Event Marketer Spring 2022 - 65

WALDEN
BRAND: GitHub
CURRENT TITLE: VP-Corporate Events
DREAM TEAM TITLE: Senior VP-Brand Experience &
Creative Technology
WHY WE WANT HIM: For his film and video
production background that inspires better content
formats and " beyond the desktop " digital engagement.
For Adam Walden, events are a family
affair. His mother was an event producer
who planned large-scale gatherings in
their home state of Connecticut. And upon
graduating from college, he got his first
taste of professional event planning while
working for five years at META Group, an
information technology research and analytics
company known for its large-scale,
bicoastal user conferences.
" I remember even from a young age
being impressed about the transformational
power of events, " says Walden. " How a
space or someplace you'd been two million
times before, with lights and decoration,
could be transformed with people coming
in to really experience something totally
different. "
That creative urge inspired his next
move, as Walden launched his own film
and video production company in New
York. He also joined Gen Art, a nationally-recognized
arts and entertainment
company and marketing agency connecting
brands and young adults through film,
fashion, music and art.
Working as Gen Art's chief strategist
and creative director was his " event bootcamp, "
managing marketing strategies and
programs for 100 annual events for worldclass
consumer brands like Acura, Armani,
Delta Airlines and Starbucks.
While he was working in the consulting
agency world, specifically on product
brand marketing close to software developeventmarketer.com
ment,
Walden crossed paths with GitHub,
a blockchain-agnostic application platform
that enables developers to deploy blockchain-integrated
applications. Today he is
the company's vp of corporate marketing.
At GitHub, Walden has brought a fresh
eye to the b-to-b brand and its customer
event space, evolving the content, corporate
events and video broadcasting programs.
As executive producer of GitHub
Universe, the premier event for the global
developer community, this programming
has engaged more than 300,000 developers
around the globe. He manages up to 12
annual events to strengthen developer
and customer engagement as well
as brand affinity, which helps identify
event effectiveness for ROI.
" GitHub was kind of when everything
came together from the technology
side, to the event marketing side
and now back to the event production
side of things, " Walden says of his career.
" We're set up as a real center of excellence.
We're really helping create consistency and
best practices. "
The pandemic has shifted the GitHub
event team's focus to delivering shorter
events with a better post-meeting experience.
Walden's team, in particular, is also
focused on extending the lifecycle of content,
maximizing it for social media and for
the GitHub sales team. And the secret to
recreating in-person interactions, he says,
may be in the metaverse.
Of course, operating sustainably is
the norm at GitHub, and Walden sees eco
practices becoming the events industry
standard. The team has always worked
remotely and partners with eco-conscious
vendors and agencies on everything from
meatless menus to ensuring mindful water
consumption at events.
FACT:
Walden's event
expertise is not limited
to the technology space. As
president of Gen Art agency,
he worked with the Beastie
Boys on the band's Sundance
Film Festival performance
for the launch of
Myspace music.
" We're looking at carbon-free software, "
Walden says of the next frontier. " We've
been carbon neutral since 2019, and our
goal is to use 100 percent renewable energy
by 2025. We are on pace for that, and even
becoming carbon negative by 2030. "
Walden, lead us into the future.
SPRING 2022 EVENT MARKETER
65
http://www.eventmarketer.com
Event Marketer Spring 2022

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