What Actually Drives Pipeline at B2B Events

[00:00:00] The events industry has a strategy problem dressed up as a logistics problem, and most people in it are too polite to say so. The food critic doesn't lie about a bad meal because you tried really hard, and the film critic doesn't call a bad movie good because the trailer looked great. So why doesn't the events industry have someone willing to tell you the truth about your event? Well, it does now, and our guest this week is not most people.

[00:00:27] She's crossed every aisle, B2C, B2B, agency, in-house, and came out with zero patience for events that don't earn their budget. She's not your yes person, she's your challenger. It's EVENT ABOUT IT with Steph Pennell.

[00:00:50] Hey everybody, welcome to EVENT ABOUT IT. I'm your host, Megan Martin, and my guest this week goes by the event critic, which in the industry makes her either your best friend or your worst nightmare. But spoiler alert, she's both. Welcome to the studio, Steph. So glad to have you here. Thank you so much. When I was reading that intro you drafted, I was like,

[00:01:14] damn, like this is better than I could have written about myself. Like I am the challenger. I love this. Well, you definitely are welcome to steal it. And I think that leads me into my first question. First of all, total coincidence that we're both wearing denim today. Yeah, yeah. So I feel like we're matched to be spirit sisters in some way or fashion because this was told by accident. And I never wear this jacket either, so... I also never wear this shirt, but it was in my office. I was like, I'll just throw it on.

[00:01:45] Perfect. I love it. Okay. So your company name, before we get into the game, is a very unique name and feels a little off-brand. It kind of caught me off guard a little bit. So the name of your company is Ingenue. And in like the French and theater world, and Ingenue is like the innocent young woman who doesn't know what's going on. She's always looking for someone to like kind of help guide her into the world.

[00:02:14] And so how did you come up with this name for your company? Because it feels very opposite of the event critic brand that you initially started. Yeah. If I'm being completely honest, I'm a little woo-woo. And so the universe kept pinging this word to me. And I think for now, it is serving its purpose as my events company name, but I actually think it's going to be a lot more down the line.

[00:02:43] Like I think this brand is going to evolve with me as I evolve in my personal life. And honestly, like I used to be the Ingenue in so many of my roles before I went out on my own, which by the way, like I didn't really have a plan. Like I started calling myself the event critic because I was like, well, I guess I'll create content. I have all this time now and like people are doing events so wrong.

[00:03:12] And but I was that Ingenue and I so often in my career have been underestimated or taken advantage of. And I feel like even in that theater or film role, that that character is the one who is sometimes the one that kind of has the comeback or becomes the not Ingenue. Ingenue. And so it's kind of a nod to that portion of my life.

[00:03:39] But also, I reached a point where I leaned a little too heavy into being hard and protective and like, you know, I must have a seat at the table and I'm leaning back into a little bit more of that softer side. So it's both a nod to my past, but also, I think a little bit of a look into where I'm headed and where my company will go.

[00:04:03] So I absolutely love that, because I think in the Ingenues always have the best story arc, as you pointed out, like they have the most growth and profound outcome at the end. So I actually now that you've told the whole story, I love this as a name for what you know, it seems very off brand, though, like it's very and people, people who know me from like what I post on LinkedIn. It's a very different five. So, yeah, that tracks.

[00:04:28] Well, I think actually now that you've explained the whole thing, like they both marry each other so well. And I think when you hear the whole story and the bigger picture of it, it makes complete sense to me now. And I think you're spot on with the growth and where you're going and kind of leaning into the definition of the name. I think you're going to create some pretty amazing content in the near future with this. Like, I'm really excited. We might even get into some of it in the after show. Oh, cool.

[00:04:57] All right. Well, let's play a fun game I've come up with called Pipeline or Party. I'm going to give you a real event scenario and you have to call out is this event actually moving pipeline or did someone throw a party, put it in the marketing budget and call it strategy. So you get to decide, is it a pipeline driver or did we just throw a big party? Do I get to ask follow up questions?

[00:05:25] I'll allow one follow up question. Okay. Okay. All right. First one, a trade show cocktail hour, open bar, 200 bad scans, branded koozies, but no one enabled sales for follow up. A waste of time and money. So it's a party. It's a party. Barely. Yeah. Okay. Next one.

[00:05:52] 2,000 attendees, a sold out keynote, standing ovation. Is it pipeline or party? Is there a follow up? There could be. Let's say maybe. Maybe there's one follow up email. A handful of salespeople actually follow up after this. Oh, this is like the I'm never going to be able to give like one or the other. We already know this. Yeah.

[00:06:21] I would say this is like a very good attempt at pipeline, but you probably just drove awareness unless there's like a strong CTA in the presentation and clear follow up. I think that's a great takeaway. Next one. Field event, 50 people, sales rep at every single table. Follow up is in the queue before the event even starts. And there was around an $8,000 budget.

[00:06:49] Perfect pipeline driver. Um, and even better if you're booking demos on site before people leave. Hmm. Great tip. Great tip. Next one. Client changed the entire booth concept two and a half weeks out. You delivered it and they called it a success. Well, this just happened pain in the ass. It might be pipeline, but it was still a pain in the ass.

[00:07:18] It actually I hate admitting stuff like this on these types of talks because like, yes, we made it work, but you can't you can't always rely on that to happen. Um, so yeah, it, we reached, I think we were 500 K short of our pipeline goal. Um, and it generated like 3.5 million. Amazing. Sounds like a great success. So pipeline for sure. Pain in the ass to pipeline. Pain in the ass.

[00:07:48] That's the conversion rate. The new ROI. Executive dinner, eight prospects with a private chef, not a single salesperson in the room, and no CTA at the end of the night. Is anyone from the company's leadership there? Uh, let's say yes, you have two executives in the room.

[00:08:14] As long as they follow up with the sales team for next steps and or make introductions from the people on site, that can be a massive pipeline driver. Um, I actually don't love sending sales to some of those dinners. Um, they don't need to be there as long as the people who are there are capable of relaying the notes and everything. So I would lean this more towards the pipeline side. I agree.

[00:08:41] Sometimes salespeople get a little too pushy and an intimate dinner like that with eight prospects. You need a high EQ, not a hard sale. Yes. For sure. Love you salespeople. We do love salespeople. We do love you. We do. Yeah. Okay. Sales kickoff, three days, 200 reps, $500,000 budget. Internal only? Internal only. Oh.

[00:09:09] So, obviously this is a party because you're not generating pipeline. However, if you don't take care of your team and keep morale up and educate them on the things they need to do, they're not going to generate pipeline for you either way. So, like from an event revenue perspective, this is a party, but from a long-term people, like the whole point of gathering is to gather, right?

[00:09:38] Like you do have to have a mix of this in your strategy for a company, I believe. Yeah. I mean, it's indirect pipeline, right? Exactly. Because you have to enable your people to enable the pipeline. Exactly. Yep. Okay. Okay. Next up. Last couple. Sponsored conference session. Your logo is on the slides. Your rep is on stage and there's 300 people in the room. Brand awareness.

[00:10:08] It's probably somewhere in the middle. Yeah. Yeah. Somewhere in the middle. Like, again, if you add in a strong follow-up plan or a CTA at the end and you couple it with maybe like a dinner that you promoted before that session, like something like that, driving them back to a booth if you have it, then yeah, absolutely. Great. Great call outs. Okay. Last three here. Golf tournament, client appreciation, 40 attendees, all existing customers.

[00:10:40] That's a retention play. So I guess yes, but I think you're missing out on not trying to blend your customers with your prospects because they'll do the selling for you. Exactly my thought. Yeah. All right. Last two. Zoom link, 45-minute presentation, three polling questions, branded all of it as a virtual event. That's a webinar.

[00:11:10] Sorry. No. That's a webinar. Which could be pipeline. Yeah, good. It could be done appropriately, but like don't call it a virtual event. That's not an event. Nah, no. It's a webinar. Okay. Last one. A hosted thought leader dinner, no logos anywhere. Again, no sales reps in the room. The company paid for everything. But like nobody knows that because there's no logos or anything.

[00:11:39] It's just, it could have just been another dinner. If there's leadership there and the conversation is teed up in a way that it becomes like a true thought leadership discussion amongst peers. That's a pipeline driver because that peer to peer engagement is extremely valuable, especially at like the leadership level. And they'll remember that more than they would have a logo on a napkin.

[00:12:09] Yeah, completely agree. Well, thanks for playing pipeline or party. I think we pretty much diagnosed at least half of the industry's budgets, line items. Like you gave great takeaways. Like it's a very fine line between pipeline and party and those who do it well can actually call it out. And some of these scenarios I've seen every single one of these at some point or another, and some of them are hit it out of the park and some of them strike out pretty badly.

[00:12:38] And some people are just like continuing to do the party vibes because that's what they've always done and they've never actually asked the question of why they're doing it. It's like optics. Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. Okay, well now it's time for my favorite session of the podcast, the vent of the week. Because sometimes the only thing tighter than a load in schedule is our patients.

[00:13:04] This is your safe space to let it out all the pet peeves, planning pains and things that make this industry just fun. Just a little too eventful. So tell us what irks you about events. Oh my God, like where do I start? I actually learned this.

[00:13:25] I think this is a little bit indirect so I'm not going to go too deep into it, but I definitely had a big lesson learned this week of like the types of companies who are ready to have an event consultant and the types of companies who should not have one. Like, I actually have, I have not physically written them down, but they're written down in my head of like, these are the reasons you should not hire someone like me. Um, cause it's not a good fit.

[00:13:56] And those kind of translate out into the things that. Irk me about events. One is just like the underestimation of what goes into an event. Um, love getting ideal ideas from team members across the org in my clients. And even previously when I was in house, when you throw that at an events team or the execution team, fine.

[00:14:25] But then you need to like, let us do the due diligence of, of certain things. So, um, it like a good example is like we had a dinner added recently and it ended up being great. However, the follow up after was really delayed because we worked with a partner and we didn't build out a true campaign. And so these folks that we were engaging with didn't have like that journey, we couldn't track it.

[00:14:54] And then on site, like we're capturing who was there and had to do it very manually after of like, this person showed up, this person didn't and like go into Salesforce. And, and those are the things where like, in a world, like for someone who doesn't, hasn't done events, like they do think it's a party, but the pipeline happens from everything else. Not just the venue, not just getting people there.

[00:15:20] Like, like it's everything else that kind of happens behind the scenes that actually makes it a pipeline driver and not a party. Um, that one, that one gets me. I'm very over a large format trade shows. Um, I'm hearing this more and more like you're not the first person to say this to me. I'm curious why. Um, maybe I'm jaded because I do this for a living.

[00:15:50] Like, maybe that's why I don't enjoy it. But I also see other events, people, and they like love going to IMAX every year. And I'm like, I'd rather die. Like I, like, I'm, I wish I just don't want to do that. Like that doesn't, I went one year and I was like, no, that was good. Like, no offense to IMAX. Like it's, it's just like, that could be any event. Right.

[00:16:12] Um, to me, like you from, as a people, from a people person, like, I just don't like that type of environment. I'm very, I'm personally a much better in a smaller group, um, where it's more curated and it's a higher end experience, which you just can't do in large format. Um, from an event standpoint, like I do see the benefit of it in certain areas.

[00:16:41] However, all these large format events that I've been to are falling short in one area. And it's like that genuine human connection. Like you can't like, and you, and you can't control the narrative of who's going to come to your booth. Um, so when you do a small host of dinner, you can control who's in the room and you can make it so that the people you want to talk to, you know, are going to be there.

[00:17:08] And with these large format, a, you can't do that and be having a genuine like connection with someone, which I don't care what anyone says at the end of the day, this will always be number one. And with the rise of AI, this is going to get more and more and more important. Um, when that, those types of engagements aren't facilitated in a large format agenda, like you're just, it's like a rat race of an event.

[00:17:37] Like people are waking up, going to breakfast, sitting with the people they know, then they're going to the expo hall and then they're going to the keynote. And then they're going to a breakout session and they're going to lunch and they're sitting with the people that they know. And then they're going to the breakout session and then so on and so forth. You see where I'm going with this. And, um, even when you try to facilitate like small areas where people can just sit and relax, like people sit there and they take meetings and they catch up on emails.

[00:18:04] And I'm not talking like the one-on-one meeting motions that a lot of these companies do where both companies opt in to meet. That's just a forced meeting. Like, yes, it can drive pipeline, but I just, I personally feel like. And maybe this is just an evolution of like how I think about events as I've been in this game for so long. Like that is just such a key piece missing with these large format events. And also I know you asked earlier about like a virtual event.

[00:18:33] I actually don't really think virtual events exist anymore. It's like webinars and in-person events and virtual events were a thing from COVID and that's it. I mean, I've been to a few, so many things to unpack. One, I don't think you're wrong about trade shows at all. I think we don't do a very good job of facilitating community. And I, I think we can do a better job of the human connection. Now, some of those trade shows are specifically for buyers. Like people aren't there for connection. They want to get in.

[00:19:03] They want to do their orders. They want to see their equipment or product. And then they want to get out. And yeah, there's a space for those type of shows. Yeah. Industry specific, I think. Yeah. Yeah. And I think the other piece to that too is a show like IMAX, I think is kind of one of those. Like, and there's a way to find your niche within that bigger show, but it's also, it's not for everybody. I don't know. Like, yeah, it's just not.

[00:19:32] Yeah. I would like to see more innovation in that space. We have had a couple episodes where we've talked about that. And I, I think there's a lot of room for innovation there. For like events for events, people. Well, definitely events for events. People don't, that's event of my lifetime at this point where we are doing such a disservice to our own industry. And we've talked about that on many episodes on this podcast that our own people need to do better.

[00:20:01] And I, I wish they would. I'm not a member of most organizations anymore because I kind of outgrew them and they weren't really keeping up with where I was going, where I felt like the industry was going. So that's a whole vent in itself. But one thing you did say that I kind of want to unpack a little bit before we get into the next segment. Give us your list of when a company is ready to hire an event consultant. Like, what does that look like?

[00:20:30] You've had some clients who weren't ready for you and some that were. And what's that distinction? Yeah, the distinction really is more about their existing team and the, the goals with their events.

[00:20:47] If you have an existing events team and people who have been in doing the work for like the event strategy for a few years. And then all of a sudden you bring someone in, like you either need the team to be ready for like an overhaul. Or you're going to be met with your team's going to meet the consultant with, well, this is how we've done it.

[00:21:16] And the team's not going to react well to change. I mean, when you bring them in, it feels like you're doing something wrong. Like, why are they bringing in this consultant? Like, it feels very office space like, like, so tell us what you do here kind of situation. Yeah. Yeah. And, and, and like, I've thought about this so much. I'm like, I don't know how I could have approached the, this type of scenario, which I've experienced a couple of times any differently.

[00:21:44] Because in the beginning I'm like pushing and I'm like trying to get change to happen. And maybe a few things will stick. And I find a few people who are willing to like, you know, come along for the journey. And then at some point you just kind of have to like, stop and not give up, but like fall in line with what they're doing. And do kind of just take it as much as you can in a new direction without completely blowing everything up for, for, for the team.

[00:22:14] Um, and I think that's like one of the biggest things. Like if the organization is not ready for the change, then you're, you're, you're kind of going to be wasting your money on someone like me.

[00:22:28] Um, and, and, and so I find like the teams who work really well with someone like me is someone who, a company who has had very little event strategy or they're just starting it and they need help building it out, doing it right from the beginning.

[00:22:45] Um, you know, they, they, they had an events person, they're gone for whatever reason and they, they're filling a gap, but in that same time, you're able to course correct and set it up properly for a new person to come in or, or if it was running, like run it. The way it was, but enhance it, you know? So those are, those are the types of companies that really benefit from, from someone in events.

[00:23:09] Coming back to the first scenario where it's like an organization where there's an existing team and existing processes. You can bring in an event consultant, but for very tactical work. So think like production work and AV work and like things like that.

[00:23:30] But, but as someone who comes in and is trying to change the strategy and the go-to-market motion around the event and how to book meetings and, and the things that actually affect the broader, the broader go-to-market org, not just the marketing team. That's where it's a little, that's where I, I haven't figured it out. So if anyone out there knows, let me know. But, uh, for me personally, I'm just not going to take clients in that scenario anymore.

[00:23:56] I mean, I think it's a good distinction as you mature your company too. And I think it's good to know in general what you need from your clients, but also as clients are thinking about bringing in consultants and where their teams are and having a little self-reflection on what do they actually need? Do they just need another doer and a hands-on person to take a certain segment of the event off their plate?

[00:24:22] Well, that's, there are certain consultants out there that will do that all day long, but then someone like you, you're really building foundational things. And if you have a legacy team that's resistant and thinks they're doing it great, then there might be some feathers ruffled in the process. Yeah. And sometimes they are doing it great, but I see so much room for improvement. And that's where it's hard on my side. Like, hey, you're paying me.

[00:24:47] Like, I'm like, I really want you to pick this up because I know it can make such a huge difference and you won't. And, and then, oh, like it hurts me, my soul, because I, you know, I very much value my time and energy. And when people bring me in and what they're paying me and what they're expecting from me, it's, it's like, uh, yeah, it's, it's brutal. I mean, you get met with resistance and all you're really wanting to do is help and you can't really.

[00:25:17] And that's frustrating on both sides for sure. Oh, for sure. Yeah. Yeah. Well, those are some great events. We could probably continue to unpack them for so long. They're all good ones. Uh, okay. So next up, it's time to event about it. You have spent your entire career walking into events and seeing exactly what went wrong before anyone else in the room did. So I want the story, the one that lives rent free in your head.

[00:25:45] The moment that was either so good, it raised the bar or so sideways. It confirmed everything you believe that's wrong in the events industry. And you've had a couple of recent crazy stories. So give us your best event about it story. First of all, I want to preface this with saying that, oh my God, it really sucks.

[00:26:08] Like I can't go to any event, even in my personal life where I'm not analyzing or like, like wanting to move something or being like, oh my God, the flow would be so much better if that table was just like moved five feet to the right. Like this is, this is my brain. So it's just. Right there with you, girl. Right there. It's like I can't relax at anything. I can't have nice things. I'm like, why do I stay home all the time? And then I go to an event and I'm like, oh, this is why.

[00:26:37] Cause I end up wanting to work. Like it's not. I mean, even at concerts, I'm like watching the sound table. I'm like, okay, something is about to happen. They're making movements on the side and all this. And they're like, just watch the concert. I'm like, I can't just watch the concert. Yeah. Oh, I noticed the most annoying production things that nobody else I'm with notices. And I'm like, oh, they just fucked that up. Oops, sorry. You can say four letter words. It's okay. We allow that. We love a four letter word.

[00:27:08] Like, oh, they just really screwed up. But no, everyone else around me is like, no, they didn't. I'm like, yeah, they did. You didn't see that, that like right there, that tiny thing. And then the sound glitch. Yeah. So anyway, that's my preface to this. I think I'm going to give a happy moment. And this is, they're still my client. And I love working with them. It's User Gems.

[00:27:34] And so they did their first, like, I don't want to call it a user conference because like we had prospects come and customers. And they did that last year for the first time. And they had about 90, 95 people there, which was incredible. Yeah. For your first year, that's great. Yeah. And I was, you know, and we pulled it together pretty quick.

[00:28:01] So I was scrambling leading up to it, trying to like think of different ways we could engage with attendees on site to get them talking to one another. And at the same time, if you know what User Gems does, this will make so much sense to you. Like they've been able to really lean into like my pre-event outreach strategy and execute it in a way that truly gets the right people in the room.

[00:28:29] Like, like if I could have every single one of my clients buy User Gems and have their same tech stack and follow that same process, like, holy moly, truly. Like they're, and it's not just me. It's like their, their ops team and their marketing team. They're very smart and very scrappy. And so leading up to this event, I'm like, okay, we're going to get like a dance dance

[00:28:56] revolution machine and we're going to do this like shout out board and we're going to have a swag table and we're going to do swag bags. No one took the freaking swag bags. People barely took from the swag table. Two people paid, played Dance Dance Revolution. And one of them was me. And I think like a handful of people did the shout out wall. And at first I was like, oh my God, this is a fail. But then I looked around the room and because we had curated the most

[00:29:25] perfect guest list, people were just naturally engaging with each other. They didn't want to stop the conversations. And that is when I realized, I was like, this is, I've always known it to be true, but what matters more than anything, like, yes, have a great venue, but make sure the venue is set up and your agenda is set up to allow these folks to actually connect, which is kind of coming back to like what I was saying about trade shows.

[00:29:55] And do small surprise and delight things. Yes, still do it. But think about it in a way that is more of an experience and not like a station. You don't need to force these people to connect because if you get the right people in the room, they're going to want to connect. And oh my God, they did. Both roundtable discussions could have gone on. We did like two sessions and people rotated the tables. We could have let those people talk at those tables for another like 30 minutes in each session.

[00:30:25] And we did them for 25, which we're doing again for their upcoming event in June. Like we're going to do those roundtables again. Like, and that was a moment where I was like, oh, I did this wrong to, oh no, I did this right. I just didn't have to do these other things to make it work. You didn't need to over activate it. And sometimes people do that because they're worried the conversations won't flow, which I get.

[00:30:52] But if you've done it right, you don't need all of that. No, we had to kick people out. I mean, it's the worst, best feeling to stop a conversation and kick people out of the event, right? Like you want the conversation, keep going. But also you're like, guys, like the venue is really shutting down. Like the bar's really closing. Like you really do have to go continue this conversation somewhere else. Yeah. And so how did your client take all of that?

[00:31:20] Because you eventually flip the script and realize it was a huge success that none of these activations were getting used, but sometimes clients don't always see that. And sometimes they need some guidance to realize why it ended up being so great. How was their response? I'm pretty transparent with my client. So like when we were doing retro, I was like, we didn't need any of this. Like next year, yeah, like we're not bringing in this type of stuff.

[00:31:48] Like we're coming up with some really cool ideas for the happy hour and like little engaging things throughout the day to surprise and delight people. But we're not over like we're not over engineering it. And they took it well. Like, look, again, they're like a very like perfect client for an event consultant who's doing both strategy and execution because it was their first time doing it. And so they also were trying to figure out what was going to work for their audience.

[00:32:15] And they agreed like we had the right people there. And at the end of the day, that really mattered. Um, so yeah, I'm, I can absolutely see some other clients being like, well, we wasted this much money on it and, you know, yada, yada, which at the end of the day, it actually wasn't that much money, like thankfully. Um, but it's, I, I, I've posted about this a couple of times, like event number one, where

[00:32:42] you're doing something like that is like a dress rehearsal for the years to come, because you, you are just going to continue to figure out what people want and need. And that's going to evolve. And the people who are going to get stuck in their conferences are going to start to fail the ones who are just like rinsing and repeating. Um, and so they took it and they were like, yeah, great learning. Now we know what not to do and what to continue doing for next year. And we're iterating on it. I think that's a great takeaway.

[00:33:10] And events are experiments like sometimes you don't know. And you have, as humans evolve and our needs are changing, so do your events. And so it's kind of always going to be some experimentation to it. Yeah. Oh yeah. And, uh, Marco Fori's episode, he talked about two things that I use all the time. One, they're called Sally events, same as last year. Yeah. Oh yeah. I love that. I've never heard that. A Sally event.

[00:33:37] So we definitely see those quite a bit in the industry, but he also talks about his approach to events is the 60-40 rule. And I think it's more like 70-30 or an 80-20. People aren't that adventurous, but 60, his 60-40 rule is you keep 60% of the event the same and you innovate 40% of it every year. Hmm. So you kind of keep that foundational stuff that always is going to work, that you know your audience loves.

[00:34:05] And then that 40% is your surprise and delights, pushing it, figuring out that experimentation side of things. Oh, I like that. Well, that is actually a really nice, happy event about it story with a good success. I had to after all that venting, after all that. We had to end happy. Well, as we're wrapping up event about it main episodes, tell the folks a little bit about yourself, what you're working on and where they can find you. Yeah.

[00:34:35] Oh my gosh. I am like totally heads down now through like end of June. I'm barely going to be home in May. Um, uh, I also have personal events coming up. I have my, my sister is getting married. And so the bachelorette is like wedged in between two big client events. And then after that is the wedding, which is also exciting. So it's like, I've got events all over the place. Um, so I'm not going to lie.

[00:35:04] I've been pretty quiet on LinkedIn. I'm still out here judging though. Don't think for one second. I'm not. Um, so yeah, Coachella. Yeah. Oh my God. Bieberchella. Um, and yeah, so I'll be online and then kind of like heads down with some big client events coming up, traveling. Um, and then you'll probably see me relaxing in July and August.

[00:35:33] I'm going to try to like take some time and chill out for a bit. I love that. And what's the best place to find you probably on LinkedIn when you resurface? Yeah. LinkedIn. And then, um, I share more like lifestyle event type stuff on my Instagram too. So if, if someone wants to see me really, I get a little bit more candid there as well

[00:35:57] when I post, um, you know, we got to like reign it in a little bit for LinkedIn, but, um, it's a little more buttoned up. Yeah. It's a little buttoned up. It's gotta be, I'm even that I'm still like, sometimes I post and I'm like, Ooh, I wonder if that's going to get me kicked off. I would love to meet someone who's been kicked off of LinkedIn. I know people get banned on Facebook and Instagram all the time, but I wonder if anyone's ever been banned on LinkedIn. We're going to find someone. There's gotta be somebody.

[00:36:26] There's gotta be somebody. For sure. Well, that's all the time we have for today's episode of event about it. We'll be sure to link to all of Steph's social so you can follow along there. And this was a great episode where we prove that live experiences aren't just logistics. They are a growth strategy. If this episode made you think differently, send it to a marketer on your team who still thinks events are a line item.

[00:36:52] And if you've got an event or a story or a moment from the field that deserves to be unpacked, submit it at eventaboutitpodcast.com. Don't forget to subscribe so you don't miss the after show where Steph and I go deep into what it's actually look like to leave a high growth SaaS company and build something from scratch, where the event critic name really came from, and the uncomfortable truth about why most companies can't answer the most basic question before they're asked to measure their events.

[00:37:20] And until next time, keep laughing, keep growing, and keep eventing about it.