We're Not Marketers
Gabriel Bujold, Eric Holland, Zach Roberts
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Your CEO Just Handed You an Event. Now What? w/ Maggie Arai
Your CEO just said you're hosting an event. You've never run one. Now what? Maggie Arai is the Founder of IRL Studios, where she designs in-person events for online brands. She's run more than 70 of them. She's also the person keeping Death to Marketing, our own conference, out of a ballroom with fluorescent lighting. We asked her what a product marketer needs to know before their first event lands on their desk. Where the budget quietly disappears (food and bev, every time). Why every event needs a 10 to 15% contingency line. And her take on open networking (heads up: not the answer none of us expected). She also tells us, on the record, where we already messed up planning our own event. If you've been handed an event with no budget, no team, and a note to "do something like that happy hour," start here.What and who was mentioned in today's episodeIRL Studios, Maggie's company: https://irlstudios.ca Maggie Arai on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maggie-arai/ Above the Fold: https://www.spiralyze.com/abovethefold Highline by UserEvidence: https://userevidence.com/highline/ Toronto Tech Week: https://www.torontotechweek.com/ Death to Marketing: https://www.death-to-marketing.comIn this episode 00:00 Welcome, and the hosts introduce themselves 00:29 Meet Maggie Arai, Founder of IRL Studios and our event planner 01:31 Why would anyone sign up to run something this insane? 02:18 Nobody wants another ballroom with fluorescent lighting 03:26 What scared her about taking on her first B2B event 04:29 Event number 71, and still intimidated 05:44 You don't have to be a product marketer to have imposter syndrome 06:01 Are the rules different for B2B and consumer events? 09:21 Her first real exposure to a room full of product marketers 11:04 The IRL Studios thesis: getting online people into one room 13:31 Zach wants his lawyer in a suit 14:19 Be honest: where did we mess up? 14:50 The budget line nobody scoped: venue visits 16:32 Get more detailed in your budget than you think you need 17:57 Why every event budget needs a 10 to 15% contingency line 18:58 Your CEO says you're hosting an event. What catches you off guard? 19:23 Food and bev will eat your budget 21:13 Skydiving, whitewater rafting, and the insurance question 22:46 Why we killed the roast, and what replaced it 26:23 How Maggie designs events people actually want to attend 27:57 Easy to host an event, hard to host one that moves the needle 28:45 Why Death to Marketing ends with a field trip 30:23 The one event practice that has to die 31:05 Open networking has to die 33:18 The invisible hierarchy in every networking room 36:16 Drink tickets are not a designed experience 37:22 Toronto Tech Week: two DJs and nowhere to talk 38:27 Go see the room for yourself 39:20 Where to find Maggie Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.
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