Diversity and Inclusion in Event Planning: Creating Community Through Experiential Events

Jun 8

Featuring anna nicholson, event manager at yahoo

Anna Nicholson is an Events Manager on the Global Events & Experiential team for B2B Marketing at Yahoo. In this role, she works cross-functionally executing internal, consumer-facing, and B2B industry events and experiences for the company. Prior to this, Anna served as an Events & Marketing Manager for a healthcare company planning internal and external events for the Ophthalmology industry.

A humanitarian at heart, Anna is also a volunteer, mentor, and advocate for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion in the workplace and throughout her community.

Anna is a current recipient of Event Marketer’s 2020 Experiential in Color program. Anna has a BA in Communication and minors in Business and Spanish from the University of Missouri.

Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:

Experiential events and marketing can be a turning point for one's career, and they offer exciting opportunities to bring business and ROI together.
The core of events and experiential work is bringing people together and creating a sense of community, which event planners should keep in mind when planning their events.
The events planning industry is becoming more competitive and creative, and it's important for companies to hire and nurture diverse talent.
Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) is a passion that adds value to the events planning industry and should be considered a differentiator when selecting partners and measuring success metrics.
DE&I should be ingrained in the planning process, considered in recommendations, and measured throughout an event's life cycle.
Mentors play a critical role in shaping one's career, and it is important to seek out mentors both within and outside of an organization.
Events planning managers should prioritize considering the attendee's perspective and partner with non-profits to create beneficial experiences for all stakeholders.
Smaller, intimate B2B events, may be a future trend that brings improved results compared to larger-scale events.
Return on investment is a crucial factor in B2B activations, while B2C activations prioritize creating brand awareness.
Networking, building your personal brand, and staying current on market trends is crucial for growth in the events planning industry.

In this episode…

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DE&I) play a crucial role in event planning, serving as a guiding principle for creating inclusive and meaningful experiences. Event planners recognize that diverse perspectives, backgrounds, and identities bring forth unique ideas, foster innovation, and enhance attendee engagement. So how does one embrace DE&I in the event planning process to prioritize equal representation and ensure that all participants feel welcomed, respected, and valued?

In this episode of “The Kennedy Events Podcast,” host Paige Buck is joined by Anna Nicholson, an experienced events manager on the Global Events and Experiential team for B2B Marketing at Yahoo. Anna shares the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion in the events industry and how Yahoo has started to track metrics on DE&I, sustainability, and accessibility at events. DE&I in event planning goes beyond surface-level diversity and actively addresses systemic barriers, promoting equitable opportunities for underrepresented groups. By incorporating DE&I principles into every aspect of event planning, from vendor selection to program design, event organizers can create enriching experiences that celebrate diversity, foster inclusivity, and drive positive change.

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Resources Mentioned in this episode

Sponsor for this episode…

This episode is brought to you by Kennedy Events.

Kennedy Events creates stress-free conferences and events, providing expert management and design for all your corporate event needs — from in-person to hybrid and virtual events.

To learn more about our services, visit our website at www.kennedyevents.com and schedule a consultation today to find out how we can guide you in making your event successful.

Transcript

Paige Buck [00:00:00]:

Thank you. All right, welcome to the Kennedy Events podcast. I'm your host, Paige Buck. Recent guests have included Sara Razavi of Working Solutions, kim Albert of Udemy and Cara de Fabio of Economic Security Project. And today, I am delighted to be speaking with Anna Nicholson, an events manager on the Global events and experiential team for B Two Marketing at Yahoo. In this role, Anna works cross functionally, executing, internal, consumer facing, and B Two B industry events and experiences for the company. Prior to this, Anna served as an events and marketing manager for a healthcare company, planning internal and external events for the ophthalmology industry. A humanitarian at heart, anna is also a volunteer, mentor and advocate for diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace and throughout her community. She is also the current recipient of Event Marketers 2020 Experiential in Color program. She has a BA in Communication and a minor's in Business and Spanish from University of Missouri. I am delighted to be speaking with her. And before we dive in, today's episode is brought to you by Kennedy Events. Kennedy Events creates stressfree conferences and events providing expert management and design for all your corporate event needs, from in person to hybrid and virtual. And you can learn more about us@kennedyvents.com. Anna, it is delightful to meet you. And the universe seems to think so, too, because we just had a clap of thunder here, and that's a rarity. I grew up outside Chicago, where there's tons of beautiful rolling thunderstorms, but we don't get them very often here. So I get, like, little happy chills whenever that happens.

Anna Nicholson [00:01:49]:

Oh, my gosh, I love it. Divine timing, then.

Paige Buck [00:01:51]:

Divine timing. I like that. I like that. So before we dive into all the nitty gritty, I'm just curious, how did you get started? How did events become the thing you're passionate about?

Anna Nicholson [00:02:02]:

Yeah, well, I was fortunate enough in college, I knew I wanted to do something that was involving communications. I thought at first I wanted to be a broadcast journalist and then doing international business. And I landed in communication just because it was a field that I had a lot of potential in. And so I actually had four different event internships throughout college. And that really solidified the fact that I really wanted to do events. So I did like weddings. I did local birthday parties and corporate events in Columbia, Missouri. I also took an unpaid internship, which I think is very rare nowadays. And I lived in Denver, Colorado, for the summer doing experiential events. And so that was kind of my first step into what experiential marketing was. So, yeah, so I had four internships throughout college, so I really knew. I'm like, okay, this is my passion. This is something I love. And I wasn't going to settle for anything outside of event planning. So, yeah, so after college, I applied for a bunch of different jobs, and it was kind of difficult to break into the industry. I'm very fortunate for my previous boss who kind of took a chance on me in a sense. But yeah, just internships that really allowed me to find what I love and turn that into a career.

Paige Buck [00:03:24]:

I think it's pretty incredible to even discover that this is a career in college, let alone pursue it and get all of that applicable first hand insight into it. So when you were in that early stage and you were in that internship in Colorado, what did you discover about experiential, which I feel like is a buzzword that means different things to different people. Sometimes it doesn't mean anything, but it clearly meant something and landed for you. And then I'll follow up question, you can incorporate however you like would be how did that evolve into how you perceive it today?

Anna Nicholson [00:04:04]:

Oh, 100%, yeah. I mean, I would say first off, it was like my first opportunity to leave the state. And so that was a unique opportunity for me to move to a different state. I'd never been to Denver, even lived outside of the state that I was comfortable in. So I think that was a big turning point for me and even just being able to build my confidence. But the events that we did during my internship, they were just so cool. They were like neat scavenger hunts throughout downtown Denver. They partnered with actually now since I'm based in Chicago, Goose Island, and did an activation in downtown Denver with Goose Island. And people had to run around and find the hidden goose eggs, and every single place that they went to, it led them to a different place. And then obviously the winning group got, I don't remember what it was, but they got some free products from Goose Island. So I think that was like my first understanding of experiential just because prior to that, it was just local birthday parties, community parties, weddings, and so I didn't really understand how to bring your business and ROI, I would say, into events and experiential. So that was really my first opportunity into it. And I loved it just because of the creativity. Even as an intern, we were sitting there helping brainstorm, just crazy, out of the box ideas. There was one event was like the Steamboat Wine Show and wine tours. So even just learning more about wine and how we can make this an immersive experience. So I think I was 21 at that time, overwhelmed, but great overwhelm it just because it was exciting. It was something that I felt really passionate about. So I remember having that sense of like, okay, this is kind of what I'm made to do. And so bringing that sense and that confidence that I had from college and my experience and bringing that into what I do now is one of my most favorite things. Just because at the end of the day, when you're thinking about events and experiential, the core of it is community. You're bringing people together and you think about how important that is. After, when we were during the pandemic and we were at home and we were stripped from the confines of like, we were stripped of those activities and being around the people that we loved. So I always just keep that top of mind whenever I'm planning and curating these experiences. The point of them is to bring people together and to connect people. So I feel like that is what I keep top of mind when I'm planning my events and my experiences. And I got that from the feeling and the sense of joy that I had whenever I was an intern. Just small on the totem pole and just seeing how important it was even just from that standpoint in Denver, like getting all these random people that have never had any type of exposure to each other other than the fact that they wanted to be a part of this cool scavenger hunt. So together, that's what I try to weave through.

Paige Buck [00:07:18]:

I love that. So I heard in all of that there's not just like the immersive experience and the fun and the creativity of both putting it together, but then for the people experiencing it, there all sorts of things firing off for them. But you also mentioned in there like joy and a sense of community. I think all of those are so critical to what makes any event resonate for people, if you get it right. And I'm curious, do you think folks severely underestimate what it takes to go from we need to do a thing, we need to do a thing because we're breaking into this market, or more people need to be buying this or our attendees need to learn about these pieces of a product? From that to people are running around Denver looking for goose eggs.

Anna Nicholson [00:08:14]:

Yeah, can you repeat that question?

Paige Buck [00:08:17]:

Yeah. Severely underestimate how much goes into that to conceptualizing it, to executing it, to landing on the thing that's going to work?

Anna Nicholson [00:08:27]:

Yes. That's so funny that you said that because when I'm like, oh, I'm an event planner, and they're like, oh yeah, you're an event planner, you plan parties. And I'm like, well yes, but also way more than that. So I do think that there is just like I think people do underestimate our team. We are experiential marketers. We are not just event planners. We are not just marketers. We are really kind of the thread that brings through everything from the conception of what are we doing, what are our goals, what are our KPIs, what is our target audience, what would be an ideal experience for them? So it's really like leveraging the customer journey and bringing that to life. So I do think that there is like a severe underestimate of how much work and time and thought and intentionality. I think that's something that I'm really big on and my teammates, too, are really big on intentionality. It's like, what is the purpose of what we're doing? What are we trying to achieve? Let's start with that.

Paige Buck [00:09:29]:

And what is the why here?

Anna Nicholson [00:09:31]:

Yes. What is the why and what is the why and what does success look like for that why? So I do think that there's a lot of misconceptions as to what experiential marketers actually really do. But it's a lot more than just plan parties. That is what I will say from the very beginning.

Paige Buck [00:09:53]:

Somebody asked me a long time ago, somebody who was a client and a friend referred to me when introducing me as an event coordinator. And I was like, okay, so that's like a very junior person in our industry and you wouldn't know. Then he's like, oh my God. Meanwhile, his introduction was like, I value this person so much. She's such a leader, blah, blah. And he's like, oh my God, I just don't know what else. Oh my God, what are other words that wouldn't I was like, yeah, don't ever call me a party planner. Yeah, I don't have much ego around this, but good Lord, there are people who plan parties and they do it and they are incredible. And that is not me.

Anna Nicholson [00:10:29]:

Right.

Paige Buck [00:10:29]:

My party planner. Do you think that B to B experiential is more challenging than B to C?

Anna Nicholson [00:10:37]:

Yes, I would say from our standpoint and from my planning experience, 100%. Because B to B, I mean, that's really where we're tapping into our revenue. Like, what does Return on Investment look like? What clients are we speaking to? Are they nurtured clients? Are they our top clients? Are they new clients? Are they potential clients? So a lot more planning. I think strategic planning has to go into our B, two B activations just because we're working with a lot of different stakeholders. Usually it's around a larger tent pole event. So we're working with our internal stakeholders, the tent pole stakeholders. So there's just a lot of different pieces that we have to piece together for B to B, B to C. There are still a lot of pieces, but from my standpoint, it's more of like, these are consumers that we're trying to tap, not necessarily clients. So more from A, B to C standpoint, it's like, what is this coolest activation that is going to make such a splash? Obviously, we want return on Investment, whatever that looks like. But I feel like there's less red tape, so to speak, for consumer activations. It's more of like, what's this big splash that's going to gain a lot of attention and a lot of traction? And then from B to B, we still want that same effect, but it's laddering up to our internal stakeholders, external stakeholders, and even from a marketing perspective, once we're done with the event, it's like, okay, what do we do with all of these leads? So having to work with our marketing operations and digital team to upload all that information and to ensure that we're tracking it post event. Whereas for consumer, it's more so just like we really want to make a splash and it's more for brand awareness instead of driving ROI and nurturing our client base.

Paige Buck [00:12:32]:

The next purchase, or how you measure retention, do you or others within all of those teams have to spend a lot of time with sort of like cross team education and buy in? How do you do that?

Anna Nicholson [00:12:50]:

Yeah, how do you do that within.

Paige Buck [00:12:52]:

Silos in large companies?

Anna Nicholson [00:12:54]:

Oh my goodness. That is like the million dollar question. It's so funny that you say that because I always refer to us and our team and myself as the Dot connector. We are essentially the ones that are connecting all the dots. There's been projects where I've been brought in late and you can tell that those pieces have been missing because when I got there, I was like, oh my gosh, why is this agency, first off, why do we have three agencies?

Paige Buck [00:13:18]:

Why are they.

Anna Nicholson [00:13:21]:

Let's pull this back a little bit. I've definitely had experiences where that has been something that we really have to have to think about.

Paige Buck [00:13:32]:

For sure. The agencies are happy to sit on those calls and charge you.

Anna Nicholson [00:13:39]:

Who's going.

Paige Buck [00:13:39]

To drive this forward? And as you said, connect all of the dots. It's a tough job. But going back to that, starting from why? What are we doing this for? And with respect to diversity, equity, and inclusion, it sounds like you are both passionate about that internal to Yahoo in our industry at large. But then do you also have a dei responsibility inside the goals of these events?

Anna Nicholson [00:14:07]:

Typically, yeah, actually we do. During the pandemic, especially after all the unrest from George Floyd, our Yahoo did a really great job of creating De and I committees within different departments. So our B, two B, marketing actually had a De and I committee, but our team also had a Deni committee that I actually led for the last two years. And so that was more so just really ensuring that the rest of the team and myself, that we are doing everything that we can to book the right speakers. The right speakers that reflect the folks and the audience that we're working with. Agencies that what does their C suite look like that's when we go out for RFPs, there's a section that we specifically put together from a De and I standpoint that's like, are you minority owned business basically just like different De and I differentiators. That is something that our team is very big on because if you think about it, we can control so much. It's our speakers. It's the companies that we're working with to book our premium and our Swag. What do they look like? Are we sourcing from minority owned businesses? And even just when we think about De and i. It's like, there's so much that you have to think about. It's like accessibility. What platforms are we using? Is it user friendly for everybody? Location, experience, race? Within our team, we have De and I metrics that we track towards. But also, it's really neat too, because at the wrap of every single event, we have to kind of go through a bunch of our metrics. And those metrics include De and I and sustainability and accessibility. So there is some type of accountability that we're holding for our team because you have to call one of the questions is how diverse were your speakers? Or how many diverse speakers did you have and what were the total speakers that you had? What sustainable products did we use? Did you work with an employee resource group? There are a bunch of different metrics and factors that we definitely keep top of mind when we're planning our events.

Paige Buck [00:16:29]:

I have loved seeing the shift from, well, I guess this is a thing we have to do. Wow. We get complaints every year that our panels are so white.

Anna Nicholson [00:16:42]:

Oh, my gosh, a mantle.

Paige Buck [00:16:46]

But I'm like, Where's the w but white mammal? And then it's like, no, there's diversity. There's like, 20% of the men are South Asian. Okay. In tech in particular, it's like, okay, so that's not sufficient. And it's like, oh, look, one woman who's in demand her pictures everywhere.

Anna Nicholson [00:17:09]:

Yes. Or like, the moderator is a woman, or the moderator isn't a person of color. I'm like, okay, but we really need to get down to how do you have more subject matter experts that are diverse? So I think that's definitely something that we've run into and where we can we try to supplement. So, yeah, definitely feel the panels.

Paige Buck [00:17:36]:

I have really valued seeing the shift in mindset when you put in this effort and when it is demanded of you going from like, this is a thing we have to do in a box we have to check and a report we have to submit to. You can see how behaviors and mindsets are shifting to, oh, this accessibility feels good. This accessibility is important because these people are able to participate or these people feel seen they're being spoken to by people that they resonate with. It floods you sometimes how good it feels when it's right. Attended an event, we produced something in Atlanta for economic security projects this last year, and I was like, this is the most diverse group from race to gender expression. Certainly gender didn't surprise me. It's like a nonprofit think tank space, so you expect there to be a lot of women present. But I was blown away, and it was like everybody felt you could just tell. Everybody felt like, these are my people. This is my place. The people on stage look like me and are speaking things that really matter to me. Do you feel I don't want to put you on the spot asking, but do you feel like the folks you work with broadly get it, or you're doing a lot of procedures?

Anna Nicholson [00:18:59]:

I would say broadly get it. I think it's also just ever since 2020, there are conversations that I couldn't imagine having in the workplace, and we're having them. So progression is such an awesome thing. But I would say my teammates, our team gets it. It's great to be surrounded by like minded people, and I'm so passionate about de and i. And the rest of the team is passionate about it, too, because that is like, I go back to the doc connectors, but we're also the voice of the attendee, and that's something that we do not take lightly. It's like, okay, if I was attending this and I was sitting here, who would I want to hear from? What would I want to see? What nonprofit would I want to partner with? My team definitely gets it, and I'm so thankful for that. Obviously, when we're working with stakeholders, and that's an issue that we could potentially run into. But the deni is literally ingrained from our planning process. Even like my teammates did, there's a brand that's underneath yahoo that's called in the know. And so they were doing changemaker series. So every quarter, they did an event that was around the cultural moment. So last month we had black change maker series celebrating black history month, and everything was black owned. So the venue was black owned, the artists were black owned, the food was black owned. So it's very much like when we think about de and i, it is ingrained into our planning process. So when we come to present our ideas or our strong recommendations, that's already included in it. So it's kind of just like a cherry on the top. But it took some time and really tough conversations as a whole company for us to really understand the importance of de and I and how important it is for us in our role to make sure that we're looking at that through every single lens of the planning process.

Paige Buck [00:21:13]

Yeah, I think even with the best of intentions, pre not pre COVID, but pre george floyd, pre the horrible confrontation we need to have with this within our society. We were very happy when we were doing it accidentally. Oh, look, we have black owned or hispanic owned local catering company or a local purveyor for these gift items. It was like, that's a happy accident. We can refer you now. This is all we do is hunt this stuff out, vet these deepen, these relationships. They're so important to us, and it's moving. What do you think? Neither are we, like, 100% succeeding all the time. So, like, where do people need to do much better than they're doing now? And what trends do you see for this, either with de and I or with experiential work? Where do you think we're going? And is it going well? Are we going in a good direction?

Anna Nicholson [00:22:15]:

Anna I would say for both items, for De and I and experiential, yes. I feel like there has been so much progress that has been made even just in the last few years. And from an experiential standpoint, it's just so important now, more so now than in the past, to, like, create these memorable experiences that draw people together. I mean, you know, for two years, we weren't able to have that, and we were having a lot of virtual events. And I think there are areas where virtual events make sense. But I think for most people, they want to get back into person and they want those connections and they want those experiences that are unmatched. So I would say from an experiential standpoint, I think I'll read biz bash articles and I'm like, oh my gosh, this is the coolest thing I've ever seen. So I feel like people it's also like your competitors. Like, you see what they're doing and you're like, oh my gosh, how can I be even more creative than them? So I feel like even just as an industry, we're competitively, pushing each other to be more creative than ever. So I think that's where I stand, from an experiential standpoint and then De and I, I definitely think that we've made a lot of progress. I think there are still areas that need attention. And it kind of goes back to if we're thinking about B to B and we have to have subject matter experts speak to our products, well, okay. A lot of the subject matter experts are more senior or they sway one gender, they sway one race, they sway one more homogeneous. Yes, exactly. So I feel like for that and there's been a couple of discussions around this, and I feel like there may be other companies that do this, but it's like, how can you start to build talent, subject matter experts, in your younger talent? Is there public speaking courses? I would just love to see younger talent that's coming in and being nurtured by our subject matter experts. And so that way they're learning earlier on. And you do have more of a pool of candidates that you can pull from weather than just being like, oh yeah, this guy, he's our top person to talk about this. And that's what we're going on a roadshow, and it's going to be the same person in just different cities. So I feel like from a De and I perspective, that's definitely something that is a focus, like something we should be focusing a little bit more on is like, all of our subject matter experts, how can they use that information that they have to kind of bring? The more junior folks that have the ability to be SME and have a different background, come from a different experience and different backgrounds. So that's something that I would love to see is some program where you're officially training people who could step into those SME positions that look a lot different than the status quo.

Paige Buck [00:25:18]:

That's a really good, strong prompt to say, what are you doing to accelerate the learning of the people who are not yet subject matter experts so that you will have a pool of more diverse subject matter experts?

Anna Nicholson [00:25:34]:

Absolutely.

Paige Buck [00:25:35]:

How are you going to do that? How might you do that? Instead of just being like, well, I mean, there's nothing we can do about it, right? Generational change. We're waiting a long wait, right?

Anna Nicholson [00:25:49]:

Exactly. So I'm definitely an optimistic I'm an optimistic person, though. I feel like from both lenses, we've made so much work and now we need to just double down on that work and grow even more.

Paige Buck [00:26:01]:

Yeah. So you were saying like, oh, you look at a biz bash article and you're like, that was so cool, but it sounds like you have some fun, cool stuff you've done that you're proud of. Do you want to give me an example of a couple of B, two B? This is a fun little moment or a fun little thing or something that really resonated with the attendees.

Anna Nicholson [00:26:20]

Yeah, definitely. So one of my most recent events, and this was for our B, two B marketing team, but it was for our internal department, like our conference, like our internal department conference marketing conference. And obviously the last few years we've had them, but it was virtual. And so in November, mid November, for three days, we flew the entire global marketing teams. There was 125 people, flew everybody to San Diego for the first time ever. So we are a pretty small B, two B marketing team. And so we work closely with each other. But this was the first time that we've brought everybody together face to face for the first time. So that was one of my favorite events because as I talked about earlier, like the community and building the community, we already had built it, but now we're bringing it in person. And so it was just so amazing to see people that I've talked to for two years and I've never met in person. So creating an experience, it was three days, we really honed in on team bonding. That was the essence of bringing everybody together, obviously, to talk about what does 2023 look like, what is our strategic planning process, talking about the business. But that was one of my most memorable events recently, just because that is something that everybody was yearning for. And even as we came back, it was like, oh my gosh, we're seeing it intent because now people are feeling more confident. Like they knew this person, but they didn't feel comfortable enough to reach out to them. So it even made our workflow processes easier and more streamlined because they had that connection from being in person. So that was something that really kind of sticks out to me, and then more so for B to B. We actually recently last year was the first year that we created a proprietary program called Yahoo for you. And so we focused on mid level agency clients who their company deemed them as Change agents. And so we created a program for a full day program that really talked about we didn't talk really about our products. It was more just like human to human. You have been identified as a Change agent, and we want to be more than just a partner and show that we have these awesome resources for you to really tap into unlock your true potential. So we brought in some speakers that talked about what is a strength? You're like, oh, I have all these strengths, but really, what is a strength? What are your top strengths? And then, how can you play on these strengths? That was our first speaker, and our second speaker kind of flipped that on our heads. And okay, now you have your strengths. What is blocking you from achieving your full strengths? Like, now looking at your strengths from a fear lens. So it was positivity bravery. And then, okay, what are you really afraid of? Why are you not reaching your full potential? Or what could stop you from reaching your full potential? So that was such a unique event, and you could even just tell people were so engaged. Sometimes you have to put your phone away, or this is a phone free zone. There was never any of that because people were so tapped in. And then after that, we did just a fun happy hour and had a headshot station so people were able to get an updated headshot. So it really was like, we're trying to show that we're not just a partner in terms of a business partner, but we're also like a growth partner. That was a really fun project just because it was net new. We've done similar things in the past, but it was a net new proprietary event and we saw such great success. And that was also an interesting one too, because we were slating on doing it mid May, 5 days before we had to reschedule because our moderator backed out. It was like COVID was coming back. And it was in New York City. We five days before, decided to reschedule it for two months later. And it was obviously the best decision. But that was one of my most memorable B, two B events, I would say recently. And it was a small curated group. We had about 50 people there. And you had asked a question earlier about just trends. And obviously from a B two B perspective, the big tent poles like CES NewFront Can, those are not going away, and we will be showing up in the same capacity we've done in previous years, if not greater. But what we're seeing, I think, as a trend is these smaller. B to B events, these not tent pole B to B events. We're finding more success with them being intimate. So instead of that program, I just referenced Yahoo for you. We were hoping to have 100 people in the chairs, and as we started getting into the planning process, it's like, okay, I think this would have a better result if it was more intimate. So let's really prioritize our top clients from that subset. So I could see that being a trend moving forward is having these more small, intimate, one off events that really kind of allow people to be connected deeply.

Paige Buck [00:31:44]:

Yeah. I think you've hit on something that some folks are harnessing really well and others are really lost on, especially the two events you spoke about together, bringing your internal team together. There's a big trend in that for folks who either want 100% virtual or free to do remote work or way more expansive with their remote work policies, seeing the value and the importance of bringing everybody together. And we've been fortunate to have a couple of projects like that where we're designing the experience and the program, managing the logistics around getting everybody there. But then when we're in the room, everything you're describing about how much it deepens a personal experience at work of having, like, oh, Anna, finally meeting you in person. I didn't realize you were 6ft tall. You were only this big.

Anna Nicholson [00:32:40]:

Yes.

Paige Buck [00:32:44]:

And when we had an experience together right. Whether we were, like, doing a chocolate tasting or just, like, in a room whiteboarding, I remember I was sitting next to you, and it feels like it's funny how much we took it for granted before, and now we are just like you can feel how fueled we are by it.

Anna Nicholson [00:33:04]:

Yeah, absolutely.

Paige Buck [00:33:05]:

That intimacy is really powerful, and it's a lot of fun when you get to make that happen.

Anna Nicholson [00:33:12]:

Yeah. Oh, my gosh. You know, when you're planning experiences, you're like, oh, my gosh, I can't wait till it's over just because it's stressful, but it's like, no, I can't wait till we're there. And we can and I can experience people's reactions and even just you know, we do post event surveys too, so it's nice just seeing the feedback that comes through, too, from people that even take the time to fill out the survey. Exactly. The 2%, if that. Yeah, you're definitely right. Curating events where you can really tap into that intimate community, those kind of vibes, I think, is something that we'll see a lot moving forward.

Paige Buck [00:33:55]:

I love that. All right, like, final or semifinal question. Who are your mentors? Who do you learn from, and what sort of advice do they give you?

Anna Nicholson [00:34:04]:

Yeah, my first two bosses prior to coming to Yahoo were female, and those two are kind of like my life mentors, I would say, just because when I worked at my old job, I was a lot younger. I was less experienced and the Ophthalmology realm is definitely male dominated. So I had two badass women who were my former bosses that really kind of helped guide me to the person that I am today. So I still communicate with both of them. And I actually have two mentors internally at Yahoo as well. One that is on the sales side and then one that's in B, two B marketing but not on the events team. So I think that mentorship is the most important thing. Truthfully, I also am a mentor to people on the team as well as outside. I'm a mentor and big brother. Big sister. So I have gotten so much, just gained so much confidence in the mentors that I have either had previously or I currently have. And I think it's just so important to pay that forward. That's kind of my spiel on mentorship. I think it's like such an awesome thing. And my goal is to have a mentor outside of Yahoo as well. So that way I'm really kind of I have somebody in marketing, somebody that's not in marketing and in sales, and then somebody that's fully outside of the organization. So I feel like the more mentorship that you can be exposed to, the better. Just because I like to say from my previous mentors and my previous managers, you take the gyms that you love from each person that you've had any type of exposure, encounter with and try to use that for you personally. So I feel like I've been able, I've been lucky enough to pick really great gems from my mentors and it's really helped me become the person that I am today.

Paige Buck [00:36:08]:

That's incredible. And you sound then like I feel like people who can embrace that are really coming in with like sorry, another buzzword, a growth mindset, but curiosity and the willingness to get vulnerable about like, I don't know how to do this or I don't know how to solve for help me. What do I need to know here? What do I need to see?

Anna Nicholson [00:36:32]:

Yeah, no, absolutely. One of my current mentors, I wanted to learn the business more. That was part of my feedback and I was hoping to take my career to the next step and I needed to understand our business a little bit more. All of our products, how they work, what is the marketing, marketing, the product marketing strategy. And so my mentor walked me through all of that for all of last year. We met Biweekly and it was a new product that we were focused on. It was a new campaign that we were focused on. So it really is, I know it's a buzzword, but growth mindset. If you're more willing to have a growth mindset, I think you will see your career, I think, advance a lot faster or more doors will open for you with that type of mindset. But really you're right, there's a vulnerable piece of it to it. Where it's like, okay, I have these questions. I'm a rock star in my day to day, but I cannot comprehend X, Y and Z about the business. So shine your light for me and.

Paige Buck [00:37:36]:

You are able to name your own blind spots, which is also really powerful, or ask people to help you identify them. Okay, so with that final question, since you said you had this aspirationally I know you're part of this event marketer program, how do you, when you work in a really large company, that tends to be siloed? And even if you have to work across teams day to day, you only need to know what you need to know in your little narrow lane? How do you go find other people in the industry at large who are your peers and other big companies doing other exciting things, like your friendly competitors?

Anna Nicholson [00:38:14]:

Yeah, that's a great question. I think it's just I'm big on LinkedIn. I did a lot of internal work for De and I, and so that opened up doors for me to communicate with other people in the same industry but different companies. I think it's just find what you're interested in and then let that kind of just open up doors for you. I won that award based off of the internal work that I did for Yahoo, but I was a part of ten other experiential marketers outside of Yahoo, so building connections with them, tapping into their network. I recently went to a conference, ad Color, again, due to my De and I work. So that allowed me to connect with people at Yahoo that I had never met, but also had a passion for De and I. And then also just there were, I think, 1500 people at the conference. So just being able to network and communicate with them was awesome. So I think the best way to tap into people outside of your organization is find what you love and then use your network, too. My boss and our director, they're very much so, like, my network is your network. If you are interested in X, Y and Z, come to me and I'll make the connection. So I think it's identifying what you're interested in and just being vocal about it. Your team's network should be your network, essentially. So I think that's kind of the best way to think about it. Yeah.

Paige Buck [00:39:58]:

Incredible. Well, and again, I would say I feel like so much of that comes with the courage to be vulnerable and curious.

Anna Nicholson [00:40:06]:

Yeah.

Paige Buck [00:40:08]:

I look back at my 20 something self and I'm like, what was wrong with you? Why were you hiding under a rock?

Anna Nicholson [00:40:16]:

It really is it's all about confidence and being able to step into that confidence.

Paige Buck [00:40:22]:

Absolutely. I had more of a, like, pretend you know everything about everything until you figured it out. And I would not recommend that path for anybody. It's just like making your own life harder.

Anna Nicholson [00:40:34]:

Yeah, I know it's always good to ask for help. I can relate to that, too, because earlier on, when I joined Yahoo. I was like, oh, my gosh, let me try to figure out everything for myself. And my previous manager was like, you don't need to do that. I'm here to help you, and I'm here to shield you from certain things. So, yeah, it's just being able to ask for help.

Paige Buck [00:40:54]:

Yes. Amazing. Well, thank you so much for joining me and sharing with our audience today. And I understand we can find you on LinkedIn. Any other hints you want to give people about how to hunt you down? We'll make sure we link to all of this. Of course.

Anna Nicholson [00:41:11]:

Yeah, definitely. I'm always available on LinkedIn and Nicholson, and I can link my Instagram out as well. But this was so great, Paige. It was so fun to talk to. I love always connecting with people in the industry, like minded people, and it was me too.

Paige Buck [00:41:28]:

These are my favorite conversations. All right, thank you. Bye.

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PAIGE BUCK

Paige Buck is the co-owner of Kennedy Events, a large-scale event management company based in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York City. Our team creates stress-free conferences and events with a positive impact, which allows our clients to resonate with their audience. Kennedy Events specializes in producing flawless product launches, award ceremonies, fundraisers, and multi-day conferences while keeping our eye on retention and engagement goals.

About Kennedy Events

Kennedy Events began with one goal in mind—to produce high-level corporate events with just as much strategy as style. Maggie founded the company in 2000, found her match in Paige, and in 2011 the two became official partners. Since then, these two resourceful and brilliant creatives have pooled their strengths to build one one of the most the most sought after corporate event companies in San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles.