Everywhere you look there seem to be events popping up-- from meetups, workshops and conferences, to product launches, user groups, and special events. Everyone seems to be in the event business. Do you wonder what event marketing can do for your business and brand? Events done well can be powerful tools in the marketing arsenal for building brand awareness, generating leads, accelerating product adoption, and driving customer loyalty. But for start ups they can be intimidating, overwhelming and costly. In this session, you’ll hear from two strategic event professionals who have over 20 years experience designing and planning events on both the brand, corporate and agency side. Erica Spoor and Kimberly Schmitz will share their hard-earned best practices, tips and tricks for developing a goal-based event strategy and then designing and producing creative, compelling events that engage audiences and move the needle for your business. You’ll walk away with a clear idea of where event marketing fits in your journey for you to evolve from startup to industry giant.

Session will kick off with a peer-to-peer networking activity, followed by brief presentations by two event industry experts and 20-25 minutes of interactive audience discussion and Q&A.