In our latest conversation, we had the pleasure of speaking with Camille White-Stern, the Director of Experiential Marketing at Splash, about her innovative approach to event marketing. Camille’s insights reveal the profound impact of authentic connections and innovative engagement strategies on event marketing success.
Harnessing Event-Led Growth for Authentic Engagement and ROI
Sharing an innovative engagement strategy, Camille recounts the success of incorporating improv comedy into an event, which transformed attendee apprehension into delight. This technique not only broke down barriers but also encouraged participants to engage in a unique, memorable way that sparked genuine connections and laughter among everyone involved. This authentic event-led engagement fostered a positive atmosphere, making the event not just memorable but also highly effective in building brand loyalty and trust.
I asked everyone to just humor me—pun intended—and to go with it and be open to the experience. And when I tell you that all the people who were the most doubtful about participating came up to me afterwards, they were like, ‘That was the most fun I’ve ever had.
The success of this strategy shows that real engagement boosts ROI. Happy attendees tend to share their experiences, improving brand reputation and driving sales. Investing in authentic event strategies can lead to long-term growth.
Embracing Authentic Connections in a Digital World
Camille passionately advocates for the irreplaceable value of real-life interactions,
I don’t think I’m the first person to say or acknowledge this, but we are in such a hyper-digital, online era that I believe what people are most starved for today are more unplugged, analog, real-life experiences and connections. I’m not always trying to recreate a digital experience in a real-life setting. Quite the opposite, in fact. I want to engage attendees by really getting to know them personally and helping them get to know each other.
This philosophy underpins Splash’s event approach, emphasizing genuine, face-to-face engagement.
Leveraging Events for Community Building and ROI
Camille underscores the synergy between event marketing and community building, emphasizing that
I think that your event strategy and your community strategy absolutely can and should go hand in hand. Those strategies should be very closely tied to one another. If you’re an events person, you are a community builder, whether you call yourself that or not. Whether it’s in your title or not, or is formally part of your job description, you are a community builder if you are creating, marketing, executing, and hosting events.
She also discusses the critical role of setting clear event goals and employing the right tools to measure ROI effectively, asserting,
If you’re in the B2B space, especially the B2B SaaS space, you’re probably looking at demo requests or meetings booked. You’re probably looking at opportunities sourced or influenced. And then, of course, you want to see that translate to pipeline. And ultimately, you want to see that in closed-won revenue or ARR added. Those are some of the most important metrics to watch and measure success from an event. I work really closely with our Marketing Ops and Rev Ops team members to make sure we have the right measurement systems in place.
The Future of Event Marketing: A Human-Centric Approach
Looking forward, Camille says that despite advancements in AI and technology, the essence of event marketing will remain centered on human connections.
I’m curious to see how AI innovations continue to evolve. My philosophy is generally to use AI tools to work more efficiently, but don’t forget that nothing can replace the human element. There still needs to be a human using the tools, especially when it comes to hosting your events. I think the future of event marketing will probably be really reliant on these amazing innovations, technologies, and solutions that have come out, but I think that the most impactful events will still be very human-centric. At least I hope so. I don’t really want an AI robot hosting my next dinner party, you know? I don’t think you do either.
Adapting to Trends with a Personal Touch
As Splash innovates with AI-backed tools like Vendelux as well as their very own Attendance Insights tool, Camille maintains that technology should enhance, not replace, the personal touch in events,
If anything, AI is going to make those spaces and those opportunities where we do leverage humanness even more impactful. I think that the events channel is going to become more and more critical in business landscapes because so much can be done through AI and other innovative technologies these days. You can automate an email sequence. You can have an AI tool write your outreach for you. But there is no way to replace the humanness of bringing a group of people together to create meaningful connections at an event.
Camille’s conversation highlights the crucial balance between leveraging technology and nurturing authentic human connections in event marketing. Her experiences and strategies offer valuable lessons for marketers aiming to create memorable and impactful events.
