This is not a recap of the main episode. This is the meeting that rewrote our guest's entire career, told in full. Sara Ann Straw walked in with a binder, a highlighter, and a registration count. She walked out with an $80 million pipeline target attached to her event and no idea how to hit it. What she did in the weeks after that meeting is the actual lesson, and it is more repeatable than it sounds.
In this one:
Bring the four data points executives consistently ask for: who is in the room by account tier, what percentage have open opportunities, which accounts are up for renewal in the next six months, and how many attendees are repeats from last year
Find out why one event leader lost a director role after three flawless product launches, and what the person who got the job did instead
Get the Strategy, Alignment, Scale framework, including why scale means consistency rather than running more events
See the real math on pulling a fragmented event org under one roof, including the $130,000 a year one team stopped spending on an agency
Sit in on an honest conversation about pricing anxiety, discounting people you like, and what nearly 20 years of experience is actually worth per hour
There is also a Bravo break, a Bethenny Frankel story that got someone's father genuinely concerned, and a real debate about whether Montana deserves a Housewives franchise.
If your next executive review is on the calendar and you are still building the deck around attendance, listen to the first ten minutes before you touch another slide.
About the guest: Sara Ann Straw has spent nearly two decades building and rebuilding global event organizations at high-growth tech companies, usually by pulling field, partner, webinar, and corporate events under one roof. She learned to speak executive the hard way, in a meeting where she could not answer why her own company was investing in its own event. Her book, The Experienced Executive, is the version of that lesson she wishes someone had handed her at the start.
Find Sara:
Website: saraannstraw.com
Book: The Experienced Executive — https://a.co/d/07Rit5wG
Podcast: Solo Travel Woman, on Spotify
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/saras23/
About Your Host
Megan Martin is the founder of M Squared Dynamics, a consulting, facilitation, and content strategy firm helping event leaders, marketers, and sales teams turn live experiences into measurable business growth. She's the host and executive producer of Event About It, and a two-time PCMA Visionary Award nominee (2022 winner). With nearly 20 years in the industry, Megan operates at the intersection of event strategy, marketing alignment, and behavioral intent signals, turning events from line items into pipeline drivers.
Connect with Megan and M Squared Dynamics:
Podcast: EventAboutItPodcast.com
Newsletter (Step and Repeat): msquareddynamics.com/stepandrepeatsignup
Consulting and strategy: msquareddynamics.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meganmartincmp/
Instagram: @m2dynamics and @eventaboutit
TikTok: @eventaboutit
Keep the Conversation Going
The best conversations start after the show ends, and the best ones keep going in your inbox. Subscribe to Event About It wherever you get your podcasts and sign up for the Step and Repeat newsletter at msquareddynamics.com/stepandrepeatsignup.
Until next time, stay curious.