball you throw at me it comes right back , right back at you . Just buying myself some time right now . This is harder than answering these event questions . Actually , let's say our answer on the count of three Okay , okay . Okay , now I have to think of my answer . Okay , join in with us if you're listening . Okay , three , two , one Shoe string . Okay , like really , really thin , no like bistro size .

Chelsea Hill 18:48

Like bistro size , yeah , but mashed potatoes it was between that and that . So if you joined in and said either of those , congratulations , congratulations .

Haley Kaplan 19:00

There's no wrong answer here . All are welcome . Potato is just gnocchi , baked hashed , taught a dumpling a pierogi . Aren't those potatoes too ? I'm pretty sure .

Chelsea Hill 19:12

Yes , I love it . We have gone so far off track . I'm so sorry to our dear listeners because hopefully you've enjoyed us going off track . Let's talk about what we're here to talk about , which is event planning . So , haley , I would love to just get your thoughts here . Someone asked how to map the user experience from your event page website to at the conference . So what I'm sort of feeling from this question is like how do you make sure the user experience from online to assuming this is an in-person event to an in-person event is cohesive ?

Haley Kaplan 19:45

Yeah , some might say that's a very tall order Not talking about coffee , tall from Starbucks . Sign me up for a pumpkin cold foam Okay , pumpkin cold foam . Or an espresso . We're too late because we're event planners . Okay , sorry , we're going back .

Haley Kaplan 20:03

Some might think of this like as a very tall order , but the key to a smooth , in my opinion , to a smooth user experience from any web page talking about it to the actual event , especially for IRL , is just that brand cohesion and transparent communications , discussion with like-minded marketers where we're going to dive into key challenges and topics . Make sure that's what you're delivering when you are showing up at your event , so that your attendees just feel like they came in with these perceptions based on your messaging , and that's what you're delivering on . Some things that we do at Splash to make sure that our cohesion and our brand cohesion from start to finish , is that we really , really try our best to give them points of personal interaction . So a lot of our events , especially in-person ones , since we really try to curate who's in the room are that apply to attend model that Chelsea talked about earlier . They hop on our event page , they see what it's about , they read it , they apply to attend and then they'll get an email if they're confirmed . And once they're confirmed , we'll actually send a message via LinkedIn to be like hey , so excited you're able to join us . We just sent you the link for the calendar attachment . Make sure you add it to your calendar .

Haley Kaplan 21:34

And then we just give them a face to the event of like hey , we're so excited you're coming , make sure you add it to your calendar . Let me know if you have any questions . So from the jump of them being approved , they already have this like oh wow , one I feel welcome , one I feel excited to attend , and I have an avenue of like who I could go to if I have questions about this event . Now , I understand that doing this at scale can be a little tricky . So if you have a field team who's running their own dinners or their own programs , pass off some of that ownership to other stakeholders in your org , give them messaging to kind of follow through , and then what makes it so nice is when they actually do show up to the event . They've already kind of had like a oh , I know who's coming , I kind of know what to expect , and I just think that makes the experience really really wonderful for a user . Just put yourself in the shoes of someone who's attending , and what would you want from event page to actual event ?

Chelsea Hill 22:37

1,000% . Yes , Is that how you feel , too Chelly ? It's exactly how I feel . I really and I feel like we say this a lot is it's much easier to cancel on an email than it is to cancel on a person . So the more interaction you're able to have before the event even starts you just become more of an actual human behind the screen versus just writing on a screen so the more you can do that especially , like you said , like with smaller field events or sales led events really empower the team to be able to be like who's actually going to be there on site and not just someone pulling the strings from behind the scenes . So it's like just well said Haley so important to make everyone feel like they're wanted there . Because they are , they are Everyone's wanted there .

Haley Kaplan 23:31

I love that . Yes , all right . So kind of moving from the cohesion between , I think a lot of what comes with events is cohesion internally when your team , whoever , is showing up to your events to execute it . So , chelly , I'm going to throw this next question your way . What would you say ? Or some advice for event prep with a small team for the most effective outcome for your events ?

Chelsea Hill 23:59

I love this question because , again , we can like really speak from experience on this one . We are a small but mighty team over here and that's really exciting because you can really get buy-in from the whole crew . Not just that you can't do that at a large scale either , like you totally can , but I think getting that buy-in from the larger team early is key . Once you get the bones of your event in place , post a kickoff call with the full team that will be on site and you might not even have everything ready to go . You might just have , like I said , bare bones of like what you're thinking and thought process . But getting the whole team together on that call pretty early on really like hopefully gets everyone excited but also like puts into their mind that they're really part of this too , like this doesn't just fall on the events team or the marketing team . This is really a group effort and a beneficial for the entire group . I just feel like if you , if the , if the whole team feels like they're part of the process and there's like , then it's also feels like everyone's then more responsible for the outcome , which is like such a nice collective feeling , which is like also , like I said , outcome is important for the follow-up and transparently , that's always a trickier subject which we can talk about perhaps at another time . But open communication and like asking for opinions , like don't be shy to ask for opinions from your sales team , like what would help you more ? Would you rather do it this way ? What do you think ? How's this message ? They're interacting with prospects just as much face-to-face and really can report back on how everyone's feeling from their conversation .

Chelsea Hill 25:43

So I think that's super important and just think like sales and marketing cohesion , like one team , one dream , is a much happier experience for everyone . So I know Haley knows this , but for those that I don't know yet , my background is in hospitality , so I spent a lot of time in the restaurant scene , specifically in New York , and places that I worked that always had a cohesive front of house and back of house were always such a delightful experience and that's sort of how I , just sort of how I picture the sales and marketing team . When they get along , there's really like no stopping . Everything is smooth , sailing , service is smooth , you know , life is smooth . So the confusion is just necessary and getting by and getting opinions , getting everyone excited on the same page . I think if you start there , getting everyone excited on the same page .

Haley Kaplan 26:33

I think if you start there , there's nowhere else you can go but up , oh my gosh . Could not agree more . I think it's been such a game changer at Splash , specifically because we've kind of opened the doors , we'll get everyone prepped . But then we always ask for feedback and especially when it comes to comms . Sometimes we're like , hey , what is your best practice here ? Would you think we should do it this way ? Should we do it that way ? So I think , just like setting the standard and then asking for iterations on what we're doing to only make it better is like such a power move honestly , we don't know everything Like we don't know everything .

Haley Kaplan 27:08

We're very humble in the fact that we don't know everything , but thank you for coming to our AMA today because we're experts in some things . But there's always room for growth and learning and every time we do any kind of event we always have . I know we're talking about event prep , but we always do a post-con with the team and ask what we could do better for the next prep session and there's always just such great feedback . So , yeah , keep that line line of communication going . But to think even more on working cross collaboratively cause that's a huge , huge part of your event prep , especially when you're traveling on site for a trade show or conference . We got a lot of questions that asked us how do we engage or motivate our sellers and or revenue team that's on the ground to be excited about your events and just get them Obviously we touched on them being a part of it to get that buy-in , but how do you kind of keep them engaged and motivated throughout the course of an event ? Chelly , you want to kick off your answer for this one .

Chelsea Hill 28:24

Let me kick it off . Last month , in August , someone gave a really very cool answer that I hadn't necessarily heard of before , where they organize their teams into squads , so each squad is led by a senior field marketer and that senior field marketer supports a specific group . Words are hard , words are hard . We're recording this on a Friday , everyone , so thank you for bearing with us . Words are happening , but they're hard .

Chelsea Hill 28:53

Each of these field marketers has their own specific group of AEs that they work with , and each one specializes in a different area .

Chelsea Hill 29:00

So one team specializes in conferences , one is maybe more of a custom scenario , one is maybe more geared toward a specific event , like a sporting event or something along those lines , and really kind of stick to those lanes .

Chelsea Hill 29:12

So when a buyer is like on their journey , a prospect on their buying journey , they can be sort of like put into these different buckets and work alongside the different teams as needed to like really get the best experience out of it . But what that means , I feel like , in terms of collaboration , is that , like it's so nice to have this crew that you know well , you know , you know the marketing person on the team knows the accounts of the AEs , they know the status of those accounts and the sales crew , the AEs can really like , really know what to expect from their marketing person on their crew and know who to go to exactly for whatever they need to have a question for how this person communicates . That style , the styles just start meshing and I thought that was really cool , just a super tight teamwork , but also the different groups weave a little bit , which is I don't know . That just really stuck with me and I really liked it , but I feel like you definitely also have something to add into here , for sure , haley .

Haley Kaplan 30:19

Oh my gosh , I remember them saying that on our call during strategy sessions and also made note of it because I think that is so unique and such a cool way to collaborate and get people excited or behind a certain like mission .

Haley Kaplan 30:35

I think something else too , that just kind of like adding onto that is identifying some like event MVPs . You know , like finding those one or two , because everyone has one or two salespeople or CSMs who are just like you post something about an upcoming event and they are on it , they're jazzed , they're so excited because they kind of understand the value . Just they have that in their repertoire of what they think is really impactful for them driving results . So identify those MVPs and tap into them to be your event advocates . So those are the ones who are going to be your cheerleaders on that rev side and make it both ways . You're doing it and make it both ways Like you're doing it , like if there's a lead that comes in that they drove , they get like credit where credit is due and just kind of tap into your MVPs to engage and motivate more of their team around it .

Chelsea Hill 31:40

And I hope that everyone is lucky to have MVPs to work with like we do . It's such a treat . It's really like a game changer . I totally agree and I did also want to ask . Someone asked and I feel like you can kick us off here because I just feel like it makes sense to me . They want to know how to find locations for an event and manage the communication aspect of that .

Haley Kaplan 32:06

What a fun question that has been top of mind for so many people for the past four years , since the pandemic started , of where are our people ? Where do we host an event ? How do we do it when everyone is so dispersed ? And I mean , we get it . Splash is a remote first company , so we understand that we're like where are our people ? Even like where can we even get a team dinner together or or things like that ?

Haley Kaplan 32:35

So we actually we've run into this not problem , but this kind of question lately when we're we're hosting a roadshow called Splash in the City and we did our first one in New York because we have an office in New York and we were like just to pilot it , let's do it in our home city . But it was so successful and we want to take it on the road . But we don't really know where Event marketers are kind of spread out . So kind of what we did is we asked people what we wanted . We said , hey , we're hitting the road , let us know where you are and we'll let you know if we're coming to your city . So that really opened the door for us to kind of ask our audience where they're living and where they're at . That's like one idea of what you can do .

Haley Kaplan 33:24

Yeah , so that would be my advice of something we've done recently that I think works , or I'm excited to see how it works and plays out . It's kind of fun hearing who and where they want us to , who wants us to show up and where they want us to show up . It's kind of been a neat little experiment , but I'm sure you have some advice too , shelley . So how ? How would you advise our listeners to find locations for their event ?

Chelsea Hill 33:51

Yes , quickly . It has been a really fun experiment and a fun experience . We got so much feedback that , honestly , it was kind of surprising how much feedback we got from an email blast Our crew to tell us where we should go , which is so fun , and , like Haley said , we're very excited to figure out where we're going to be . So stay tuned . But in a more general , non-splash related way of maybe thinking about it is also but also feel free to do that if you'd like . It's fun , it's just , like you know , really pinpoint your audience . So , more generally , you know , maybe go through and identify your top target cities , maybe , like I don't know , 15 to 20 of them to start at least guiding your location choices , because you definitely need a location first , right . So then create a tiered list from there , maybe five or six cities that you're confident in , and then put them into tiers , maybe like things to test down the road . So , once you've selected one of those that you're pretty confident in , I think , collaborate with sales again to focus on neighborhoods or areas or where your customers or prospects are concentrated and , like Lily said , because we are in kind of more of a remote landscape now , really consider where people actually live and work . It might not always be exactly what you're expecting , and that's okay and that's kind of fun .

Chelsea Hill 35:11

So you know , definitely like think about prioritizing accessibility . Is it easy to get to ? Maybe you offer a ride share voucher like Uber or Lyft , or just to make it super easy and convenient for someone to get to if they're a little further out . And then , like , definitely don't be shy to embrace the local culture , to make your event feel special . Lean into unique things that your city has to offer . I think that's always appreciated when you don't try and bring I wouldn't want to bring New York to Dayton , ohio . I say that because where we live , Maybe , we could have New York out here in .

Chelsea Hill 35:49

Dayton , maybe actually bring the gnomes to New York .

Haley Kaplan 35:54

I will bring the gnomes to New York and you can bring the bagels and all the bagels to Dayton . I miss the New York bagels .

Chelsea Hill 36:05

Moral of this story is maybe do bring some of your own flavor , but also embrace the like local offerings , Because if I'm in Philly I want a cheesesteak .

Haley Kaplan 36:19

Sometimes it's also fun being like a tourist in your own city , because a lot of times , like you don't do a lot of the like big ticket items in your local city . Because a lot of times you don't do a lot of the big ticket items in your local city and when an event does it , you're like oh , I would never necessarily think about doing this , but it's so fun and I've always wanted to try this . Or a hot restaurant that's hard to get into . Those are really great ways to embrace the local items or things that cities have to offer .

Chelsea Hill 36:49

You can get me anywhere . If you invite me to somewhere that has a hard-to-get reservation , consider me an RSEPS .

Haley Kaplan 36:55

Shelly is also a foodie , so she will be down to eat anything .

Chelsea Hill 36:59

Even if it's not a hard-to-get .

Haley Kaplan 37:00

Also , she doesn't know in New York . So if anyone's in New York , connect with Shelly on LinkedIn and ask for her restaurant recs let's go eat something , let's do something .

Chelsea Hill 37:09

Oh my God , I love that . Oh my gosh , okay , I tracked us enough .

Haley Kaplan 37:12

Thank you , we love track tracks . Thanks for going on many journeys with us folks .

Chelsea Hill 37:18

But in the vein of leaning into the culture , I don't know .

Haley Kaplan 37:34

How do you feel like location-wise ? How do you work that into the messaging for something like this ? Oh my God , how fun with your messaging . There's like , obviously , a balance that you need to have when it comes to like promoting your events and like promoting your presence somewhere , but I think it's also're talking to humans . It's humans talking to humans , no matter where you are , who you're marketing to , you're marketing to a human , so make your messaging fun . Some of our favorite things to do is leaning into some local jargon where it's appropriate , and obviously it is PC and not in any offensive ways . Don't do that . I'm not putting that out there .

Chelsea Hill 38:08

We don't support it . We don't support it .

Haley Kaplan 38:10

We don't support it Fun message .

Haley Kaplan 38:11

Fun message , Fun messaging , Local jargon where appropriate . So if you're headed to the South , I use y'all on a very regular basis but that's such a fun thing to lean into or like kick up your boots . Like just messaging can be fun and it gets people really excited about your event and kind of sets the tone and the vibe . But kind of on topic of communications , because that also was like a tangential piece of the finding location and then like managing comms there there are a couple of different buckets for communications Start early and make sure you get some save the dates out there or teasers .

Haley Kaplan 38:51

People are very , I would say , more particular with their time . They might not accept it . It's a trend that like people aren't RSVPing to events until like two weeks before . But if you put it in front of them and on their radar they might make note of it and there's no harm in starting promotion early for something . But I would expect you're not going to get majority of your RSVPs until two weeks before your event . So just like , yes , it sucks to plan that way . That's just kind of the nature of how I've seen things play out . We've seen things play out . The industry has seen things play out . We've seen things play out , the industry has seen things play out . But also make sure you're just like mixing up your channels email , social media , direct outreach for your , your promotion communication and and yeah , yeah .

Chelsea Hill 39:40

Yeah , yeah , like mix it up and also like , if you can get those early messages out and you can be , if you get one person to add it to their calendar from that one invite , like success . You know , if there's one last person that's rsvp-ing up to the date of the event , I feel like that's a total win . So I really support that . So , like I guess I'm going to sum it up , if I may Haley that use the location to enhance the experience . It should really be like a mixed bag , in a good way , of your brand and where you are . They can work hand in hand to create a total bonus experience for someone that's attending and loves their city . Cause that's kind of the point , right , like you want to . You want to like let people celebrate where they are and in their hometown . So we love that .

Haley Kaplan 40:38

We love it . Okay , I don't know how time has already passed as much as it has . I'm like looking at the clock and I'm like we've been talking . We could talk for hours on end , but for the sake of today's AMA , I think we're going to kind of wind things down just a little bit . So we covered the questions that you submitted around budget and around event planning and we're going to end with just like a couple of rapid fire questions for Chelly and I and then tune into a part two where we're going to talk through your engaging attendee questions we received and ROI and extending the value of your events .

Haley Kaplan 41:19

And , yeah , submit . If you have more questions , submit them through any avenue that you can LinkedIn us , dm us on LinkedIn , send us an email . We would love to talk through these questions . So feel free to keep submitting some . But to get to our rapid question before we close off this episode , I will ask you Chelly , and then you want to ask me , and then we'll go back and forth . Okay , dream city to hold an event , as we were just talking about the cities .

Chelsea Hill 41:55

Very topical . If I had no guardrails and like no reasons like throw everything , we just set out the window . If I could just like fully YOLO it , I would do Rome just because I want to eat some pasta . Like if we could have a reason to do that , that would be great and that's my dream .

Haley Kaplan 42:06

We could find we should start we should do that . That would be great and that's my dream . We could find we should start . We should start compiling a list of reasons . Yeah , we have ICPs out there . Let's . There are people who plan events out there for sure . Yeah , Markers live in Rome . Yep , I say let's make it happen , let's do it , let's do it , let's do it . I love that answer .

Chelsea Hill 42:26

Wow , that's amazing . It's great . Okay , haley , what do you splurge on ? Since we're talking about budget , you can do event or personal , or both .

Haley Kaplan 42:38

This is such a tough question because I'm always treating myself . I'm like , oh yes , I deserve this splurge . Okay , well , think event wise , something that I think you absolutely should splurge on when it comes to an event . I'm also currently planning my wedding , so this has come up quite a bit in my life . Um , splurge on your , I want to say , if you're doing something that has music , or actually splurge on your venue . I think that for a lot of businesses today , I think the venue is a very big draw , sometimes more than the entertainment or speaker that might be there . Yeah , I would say , splurge on your venue , splurge on , go somewhere that's going to attract your people and make them not want to say no to your event . On a personal note , I always splurge on self-care .

Chelsea Hill 43:35

Give me a good head massage , foot massage just like send me all the way up , treat me , treat me all the way .

Haley Kaplan 43:44

Okay , chelly , just one more , because it's Friday the 13th and I feel like there's stigma around the state . Is it bad luck to host an event on Friday the 13th ?

Chelsea Hill 43:57

It's like a hard no Hard , no Hard , no Because , well , it's just a no , because well , specifically now , this is no surprise if you've made it this far and you're still enjoying our babble , which we are very much enjoying , by the way . We're in the babble Because it's cozy season . I just feel like we're at spooky season , especially in the fall . It just fits , it feels like good luck , isn't it ironic , that sort of feeling ? And also , taylor Swift likes 13 . We can like 13 too . I like 13 too .

Haley Kaplan 44:31

Yeah , love it . That's phenomenal . I love that . I think play on it too . Play on the unlucky theme .

Chelsea Hill 44:42

Yes , I don't know , you can come up with something fun with there . 100% Use toilet paper . Make a game , Be a mummy . Oh my God .

Haley Kaplan 44:52

Spooky , spooky , I love it . All . Right , chelly , where can our listeners connect with you and learn more about you , your role , your thoughts on our experiential elements , events , all the above ?

Chelsea Hill 45:08

Connect with me on LinkedIn . I would love to chat with anyone those that are in New York . I would love to hang out and just pick your brains . Anytime we have a New York event , I would be happy to invite you . So please connect , reach out and even if it's again just about pasta , I'm here to talk . So let's do it , haley , how about you .

Haley Kaplan 45:28

Same as Shelley , I don't live in New York , but I will invite you to any event that you would like to go to Connect with me on LinkedIn as well . Haley Kaplan , I love talking to anyone who's in our boat , anyone in general , but especially those who are in the boats with us . So , yeah , connect with me on LinkedIn , let's chat , let's talk . I love it , and that's a wrap on this one . Folks , thanks for tuning in to our AMA with the experiential team . Submit more questions , all of the above . Our next episode is going to be focused on your actual event ROI and event engagement and the questions that you've submitted to us for that . So thanks everyone for listening . We are so , so grateful for you and take care .

Camille Arnold 46:20

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 that dot com 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 , visit our website at www . splashthat . com . Until next time , take care .