Talking B2B Events with ExchangeWire's Grainne Reid
- Santhosh Venkatesh
- Mar 5
- 32 min read
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Show Notes
In this episode of The Unsold Podcast, we dive deep into the world of B2B tech events with Grainne Reid, Head of Marketing at ExchangeWire—one of the most recognized names in media, marketing, and commerce.
Events have long been a hub for networking, education, and deal-making, but how are they evolving in the digital-first world? What does it take to plan and execute a global flagship event? And with rising expectations from attendees and sponsors, how do event marketers adapt to industry shifts while maintaining quality and engagement?
Grainne brings her insights from running ExchangeWire’s flagship ATS events in London, Singapore, and Tokyo, shedding light on event marketing, planning challenges, sponsorship strategies, and the future of industry events.
Key Talking Points:
✅ How B2B tech events have evolved and why networking is more critical than ever
✅ The planning process behind global events—from agenda setting to sponsor relationships
✅ Regional differences in event culture—what works in London might not work in Singapore or Tokyo
✅ The metrics that define event success—from attendee engagement to sponsorship ROI
✅ The shift from long-form events to shorter, more impact-driven formats
✅ The future of industry events—trends, challenges, and the balance between in-person and digital experiences
Tune in for a deep-dive into the world of B2B events and what it takes to stay ahead in a rapidly changing landscape.
Want to appear as a guest or suggest an industry leader to appear on The Unsold Podcast? Write to sv@teamawts.com
Episode Transcription
00:01:32:15 - 00:01:33:18
Santhosh Venkatesh
How are you doing?
00:01:33:20 - 00:01:43:07
Grainne Reid
I'm doing good, and I'm very happy to be here talking to you today about a very important topic. And obviously, it takes up a huge amount of my job. So, yeah. Delighted to be here.
00:01:43:09 - 00:01:59:06
Santhosh Venkatesh
Fantastic. All right, so let's jump in. So what I'll do is I'll start at the very top. Right. And it is events are well known in the media tech and commerce space. How have you seen these events evolve over the years?
00:01:59:08 - 00:02:33:05
Grainne Reid
Good question. And it would have been something that exchange wire started about 15 years ago. And it came from the back of Exchange Wire being a B2B publication covering media marketing and commerce. And we would have been writing about this online, but we saw an opportunity to try and bring people together for events globally. So yeah, over the years, what we've seen and the reason for it was to try and bring people from all across the industry into one place to meet each other.
00:02:33:07 - 00:02:58:06
Grainne Reid
Mainly for educational purposes, but also to try and bring networking. Because a lot of these people may not have met each other in person before, may not know a lot about each other, whether it's companies. So yes, that's kind of how we've seen it. And the evolution is a lot of different education. New products are evolving all the time.
00:02:58:06 - 00:03:11:07
Grainne Reid
We're seeing new companies popping up all the time. So to try and ensure that everyone is kept up to date and informed is the main purpose and the reason for for us hosting events across the world, across the globe.
00:03:11:09 - 00:03:19:22
Santhosh Venkatesh
Fantastic. So as I understand there are it is happens in different geographies. There is London, obviously there's Singapore, there is Tokyo. Correct. These three or any more?
00:03:20:00 - 00:03:47:17
Grainne Reid
They're the three flagship events that we have at the moment. But again, this has changed over the years. So we've hosted events in Sydney. We've hosted events in Miami and New York. A lot of other smaller countries in Europe. So we've hosted them in, in Stockholm, in Berlin and Madrid and Paris. And what their reason now for us having three flagship events and as you said, it's London, Singapore, Tokyo.
00:03:47:18 - 00:04:08:06
Grainne Reid
We're trying to bring everybody regionally into those events. So London would be the EMEA hub. Singapore is the a park and Tokyo, obviously just a very different markets. But yeah, we've we found that those three are our core core events and that's how we've run it for the last three years.
00:04:08:08 - 00:04:25:12
Santhosh Venkatesh
Fantastic. So I think going on the point of region specific, events. So while there is a common theme across areas, across all the three geographies, are there any region specific differences between three locations? Three minutes.
00:04:25:14 - 00:04:56:07
Grainne Reid
Yeah, absolutely. The events take are very similar for most across the three regions. And it's something that we find has worked well through a lot of testing and speaking to people in markets. But yes, of course, there's going to be regional specific differences, and that will be down to a lot of cultural preferences. For example, at our at Tokyo events, we find that hosting an event on a Friday is quite acceptable.
00:04:56:07 - 00:05:23:18
Grainne Reid
And people are very willing to and attend a conference on a Friday. And this can run quite late in the day as well. So after the content, the stage content finishes, there will be some networking after, if that runs until seven, eight, 9 p.m., that's totally acceptable. If we were to try that method for London, for example, it just wouldn't it wouldn't work the same way at all.
00:05:23:20 - 00:05:55:06
Grainne Reid
The other thing perhaps would be engagements for the audience. So if we're in, if content is running on stage and we were to open questions up to the audience, and we were to introduce roaming mics, I don't imagine we'd have a loss of participation from people in the likes of Singapore or again in Tokyo. Whereas if you were to introduce that for our London events, people would be more than willing to put their hands up and, speak in a microphone to put questions to the stage.
00:05:55:08 - 00:06:20:07
Grainne Reid
So, yeah, in that sort of way, we're very, conscious of market to market, what will work, what won't work. But in terms of the formats and the layers of events, they're they're very similar. And we've tried different things between hosting one day event. Two day event. So yeah, they, they, they do seem to have a very similar format but little tweaks here.
00:06:20:07 - 00:06:24:02
Grainne Reid
And there is kind of what makes an events work fantastic.
00:06:24:08 - 00:06:41:05
Santhosh Venkatesh
So we have spoken about APIs at the top and the three main events. Flagship events. According to you, how do you measure success of a particular event on all these events? What what are the statistics or numbers you look at and say, yes, this event has to meet accessibility.
00:06:41:07 - 00:07:09:22
Grainne Reid
Yeah. So there's lots, lots of different metrics that we measure. Whether it's tied to attendee numbers on the day, the variety and range of attendees that have turned up, feedback from our attendees and also feedback from our partners are a loss, are very important to us. And we would take any comments on boards. Obviously revenue, whether it's from tickets on ROI.
00:07:10:00 - 00:07:37:13
Grainne Reid
I'm sponsorship. So they're they're kind of the key metrics for us that we would measure. Yeah. Down to like session success. So how many people are in the room per session? Was this topic popular? But again, that could be down to a variety of reasons depending on time of the day. Networking. But yeah, there there are key key metrics for measuring success of an event.
00:07:37:15 - 00:07:51:00
Santhosh Venkatesh
Fantastic. So I think this will lead us to go a level deeper and understand the planning and execution part of events. I'm very keen to understand what goes behind planning a particular event.
00:07:51:02 - 00:08:19:06
Grainne Reid
Yeah, I lost the restaurant, I lost. So, yeah, each event would. It takes about 12, 12 months to plan. Each of our events pretty much, that can that is a lot of time in the lead up to the event, but can also be a month or two post event as well. So pretty much, once an event is over, we're straight into planning the next event.
00:08:19:06 - 00:08:49:23
Grainne Reid
So there's a lot of overlap between an event ending and another event beginning. And obviously we're juggling and coordinating multiple multiple events at the same time. But yes, as a as a company, we are not very big. I'm the marketing team consists of three full time staff. So for us to manage and produce and executes very, very large, global events, it's, it makes it takes a lot and they all work very hard.
00:08:49:23 - 00:09:24:12
Grainne Reid
So yeah, between between finding venues, doing research, going venue searching, making sure the agenda is curated accordingly and fits with everything that's going on in the markets us any given time, which you're. Well, no, it changes from day to day. So it's very yeah, it's a lot of work goes into that as and we carry out many research calls with people who have attended the event before and make sure that we speak to everyone throughout the industry.
00:09:24:12 - 00:09:56:03
Grainne Reid
So whether that's from marketers, whether it's agencies, publishers, tech companies, to try and understand what's important to them and make sure they're hitting on the key topics that they would like to see. An event like ads and sponsorship conversations for our partnership team is obviously huge. And that's something, again, that is ongoing. So making sure that we're, yeah, we're facilitating the conversations that those partners want to hear on stage as well.
00:09:56:05 - 00:10:21:14
Grainne Reid
Down to a lot of supplier management, making sure that we have everything organized and things are running as they should. And then, of course, the, the marketing of the event as well. It's also making sure we've got social plans and media plans in place to. Yeah. Marcus. And get across what exactly the event will cover to get people to attend.
00:10:21:16 - 00:10:25:09
Grainne Reid
And just get across the the conversations that we're having.
00:10:25:11 - 00:10:26:06
Santhosh Venkatesh
Fantastic.
00:10:26:08 - 00:10:28:03
Grainne Reid
It's a long it's a long process.
00:10:28:05 - 00:10:44:18
Santhosh Venkatesh
Yes. I mean, it just goes to show the superhuman strength of your team for four people or three full time staff to manage three flagship events across three different time zones, and pulling all of these things together between attendees and sign ups and sponsors and suppliers and the logistics. I mean, it's remarkable.
00:10:44:20 - 00:11:16:19
Grainne Reid
It is. And I guess, like over the last three years, we've kind of honed into specific areas around a loss of, supplier trust and we are using similar venues year on year, which makes things a lot easier. The client knows us. We know the client, whether it's a venue or suppliers, we're using for AV production, or any of the networking options and facilities we're providing, like ticketing and things like that.
00:11:16:19 - 00:11:32:02
Grainne Reid
So, yeah, it is, it's a it's difficult, but the team do a great job. And it's kind of worked well that we are now producing three larger events rather than maybe 6 or 8 events a year.
00:11:32:04 - 00:11:48:18
Santhosh Venkatesh
Fantastic. I think once when we talk about events, talk about all the stakeholders involved, right from the attendees to guest speakers to sponsors. How how does ETS, ensure a great experience for all these people?
00:11:48:20 - 00:12:20:16
Grainne Reid
Yeah, I'm I guess a lot of it is down to you knowing what the attendees want. And that is something that we've seen change maybe since Covid. Anyway. And more specifically around networking. So obviously a lot of the attendees were was we have built the ATS brands around is education and information. So we wanted to make sure everyone was up to date.
00:12:20:16 - 00:12:46:08
Grainne Reid
They knew what these businesses were doing. There was conversations and collaboration going on. And obviously outside of that education, there is the networking element of it too. During Covid, that's proved to be very difficult with in-person events not being possible, where as what we've seen post-Covid as a lot of people are very interested, in this in-person networking element.
00:12:46:10 - 00:13:14:00
Grainne Reid
And that's something that we've had to try and adapt to over the last couple of years. So that a lot of that will be extending networking breaks during the event to allow for this networking that people want to do. Everyone is very excited to see people that they haven't seen in a while, and especially with the brand we're pulling in people from outside of the usual bubble people would work in on a day to day basis or week to week basis.
00:13:14:01 - 00:13:53:18
Grainne Reid
So, for example, at Singapore, not everyone that attends that event is based in Singapore. You've traveled you traveled in a couple of years ago for Singapore there. So there's people flying in from all across a pack. So yes, there's in-person elements is something that we've really had to adapt to. And another example, just down to social engagement, for example, at previous events a nine years ago at ATS, we featured at Twitter or X wall, at events where people would use our event hashtag and they'd ask questions to the speakers, or they would just share their comments and feedback.
00:13:54:00 - 00:14:32:13
Grainne Reid
And this wall would be on screen for everyone in the event to see. This was more specific, actually, just to London. But that's something I that where I go, users aren't really using this platform as much, especially for a professional, work reasons. So we have no change this to an event app. And instead of using the event hashtag for tweeting, or posting on X, we're now posing questions to people and there's a bit more engagement in the audience because the moderator or the person on stage will ask a question to the audience.
00:14:32:13 - 00:14:47:00
Grainne Reid
They'll all have access to the event app, and they can put their answer in or they can put their question into to the speakers. So it's just it's a bit it's adapting to what attendees and what sponsors actually want.
00:14:47:02 - 00:15:08:02
Santhosh Venkatesh
Fair enough. I think the talking on the lines of education and information, yes, what draws attendees as well as sponsors is the quality and the diversity of guest speakers, keynote speakers, and, on that line, how do you create in select speakers and what makes speakers stand out according to you?
00:15:08:04 - 00:15:39:05
Grainne Reid
Yeah. So, I kind of touched on this earlier just about having research calls with, with partners and with other people in the industry. So a lot of that would be hearing from people in region who who is hosted in the area. What's topics, this person may or may not be, better informed. And so a lot of it would be down to, to recommendations.
00:15:39:07 - 00:16:08:04
Grainne Reid
But also with the exchange wire being a publication, we are reading and writing a loss, about the industry. And, we'll see a loss of the key top names come through. An article is that we rise in podcast that we produce and videos that we're creating. So I think the two go kind of hand-in-hand, the events and the editorial side of our business.
00:16:08:06 - 00:16:47:11
Grainne Reid
But knowing, knowing the key topics is a huge help to then making sure the speaker and the topic align correctly. And from there it's either our partners are putting forwards, their experts in whatever that topic may be. So they will obviously then be, added to the agenda and then otherwise it's a lot of just outreach and introduction, whether it be recommendations or people that we, we see, on on other articles on obviously articles that we write or on the likes of LinkedIn.
00:16:47:13 - 00:16:58:00
Grainne Reid
There's many different channels for us to, to try and source the best speakers. And also they need to be engaging. Yeah. Yeah.
00:16:58:02 - 00:17:15:00
Santhosh Venkatesh
So is are there any cases of the speaker roster being similar from one year to the other, or obviously there will be Chop and change depending on who is more active depending on the team, the topic. Will there be similarities between speakers from year one two, year two? Let's say.
00:17:15:01 - 00:17:39:09
Grainne Reid
There are. There are similarities. But we we try to ensure variety of speakers year on year. So giving a different voice to a topic. But again, some, some people may feature on the agenda year on year or one year to the next, what their job title or position may have changed within the company or they're speaking into a very different topic.
00:17:39:11 - 00:18:01:15
Grainne Reid
So yes, there definitely are. And again, the feedback there's there's one particular speaker who will appear on our Singapore agenda this year, but the feedback we've had for this, this woman has been grace numerous people because said all we we thought her session or her voice on the panel was amazing. We'd love to hear more from her.
00:18:01:17 - 00:18:11:19
Grainne Reid
So yeah, it really does depend. But we do try and mix it up and and have different voices year on year. It's very important. And also it's opportunity to, to give other people,
00:18:11:21 - 00:18:29:04
Santhosh Venkatesh
That exposure maybe the freshness of this. Absolutely. I want to talk something about leading up to the event. What focus goes on marketing, specifically inside marketing. What kind of content, do you invest on leading up to the event?
00:18:29:06 - 00:18:58:03
Grainne Reid
Yeah. We build out a marketing social plan and just a marketing plan in general. So there is a lot, a lot goes into that. And we can copy that year to year, but also add in and tweak depending on what we know worked from looking at ticket sales or sponsoring. Reach out. Speaker confirmation. So we'll do a lot of mail shots.
00:18:58:05 - 00:19:27:19
Grainne Reid
Just announcing the events. Whether it be ticket changes, agenda announcements, showing speakers who've been confirmed. We'll also do a loss around audio content. So on our podcast, we will feature a lot of the guests who will be, speaking at the event. We'll do video content. Just some vox pops. Typically as what we would do in terms of video, unless it's a bit more specific.
00:19:27:21 - 00:19:39:22
Grainne Reid
But yeah, that's kind of ad hoc here in there. And a lot of social activity would be happening as well. So there kind of are, are key areas of, of ensuring and marketing the event.
00:19:39:22 - 00:19:45:00
Santhosh Venkatesh
Fantastic. Yeah. Does the podcast have a video feed as well or is it just out? Not audio.
00:19:45:04 - 00:19:55:13
Grainne Reid
No. It's just audio. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We've never actually gone down the route of recording a bus yet.
00:19:55:15 - 00:20:10:15
Santhosh Venkatesh
Okay. Got it. Alright. I think this sets up as a segway to the next segment, which is about marketing and audience engagement. So what are some of the challenges you face in marketing anywhere, too? Like, it's.
00:20:10:17 - 00:20:48:00
Grainne Reid
The challenges of marketing. Hang on. The how am I? All right. Let's go back. Challenges, I guess. Keeping on top of the industry news is probably the the trickiest area of marketing is. And an example that came to my mind would have been last year. I went there every single day. There was a new update on the deprecation of third party cookies, and that was something that we focused a lot of our event content around last year.
00:20:48:02 - 00:21:15:15
Grainne Reid
So and it was top of mind and everyone wanted to speak about this, but obviously the timeline for the last kept changing. So it meant then that the marketing for the event had to completely change. The the agenda. There were a whole load of knock on effects because because of that to us. So that's for example, is one area that is hugely important.
00:21:15:17 - 00:21:36:04
Grainne Reid
And we just need to be very quick to adapt to whatever that may be. So I think that's probably the, the key, is making sure you're educated and informed as to what's going on in the industry to make sure that you can, accurately market and promote the event.
00:21:36:06 - 00:21:59:06
Santhosh Venkatesh
Fantastic. On the execution level? No, no. Are there any challenges worth talking about in the sense? Considering it's a lean team managing, three flagship events across three different geographies. I'm sure you have your own list of suppliers, and vendors will step in and help you. So, any challenges on the execution? What's talking about?
00:21:59:08 - 00:22:34:21
Grainne Reid
Yeah, absolutely. I guess not being in region all the time for each of the events is quite critical point. So not having a team on the ground 100% of the time in Singapore, for example, is is hard because you're trying to build these relationships with clients, with speakers. And yes, it's a bit more acceptable now to have, online conversations and on line relationships, but not having that face to face maze and experience with them is is quite difficult.
00:22:34:23 - 00:23:04:19
Grainne Reid
I think yes, obviously it's a bit more acceptable now, but it's just it's a little bit trickier to manage this. Also, when it comes down to time zones. When you're working seven eight hours, a difference with the time zone that you may be producing an event in can be difficult because it only gives you a short when overlap of when we're working in London, for example, to, teams working in Tokyo.
00:23:04:21 - 00:23:23:23
Grainne Reid
So that that can that can absolutely be a challenge too. But yeah, down to your point of team. We've we've tweaked it very well. The team all work to their best, and we produce, we produce great events off the back of that.
00:23:24:01 - 00:23:50:07
Santhosh Venkatesh
Fantastic. All right. Now, we spoke about leading up to the event and obviously keynotes and guest speakers. Take a huge part in keeping audiences and attendees engaged, even sponsors engaged on the day of the event or multi-day events. Now, besides keynotes, what other things? Does it do to keep audiences and attendees engaged during the event?
00:23:50:09 - 00:24:21:18
Grainne Reid
So we have an event up which we introduced about three years ago. It's something that we did trial. I'd say maybe eight years ago. Okay. But at the time, the, the app functionality wasn't, wasn't there. But also, I don't think it was something that you would see at other events. And the main reason that we kind of went down that route eight years ago was to try and be a bit more sustainable.
00:24:21:18 - 00:24:41:03
Grainne Reid
So reduce printing of agendas, for example. It also meant that you'd have a little bit more time before an agenda was produced and curated, and you have to send it to the printer if you need to have a specific lead time, at least with an app, you can update this there and then once it's done. But I think yeah.
00:24:41:03 - 00:25:05:08
Grainne Reid
So that's one thing definitely that we've introduced to try and engage people. So you can network on this app, you can meet attendees and speakers in advance of the event. So it kind of gives you. A little bit more detail and information. You can arrange meetings. You know who's going to be there. There's also the functionality, like I mentioned earlier, for polling during sessions.
00:25:05:08 - 00:25:29:06
Grainne Reid
So during an actual panel session or during a keynote, if a speaker, is asking a question, the the audience can just answer and give their opinion on it. It just makes that engagement between an audience and a speaker, whereas it's not like the audience are just sitting there and listening to the conversation. It actually pulls both of them together.
00:25:29:08 - 00:25:51:18
Grainne Reid
The networking stands as well as another way for engaging people, just making, making sure the networking and the catering are taking place in the same areas. And that's something that we have across the board for all three of our flagship arts events. There's not just what specific room for networking and showcasing and one room for catering.
00:25:51:18 - 00:26:08:19
Grainne Reid
We make sure it's all together so that people can move around, they can chat to sponsors and exhibitors while they're also, having their coffee break. So, all of those are key areas for us to to try and engage the audience as best possible.
00:26:08:21 - 00:26:36:19
Santhosh Venkatesh
Fantastic. We spoke about you spoke about, your podcast, how what role it plays in leading up to the event. And also there is, there are these keynotes and content generated during the event and some form of content or summarization as such, if we can say so after the event. Have you noticed any shifts in terms of, content consumption from the audience side, from their perspective about the event itself?
00:26:36:19 - 00:26:41:17
Santhosh Venkatesh
Before, during, and after?
00:26:41:19 - 00:27:08:10
Grainne Reid
I would, I guess content shifts, maybe again, like Covid would be a good example. There would have been some event fatigue, perhaps pre-COVID, because events were everywhere. And then in a very short space of time, everything had to switch to virtual online events. So that sort of changed the dynamic, the reason for people to attend events.
00:27:08:12 - 00:27:44:16
Grainne Reid
But it also, excuse me, it also meant that, you'd see some events leaving some events or some events growing. But in terms of consumption, I think people's attention, it wasn't fully there like it may be now. So, yes, I guess the way the reason for steering video content and audio content, and I guess social content is all to try and hit everyone's specific requirements and attention span.
00:27:44:16 - 00:28:00:16
Grainne Reid
So whether that be short form video, whether that be a 30 minutes audio podcast, it's different content being shared. But just to try and reach those, those people and the form and medium that they want.
00:28:00:18 - 00:28:23:09
Santhosh Venkatesh
Right. I think the Covid, you know, that one and half two years was a great reset for in-person events because as they say, there's a problem. It says you don't understand the value until you lose it for a little while. And all of a sudden, with everybody, everything went virtual and digital and people start realizing, you know, what in-person events, they have a different tune altogether than people came back with you a lot of vigor.
00:28:23:11 - 00:28:41:21
Santhosh Venkatesh
And, thank God that it it is going good. And I hope it sustains for a long time, because no matter what technology, even with AI and everything, at the end of the day, the transaction of knowledge and business and commerce is between people anyways. So we have to congregate somewhere to talk about all these things.
00:28:41:23 - 00:29:11:01
Grainne Reid
Yeah. And just even just to touch on that too. There's been a lot that we've seen as well, just around the timing of events. So where the length of time of them event. So we would have hosted events across two days at certain points in time. But we find that people's time is so valuable. And for them to give two days out of their five day week to attend a conference is a loss.
00:29:11:03 - 00:29:41:20
Grainne Reid
And it's something that we find for us. Anyway, has shifted and again, that may pivot again, but we have changed our event format to to run over one day. But instead of two days and one stream of content, it's now one day and several streams of content. So it's just to try and hit that point. But people are very happy to then attend a one day conference because they know they can meet everyone they want to meet, attend the sessions that they want to attend.
00:29:41:20 - 00:29:53:09
Grainne Reid
If they miss a certain section because they're in another content stream, that video content will be available to them after the event that they can still consumes during their own time after.
00:29:53:11 - 00:30:18:22
Santhosh Venkatesh
Make absolute perfect sense. Now I want to talk about. Llegaron. Mia, I want to talk. We spoke about guest speakers and industry leaders and what important role they play. I want to touch base on the sponsorship side. So you guys bring in a lot of premier, sponsors to be part of your flagship events. How do you stay on top and keep the relationship going with sponsors?
00:30:19:00 - 00:30:52:08
Grainne Reid
So our partnerships team do a great job, managing those relationships with the sponsors. So they're constantly in conversation with them, attending sessions that they may host or internal events that they have, knowing exactly what new products they're releasing. So it is it's a full time job to have those relationships, but yes, still sell the sponsorship to the right company.
00:30:52:10 - 00:31:17:19
Grainne Reid
And that package align correctly to make sure their message comes across and to the audience that we have. So yeah, it it's not easy. But I new companies like I mentioned earlier are popping up everywhere. There's a, there's sponsors names that we've had over the last couple of years that wouldn't have existed five years ago.
00:31:17:21 - 00:31:41:22
Grainne Reid
But they're doing really innovative and exciting things. So making sure that we're on top of that. But I think, again, landing into the publication side of our business with the exchange wire, it goes hand in hand. So there may be sponsorship packages going on that are outside of event sponsorships, but they may be written content or video content.
00:31:42:00 - 00:32:03:03
Grainne Reid
And as that business grows, they will then potentially bridge over into the event sponsorship or vice versa. So it's not just purely selling events. There, there obviously are a lot of other, a lot of other products that that we're selling to our clients as well.
00:32:03:05 - 00:32:10:18
Santhosh Venkatesh
The publication and the events. Naturally act as each of those extensions. So that's why it's so organic and absolutely. Yes. Fantastic.
00:32:10:19 - 00:32:36:17
Grainne Reid
Yeah. And a lot of the sponsorship packages for events, to try and maybe, a client might do a written article or an interview with us, which will be published on our event sites. And it might just kind of nicely weave into the conversation then, that they are having on stage at the ATS event, and then post that they may do a video or a whiteboard session or a podcast.
00:32:36:23 - 00:32:41:21
Grainne Reid
So they all just come and fit nicely together.
00:32:41:23 - 00:33:11:22
Santhosh Venkatesh
Fantastic. I think, the sponsor is talking about, sponsor to extending the conversation here while guest speakers bring a lot of thought leadership. I'm sure sponsors also act as thought leadership because they come here to, generate some kind of awareness, for their brand, for their products. And, and while there is editorial integrity on one side and then sponsorship on the other, how do you balance these two?
00:33:12:00 - 00:33:40:00
Grainne Reid
Yeah. And that's very difficult. From, from time to time. Anyway, we make sure that each partner is briefed in accordingly. So like the one thing that we know and we've had so much feedback, the clients know this as well. But what to avoid would be client pitches. So nobody enjoys Aquino's that someone is just selling their product on stage.
00:33:40:02 - 00:34:02:04
Grainne Reid
The conversation needs to be where the keynote needs to be educational and engaging. And we've had a number. Well, we've had many a great keynote speaker, but there are a couple and again, it depends on how recent they may be. But if one is exceptional, we'll send it to a client. And to say this, the feedback we've had for this is amazing.
00:34:02:04 - 00:34:36:14
Grainne Reid
If you can follow a very similar format, this is what the audience wants to see. So ensuring ensuring that they're briefed as best possible. But also say if it is a fireside chats or a panel discussion, we make sure that the moderator is impartial to that conversation so that we would never have a technology vendor moderating a conversation with, another technology vendor or competing technology vendor, because that just wouldn't it wouldn't be right or fair then.
00:34:36:14 - 00:35:03:07
Grainne Reid
And similar to the tech companies that may feature on a specific panel discussion two will avoid having conflicting clients on stage where they want to obviously not be on stage together. There obviously have been cases where two tech companies want to come head to head in the conversation, for whatever the reason may be. But yes, it is just making sure that we're briefing people as much as possible.
00:35:03:09 - 00:35:28:11
Grainne Reid
And we send a lot of briefing information ahead of time to all of our speakers. Prep calls are arranged. So there's many conversations that have been had in the lead up to that stage conversation to ensure everything is nicely, woven together. And there are good opinions outside of the tech sponsors with whether it be an agency or a brand or a publisher.
00:35:28:14 - 00:35:34:12
Grainne Reid
Stage for that conversation. Just to to have a full round of discussion.
00:35:34:14 - 00:35:42:00
Santhosh Venkatesh
Right. How challenging is it to attract and retain sponsors for a flagship event year over year?
00:35:42:02 - 00:36:19:12
Grainne Reid
It depends on what the company is doing. So if there are many products being launched or the company is at a stage where it needs that visibility and voice, then yeah, it's great having them year on year sponsor for the event. Obviously budgets depending maybe a reason for sponsors not being able to to sign a contract for event sponsorship, especially as the prize for an event sponsorship would obviously be a lot higher than perhaps a podcast or a recent article.
00:36:19:14 - 00:36:43:14
Grainne Reid
So it's just making sure that the conversations are had with good time to ensure budgets can be signed off accordingly. I'm making sure the price points for whatever the sponsorship package may be. If they can't, they don't have the budget for a premium sponsorship. Perhaps they want a different package where their logo will still be visible.
00:36:43:14 - 00:37:01:20
Grainne Reid
They'll still have a presence at the event, yet they may not have, full an audience stage session for one of their speakers for 20 minutes. So just having these conversations, understanding exactly what the client wants, and making sure there's a package there that is suitable for them is is important.
00:37:01:22 - 00:37:26:16
Santhosh Venkatesh
Fantastic. All right, Ronnie, thank you so much. So we have spoken about, the planning and execution as well as the content. So as well as relationship with sponsors and guest speakers, I want to switch gears and talk about content when we understand that a lot of effort and resources goes into leading up to the event to drive a lot of signups and eyeballs and attendees, and I'm keenly interested to understand the in terms of resources.
00:37:26:17 - 00:37:51:23
Santhosh Venkatesh
Do we have your team? How big is a team on the day of the event, or if it is multiple day events, what kind of content is generated and how much of it is actually used post-event to ensure there's brand recall and there is content going out, you know, spread out over a few months so that you exchange wire and it's remains top of the mind for not only sponsors, but also attendees and guest speakers.
00:37:52:01 - 00:38:17:10
Grainne Reid
Yeah. So think yeah. Similar to the marketing team, the team that would be on site at an event was it's not huge. And again, it would depend on event to event and region to region. So our London event for example will have the full team there. So will likely be about 12 people. But within that the content team are only three people.
00:38:17:12 - 00:38:42:21
Grainne Reid
So it's a lot for them to try and ensure they are running vox pops or, they may have video interviews with people because again, some of our clients, because if they're traveling in, they want to have these face to face interviews or weddings. So there's a lot for them to try and squeeze into a very short amount of time.
00:38:42:23 - 00:38:59:22
Grainne Reid
But vox pops, for example, would be one thing that we would do across each of our events. Some of them are pre-arranged, others are just ad hoc on the day. So during a networking session, we might pull a few people and just saying, can we ask you a few questions? So people are very willing to do that.
00:38:59:22 - 00:39:24:04
Grainne Reid
And we can just edit that into a nice video and use it as post event promotion. So yeah, a lot, a lot of the content that is produced ahead of the event would be used ahead of the event, as in terms of promotion. Then during the event, the on site vox pops that are recorded will be used as post event promotion.
00:39:24:06 - 00:39:53:20
Grainne Reid
But also what we do is we record each of our sessions. So all of the video content for the event will be available to attendees or people who've registered for the event post event. So they'll have all of this video content from all of our paid for sponsors. Also receive the raw files of these videos too. So outside of us doing our own promotion and tagging each of the speakers and clients, unless they can use that video footage as they like to.
00:39:54:02 - 00:40:05:07
Grainne Reid
So it's trying to get it out to as many channels as possible. Because yeah, we want the content to be available and seen by as many people as possible.
00:40:05:09 - 00:40:29:01
Santhosh Venkatesh
Right. I have one question. Let's say if budget and resources were not a constraint, leaving aside the areas London where you have pretty much your entire team there talking about Tokyo and Singapore, if budget and resources were not a constraint, would you? How would you approach in terms of creating content from those events a little differently, or would it remain the same?
00:40:29:03 - 00:40:55:20
Grainne Reid
What? It remained the same. We'd obviously be able to do a lot more at the events, around video production and Singapore. We do we do have a room where we all host some video sessions. Tokyo, we don't have that as much. In London, our videographer will go around and take some video footage of people in the networking area.
00:40:55:22 - 00:41:15:21
Grainne Reid
It would, it would change slightly for Singapore and Tokyo in terms of being able to do a bit more, because we would have more hands. I'm where people I well, it's, it would remain quite similar, to be honest, because this is what we find works for Vietnam.
00:41:16:01 - 00:41:45:20
Santhosh Venkatesh
The other question was, the audience, the average age of the audience is getting younger and younger. Yeah. So there is Gen Z and Gen, and for if I'm, if I'm not wrong will step in and the content consumption patterns, drastically change from the millennials to 20s and the future generations. How much of this actually gets discussed and how much attention is paid in terms of marketing either being pre, during or post event?
00:41:45:22 - 00:42:14:06
Grainne Reid
I think our audience for ATS is probably slightly different to some events, just based on the seniority of our attendees, and that's something that we are working to encourage more of the younger generation to attend the event. And it's something that has worked over the last two years. I say we're we're working on it. We're getting more people to attend the event based off partnerships that we're running.
00:42:14:08 - 00:42:41:19
Grainne Reid
But in terms of content that we're producing and sharing, it's something that's in motion and we're internally trying to figure out is exactly what will work best. Whether it be some TikTok content. So it's just some we're not present on TikTok. We want to be present on TikTok, but it's trying to make make sure we're hitting the right people in the forms of content that they want to consume.
00:42:41:21 - 00:42:59:22
Grainne Reid
So it's tricky, but it's something that we're working on. But again, just because our audience isn't quite there yet, that the forms of marketing and content that we're producing seems seems to be doing what it needs to do for now.
00:43:00:00 - 00:43:15:18
Santhosh Venkatesh
And I think, I think in India, TikTok is banned and we have more of an old side in view into Tik Tok. Yeah, short form content display where 90% of it is Instagram Reels. Yeah. And YouTube shorts being, playing a small role. So yeah, so far.
00:43:15:20 - 00:43:32:21
Grainne Reid
And we're present on Instagram, and we would, would share a lot of our content on audio on Instagram. So I guess, yes, that's one that we definitely are present on. But LinkedIn, LinkedIn and Instagram were our main forms of social activity.
00:43:32:23 - 00:43:39:02
Santhosh Venkatesh
Are there any is there any live streaming that that does happen during that sort of no.
00:43:39:04 - 00:44:10:14
Grainne Reid
Yeah. No. Good question. We have considered this several times. And for now we are happy to keep the event as an in-person event. Just to try and encourage that relationship building, face to face. Obviously during Covid and the first event anyway, post-Covid, we should we shouldn't we both everyone's feedback and attendees, they were very happy to attend the event.
00:44:10:15 - 00:44:27:00
Grainne Reid
So this is working for now. We're we're still keeping them in person but virtual. It's it's not off the table for us. Depending on how things go. And shifts in events are fantastic.
00:44:27:02 - 00:45:04:22
Santhosh Venkatesh
I'm very new to this, the events site, and I see a bridge between the entertainment industry as well as how events can be marketed. For example, think about the Oscars. You have mics standing outside near the red carpet, and there are people holding mics talking to celebrities inside and a hybrid of some sort of this where the digital audience, where you can expand your audience to, can consume a different type of content, where you still focus on what happens on the platform in, at these events, I think probably maybe that is part of the future.
00:45:04:22 - 00:45:05:19
Santhosh Venkatesh
Maybe.
00:45:05:21 - 00:45:34:18
Grainne Reid
Yeah. No, definitely. And many event companies do this and it works for them. I think just down to the points maybe that I touched slightly on earlier. People's time is so valuable. So if you, for example, are not able to travel because of whatever work or personal responsibilities you have, being able to tune in virtually to this is a great way to be able to consume event content.
00:45:34:19 - 00:45:58:09
Grainne Reid
Well, I, we still find that there's nothing can really beat that in person relationship building. For, for now. But no, I definitely agree that the entertainment side bringing them both together is grace. And yeah, we're not saying never.
00:45:58:11 - 00:46:31:02
Santhosh Venkatesh
So far, I think it has been a wonderful conversation. We have spoken about what was and spoken about what is, and now I want to switch focus towards what can be. I think, in terms of possibilities, looking into the future. So thankfully, as I mentioned earlier, in-person events are still, relevant and long may it continue. Even though digital strategies strategies are applied, are layered on top of or in-person events well out of.
00:46:31:04 - 00:46:59:08
Santhosh Venkatesh
Besides what have spoken so far in terms of making digitally relevant pre, during and post event, anything else which we can talk about in terms of applying a digital first strategy where you envision and say, all right, and do it for the next year or two for our flagship events, something digital first one, two and three or something where we can apply and experiment with.
00:46:59:10 - 00:47:02:21
Grainne Reid
New I haven't got this one works.
00:47:02:23 - 00:47:07:07
Santhosh Venkatesh
Yeah, that's that's pretty heavy.
00:47:07:09 - 00:47:18:16
Grainne Reid
What what? I don't even know how to answer that question. Can you can you rephrase a slightly and maybe my the subjects will get rolling? Yeah. Sorry.
00:47:18:18 - 00:47:42:06
Santhosh Venkatesh
Not a problem at all. So I think where I came, the point of view is, in terms of creating enough content and marketing it, especially post event where you pay a lot of attention in terms of summarizing content, let's say a specific set for sponsors to keep it top of the mind for them, and then for guest speakers, then for the attendees.
00:47:42:07 - 00:47:57:04
Santhosh Venkatesh
Is there scope for anything digital to be done to improve these aspects, or do you have any plans in the future to apply? If we have already addressed it, I think we can just skip over it and move on to the next one.
00:47:57:06 - 00:48:10:16
Grainne Reid
Is there think digital? I could just think of like more video content or more audio content. They're they would be my only thing. Sorry, I haven't given this one perfect.
00:48:10:17 - 00:48:21:04
Santhosh Venkatesh
All right, so let's talk about trends. What innovation or trends do you think will reshape in-person industry events, let's say, in the foreseeable future?
00:48:21:06 - 00:49:14:09
Grainne Reid
What trends? I think well, yeah, in-person events, timing, timing of events is very important. And making sure that the topics that are relevant are what are attracting those attendees. So and I guess just format as well. That would be another thing in terms of trends. So something that we have seen and will be executing this year is roundtable conversations, because a lot, a lot of conversations from our sponsors have been that they would like these smaller, more intimate conversations with potential clients or clients that they already have.
00:49:14:11 - 00:49:46:17
Grainne Reid
So outside of just stage content in a conference room with a couple of hundred people, they'd rather have a more in-depth conversation for ten 15 minutes with a ten people around it. So I think this is something it's obviously always been on the table. And events run this way a lot. But it's not something that we have seen at ATS, events before, and it's something that more and more clients are asking for fit.
00:49:46:17 - 00:50:25:12
Grainne Reid
I think the other thing is around data. So more and more clients are wanting attendee data. And obviously around GDPR and data policies. This is something that we're very wary of. But something that we need to be conscious about. And yeah, finding, finding ways where we can give data but be thus they have their networking stands and they're attracting clients so they can get data in that way rather than sharing it with them.
00:50:25:14 - 00:50:37:22
Grainne Reid
So just trying to move and come up with ideas and suggestions in that way are kind of areas that we are moving towards, but it's kind of smaller steps fit.
00:50:38:00 - 00:50:48:19
Santhosh Venkatesh
All right. I want to close this conversation and go with a very simple question. If you could change one thing about industry conferences, what would it be?
00:50:48:21 - 00:51:45:19
Grainne Reid
I could change one thing. This was a difficult question. Well, I guess the one thing would be the understanding that attendees and clients needs to have about the value of events. So understanding that. Well, curating, managing, producing these events come at a cost and they come at a cost to us as a business. There's a lot that goes into the background of producing, these events, but the sponsorship prices and the ticket prices are all priced accordingly based on the work that goes into this, and making making clients aware that we're a business as well.
00:51:45:20 - 00:52:34:06
Grainne Reid
And this is how we make our money. If clients are dragging, signing sponsorship for longer and longer and not giving reasons why, it obviously makes our life difficult. So just understanding the business model for event businesses, would be something that's very important. But knowing that obviously the quality content we need to be compensated for us, and I don't think there's that level of understanding for, for a lot of the people that would attend, or partner with events down to the minute details, you understand, but just not they don't see the full, the full work that goes into producing, these events for.
00:52:34:11 - 00:52:45:21
Santhosh Venkatesh
Thank you. Thank you so much for an insightful, wonderful conversation. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I'm 100% sure that our audience will also enjoyed. How did you find attached today?
00:52:45:23 - 00:52:55:23
Grainne Reid
Yeah. Thank you so much for having me there. Yeah, there's a lot that we could have spoken about. Well, more that we could have spoken. I, I really enjoyed it. And thank you so much for having me.
00:52:56:01 - 00:52:57:10
Santhosh Venkatesh
Thank you so much. Thank you.
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