Alyson Griffin, VP of Global Marketing at Intel, shares why events are a powerful medium for storytelling. Along the way, we discussed virtually dissected frogs, snot bots, whales, Star Wars, and how Alyson made went from being a pharmacist to a global marketing VP.

For the past three years, Alyson has been on a mission to spread awareness around Intel’s B2B Operations. Before working at Intel, Alyson spent 15 years at Hewlett-Packard which culminated in her role as Vice President of Americas Marketing.

Eleni Thomas (Director of Events and Meetings, KPMG) discusses the kind of processes needed for managing 2,500 events a year, the value of networking with other event planners, what it means to be a service-oriented events department, mitigating risk in a compliance-heavy industry, and owning mistakes.

Between Eleni's current role at KPMG and her 13 years of leading the events team at Weil, Gotshal & Manges, Eleni has spent much of her career spearheading events for professional services organizations.

Joey Hinson (Director of Operations, TechCrunch) discusses the challenges of scaling TC Disrupt, the value of qualitative feedback, why sometimes you're better off not feeding attendees, the future of event technology, and how events are helping to democratize the startup landscape.

Leading the operations behind Disrupt and TechCrunch’s events and advertising programs, Joey has been with TechCrunch for over seven years. During that time has seen first-hand how the organization’s event program has grown.

Andrea Rosen (Head of 99U, Adobe) shares the history of 99U and how it has evolved over the years. she discusses curating creativity, balancing experience and substance, and some of the best ways to organize to-dos.

Having lead the marketing team at a company that serves architects and press relations for a music festival, Andrea has a long career of working in marketing roles for creative audiences. She is passionate about curation and has an encyclopedic knowledge of trends, influencers, and events.

Steve Randazzo (President, Pro Motion) shares lessons learned from 30 years in events, advice for breaking through the marketing clutter, how to measure return on emotion from experiential, and how to charge your brand with authenticity and purpose.

Steve has worked with clients like The Walt Disney Company, Hewlett-Packard, Anheuser-Busch, Citgo, the NBA, and many other great organizations. He's also the author of Brand Experiences: Building Connections in a Digitally Cluttered World.

Karl Vontz (VP of Brand Experience at Rubicon Project) discusses the quirky expertise of awards shows, speaking to the aspirations of your audience, and what it takes to push for diversity and representation in events.

Karl has a long history of working in events and festivals from the Shorty Awards to the Lions Festival and Clio Awards—among others. He’s worked with leading brands like The Hollywood Reporter, Billboard, and Adweek. In 2012, he was named the Most Innovative Event Pro by BizBash Media.

Chardia Christophe-Garcia (Marketing Director, Forbes) shares how Forbes is leveraging in-person events to further their editorial brand, which promotional channels work best, why sometimes it pays to take it slow in your career, and the importance of knowing that not everyone is going to like you—and why that shouldn’t hold you back.

With over 10 years of experience in media marketing—at brands like Time, New Bay Media, and American Express—Chardia has achieved a comprehensive understanding of the industry. During her time at Forbes so far, Chardia has pioneered new promotional channels and assisted the brand in expanding their event portfolio.

Heather Henderson Thomas (Sr. Manager, Strategic Ops & Event Experience) discusses the benefits of consolidating an events strategy, the four pillars of the Cisco Live brand, and the value of technology in creating agency for attendees.

Heather has worked in events at Cisco for over 14 years. As the head of Cisco Live, she combines the skills of a COO and CFO with a keen focus on attendee and customer experience. Before working at Cisco, Heather worked in weddings, catering and incentive travel.

Allen Yesilevich (VP of Marketing + Growth, MC²) shares a behind-the-scenes look at how agencies work, the power of emotion in events, the history of MC2, and the most terrifying activation that I've ever heard of.

Allen has worked with brands ranging from Global Fortune 500 to VC-backed startups in a variety of industries. He has over 15 years of brand, marketing and advisory experience—and now heads marketing and growth efforts at MC², an award-winning globally-recognized brand experience agency.

Kendyl Wright (Founder of LOUDER Experiences) shares her perspectives on working in-house and at agencies, challenging institutional norms, battling anxiety, and her personal journey to founding her own experiential agency.

Before founding LOUDER, Kendyl worked with heavy-hitting PR and marketing firms like Fleishman-Hillard, Octagon, Inspira Marketing Group and Peppercom. She also has some in-house experience under her belt at Benjamin Moore.