Adobe | Experience Makers The Skill Exchange
The Ask
“Creativity is in Adobe’s DNA” reads their website. One of the largest SaaS companies in the world, Adobe is perhaps best known for its flagship product, Photoshop. Its portfolio includes dozens of different products spread across its creative, document, and marketing cloud platforms.
What unites these products is Adobe's goal: to make software that helps anyone with an idea or story to bring their vision to life. The only caveat? Customer success, retention, and adoption of the platforms require overcoming a learning curve.
Adobe came to Kennedy Events to help launch a brand new product and program called “Experience Makers The Skill Exchange;” a global series of virtual and in-person retention event programming. This customer learning program would engage Adobe Digital Experience customers throughout their lifecycles, empowering them with the knowledge and best practices to succeed with the platform.
The first two events were offered to clients based in North America. If those projects proved successful, more shows for global audiences would follow.
Attendee engagement, attendance, and customer retention were Adobe’s metrics for success.
The Answer
Kennedy Events pulled together a team of six core project members, including a senior producer, a planner, a dedicated content fulfillment manager, a tech director, and two talent managers. Together, they worked to build out all the virtual platform components required to deliver a compelling attendee experience; a virtual event where folks would actually sign up, show up, stick around, and learn something (despite online and virtual event fatigue).
The three-hour programs include two tracks—Learn and Grow—which pair customers with content customized for their knowledge level.
Content is streamed through a virtual platform with a chat integration that allows polling for Q&A so that attendees can upvote the questions they want to be answered first by the speakers. Since the platform is also the registration platform, it provides analytics that allows us to view which registrants from which companies attended which session and for how long. Sessions are produced “simulive” (simulated+live). This format provides a rich mix of pre-recorded and live content that enables the show to function flawlessly while also allowing attendees to connect directly with experts.
Following the success of the first two programs, Adobe added two additional shows with speakers and stage managers spread across India, Australia, Singapore, New Zealand, and Washington, D.C. Content is streamed to targeted global audiences with attendees based in North America, Asia-Pacific (APAC), Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA). In 2022, there were six additional programs with another eight scoped for 2023.
Replicating this model multiple times a year doesn’t mean “rinse and repeat” for Kennedy Events or Adobe. It means finding new ways to contribute value and provide solutions for new audiences with new content.
Here are a few of the ways we have evolved and refined the program:
Punchy and Captivating Content
[+] A live master of ceremonies was introduced to add a personal element of engagement and provide smooth transitions between segments.
[+] We collaborated with an animation graphics studio to create an intro sizzle reel for the program as a hype piece before the program begins. It Includes clips of speakers and bold graphics highlighting the program’s metrics.
[+] Our partnership with Adobe is a creative collaboration. We are persistently seeking ways to improve the attendee experience and amp up the content. For example, we added an animated graphic of a spotlight shining on the speaker’s name and title for the “Customer Spotlight” segment.
Content Preparation Pre-Show
[+] Talent managers write the scripts for the MC of each segment and manage speakers to ensure delivery is seamless.
[+] In the weeks before each program, the talent managers meet over Zoom with each speaker to test their internet bandwidth and their audio quality while coaching them on improving their office lighting and layout as needed. We also ship speaker kits that include a lavalier microphone and ethernet cable.
[+] Sessions are recorded with a talent manager present to gently guide or coach the presenter and ensure they are presenting themselves with confidence and clarity.
[+] After the recordings, we collaborate with the video team to overlay speakers' names and titles. Some of these title graphics are embedded in the pre-recorded videos. For live content, our graphics operator overlays a transparent title graphic on the Adobe video frame.
[+] Our tech director creates a highly detailed run of show (ROS) for each track that includes every cue from video transitions to musical stingers for our MCs. The ROS is the map that ensures the show runs smoothly.
[+] Once the ROS is built, our producer and tech director meet to review each cue then our internal team meets to review the cues. Once the cues have been reviewed, the team and client meet. This is a total of three hours of meetings before we get into rehearsals in order to make sure every detail is captured so that when we have speakers join us, everything runs like clockwork.
Complex Back-of-House Production
[+] Our technical director manages two full studios dedicated to each Skill Exchange show; one studio for each track.
[+] We also have talent managers and event staff in each of those tracks making certain the show goes off without a hitch. They prepare the MC ahead of each introduction and greet the presenters in a virtual “backstage” area within Zoom ahead of their live segments.
[+] On event day, programs are unveiled in each track with each session of pre-recorded content followed by live Q&A sessions with the presenters.
[+] During the sessions, polls and surveys are pushed to attendees during sessions. Live chat is monitored and analyzed post-event to uncover what customers are hungry to learn.
Deliverables
Project Management
Creative Content Development
Platform Management
AV and Tech Support
Speaker Management
Stage Management
Scripting
International Shipping of Speaker Kits
Post-show Performance Analytics
“Talk about being flexible! Kennedy Events is a team of rockstars who keep me on track and informed every step of the way. Our event would not have been possible without their support. I get thank you notes from my speakers telling me how impressed they are with the program and how prepared they felt on show day. You know you have the right production partner when you receive this sort of praise.”
- Shea Cibulsky, Adobe
Adobe continues to drive customer value realization, growing retention revenue and igniting customer advocacy by fostering peer-to-peer networking through this programming.
In the beginning, the attendance rate was at 30%, which gradually increased to 35% then 40%, and most recently, hit a record high of 44%.
Adobe likes to think that’s a sign that this partnership is knocking it out of the park.
Adobe is seeing consistently higher registration numbers as well as increasing internal demand from Adobe leadership for more programs that put their clients right where we want them to be: in the spotlight.
Read more about our partnership with Adobe here.
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Ongoing production for recurring shows allows Kennedy Events and Adobe to continue to level up the program and improve the attendee experience. Attendee engagement is at the heart of all efforts. At the end of each show, we invite participants to share their biggest takeaway from the event in the chat. This not only informs future program development but also reinforces customer learning by inviting them to reflect upon the event, which in turn reminds them of the value they’ve gotten from the program.
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We have a dedicated team of professionals solely focused on Adobe including our technical director, who manages two production studios (one for each track), full of AV professionals who execute each show.
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Tasks for these virtual events span platform management, AV and tech support, speaker management, scripting, and building the ROS for two tracks. We hold debriefs and brainstorming discussions after every program for ongoing improvements. Shows run like clockwork and the dedicated project team has developed a cadence that allows everyone to be in lockstep on refreshing and repeating the project timeline for each event.