Name: The VIP Shift: Strategic Experiences for Top-Tier Engagement
Uploaded: 2025-02-27T18:20:08.760Z
Duration: 54 min 44 s
Description: The VIP Shift: Strategic Experiences for Top-Tier Engagement

Transcript for "The VIP Shift: Strategic Experiences for Top-Tier Engagement": Everyone, we are so excited to, welcome our next speaker to the stage. We have Marissa Naboski, here to present with us. Welcome, Marissa. Why don't you go ahead and come on stage? We'll get started. Good morning. Thanks, Kelsey. Really excited to be here. Big shout out to Lisa, Kelsey, Jess, Megan, the rest of the Gregory event services team. So today, we're gonna be talking about the VIP shift, what that looks like in terms of strategic experiences for top tier engagement. So a little bit about myself. I am a 15 industry vet. I have done collectively over 2,000 events in my career. A lot of this has been, about half on the agency side, half on the brand side. Been lucky enough to work with companies running the event program for LEGO and Bose. Had the opportunity to execute partnerships with NASA, Microsoft, the NFL, to name a few. Before we get started, Kelsey has so kindly put a poll up, and I just wanna gauge where everyone is in terms of do you do VIP or executive experiences? Is this part of your pipeline, your events program? So if you wanna take a second and just, vote in that just to kinda get a gauge on where everybody is. And it looks like, you know, we have a couple people do it regularly. We have a few occasionally. Couple interested, but not right now. K. Great. So why do VIP programs matter? So a couple big things. So enhanced brand loyalty is number one. You can use them to increase deal closure. So if you have some POs that have been outstanding, great way to kind of push those over the line. Stronger relationships between your customers, your key, companies or your partners, and it can help bring positive word-of-mouth. So VIP programs can essentially be your best asset for building pipeline, driving positive brand sentiment, and increasing customer loyalty. So a recent poll from Freeman showed that 78% of attendees now expect more interactive and engaging experiences. So what does that mean for today's executive and VIP programs? So we need to start shifting from what I call transactional. These old school steak dinners where a lot of times your attendees would show up to get the freebie, to get the nice dinner, to more of a transformational. So these are more, layered experiences. They're set to really engage and foster change within your attendees to really get them to resonate with your company and with the brand. So, anyone kinda studying for the CMP exam, if you're wondering what do you do first with an event, the answer is always outline the program goals and objectives. And so for time's sake today, we're just gonna say that you're starting to develop a VIP program, and the challenge is really to figure out how to enhance the engagement and foster deeper relationships with your top clients and partners. So your goal is moving from these transactional interactions, these single kind of brief moments, and create truly memorable strategic experiences that can help you drive those tangible results. So the way you do that is I've come up with and implemented this through a few of my different, programs is three different shifts. One is called defining the VIP. So what does this look like? So VIP status is earned is earned and not assigned and often goes beyond a title. So when you're identifying key stakeholders, you wanna look at areas of importance to your company. So that could be influence, potential return, strategic alignments. A lot of times you wanna begin to segment these VIPs into different groups based on their level of influence. So are they thought leaders in the industry? Are they aligned with your strategic importance? What type of engagement they might have? Some of the groupings that you could find, you have your super fans, your repeat customers, your partners and collaborators, the executive leadership in the c suite, thought leaders and influencers, and then your key decision makers. One of the things that's important to remember is the specific needs and interests and the motivations of your VIPs will vary. So they can vary within a group. They can vary individually. So you wanna be sure to research and understand their own goals and interests. So shift two, this is called the three c's framework, and so it lays, a foundation for how you wanna design these experiences. So when we're talking about the three c's, we're talking about connection. So how are you going to facilitate those meaningful connections between your VIPs and your company? And these could be key members of your company like your own executive leadership, perhaps your designers or your product team. The type of content, so what valuable content can you provide to help to engage and inform your VIPs? Cultivation. So this is a lot to do with kind of personalization. How are you gonna nurture the relationship before, during, and after the event and make sure that you're building these long term, commitments to your partners and your VIPs? So in terms of connection, we're looking at facilitating networking opportunities and really focusing on creating a sense of community and belonging. You wanna ensure your VIPs feel valued and appreciated. A lot of these have to do with personalized introductions and really focusing on more of the small intimate gatherings. So a couple ways that I love to do this is I'm a huge advocate and fan of advisory boards or customer councils. So this is something I've done throughout my career, starting, you know, when I first worked in pharma years ago and have a lot of physicians to get their input on new drugs coming to market or surgical devices. Most recently, I did an advisory board when I was at LEGO. So advisory boards should be designed around the company's needs. They help to foster a sense of collaboration. They can provide you with strategic guidance. You can choose members of your advisory board that are going to give you product feedback, perhaps after products have gone to market or during the development stage. They can help you to talk about problems or issues that are currently seeing in the marketplace and help you to develop thought leadership. You can offer them a short or long term commitment to the board. Ideally, you know, 12 to 15 members is kind of like the sweet spot. And a lot of times you wanna make sure that you consult with your legal counsel before you build these because there could be disclosures or waivers that need to be signed. When we were at LEGO, one of the great things we did with the advisory board was we talked about a lot of the the issues they were seeing in the market during the pandemic and worked with them to create some thought leadership that was available for other educators and teachers. And then collectively, the team went to a industry trade show where they presented a lot of the work that they did on behalf of of Lego. So, again, it's it's a really great way to connect with your audience and utilize those thought leaders in the space. Another thing that I'm a huge fan of are called AMA, so ask me anything sessions. These we rolled out during the pandemic, through some partner conferences that we did, and it's basically giving the opportunity for your customers or your partners to have an open dialogue with executive leadership or senior management. They can vary in size, but often it's better when they're smaller, makes it feel a little bit more intimate. You can have your audience presubmit questions where they can ask live best when run with a host or a moderator. And, again, you know, check with legal counsel because in some cases, there might be specific topics that you can't address in terms of, like, contracts or maybe selling costs, things like that. So AMAs are a really great way to kinda open the door and let your customers see what's, you know, kinda behind the curtain with your company and with your executive management. Additional approaches that you can consider. So, meet the team events. These are great. I've done these at a lot of industry shows and internal events where we'll let, customers come up and meet, you know, like our product designers, let them ask questions or some of our tech specialists to troubleshoot some issues they might be having. You could create an exclusive VIP community. So it's just kind of an area in a safe zone for your VIPs to communicate or share stories. Dedicated VIP contacts, so that one main contact on the company side that they can reach out to with any questions or concerns, client specific implementation or personalized onboarding. This is really big in b two b where you have, like, in a dedicated account manager after they purchased the product to kinda work with them on how you're gonna install it, what kind of training do they need to help them get up and running. And then really big, we did this a lot at Bose, is video messages. So, again, you know, personalizing those messages after your customers have purchased something or come to an event to thank them, welcome them, you know, just kinda check-in on them. It's a great way to kinda add that nice finesse to it. So in terms of content, so this is where we're talking a little bit more about creating those unique and memorable activities. So focusing more on curated experiences, aligning those experiences with the interests of your VIPs or their specific business goals, and really focus on kind of, like, those boutique exclusive events. So I like I said earlier, I was lucky enough to work for Bose for a few years running, their global events team there. And if you haven't looked up doctor Bose, highly recommend it. He's a very inspirational person. One of his big mottos was if you don't believe something is possible, don't interrupt the person trying to achieve it. So we would do these really, really cool events. They're customer appreciation days. We would bring select VIPs and customers in, give them a behind the scenes tour, kick off with a nice kind of brand video about doctor Bose. They get to meet with key personnel from the company, ask some questions, really see how things were made and what kind of went into the brand and and what the brand stood for. So these are really great to kind of strengthen that tie with your VIP and then add in these subtle white glove moments. So when they'd come to campus, we'd have a shuttle that would bring them around to the different buildings and just put, like, a nice welcome sign on the on the shuttle. And, again, it wasn't didn't cost anything, wasn't a lot, but it was just a nice little touch to thank them for coming. Another thing that you can do is early access and exclusive previews and performances. So this again is, you know, focusing on those product demos or upcoming releases, really utilizing, like, your partnerships or your ambassadors. So the first one is a picture from an NFL game. So Bose, obviously, NFL headset. I'm sure people know about this. Opportunity to run events in the suites, and they let VIPs kinda watch the game. And so that's a picture from a box that was pretty much on the field at a Rams game before the coliseum closed. And then, again, kinda leaning into partnerships, being able to do a Bose AR event at a Star Wars premiere. So, again, very exclusive. We had a lot of Bose ambassadors and Bose musicians. And when I was an employee there, we'd be lucky enough to get to listen to some small intimate concerts with some of the artists that would come. So figuring out ways that you can kinda add that exclusivity and, again, working with some of your partners or just highlighting your brand in a really meaningful way to show them what it is that you stand for. Couple other approaches, you know, thought leadership presentation. So this is where you could bring in your VIPs to listen to industry, you know, really important people in your industry that may be talking about the newest technologies or trends, industry conferences or trade shows, letting them attend on behalf of the company, you know, being able to let them get some education. Another thing I do with this is if you have a really cool experience at a trade show, selecting private times where you can have these BMPs come in and tour the booth or the experience privately with a key member of your company. So they kinda feel again that more of that exclusivity. Case studies and success stories. So working with them on what was great about the product that they bought, how they implement it, giving them resources, and listening to how other clients interacted with the company or just how the product worked to solve some of their issues. And then unique venues. I know this is always popular, but at Bose, we'd always try to host an event somewhere that had some of our products. So, the Westgate, for example, every June when we were in Vegas for an event, we would do one at the Elvis Suite in the Westgate. And so we'd really kinda flush out the experience by bringing in some, you know, Elvis impersonators and having, you know, some nice, like, fun glasses and stuff to kinda set the mood and really, really kinda bringing that whole experience to life. So picking a unique venue and then flushing it out to really build out that experience. In terms of cultivation, so earlier I said this is really about, like, how are you gonna continue that relationship before, during, and after the event. This is where you see a little bit more of that personalization and tailoring it to the individual. Ongoing communication with your executives and your VIPs, making sure that you're getting feedback from them on how they like the experience, adjusting it for maybe things that didn't work or new business needs that they might have or or new interests. Another kind of fun thing we did at Bose. So I I'm a big advocate of smart giveaways and gifts. Really figuring out how to connect something back to the brand, but still making it unique and personalized. We did a launch for a speaker called an s one, pro. This right there is a picture of a flash drive, and so these were really, really popular. It's a version of that speaker. Just, again, kinda way to connect it back to the brand, understanding that our VIPs really love the products. Other things that you could do, welcome packets, customizing those with handwritten notes, maybe a few small things from the brand, like a branded umbrella, for example, if if the weather might not be ideal. But things to keep in mind to be mindful of your gifting policies and the limits that you might have. Certain audiences, especially in b two b, if you have government employees, I know that the limit is much much lower. I think it's like under $10. So again, you know, you don't want to be perceived as any bribe, so you want to be mindful of what you're giving out and you're adhering to whatever your company's counsel is recommending. Additional approaches that you can focus on, you know, recognition and awards. We do this, both, you know, in for customers and for partners. Maybe just highlighting some of the successes your partners have had versus, some of your internal employees. You know, this is also something you could do internally. We talked about getting that regular feedback, having consistent check ins. I love doing custom itineraries when we bring VIPs and executives in because there's a lot of information. So kinda have a template that has the basics, and then I'll go in and and put in their travel details or maybe their dietary preferences, things like that so it feels more personalized. And they understand that you really are thinking about them and thinking about the whole experience. Talking about dedicated forms or groups. So if you happen to work on Teams or Slack, maybe creating a separate channel just for those VIPs at the event or your group of VIPs or your advisory board where they can connect and talk with each other, maybe share just some stories or or issues they may be having and how they're troubleshooting or solving certain things. And then lastly, we talk about proving the value. So this is nothing new if you work in events. Right? So we're always talking about how do you define success, what does success look like, you know, if it can't be measured, you shouldn't be doing it within events. So for me, success can be ROI, so you're looking at the financial return of something. ROO, perhaps it's the objectives and you're focusing more on the brand piece of it. And I love this new idea of ROE being, you know, passed around, so return on emotion. So for me, anytime I design an experience, I'm thinking about what is it that I want the attendee to feel? How do I want them to leave this experience? What do I want them to take away? And so return on an emotion can really be, are you projecting your brand in the way you want it? You know, are they understanding the value behind their brand now that you've done this VIP executive program with them? You know, we always talk about surveys. I know, again, this is nothing new. This is foundational, but just making sure that you're collecting information from them, you know, using this to continuously improve the future experiences or to get new ideas. And then remembering it's always a iterative process. So when you design these experiences, it's an ongoing process of testing and learning and refining based on the needs of your audience. So in terms of the results, you know, we talk about tangible outcomes. You know, for these VIP and executive programs, I recommend focusing more on relationship building, so strengthening it with those VIPs and executives, the lead generation and brand advocacy. So being able to execute these programs successfully, you can enhance your brand perception and an improved awareness. Right? So you have these VIPs coming. They have a great experience. They're gonna talk about your brand to others. So it's a really great way to get a referral, and we all know that when someone tells you about a product or an experience, you're more likely to listen than the company itself telling you about it because it came from someone you know. So it becomes these organic stories. Right? And it's gonna help with your awareness. It's gonna help with your advocacy. When VIPs and executives for these programs and your customers, your super fans, you know, they really feel this connection, chances are they're gonna come back and continue to purchase products from you. You might see a higher spend on each of their purchases. The more they come back and spend, you build that customer loyalty. Customer loyalty turns into customer customer advocacy, increased product adoption. So we see this a lot in b two b, where if you can get those industry thought leaders in there using your product, using it more. Again, this word-of-mouth is gonna help build awareness and positivity around what you're doing. And just, again, creating, like, a stronger sense of community amongst your your company, your colleagues, your your VIPs, your key customers. So, just kind of like final VIP shift blueprint, some key takeaways. Right? So we're always talking goals and objectives. So what is it that you want your organization to achieve? So kinda defining this with your key stakeholders internally to figure out what does your program look like. And then who are your VIPs. Right? So there's a lot of different groups you can have. And if you roll out a program like this, you might not wanna start with targeting all of them, and you might wanna do a small pilot, and maybe it's just your super users to start. How are you using the three c's? Right? So which ways are these tactics being implemented to really create a transformational experience? And then how are you gonna define the impact that your program has? Right? Are you gonna look more at the financial, more at the marketing objectives, or do you wanna start measuring, you know, how attendees feel as they leave these experiences? So with that, I think we'd be pretty good on time. It leaves us with about a few minutes to, talk questions. Yeah. Awesome, Marissa. Thank you so much. We do have a question for you, and I've jot down a few others. So Tim Fling would like to know, how would you suggest getting buy in to start a VIP program? Great. So that's a that's a great question. So a lot of times, anytime you're kinda coming with a new idea, especially when budget is tight because we're seeing, you know, do more with less and inflation, and yet we're not seeing the budgets go up to accommodate that. I usually start by writing, like, a pretty detailed executive brief that I'll share directly with my people manager, kinda go over everything I'm thinking about, and then from there, build out a pitch deck. One of the things I would recommend is treating it as if they're investors. So even though you're both on the the brand side or the agency side, thinking about what the cost is to them and what the return is and kind of showing that over a certain amount of time, so taking into into account a p and l. So, really, you need to get them to understand what's in it for them and how much it's gonna cost. Yes. Perfect. And right now, events are back in a really big way, but a lot of events teams aren't getting more help. So there's this pressure to turn and burn and turn and burn. With VIP programs, what's your advice there when your manager comes in and says, hey. I want you to run all this stuff, but VIP takes time and it takes thought. What's your recommendation there? Yeah. So I think when I first work it started working on a lot of VIP programs, it was how can I tack and experience on something we were already doing? So VIP programs can have as much budget as you wanna put to it or as little. And so that's why I brought up the example of using industry events. So if you're already going to a trade show where you have a large experience, maybe working with your account managers or your sales team to figure out some key customers that you might bring in and just doing something as simple as a private booth tour or a private demo. Again, starting small and kinda showing what the return on that looks like. You know, Bethany had mentioned the meeting. So another way I kinda measure success is the time cost adjustment. So if you can figure out how much it might cost a salesperson to go out and do a meeting and then figure out how many of those you had in an event, there's a huge cost savings there. Or even just being able to run your advisory boards from some of these events. So it's to kinda start this, it's figuring out how you can bring some of these small moments in the things that you're already doing where the lift is just gonna be a little bit more. Yeah. That's really good advice because I think sometimes we get pressure from our manager to say, okay. I need you to do like, they hear it's all the craze. So we gotta do all these VIP things. It's okay to go back to your manager and say, look, I hear you. Let's try these smaller things, grow the program, see the ROI, and then build from there. We always get asked how long should these events last. I know each event should be a different duration, but a standard AMA, so that's an ask me anything. How long should events be? Because some of you are like, oh, well, I'll do a brunch or a lunch or dinner or reception. What's your recommendation on, like, how long they should be and different ideas of when during the day they should be? Yeah. So the the AMAs, we ran those. They're about thirty to forty five minutes, and they were part of a global partner conference. So what we did was figure it out a few different times. So attendees, if they were in, you know, Europe or Australia or here in The States, they could figure out which one they wanted to go to. And we'd offer more than one of the same person, so usually two. So we might have an early morning or an afternoon. We didn't record any of them. We, if we could, we had people submit questions ahead of time so we could get an idea of maybe some of the themes or repeat questions that were coming in. But I'd say for those, you know, thirty minutes, forty five minutes tops. Yes. Awesome. That's great. Okay. Perfect. Alright. Well, Marissa, thank you so much. That was awesome. If you have questions for Marissa, she is, of course, in the event professionals network. Follow Marissa on LinkedIn. Her content is amazing. She's a huge advocate for event planners and growing our community. She loves the CFP program, and she will, encourage you to get your CMP or help decide whether or not you don't. But up next, we have a special ESPN community conversation about building and selling successful sponsorship programs. So we will see you right over there. Thank you so much.