In this episode of The VIP Lounge podcast, we’re tackling topics to help make 2018 your best year yet.

The Power of Habit

Several years ago, Pulitzer Prize winning business reporter Charles Duhigg wrote The Power of Habit:  Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business. This best-selling book explores the science behind habits, with stories about how habits can be changed to transform our businesses, our communities and our lives.

To give you a glimpse at how this works, we shared a clip where author Charles Duhigg walks us through the habit loop, with more about habit triggers and how to break them.

Event Housing Hackathon Stirs Up Seeds of More Vibrant Solutions

Andy Smith, Senior Vice President of the Experient Sales Network and Strategic Sourcing joins us to share more about a housing hackathon he and Christine “Shimo” Shimasaki hosted, where hotel and CVB executives gathered to brainstorm for smart ways to improve room block performance.

This time around, we explore a kaleidoscope of topics, including digital disruption, experience design, and nurturing high-performing event teams who collaborate beautifully and candidly.

First up, we talk with Mary Pat Heftman, EVP of Convention & Strategic Alliances, National Restaurant Association. She shares more about how they’re fine-tuning their event experience design strategy across their portfolio of events.

Jackie Richards, VP of People & Development at Maritz Global Events, walks us through the Radical Candor 2x2 matrix built on challenging directly and caring personally. Jamie Murdock, VP of Sales at Experient, shares more about how this model was received by his team and why it matters more today.

Jeff Fugate and Aaron Dorsey share more about an in-depth housing study recently conducted by Experient and the insights revealed in a new eBook, “3 Essentials for Housing & Room Block Mastery.” Later, Nick Borelli opens his event marketing playbook, as we explore personas, tribes and smart ways to engage influencers to grow your crowd.

We start with a conversation with Andy Smith, SVP at Experient. Sourcing strategies are changing and Andy shares more about smart shifts we’ll need to make to ensure we’re negotiating the best possible deals in today’s still-turbulent economy. Then, it’s on to Rick Jones, CEO and Head Captain at Fishbait Marketing. Rick is the master of all things sponsorship and he shares tips to help take your event sponsorship program to the next level.

Jamie Murdock, VP of Sales at Experient, explores hackathons as a vehicle for creative thinking and idea generation. Then we pivot to another hot topic, Customer Service and how investing a bit more attention here can drive meaningful improvements across the entire event guest journey. Later, Susan Robertson, Founder of Sharpen Innovation joins us and shares smart ways to remove creative thinking road blocks to uncover more and better breakthrough ideas.

Greg Bogue, VP of Experience Design at Maritz Global Events, takes us through the experience design lab journey, with more on the methodology that’s helping event organizers to dramatically improve the experiences they deliver at their conferences and trade shows. Then it’s on to behavioral data intelligence with Jeff Fugate, SVP of Strategic Sales & Marketing at Experient, as he shares more about one of the single largest deployments of event wearables ever.

Gary Schirmacher, SVP of Industry Presence & Strategic Development at Experient, shares more about housing strategies best poised to deliver value in today’s business environment.  Then, Ben Goedegebuure, GM at Maritz Global Events and Gregg Talley, President at Talley Management Group, weigh in with insights on safety and security for events on a global stage.

Thad Lurie, VP of Operations and CIO at EDUCAUSE shares more about how they’re refining data strategies to enhance event guest experiences. This interview explores a wide range of topics, from data-driven experience design and personalization to privacy considerations, data blending and using data to boost exhibitor ROI.