Adrienne Collins00:02 — I don't know that it's a lack of effort, but it's more that the event is the finish line when it should just be one of the points in the process.
Benjamin Ard00:34 — Welcome back to another episode of Content Amplified. Today I'm joined by Adrienne Collins. Adrienne, welcome to the show.
Adrienne Collins00:39 — Thank you, thanks for having me.
Benjamin Ard00:40 — Yeah, Adrienne, I am excited. This is going to be a fun subject. But before we dive in, let's get to know you, your background, work history, all that fun stuff so the audience knows who you are.
Adrienne Collins00:51 — Sure. I live in Texas. I graduated from Texas Tech. I have been in the event space since graduating. I've kind of dabbled in every type of event, from interning with wedding planners, which was not my vibe, too many emotions on that day, to hospitality, to sports travel agencies and private events there, but have spent the last 13 years corporate and kind of grown through the ranks for a SaaS company. It's software. We just went through a big acquisition and merger. But I've grown through the ranks there and now lead the events team.
Benjamin Ard01:32 — Love it. That's amazing. Adrienne, I'm excited. This is going to be a fun subject. This is something that people are really focused on now as people are wanting and craving more in-person events. I think travel and events are becoming ever more relevant. So we're talking about using events as content engines. And so this is getting all the goodness out of your events. And I love it. This is going to be fun. So to kick it off, Adrienne, where do most teams get events wrong today when it comes to content and pipeline? Like what are they maybe not quite going through the right motions on this front.
Adrienne Collins02:09 — I think that's a great question, because I do feel like a lot of teams see events as this one-time moment instead of truly optimizing for the right outcome and impact to the business, not just that event in that moment. I think most teams are probably still measuring success on like how did the event go, how many people attended, those types of things, which are great metrics, don't get me wrong. Those can help you continue to always evolve and improve. But I think the real opportunity comes with what was the business impact? How much did the event unlock post that event, right? As far as opportunities, deals, acceleration, all of that for your pipeline. And I think the biggest gap areas that I see most often is, are we capturing the right things, like customer conversations, executive points of view, any unscripted insights in real time, ownership from the teams, like who's doing what. I think a lot of times I've seen too that you have these great plans, but there's no real sense of ownership, so nothing really gets executed, or you only get a couple of things and not all that you could have to help slow drip for the next several months. It ends up just being a couple days worth of content. And then that follow through. When the event ends, what is the team looking for, what is that next priority instead of treating that content as part of the priority, part of building into those other campaigns, other content plans, strategy, et cetera. I don't know that it's a lack of effort, but it's more that the event is the finish line when it should just be one of the points in the process.
Benjamin Ard03:55 — Ooh, I love that line. I think that's so cool. It's this ongoing effort. So what does a content engine with events actually look like instead of taking, and I like how you talked about it, taking the event as a one-time event. You know, it's a one moment in time, then we're off to the next one. Because that's kind of what happens a lot of times. Okay, great. This one's done. Deep breath. We're on to the next one. How do you turn it into a content engine?
Adrienne Collins04:18 — I think you've really got to shift your mindset, just like you were just saying, instead of it just being that one moment, to we're designing this whole content system that is around this live moment. So what are you doing before that event? Obviously, hopefully you're building anticipation so people want to come and know why it's imperative that they join. Hopefully you're having points of view content from your speakers, executives, et cetera. Teasers that ladder up to your business priorities. And then really identifying what you want to capture on site. During the event then, you're looking, you're in capture mode, not just execution. So you're reporting, you're documenting sound bites, customer insights, behind the scenes, audio clips, taking notes, right? All the things, and creating some of that content in real time. And then after the event, where your value actually comes into play, you're turning that into months worth of content, you know. And you can do it in several different formats. Short form videos, sales enablement content, blogs, social posts, thought leadership pieces, right? And really sequencing it so that it's lasting that however long you need it to and fit into your other campaigns rather than just dumping it all at once and we're done and, like you said, on to the next thing. So it's really just making sure you have that thoughtful plan in place.
Benjamin Ard05:47 — I think that's cool. So when you're at the event and doing all the event stuff and you're in capture mode, right? You're trying to collect as much content as possible, whether it's video or otherwise, how do you know what's worth collecting or capturing versus like what doesn't need to be documented? Is it all at the events? Like you just document everything and then decide after, or is this happening like, in advance, you know what you're going to capture. What does that look like?
Adrienne Collins06:15 — That's a great question. It has to be in advance. You and your whole team, whoever is executing, and leadership really need to be aligned as to what are your priorities? What content do you need? The priority of that content. Like if y'all are strapped and you don't have enough resources to do it all, what are you not willing to capture, right? What is that leveling system for you? Usually you want the real voices, the real energy, the customer stories, the executive perspectives, those live reactions and conversations. So anything that can be manufactured later on, maybe you hold on and prioritize it that way so that you can really dig into what will be authentic and what can live over time.
Benjamin Ard07:07 — Okay, so the philosophy, it sounds like it's not just about, we have this event, we're gonna use serendipity to record and document everything. It's a fully planned scenario. These are the content moments. These are the things we're gonna document. These are the things we're gonna create, these opportunities and moments that can turn into content afterwards. So I really like that.
Adrienne Collins07:28 — Yeah, and drive your pipeline. And it can be any event, I think. If it's a webinar, are you taking sound bites out of that? Do you have full replay rights? Where is it housed? Who's making a blog out of it? Do we have permissions beyond the event? Those types of things. It could be a huge conference. I know over the last couple years, me and my team have worked to really strategize, because as we all know, things get more and more expensive. When you have a three, four, five day conference, are we recording the keynotes? Are we recording all the breakouts? Do we need customer testimonials? Are we creating videos in advance for like a commercial or a, what is it, corporate anthem video? Are we creating demo videos for booths or whatever that is and then how are we using it? I know the last year for one of ours, for example, recording all of our breakouts full of video recording became so costly. And we didn't use most of the content. They didn't look well because we didn't have that production in every single breakout. Even the AV alone was just so expensive. We really just needed the sound bites and the transcripts. So we instead focused on just getting audio recordings, no video for those rooms, or would just have one room with the video equipment, and we knew those would be the sessions that we had in there, so they were like the prime ones that we could use beyond, and then transcribed everything else so that they could create blogs, quote slides, other things, so we're still getting that content out of it, but it ended up being a fourth of the cost, and instead, even keeping within that fourth of the cost, we invested more in a testimonial studio, essentially, on site. So those same customers, those same industry experts could just go into that room, do a 20 minute recording, and we would get more from that content than an hour session that somebody watched five minutes of and then gave up and went on to their next thing. But it's that prioritization and where you're putting your funds to make sure you have that impact.
Benjamin Ard09:40 — Yeah, I love that planning in advance. What's going to move the needle the most? What's going to make the biggest impact? How do we invest our time, money and efforts? So the next thing that comes to mind for me, you go to the event, planned it, everything's prepared. You know what content you're going to collect, how you're going to do it, audio, video, you know what your investments are going to look like. You get all of the materials. And you're after the event, you're back in the office and now you're going to do something with it. What does that meeting look like? What does that execution look like? How do you stay focused before just moving on to say, all right, when's the next event? Let's start planning. Like how do you keep the excitement high and kind of execute the planning and divvy out all the materials to actually be utilized? Just a lot of times I think we get the content and then we're like, that's a lot of effort to use it. Like, how do you get away from that?
Adrienne Collins10:34 — So I honestly think, again, that starts in your pre-planning before the event even happens. You've got your priorities, your narratives that impact the business the most, what sales and marketing will actually use, because that's the other thing. If nobody actually uses it, it doesn't help you. You define ownership, who's capturing it, who's responsible for turning that content into assets. I think that's the biggest piece. Like you said, everybody's exhausted from the event after. They're like, wait, I have something else to do. What does that time frame look like? And setting those expectations as well, not only to your team, but to your attendees. So that, hey, we'll have something live right after. Maybe it's just your keynotes. And then testimonials will be a few weeks later, and then a month later will be all the supporting slides, all the other, like, whatever that looks like. And really setting those expectations, because they're all going to want everything right away, of course. And then who's responsible for distributing it and using it, and those expectations too. Because once it does come out, of course, like you said, they've already turned and shifted their priority and their focus to other things. So making sure they know it's there, they know it's available, and they can start using it in their conversations and engagement with those customers or prospects and such. Then you really want just to make sure as they're distributing it, if there's a way that you can measure it. If you're using a tool, if they're capturing it in Salesforce or your CRM, whatever that looks like. So again, you have this simple framework of capturing it, packaging it up, distributing it, and then measuring it. And you can use that to continue to improve and see what your impact was.
Benjamin Ard12:20 — I love that. And you're talking about impact. You mentioned the magic word of pipeline beforehand. It all ties in together, right? So you're saying, okay, not only was this event a pipeline generation opportunity, we are going to continue to drive pipeline as time goes on and impact the business. And you talked about the special metrics. What are we going to track? What for you are those metrics that you care about the most to really show that pipeline is being impacted by the content you're creating and collecting from these events?
Adrienne Collins12:52 — So I think it depends on how you're using the content, because typically you do break it down into those smaller, more consumable pieces, right, those keynotes. Yeah, you may release the whole thing right away to just give people something to go do and share and whatnot, but you're likely still editing it into like five different short little videos or clips, multiple social posts about the message and the key points, developing sales talking points that support it and roll into that. So it's really looking at that and then aligning that content to the buyer journey. For instance, your top of funnels, those thought leadership clips, mid funnel are your customer stories, your case studies, et cetera. And then bottom of the funnel, executive points of view, proof points, all of that. And then like I said, really enabling the teams to use it, bring it into their conversations and sequence it out over time and capturing those opportunities that are open post-event or accelerated. And that way, too, you're stretching that conversation, hopefully, for months and months and months, too, right? You've got multiple pieces of content that that sales rep can bring in at any point, depending on where their prospect is in their buying journey. So I think it's really making sure it's a content multiplier.
Benjamin Ard14:06 — I love that. Yeah, that's amazing. I love that. Well, Adrienne, this has been incredible. And surprisingly enough, we're out of time. And these episodes just go by so quick. I love the whole process, the process of really planning in advance, knowing the content you're going to collect and knowing how you're going to distribute it and ultimately impacting pipeline. And I love how you call that the content engine, like building this full engine out of these events. This is amazing. Next level about how to get the most out of your events. Adrienne, for anyone who's listened and wants to reach out and connect with you online, how and where can they find you?
Adrienne Collins14:44 — On LinkedIn, definitely available. Yeah, connect with me. That's probably going to be the best way or the fastest way to get to me.
Benjamin Ard14:53 — Love it. And we will link to Adrienne's profile inside of the show. So regardless of what platform you're listening on, scroll down, click on the link, connect with Adrienne there. Adrienne, again, thank you so much for the time and insights today. This has been absolutely amazing. I really do appreciate it.
Adrienne Collins15:08 — Thank you.
