Great Events

The year is almost at an end, and predictions are as trendy as the trends themselves. And guess what? We’re jumping on the bandwagon. In this episode, we’re going to cover the meetings and event trends we’re excited about for 2023. This year, we’ve learned that event planners expect 83% more events than 2019, health and wellness isn’t going away, and there’s a renewed focus on ROI and sustainabili...

Betsy Pake, (https://www.linkedin.com/in/bpake/) former Cventer and Subconscious Change Expert, is back! A big fan of the New Year, new beginnings, and Monday mornings, she’s a marketer and event professional who loves to reflect on successes and learn from failures. In this part two episode, she joins us for a discussion around uncovering the power of reflection and goal setting. Listen in as she...

We have control over our own thoughts. Betsy Pake (https://www.linkedin.com/in/bpake/), former Cventer and Subconscious Change Expert, believes our subconscious is powerful enough to drive change. Having forged a career as a change expert, she’s known for substantially altering her clients’ lives by shifting the way they think. In this episode, she and Paulina discuss human behavior and how to alt...

DEI is always going to be an important topic, but what’s missing right now is the focus on diverse leadership. This year at Cvent CONNECT Europe, we hosted our first-ever leadership summit. At the summit, we discussed some of those bigger trends in the industry. In one of the panels, we focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion with a sub-conversation centered on women in leadership. This episod...

What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas? Not this time! In this episode, hosts Paulina Giusti and Rachel Andrews are joined by Lisa Messina (https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisasmessina/), Chief Sales Officer at Las Vegas Convention and Visitor's Authority (https://www.lvcva.com/) (LVCVA). Lisa shares what she’s been up to since leaving Ceasar’s Entertainment (https://www.caesars.com/) and gives some in...

We’ve been talking about it for a while, but it’s time for Cvent employees to return to the office. In this episode, you’ll get to hear from all of your Great Events hosts, Alyssa, Rachel, and Paulina, as they discuss their return to the office and the employee engagement events that have kind of surrounded Cvent as a company. Tune in to learn more about the back-to-office trend and how to think a...

There are somewhere around 10,000 technologies in the market that a marketing operations professional has to look at, procure, and understand the value of before making a recommendation to the organization. It’s overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be if you think about it smartly. In this episode, host Alyssa Peltier (https://www.linkedin.com/in/alyssapeltier/) talks with Christine Kelly (https:/...

Accessible technology is really changing the way we create events, especially for those who have disabilities. Not long ago, in-person events were inaccessible to people with certain disabilities. Now, with intention and technology, people are helping change this space for the better. In this episode, Stephen Cutchins, the Senior Product Manager of Accessibility at Cvent, joins hosts Alyssa and Pa...

Dreamforce. The ultimate event everyone wants to attend. For years they’ve set the gold standard of how to put on a great event and tie the Salesforce brand and marketing to make it seamless. In this episode, host Alyssa Peltier is joined by three guests at Cvent, Charlie Friend (https://www.linkedin.com/in/charleswfriend/), Mackenzie Regan, (https://www.linkedin.com/in/mackenzieregan/) and Kevin...

Whether you’re planning a corporate retreat or someone’s dream wedding, when you connect with your client on a personal level, you’re better able to create an unforgettable event. In this episode, we’re joined by Bianca Cruz and Victoria Williams, Co-Founders of Pivot Productions (https://www.apivotproduction.com/). This duo has a background in corporate events but they shifted to the wedding indu...

Next level branding can be used to create a sense of community and even evoke emotions in attendees that stick with them long after they’ve headed home. In this episode, host Alyssa Peltier (https://www.linkedin.com/in/alyssapeltier/) is joined by fellow Cventer Carisa Bartelt (https://www.linkedin.com/in/carisa-bartelt/) to reflect on their recent experiences at INBOUND. Both witnessed how HubSpo...

Marketing operations play a specific role in organizations, and especially events. So what does it take to be a good partner to the team, whether you’re a vendor or a part of the company? In this episode, host Alyssa Peltier is joined by Cvent guest-hosts Emily Dick and Carisa Bartelt. They speak with Darrell Alfonso, the Head of Global Marketing Operations for Amazon Web Services (AWS) and author...

The travel industry took a pretty big hit during the pandemic, but when it comes to events, it forced them to think outside the box and deliver what truly matters. In this episode, host Rachel Andrews is joined by Jess Hayes (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jesshayes/), Senior Director of Digital and Growth Marketing Membership Operations at GBTA (https://www.gbta.org/) (Global Business Travel Associa...

The way people facilitate and execute great events are changing, especially when it comes to technology enhancements and innovation. On this episode, hosts Rachel Andrews, Paulina Giusti, and Alyssa Peltier are joined by Peter Gentile, VP of Sales from OVATION. OVATION is an event production agency focused on creating unique event programming in both the live and virtual settings. Listen in as the...

We’ve all heard the phrase, “It takes two to tango,” but have you ever thought of how it applies to sales and marketing? This year B2BSMX, a show usually attended by marketers, opened attendance to include sales professionals as well and show how the two departments can really work together when it comes to events. In this episode, host Alyssa Peltier is joined by two guests, Brian Ludwig (aka Lud...

The Corporate Event Marketers Association (CEMA) holds a conference each year with anywhere from 400 to 500 attendees. This year, hosts Alyssa Peltier and Paulina Giusti were able to attend for the first time, and they’re bringing all their learnings to the podcast. In this episode, Alyssa and Paulina share their biggest takeaways from the event, including digital experiences, thoughts on “the gre...

There’s a surge of interest for organizations to build more sustainable meetings and events programs. But how do we do it effectively and avoid greenwashing? On this episode, host Alyssa Peltier is joined by Kris Justice, Senior Manager on the Cvent Enterprise Client Success Team, and Ben Quarrell, the Co-founder of Isla and Trace, the carbon measurement platform. To get the planet where it needs...

Meeting Professionals International produces one of the biggest event professional conferences every year and they recently celebrated MPI's 50th anniversary at The World Education Conference’s (WEC) in San Francisco. Creating an event for event planners is no small feat. What does it take to pull off? We’ve got two MPI experts to share the tricks of the trade. Melinda Burdette, Senior Director of...

If you’re planning an event for people in the event planning industry, you better bring your A-game. In this episode, two of Cvent’s Meeting and Event Planning stars, Kayla Sommers and Sam Efthimiades, join us to share their secrets on how they were able to wow the company’s top performers at our Business Leaders Retreat. Listen in to hear how treating everyone like a VIP is more about personaliza...

IMEX Frankfurt is one of the biggest events for hospitality and event professionals. With their 20th year anniversary this year, they had 100 countries represented and over 11,000 attendees. It is the place to be for anyone looking to learn more about the industry, get a sneak peek at innovation, and hear from industry-leading professionals. But don’t worry if you weren’t able to attend. In this e...

Virtual events or in-person events? Why choose when you can take the best of both worlds and go hybrid! Kelli Kopec, Senior Product Marketing Manager at Cvent and Lauren Allison, Lead Meeting and Event Planner at Cvent join Paulina on this episode to discuss another event that was a smash hit - the Cvent Travel Summit. The coolest part? It morphed from being an entirely virtual event to a hybrid o...

We’ve spent the last couple of years mastering virtual and then hybrid events, but now big, beautiful, in-person events are back! And the possibilities are endless. In this episode, our hosts Alyssa, Rachel, and Paulina discuss the new approaches being taken when planning massive events, both in the B2B and B2C spheres. Throughout the conversation, you’ll learn about the focus on incorporating tec...

CMP, CGMP, PMP, CMM…Do you already have tons of acronyms after your title? Or are you thinking about adding some? In this episode we’re joined by Amanda Young, Owner of Young Events Consulting and Nari Courtney, Senior Marketing Manager at Cvent, to discuss professional development. As you listen, you’ll learn about the different educational and advancement opportunities available. You’ll also gai...

Felica Asiedu is the Senior Marketing Manager in Europe for Cvent, and on this episode she joins the gang to discuss the trends she’s seeing with events at a global scale. Since COVID, the way we tackle events is different. This includes basic logistic complications but also behavioral changes. Things like drinking gallons of coffee because you’re used to having your coffee pot next to you or taki...

The crew at Cvent just participated in a pretty noteworthy conference, the Forrester B2B Summit, and we want to tell you all about it! It's a third-party consultant agency that allows us to get out of the sales pitches and really talk about marketing as a whole. Pretty awesome stuff. So, on the show today Alyssa is joined by Christine Kelly, a team lead of the Marketing Technology team at Cvent, a...