evm_september-2023 - 31

BEST PRACTICES
continually willing to reinvent and start
over and think about it from the industry
insight, as well as the attendee insight, "
says Fiona Bruder, president of George
P. Johnson, IBM's experiential agency of
record for more than 20 years, which
helped architect the modern IBM global
event portfolio. " It's a curated experience
unique to 'me.' It's hard work to drive that,
and you have to be willing to take risks. "
FORMATS THAT DRIVE
CONVERSATION
The show this year was designed to deliver
high-level messaging through keynotes
and activations that then drove attendees
into roundtable-like formats to have conversations
about them. The goal was for
attendees to leave feeling as though their
presence at Think is " making a difference " -through
interactions on-site or in
what they bring back to their companies,
according to Bisconti. Hot topics at the
show included AI for business, security,
sustainability, hybrid cloud and what's
next in computing.
" Shorter keynotes, more powerful stories
that are based on client examples,
and partner inclusion, and then you take
people from that experience down into
roundtable experiences and down into a
conversation, versus I'm going to sit and
consume content, " she says. " You hear the
content in a short and very powerful way,
and then you drive to conversations. "
What was once the " expo " portion of
the event was rebranded as The Forum. In
the space, attendees took part in immersive
experiences about
technology and
innovation in action. They could engage
with content and learn from peers about
real use cases, and there were opportunities
to learn " quickly, " like " discover the
business value of top technologies in 15
minutes or less. " Then, they could listen in
on macro trends impacting business and
society from " industry luminaries. "
" We named it purposely, so it's a place
to gather, a place to exchange ideas, and
this idea that The Forum is a destination, "
Biscotti says. " It's the heart of the
event, and it's how we're showing up and
how we're telling our stories through our
clients in a more holistic way. "
A SCALABLE EVENT MODEL
Bisconti is the driving force behind the
IBM portfolio's scalable event model, in
which there aren't any more one-and-done
experiences, but everything, from a tabletop
third-party presence to a global conference,
to where and how a logo is placed,
ladders up and tells one consistent story.
Think on Tour, for example, features
one-day intensives of the " Think experience "
that show up in unique ways in IBM
markets around the world. This year's tour
has delivered content and ideas from the
flagship IBM Think and featured regional
IBM leaders and content delivered
through a " local lens. " Each event features
a miniature Think Forum space with presentations,
demos and areas for meeting
and networking.
And tour locations in some cases are
co-locating with other events-Think
Paris takes place in June on the first day
of Viva Technology at Paris Expo Porte
de Versailles. Just another example of a
macro b-to-b trend IBM is helping to
pioneer.
" We're testing, we're innovating, we're
trying new things, " Bisconti says. " For me,
'agile' means make the best decision you
can with the information you have today
and then learn from it. "
GROWTH STORIES
Three fast facts about the community-centric
Config user conference
Community building is more important than ever for annual
events to thrive today, and web-based design platform Figma has
found success in not only supporting the community but letting
the community take the reins of its five-year-old user conference,
Config. And it's paying off. Config weathered the pandemic and
has grown from 1,000 attendees at its IRL launch in February
2020, to 8,500 attendees at this year's return to an IRL show,
June 21-22, at Moscone Center in San Francisco-what the team
described as a launch party for the new Dev Mode feature.
PROPOSAL-MINING
Figma's head of insights synthesizes the data gleaned from
speaking proposals into an annual report that helps drive
marketing for the show and provides the community with intel on
its current state. For example, the team was able to determine
that the community is " more optimistic than ever " based on the
overall sentiments in submission language like " there's never
been a better time " or " enabled us to thrive. " The data showed
that AI was mentioned three times more year-over-year, as
did mentions of accessibility and inclusion, while mentions of
" pandemic " were at one-sixth the level they were in 2021.
eventmarketer.com
WATCH PARTIES
Tens of thousands of people tuned in to Config 2023 virtually, and
community groups, referred to as " Friends of Figma, " organized
more than 50 watch parties around the world, including one that
took place in Sweden's first nuclear reactor hall. Virtual attendees
had all the same access to content as in-person attendees, but
during the 30-minute in-person breaks, the team aired exclusive
content for virtual audiences so that those at home wouldn't drop
off during " dead-air " time. The content included product deep
dives, interviews with community members and plugin showcases,
all broadcasted live from Moscone Center.
THE VIBE
Given it's an event for designers, it's no surprise that the overall
aesthetic is colorful and modern. Figma wants the event to
feel like a music festival. But it wasn't until the event-inspired
outfits, or " confits, " appeared this year that the team realized it
had succeeded in creating this vibe. This year, attendees posted
outfits they planned to wear, and, before long, hundreds of
attendees were tweeting what they were going to wear. Then,
" conkicks " took off, with attendees sharing what footwear they
were going to rock. Attendees started creating keychains and
earrings of the Figma logo to wear to the event, too-all of this,
initiated and executed by the community, all on its own.
Read more about Config's growth strategy at eventmarketer.com.
FALL 2023 EVENT MARKETER
31
https://www.eventmarketer.com http://www.eventmarketer.com
evm_september-2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of evm_september-2023
