Adapting Your Marketing Approach in an Ever-Changing Landscape

Oct 19

Featuring Megan Hull, Director of Events at Technology Marketing Toolkit

Megan Hull is the Senior Director of Events for Technology Marketing Toolkit. TMT is the IT industry's leading marketing and sales consulting firm for MSPs, MSSPs, and Value Added Resellers - along with firms selling outsourced IT projects and services. Over her 13-year tenure with the organization, they've experienced massive growth - from 6 employees in 2010 to more than 100. On top of that, TMT has grown its event calendar to 30+ events per year, all run by Megan and her in-house team.

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

The importance of adapting and pivoting during challenging times
The value of community and the craving for connection and support, especially during periods of isolation.
The acceptance of virtual events as a preferred option for some attendees highlights the need for flexible event offerings.
The significance of building relationships and networking in the events industry, as unexpected connections can lead to beneficial partnerships and opportunities.
The role of continuous learning and collaboration in personal and professional growth, including attending conferences and training programs.
The need for efficient and effective task management, including outsourcing non-core responsibilities to maximize time and skills.
The importance of aligning with partners who have your best interests in mind and prioritize budget considerations.

In this episode…

In the ever-evolving world of marketing, it is crucial to stay ahead of the curve and adapt your strategies to meet the needs of a rapidly changing market. But how can you effectively navigate these evolving landscapes?

In this episode of The Solution Seekers Podcast, Paige Buck engages in an insightful conversation with Megan Hull, the Senior Director of Events at Technology Marketing Toolkit (TMT), a renowned marketing consulting firm in the IT services industry. Megan brings her expertise and years of experience as she discusses the challenges faced by the events industry and how TMT has adapted to the changing market. With over 30 events each year, ranging from small workshops to large-scale conferences, Megan and her team have developed effective strategies for ensuring the success of each event.

As an experienced events professional, Megan brings a wealth of knowledge to the discussion highlighting the importance of constantly enhancing and improving events. In response to a downturn in in-person event attendance, Megan shares how her team pivoted to hosting virtual events and focused on maintaining high engagement levels. This experience allowed her to embrace the importance of community and our natural deep craving for connection, especially in times of isolation. She also focuses on how her team uses their skill sets and understands the role and capacity each person can play to create the best experience for the client and their attendees. Megan’s depth of knowledge and passion for the events world will delight and inspire you to new ways of thinking within your team.

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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 [00:00:02]:

Welcome to the Solution Seekers podcast. I'm your host, Paige Buck. Past guests include Pam Perez of the Chase Center, John Silva of Culinary Eye, and Elaine Honig of Studio 4Forty, among many others. And today I am delighted to be talking with Megan Hull, Senior Director of Events for Technology Marketing Toolkit. TMT is the IT industry's leading market and sales consulting firm for MSPs, MSSPs, and value added resellers, along with firms selling outsourced IT projects and services. Over Megan's 13 year tenure with the organization, they've experienced massive growth, growing from six employees in 2010 to now more than 100. On top of that, TMT has grown their event calendar to 30+ events per year. You're probably going to tell me it's many more now, all run by Megan and her in house team.

Today's 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. You can learn more about us at kennedyevents.com. Hello, Megan. Thank you so much for joining me today.

Megan Hull [00:01:12]:

Hey, Paige, thanks for having me.

Paige Buck [00:01:15]:

Yeah, well, and before we dive into all of the incredible growth and experience you've had with TMT, I'm curious how you got started in this industry.

Megan Hull [00:01:26]:

Well, kind of an interesting story, actually. I grew up in the Midwest area, as you can see from my background. Kansas City girl, moved to Nashville. I always say I moved to Nashville before Nashville was cool. Right now Nashville is one of the hottest cities in America, but I definitely moved here before that had happened. I spent a good portion of my career in the radio business, actually, and worked in radio advertising and sales and promotions and doing all of that.The recession hit the industry, obviously, first budgets that kind of get cut oftentimes are the advertising. So I decided to leave that and actually started my own advertising agency for a point in time and did that for quite a few years and really just kind of was getting that going and took a part time job here at TMT, thinking, I'll do this for a little while until this gets going, and that kind of stuff.

And I really just fell in love with what we do and what we accomplish and things of that nature. And so at one point in time when I decided to go full time at TMT, it was sort of, well, what do you want to do? And I said, well, we seem to be doing a lot of events. I think we're at the point maybe we need, like, a dedicated event manager. And my awesome leadership was like, that sounds great, do that. And that's sort of how I fell into this. And at that time, clear back in 2010, 2011, in that time frame, we were doing, gosh, probably six to maybe eight events a year, sometimes. Now between virtual and webinars and different things. We're sometimes doing six to eight a month now at this point.

And so our team has grown significantly and all that. So I really truly kind of fell into this industry, but at the same time I really fell in love with it at the same time, too. I realized I'm a junkie for logistics and love to just sort of cross those things off the list and put things in orders and figure out the puzzles and all of that. So it just became a very natural home for me.

Paige Buck [00:03:27]:

I love how you just described that because you answered the question I was going to ask next, which was when you looked and said, I think events, what you saw in it and you were like, the logistics, let me get my hands, let me just do spreadsheets all day long.

Megan Hull [00:03:42]:

See, spreadsheets is not necessarily as much of my jam, but yes, I would say I'm kind of like the I call myself the queen of reverse engineering, right? Like I love to sort of start at the finish line and work my way backwards to get all the steps in the right places and all those kind of things. And I think event sort of supports my quirks of being a little obsessive compulsive about things and things of that nature that, like I said, just kind of fell together for me. And so I really was able to learn a lot about this industry by aligning with great partners and great team members and things along the way and really learn my way through that, being able to continue to help support the massive growth of our company as a whole as well.

Paige Buck [00:04:33]:

So where did you go? What did you find worked for you in finding partnerships, learning things, getting comfortable when you didn't know something, being unafraid? How did you go ask, how did you go find it?

Megan Hull [00:04:48]:

Great question. Luck, honestly. I can tell you that in a lot of instances I was just introduced to the right people, sometimes it wasn't necessarily the right time, right? Certain DMC partners or different things of that nature, I met them at other industry events or through other industry connections and things like that and didn't maybe need them at the time. But then when that time arose, built that very significant relationship. I'm big on that. I'm big on building that relationship and trying things in the events industry, as we know, can get so transactional, right? We're always constantly worried about that bottom line and making sure it fits in the budget and all those kind of things. I think there's a very important place for that, but there's also a very important place for aligning with people that you know, truly have your best interest in mind and that budget is important to them and all of that. So the first kind of big connection that really taught me a ton was partnering with our representative at Maritz Global Events, which helps us with all of our venue sourcing and contracting and all of that.

And I did not realize how much I didn't know about contracting and things like that. And so today, where our contracts were when I kind of took this over versus where our contracts are now, she's taught me more than I could ever explain about that industry and that kind of stuff. And so we've created such a natural partnership that way that she knows what my needs are. I call her up, I say, hey, this is what we're going to do, help me out. And we're off and running at that point. So a lot of it was luck, but a lot of it was just again, I think the networking connections that exist in this industry as well. And we were talking offline a little bit just about sort of everybody's journey being a little bit different and things of that nature and I think that oftentimes we end up connected in a way that you didn't see coming, but there's definitely benefit to that as well.

Paige Buck [00:06:46]:

Yes, well, I love nurturing those relationships long term because I know that earlier in my career I would meet somebody like that and think, oh my gosh, there's no way I'm ever going to need you. I don't do those sorts of events. And then not dismiss it, but just, it was almost from a place of fear or uncertainty of my own abilities, be like, oh, thank you, but I don't know how I would ever work with you. And then now I'm like, oh my gosh, I needed you. I didn’t know where this was going.

Megan Hull [00:07:16]:

Right. Because when that need comes up, you're like, now I know exactly who to call and partner with and all of that. Absolutely. I think that was the same experience for me.

Paige Buck [00:07:25]:

You've talked about the growth of the events that you've done. What's a low stakes small event and what's a big stakes, high, large event for you?

Megan Hull [00:07:37]:

Sure. So for us, like I said and you mentioned earlier, we run 30 plus events a year. Some of those are small sort of workshop type events that could be anywhere between 30 to 40, 50 people, all the way up to sort of our annual event that is topping close to 1500-1600 people. Now oftentimes and you know this being in this industry, we look at that, and I tell people all the time, whether it's 30 people or 3000 people, all the same steps have to happen, right. All the same things have to happen. You got to do all those sort of steps. So we thankfully have our team aligned in such a great way that I've got event managers that run certain programs and that kind of repeats for them and they just take ownership of those. I take some, I've got other people that do and we just kind of own, our own respective little pause.

That way we jump in and help each other where needed, but we're able to just kind of pivot and continuously sort of continue to add to the mix based on what the growth pattern looks like for the organization as well and help support that.

Paige Buck [00:08:46]:

You hit the nail on the head with like it doesn't matter if it's 30 or 300 or 3000. It's the same steps, it's the same pitfalls. And sometimes, we will say the attention and the scrutiny required for a 30 person event is actually as intense or in different ways than that 3000 person event. Because when you're at scale you're like people aren't paying attention as much to the details but the attendee is really paying attention to the details when they're one of 30 people for sure.

Megan Hull [00:09:18]:

And I think when you have the bigger ones there can be just sort of organic distractions that way, right, that don't call those things to attention in the same way. But when you've got a small group they're very in tune to that. And as an organization, our CEO teaches a lot of business operations and things of that nature as well. So she always says, too, they're watching us, right? I'm standing up here telling them how to improve their business and how to do those sort of things. So their glasses are very much tuned to what we're doing as well and they're kind of looking for us for missteps, which adds kind of some extra pressure to that as well,

Paige Buck [00:09:58]:

I bet, I bet. And you were talking about how TMT has grown throughout the pandemic because your clients, the people that you serve were booming and needed your resources. What did it look like to try to meet that moment? I mean, we've all done so much to I hate the word pivot, but we've all done so much to expand our capacities and against our boundaries. What did that look like for you?

Megan Hull [00:10:26]:

You're exactly right because our customers are in the tech space and they tend to be small to medium sized companies at that point. And so with everybody in the pandemic making that transition to work from home right. There were significantly increased security needs and things of that nature which really propelled their businesses and forced I agree with you, I hate the word pivot, but forced them to pivot as well. For us, it was definitely a challenging time for us. I think we do have a lot of repetitive programs and that sort of stuff. And so I think we had gotten in really good process and really good habit of just knocking these certain things out of the park and hitting those markers and it forced us to go back and sort of dive into that and rethink and represent how we were going to do certain things. And so with our events we charged on as much as we could. I've had multiple phone calls with venues over that kind of two year span.

Like, look, if you're open and you can support this, we're going to come and we're going to spread things out. We're going to serve food differently. We're going to adapt as much as we can and get that done. I think the biggest way to provide perspective, we do a roadshow program every year. The particular year of 2020, we had five road shows booked where we– we're based in Nashville, but that's sort of our opportunity to get out into other people's neighborhoods and all that. We had five road shows booked. And of the five of them, four of them, we either had to move to a different state, a different venue, move the dates, something affected that program in a significant way, which then again came back to our in house marketing team that had to sort of redo all the marketing and all of that. And so I think it definitely presented challenges, but I think it put us back on our toes as well to continue to try and be greater. And one thing our CEO talks about is not necessarily being perfect, but being excellent, right.

And always trying to provide that the Disney model of what can we do to plus the show and what can we do to try and enhance that experience? During that time, of course, we saw lighter attendance. And same thing, we did things virtually and we saw attendance there and we learned a lot about how to host a virtual event and how to still try and keep that engagement right, and all of that. But I think what coming out of it, what it solidified for us, was just not only with events, but within our sort of space as well. Just that sense of community is still so vital and people are craving it in a way. And you're still going to have some people that are, look, I can watch it virtually and that's what I'm going to do now. Okay, that's fine.

But we definitely now sort of in this post pandemic period, are seeing such a resurgence of folks coming together and really trying to drive more into that sense of community.

Paige Buck [00:13:27]:

Well, I'm glad you said that, because that really struck me when you were talking about sort of your success ingredients, that your CEO has cultivated a really strong sense of community and that's one of your winning factors. So tell me a little bit about what it feels like at a TMT event and then how you curate that, how you cultivate that.

Megan Hull [00:13:52]:

Yeah, I think within our space, within sort of that tech space, our industry is kind of called the channel. Within the channel space, a lot of the folks, they're in the same business models and sometimes they're in the same similar markets and competing for some of that same business. But what our CEO has been able to create is, again, sort of that sense of community, by bringing people together, by teaching them operations, entrepreneurship, marketing strategies, things of that nature, she's been able to bring them together and get it to be a safe space where people can share the struggles of their business or the wins of their business. I used to tell people, joining our Producers Club membership, which is our highest level coaching group, when people were getting ready to enter Producers Club, I remember telling people all the time, I promise you, whatever you're going through, someone in this room has already been through it, and they will actively share with you what happened, how they fixed it, things they learned along the know and all of that. And so I think with Rob and our CEOs setting such a stage of that for creating that community for us and events, it's sort of that natural transition. So that sense of community is there. How can we continue to cultivate that and how can we continue to support that and improve it? Right? And so my team, we're always constantly looking for those ways that we can do something just a little bit better or just a little bit more fun when we throw a party or something like that, we try like, okay, well, what's something we haven't done? What's something they haven't maybe what's an experience that if they come to Nashville or they come to another city that we're in that they wouldn't go do on their own, right.

What's something we can bring that way just to, again, keep those people coming together and keep that sense of community. And it's been really fantastic to watch. We've had a lot of people come to us in tough business situations and get into the program and make friends in the community and join accountability groups and all of that. And now they're running thriving businesses and doing very well, and they in turn, give back to that community as well by coaching other groups and doing things of that nature. So I think it started at the top with our CEO of her methodology for creating that, and we do the best we can to sort of support that and keep driving it forward.

Paige Buck [00:16:15]:

Well, I love what you're describing. I love hearing that there is a business model that is cultivating this for folks, because I belong to an entrepreneurs group that is similar. We're across every industry. But then you'll have competitors in the space. Right. There are a half dozen other event agencies just in our local chapter that I know. And when I came in five to six years ago, I was like, Wait, I'm sorry. You want me to share what with them? I feel this sense of a little fear, trepidation. Guardedness.

Megan Hull [00:16:46]:

Guarded? Yeah, for sure.

Paige Buck [00:16:47]:

Even like I already know and love you. One of them I've known for two decades, and I used to freelance for him, right? And he's like, I haven't seen you since 2017. And I was like, no, you haven't seen me since 2007. We're getting old. There's a whole other decade in there. That's how long ago? And it was a beautiful, amazing, creative event that he did. And I had a little bit of imposter syndrome, right? Like, oh, you do that. We're still building.

We're still growing to that scale. But now I just know I've learned over time that being vulnerable, open, sharing, just like you said, if you've had that problem, someone else has had it, and they will share it with you. They might seem the biggest competitor, or you might feel like, I'm coming for you. There's enough out there for all of us.

Megan Hull [00:17:35]:

Agreed? Yeah, I agree. I mean, I think it depends on your model, right, and things like that, that competitiveness can go up. But I think particularly for us in events, right. There is enough. There's enough to go around in that.

Paige Buck [00:17:47]:

There’s more than enough to go around, right. Problem we have right now is we've got more demand than there's capacity for. And I was going to ask you, you were talking about you go to one hotel and it's an amazing experience, and you go to the next and you're like, nobody answers the phone when I call down on a base level or oh, goodness, I try not to eat in my hotels anymore because it's not the same.

Megan Hull [00:18:13]:

Right?

Paige Buck [00:18:14]:

Not that room service was ever anything it's cracked up meant to be. Not the romantic notion of it, but I just try to avoid it. Hospitality more broadly than just events is having a real moment of it being I joke, but this is a masochistic industry, and if you don't love it and it wasn't serving you, you got out during COVID Everybody five star hotels charging $700 a night are not returning phone calls or being responsive, communicative and providing the service they pride themselves on. How do you get through that?

Megan Hull [00:18:53]:

How do you yeah, the first thing I can say is, once again, I have an amazing team, right? And anytime things come up, because we, again, as we were talking about before, want to continue, we kind of talk about internally being on stage versus backstage. Right. We know in this world the backstage can be messy and chaotic and all of that, but trying to make sure that the front of the house, the front stage doesn't see that. And so we very much will jump in and help. And I often tell folks at venues and different things like that, like, look, if you're dealing with a staffing issue, I need to know about it, right, so that I can accurately prepare to help support. Because I think that ultimately with these venues and suppliers and different things, we all have the same end goal in mind, right, which is to keep our clients happy, whether my client is, again, these IT services firms and that sort of stuff, or I'm the client, right. The end goal for everyone is to make the client happy. So I think what kind of the pandemic taught us is that we all ultimately have the same goal and we really do have to sometimes just team up and work together to get it done.

Megan Hull [00:20:12]:

And to your point, the people that were in this industry that don't have a passion for it, that are just sort of maybe it's just a job for them or whatever the case may be, are kind of finding their way out and that might be okay Because, again, what we all want are the rock stars, right? We want the A players. We want those folks at the front lines to help service that goal, which is, again, to keep the end client happy. So I can tell you that my team, but again, rock stars, right? They just get in there, we get stuff done. There is oftentimes– we were in Chicago a few weeks ago and here we are carrying tables down the hallway, right. Because we wanted to get it done. It wasn't that there was a staffing problem. There was just no one there, right. And it's like we just want to get this done. We'll move the table, right? No big deal. So I think it's about, again, keeping that end client happy. And I can tell you, for my team, it's also about efficiency for us. Like, we just want to get in there, get it done, get on to the next thing because there's 10,000 steps that still need to happen beyond that point as well. But I think it's definitely been a challenge and I think for a lot of different event folks that challenge can present differently. .

Megan Hull [00:21:23]:

If you're a solo event manager trying to do all this by yourself, you need that support even more so, right. You're living and dying by it. And if you have a team of people that can jump in and help take some of that pressure off as well.

Paige Buck [00:21:38]:

Absolutely, I love that. First of all, naming it. If you're having a staffing issue, I need to know about it. And where is it? Is it right here in your team where you're having trouble responding because you're backfilling over here to your main rep at the venue? Or when we get there, are things going to be problematic?

Megan Hull [00:21:57]:

Yeah. And I'm going to respect you a whole lot more if you tell me about it ahead of time as opposed to you don't tell me and you try to cover it, you know what I mean? And I have to find out the hard way. Right. I'm going to have a lot more respect for you if you're just upfront and kind of no BS with me at that point in time and just tell me what's going on.

Paige Buck [00:22:16]:

Yeah. I noticed how much we're like shifting, covering, backfilling, stepping in. I think we probably didn't even notice it at first because it's in your DNA already, right? This is me at a cocktail party. Like, oh, we need to bus, I'm going to bus.

Megan Hull [00:22:33]:

Absolutely. And that's just sort of ingrained in us. We have that vision to sort of spot those things and that kind of stuff. And I think to your point, particularly on the supplier side, you're seeing so much of that folks doing more than one job. How many times have you been to a venue where your banquet manager for breakfast is your bartender for your cocktail reception later that night? And they're filling multiple roles. Yeah.

Megan Hull [00:23:00]:

And again, that's where I think just being able to have those partnerships and I know for us, so many of the venues that we go to, if we have that great experience and we have good service and our end clients get that service when we're back in that market, we remember you, we're coming back. You know what I mean? I think we've seen some up and downs, right. Some things we saw pre-pandemic, we were like, this is great, and then they struggled and now they recover. But again, it's all in how you handle that. I'm a big proponent of resourcefulness. I think that just being resourceful in this industry and being able to think on your feet and be solution oriented to try and get to that end result is critical in this business. And I think that as you do so many programs, you can see the ones that are resourceful and doing their best to figure it out. And it's like, okay, well, let's work together and let's get this.

Paige Buck [00:23:54]:

Yeah. You mentioned working with Maritz and DMCs more broadly. I'm curious, you've got this stellar team that runs your programs. What skills and traits do you think it's critical to have in house? And then what do you think are, like you said, I just want someone to make AV problems go away. And then what do you think is really important to not have in house and why?

Megan Hull [00:24:23]:

Yeah, I think that's a really interesting question because I think that skills can be a lot of different things. I tell people all the time there's things I'm great at, there's things I'm not necessarily great at. I think that there are certain skills you do want to try and keep in house to protect the sensitivity of your end customers and different things like that. But I'm a big proponent of looking at the skill sets that exist in the team and making sure we maximize those to the extreme. Right. Like on our team, in house, my sort of partner in crime that handles the sponsorship side of things, she loves spreadsheets and she loves that sort, and I hate it.

Megan Hull [00:25:08]:

And so she kind of runs that world. I have another on my team that is the queen of food and beverage. She loves to do menus. She loves to figure that out. She loves to see if she can create cost savings based on that. She wants to create sort of the pairings and different–I don't love that. It's not that I can't do it. It's not something I'm passionate about.

Megan Hull [00:25:28]:

So for us in our team, we really try to focus on the skill sets that we have, making sure we're maximizing those and outsourcing what we don't. And sometimes I think you end up outsourcing things that could be your skill set but are not the best use of your time either. I can say that that's a really important piece in sort of my DMC relationship, is I don't have time and I don't want my team necessarily taking the time to call and source 16 different party venues. Right. I want to tell you what we're looking for and you go find that venue for us and let's see if it works. And so I think a lot of it is time based as well. I think we're all juggling more things and more communications and more events and all of that than we've ever done before. So for me, it's really more about maximizing the skills and the times that we have and outsourcing what just doesn't make sense more than anything.

Paige Buck [00:26:26]:

Yeah, absolutely. Do you have in house, I mean, as a major marketing firm, do you have in house graphic design and web and all that?

Megan Hull [00:26:35]:

We do because we're a marketing company at our core, right? We have an in-house marketing team, we have an in-house graphics team, web team, all of that. We are so blessed that way. I think to that point, you see a lot of event managers wearing a lot of multiple hats, right, in terms of marketing and registrations and all of that. And that's one thing, again, in our culture of the company that has been structured so well, is I don't have to worry about marketing. I don't have to worry about getting people to come to the event. Marketing handles that. We do the event.

Megan Hull [00:27:06]:

And so we're able to fully focus again on that experience and the takeaway and all of that. And so, again, I think to the point I made a minute ago about sort of maximizing that skill set, we sort of leave the skill sets to where it best suits at that point. I was watching one of your podcasts earlier, talking about content, right? We don't really deal in content either in our seat. Whoever stands on stage and says, what, that's fine. Our job is to make sure the stage is there, the microphones work, the AV team knows what's going on, all of that. So it allows us to stay really focused in what our specialty is.

Paige Buck [00:27:45]:

I love that. I think you're really fortunate because I think so many of our clients are really called on to do everything and then we're their savior of like, we'll do the everything and then we have our lines.

Megan Hull [00:27:58]:

Right.

Paige Buck [00:27:59]:

It does not make sense for us to be content development for you. You are the subject matter experts.

Megan Hull [00:28:03]:

Absolutely. No, we're very blessed that way to sort of have those divisions within the company that just handle that sort of stuff so we can do what we're best at at that point. Absolutely.

Paige Buck [00:28:15]:

Since we're talking about the skills of your team and this amazing team that you've built, are there places that they go or you encourage them to go, to grow, learn, stay on top of their skills?

Megan Hull [00:28:28]:

That is actually something our CEO has been very passionate about from the beginning. I mean, she's a self-taught marketer and so from day one of the organization, it has always been if there is a conference, a training program, something you want to get involved in, I'll pay for it. She's always been very supportive of going to or taking classes or whatever that is, to continue that education. Absolutely. And I think that as an events person to events person, we certainly take advantage of that when we can find the time. And we should probably try to find more time, but yeah, it's something we should definitely try to make more time for, and it's actually one of the core values of our organization as well, is learning and trying to continue to grow in that area as well and always be at the top of our game.

Paige Buck [00:29:16]:

Yeah, that's great. Do you have a favorite industry event or place you go to learn when you have the time? Because I'm always like, yeah, when was the last time I did that?

Megan Hull [00:29:29]:

I don't know that I have a favorite, necessarily. I definitely over years past have gone to Maritz’s event, and they always put on a fantastic event. IMEX is coming up here in a few weeks and all of that.

Paige Buck [00:29:42]:

Are you going?

Megan Hull [00:29:43]:

I am going to IMEX. Yeah, I am going.

Paige Buck [00:29:45]:

My business partner is going. I went last year and I was like, I don't need to go back to Vegas.

Megan Hull [00:29:52]:

IMEX is one of those events that know, almost too big. Like everything you need is there, you just got to go find it.

Paige Buck [00:30:01]:

I’m tired thinking about it.

Megan Hull [00:30:02]:

Right, I know. Well, and that's the thing I will say I didn't commit to the whole thing. I committed to a couple of days of IMEX. Right. I'm going to go. And we're in a unique growth position with some new things coming in future years that it makes sense this year to go to IMEX and sort of start to cultivate some of those new relationships and all of that as well, to just support some of the further things we're getting into as I said, we're growing as an organization. Our programs are growing.

Megan Hull [00:30:28]:

Our annual event that I mentioned before, I think the first year I was here and helped run this program, in 2010, we probably had 400, maybe 450 people. And now, like I said, we're pushing 1500, right? So it changes your needs and it changes all of that as well. And so it's just good to sort of see that next thing on the horizon, because I think I mentioned resourcefulness earlier. I think that's such an important thing for us, especially when you work for very entrepreneurial minded, creative folks that come up with an idea and it's like, hey, this is what we want to do. Where do we do it? And you instantly kind of go to that rolodex of like, who do I know? Or where would this make sense?

Paige Buck [00:31:07]:

Yeah. Or like you're ready for that leap because you laid the groundwork.

Megan Hull [00:31:11]:

Exactly.

Paige Buck [00:31:12]:

Are there big challenges that you're seeking solutions for when you go to IMEX, as you're thinking about this growth trajectory?

Megan Hull [00:31:20]:

Like I said, not necessarily that way, but more of looking for, again, continued partners to support our growth. Like I mentioned, we have a roadshow program earlier and that program has grown immensely and it's a very kind of space intensive program and all of that. And as you know, in certain know, Nashville has become a market this way, where certain size groups, you're kind of in this awkward spacing perspective, right, where either venues are massive and you're kind of a small fish in a giant pond or you're too big and you're outgrowing it.

Paige Buck [00:31:53]:

A giant windowless underground pond.

Megan Hull [00:31:59]:

Absolutely. And so for me, a big reason, like I said, is that just looking for these sort of diamond in the rough, needle in a haystack kind of venues that can present such something different that you can't get everywhere else. We have a membership group that meets quarterly, right? And once a year we take them on the road because they meet with us four times a year. As I mentioned before, we're always trying to provide this new experience and something fun and different and things like that. And so just having a pulse to unique spaces and things like that is always super helpful. And again, IMEX is a great opportunity to connect with current partners as well, right? Everybody's going to be there. So connecting with folks that we've done business with for a long time as well and catching up because I think very few times do you have the opportunity in this industry to be like, that's cool, let's meet for a drink, because nobody's got time for that.

Paige Buck [00:32:56]:

No, you're like a drink. By the time I'm done with this twelve hour program

Megan Hull [00:33:02]:

I’m going to go to my room and have that mediocre room service.

Paige Buck [00:33:03]:

Sme French fries that's moy team's default, like I'm just going to get French fries.

Megan Hull [00:33:11]:

Yeah, I mean, ours might be like, French fries and some wine.

Paige Buck [00:33:15]:

Well, yeah, the wine for sure. Well, I'm curious, as we close, to hear if there's somebody you really admire in this profession, in this industry, or in your field.

Megan Hull [00:33:32]:

There's many, but two of the people that immediately come to my mind, like I said, my Martiz partner, Heather Midlowski, runs my whole life. I say sometimes, right, with the volume that we do, there is no way that I could do the things that we do without her support. And she's one of the best in the business. I mean, she takes such care and dedication into making sure our return on investment is important to her and all of those things. And it's actually funny. I'm going to have to give a shout out because I'm getting a phone call from another one right now, which is my friend Robin Bass who again, one of those kind of coming out of the ashes COVID stories.

Megan Hull [00:34:15]:

Ran a very successful DMC and dealt with significant problems during COVID and is now moving along the lines of consulting and has been an amazing partner to me where I kind of talked about before. I don't need to source 18 different places. I call her. I tell her what we got going on. Both of them have helped me just see future opportunities to continue to improve and streamline things that we're doing and genuinely have my back at any point in time. So those are two that come to my mind right off the top, but I could list many, many more, for sure.

Paige Buck [00:34:51]:

Those are so great and it's so gracious that you're appreciating people who are helping you grow, too.

Megan Hull [00:34:57]:

Absolutely.

Paige Buck [00:34:58]:

I love that. Thank you so much for your time. Megan, I'm just repeating this for our audience. As Senior Director of Events for Tech Marketing Toolkit. Where can people find you? What's the best way for them to learn more about Toolkit and you?

Megan Hull [00:35:14]:

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, on the web, the company is technologymarketingtoolkit.com pretty simple there. It's long, but prettysimple. I'm on LinkedIn, obviously, so anybody's welcome to look, I'm connected with Paige, so you can find me on, you know, and connect that way as well.

Paige Buck [00:35:30]:

And we'll include all that in the show notes. And thank you so much for your time today.

Megan Hull [00:35:34]:

Absolutely. Thanks for having me, Paige. Appreciate it.

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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.