Transcription
****Please forgive any and all transcription errors as this was transcribed by Otter.ai.****

[intro music]

Shark 0:16
Welcome back and thank you for joining A Shark's Perspective. I'm Kenneth "Shark" Kinney, your host and Chief Shark Officer. In 2020, I had the pleasure of speaking at content marketing world, which is one of the largest content marketing conferences every year. It was virtual, of course due to the pandemic. And like everyone else, they too had to make some significant changes to their content and the delivery of it. So how does one of the largest content marketing conferences shift their content to better service their attendees, their speakers and the sponsors? How are they looking at events in the industry going forward? And how are they looking at selecting speakers? We talk a lot about that with Stephanie stall, the general manager of the Content Marketing Institute, as well as the leader of the Content Marketing World Conference, and on this episode, we'll discuss having great content conference platforms, speakers, grading and speakers, the state of the events industry with virtual hybrid and in person events. Joe pulizzi. In Hanley, Robert rose, juggling and doing handstands for presentation sales driven versus fluffy content, divito, and Schwarzenegger and a lot, lot more. So let's tune into a content world marketer with a marketer from the shark world on this episode of A Shark's Perspective.

Shark 1:28
Stephanie, thank you so much for joining us today on A Shark's Perspective. If you would tell us a little bit about your background, your career to date, and how we got connected together through content marketing role.

Stephanie Stahl 1:38
Yeah, it's so great to be here. Thank you for inviting me to join you. So I have been working for informa basically ubm, which is the company that owns the Content Marketing Institute for about 28 years now.

Shark 1:51
Well,

Stephanie Stahl 1:53
yeah, I've been around the block. In publishing Gala. Like you I've had background in publishing, I've had background in content marketing agency, that sort of thing. So we're

Shark 2:03
both in our very early 30s, which is working for

Stephanie Stahl 2:09
four and a half, maybe, yeah, yeah. So, um, so about 20 years and part of the Content Marketing Institute since 2016, when ubm acquired that business, and I spent a big portion of my life as a reporter, and editor in the technology space, and, and now spending all of my brain cells in the content marketing space, which I love, because I ran content marketing for ubm. So it was a pretty natural shift. Once we acquired the Content Marketing Institute,

Shark 2:40
I had the pleasure of speaking at content marketing world, the virtual event in 2020. It's amazing event in person as well, much, much bigger and, and better. But I'd like to know your you know, and your hate using the word hindsight is 2020. Because 2020 is a dirty word to me. And what it start hindsight is night 2019. Maybe it's a better 120 20 one's kind of weird right now as well. But if you look back on the event, and the changes, especially with the industry, what did you like out of it? What What made you feel good about it, because I think we're all suffering from we were suffering from zoom fatigue, before virtual event fatigue is tough. It's just something that sort of naturally fits with that, but there are some really good successes out of it as well.

Stephanie Stahl 3:25
Absolutely. And we were extremely happy with the event, you know, it's first time we've done a virtual event on that scale, you know, we do experience with virtual events on a smaller scale. So obviously, we went into it with a little bit of apprehension and anxiety. And, you know, everyone had to learn, you know, new platform technologies and roles and responsibilities and that sort of thing. And it suddenly made an in person face to face event feel easy, you know, but we were very happy with the results, we were happy with the fact that we tried to build the event around timezone friendly schedules, you know, it's it's impossible to make it perfect for the entire world. But, you know, we did start early, you know, a little bit early for the West coasters, but it made it easier, easier for the Europeans, for example, we tried to take that into account, which we feel pretty good about that. We also had a mix of pre recorded content and live content, and that turned out to be a very good decision, mostly because we are always at the mercy of the internet, right, you know, and, and whether or not something is going to happen, or there's a glitch, and so we made the decision to have that mix of pre record plus live so with most of our keynotes, they were pre recorded, but they were followed by a live q&a that turned out to be a very effective format. We particularly liked our birds of a feather session. Some of them were smaller than others, but the idea to bring a small group or a larger group together For a discussion on topics, you know, among like minded people, were really great. In hindsight, we wish we had done more of those, you know, it was a very nice interactive element. And that was kind of a lesson for us. Okay, more of that in the future. Pete, you know, the feedback we got afterwards, people really like that they like to talk with like minded people, regardless of industry, about topics that they're passionate about. So that's something we probably will, you know, do more of in the future in the virtual world. So, but overall, we were, we were happy with the format, we were extremely happy with the content. Thank you to one of our content creators.

Shark 5:43
It was fine. Understand that my session was the feel good event? No, I'm just kidding. It was it was it was fun to do. I will say this, the platform was, I speak a lot of conferences, even the virtual ones. Now, the platform was outstanding compared to a lot of the ones that that I've I've interacted with, as a user, because once that content goes live, I'm a user, not a speaker, and just being able to from a UX standpoint, you guys did a really good job with that. And I found that to be much better. But But the reason why I asked that question about what you were happy with is your a larger conference. I mean, there are obviously much bigger, but like a South by Southwest, or you know, one of these massive dreamforce type conferences. But you're also much bigger than a majority of the marketing conferences that go on throughout the country. And so the way you guys tackled it, I think was of particular interest to me when I was looking at all the different conferences I was speaking in. And I will tell you that another one of the success stories that I found, and I've told her because I've emailed her about this was having a good team behind you, especially Andrea, who did a fantastic job, and I was late and I shouldn't have been, but having that support structure is so important. But at the same time, I would ask you to sort of grade yourself, where did you see that you fell short?

Stephanie Stahl 7:00
Yeah, um, I think that's a totally fair question. Um, you know, I did mention birds of a feather sessions, that sort of live networking ability, and we wish we'd done more of that. We also, you know, had people asking us about more interactive opportunities, there was no chat function, for example, on each of the keynotes people, some people like that some people don't I mean, I'm gonna be honest, it is virtual world, you know, you can find 50 people who really want that chat. who hate it. Some speakers love it, some speakers don't like it, because sometimes conversations can start on, you know, a topic that's completely unrelated to what's going on. But, you know, we do you feel that, you know, it would have been better if we had additional interaction, you know, additional options there, either through,

Shark 7:51
that's not a fault of your own, some of that's limiting with the types of platforms and the web infrastructure. So

Stephanie Stahl 7:57
it is, I mean, we were limited by the platform to some degree, like you, you know, we found the platform to be very intuitive, easy to navigate, beautiful design, you know, the creative director, Joe Callen. outski. So, you know, like I say, you can find some people who would love XYZ feature and others who wouldn't use it. There are a lot of people who will say, for example, I want the ability to interact with other attendees, and you need to make it easier for me to see who else is there, which I think is great. What they don't necessarily want, is the ability to set up one on one meetings, they want that kind of let me get with a group of like minded people, I'm not necessarily going to say, Hey, Kenneth, I see you on the platform you want to meet. Right? That's just not what they're looking for, you know, so I think that's probably the biggest, you know, Eric,

Shark 8:55
what was the biggest thing you learned moving heavily into a virtual event for a larger audience?

Stephanie Stahl 9:02
Yeah, I mean, you mentioned that support team that's so necessary. In Andrea Larrick, our speaker Engagement Manager, who's phenomenal. And you know, she's also used to speak or showing up on site with SB drive and saying, here's my presentation. So speakers being late, is nothing new.

Stephanie Stahl 9:21
So,

Shark 9:22
patients have job.

Stephanie Stahl 9:26
But, you know, initially there was a bit of a scramble, you know, when we were trying to figure out, Okay, what do we want to do, what platform we're going to use? How much content are we going to have? How many days should it be? for content marketing world, we had a little bit of luxury, because it was in October, we got to view a lot of virtual events, both outside of our company, but also within informa and so we were gathering things all along. What do we love about this? What would we want to change? What are some features we don't like that sort of thing. Ultimately, We had to get to a point where we had some clearly defined roles and responsibilities, because the person who's normally worried about catering on site, or hotel logistics, or meeting with the, you know, the party locations and things like that, like, suddenly the roles weren't defined. And we have such an amazing operations team. I mean, they're incredible. So once we got everything sorted out where, okay, this person is going to do this, this person's going to do this. And, and then we would meet regularly, you know, I mean, that's, that's that right? Communication is key, but it really was because we weren't learning along the way. I mean, we had the, I guess, benefit that the platform that we used, the company is also our video on demand provider for years, you know, marketing world. So we already knew that team that helped tremendously. We already had an existing relationship. So that made things significantly easier. But we were still learning as we went and trying to figure out what would be the best possible experience? And, you know, it was quite the learning experience. I'll say that, like I said, it suddenly makes face to face events feel kind of easy, you know, but then they're not.

Shark 11:16
No, they're not at all. From an experience standpoint, when you look towards the future now that you've, again, I hate using this word, pivoted in the interim until everybody's vaccinated and the world is safe again, which is in the year 2035. It's sometimes feels like but but what do you think the expectation level should be from an attendees perspective, because, you know, I take a very heavy focus on customers. And I think that way, especially with conferences, you know, I love the fact that you looked at a bunch of different ones, I there's been no shortage of all the events to look at. And you start looking at it through a customer's eyes a lot differently than I think a lot of people do in other forms of business where they try to put on a customer hat, you really do as an attendee, an event, because there's, there's just a natural online break off of that engagement. So you have to look at experience. But what do you think the experience changes that you'll do for an event like this, whether it's in person or virtual? Where do you think the experience bar will be set for attendees in the future? Because there's an expectation that this thing keeps evolving. And it's also going to challenge event planners that run big events to put on a bigger and better show?

Stephanie Stahl 12:30
Yeah, well, I'll say this, you know, it, the bells and whistles of a virtual platform are important, right? You know, they're important, but that is not where the experience comes. The greatest is, it really comes down to the content, which was not surprising for me to say, given my position, but it really, I believe, it really, truly does, if you have great content, and you have a great format and flow for that content, meaning you're making it easy for people to access that content. That is where the experience comes from, you know, great speakers, great topics, great delivery, educational content, inspirational content, entertaining content, you know, I mean, that that is the experience, and then you so you start there, and then you build around it. And then you say, okay, what's the best platform for this? What's the best best platform for fully virtual? What's the best one for hybrid? We're a great one who maybe not the best, you know, but a great one. What bells and whistles? Do we want to make? Sure we have, you know, what other features do we want to make? Sure we include? You know, we're, we're hopeful for a hybrid event this year, you know, hopeful is about all I can say. So now we have to start thinking about well, if we are if we are if we gather people in Cleveland, and we know they're going to keep, regardless of how safe The world is, they're going to be people who cannot travel, do not want to travel, do not have budget to travel, whatever the case may be, so we got to make sure the experience is still good for those people as well. So that's that will be our challenge this year. If we go hybrid, who knows, you know, it's too early to to say but we're trying to make it as flexible as possible for people. If they want to get a virtual ticket and upgrade later if we're face to face, if they want to go ahead and sign up for face to face but then switch up to virtual later. That's fine. You know, it's it's going to be an interesting year. And we'll see we'll see how

Shark 14:37
well it definitely helps when you've had I mean, when you've talked about the content, you've got Robert rose and Jay Baer, and and Hanley there's so many good speakers at your event that you really deliver some world class talent, the content marketing space, but whether or not we're doing in person or virtual, as it fundamentally changed the way you're looking at the content for content marketing world

Stephanie Stahl 15:00
You know, to the degree that we, you know, when you think about a virtual exam, right? It's not simply just taking your face to face event and plopping onto a virtual platform, right? So, you know, we have to take into account things like length of sessions, for example, set for 151 hour session, they're just not not in this digitally immersive world that we're in, you know, so that's a factor, right? So that fundamentally has to change, like how the pacing of the talks go, you know, 20 to 30 minutes is, is pretty much the difference, right? In a virtual, especially if it's a multi day event. So while our fundamentals on looking for the best content, we can have haven't changed, and looking for diverse voices that hasn't changed. The the format and just pacing to keep people interested, is where we really have to think because let's face it, we're all just one click away from doing something else, you know, right? So we have to make sure we've we've got that approach nailed down. From a speaker standpoint,

Shark 16:12
are you starting to look at speakers based upon whether or not they're better in person or virtual speakers now, because they almost get to the point where you feel like a virtual speaker has to juggle and do handstands, as opposed to what they do in person. And it's a much different game.

Stephanie Stahl 16:29
Absolutely. And, you know, to your point, there were some speakers chosen Well, before, you know, we made this decision to go virtual, and we had some who said, you know, thanks, but No, thanks. I'm not not as comfortable sitting in front of a camera, I don't set up. I'd rather be on stage seeing people's reactions. Like that's, you know, that's a big thing for speakers, they want to be able to look people in the eyes, gauge their reaction, and kind of, you know, work their talk based on the, you know, the audience feel good all the time. Yeah, so some people just didn't feel comfortable with that model. We saw, you know, some people, I mean, just amazing production work amazing. We don't have that expectation that every virtual speaker will have the fantastic setup and audio and video and the handstands. And so to say, we, you know, we, we tried very hard to ensure that all the speakers had good audio, you know, good video, but most of the audio was such an important thing. We offered editing services as we did test runs, you know, to make sure the background was okay to make sure things sounded okay.

Shark 17:47
Another one you did, you did a video beforehand that one of your speakers did, instructing people how to put their camera and I don't remember any other conference doing that. And I knew all this, but I still enjoyed watching it. And I thought it was really insightful to give speakers advice on how to be speakers, they can all go Google it, but you tailored it from somebody that content marketing, Morell put out that said, Here's how to have a good microphone. And here's an example of one you can buy. And here's how to get the right lighting and a ring light and basic stuff, but still stuff that people needed. Not everybody's an expert at it, right. And I found value in how that was presented, and that it was packaged by you, other than you just saying, hey, go click on this link to go watch some random person's video on how to be a better speaker.

Stephanie Stahl 18:34
He was fantastic. That was a lead judge. He was fantastic. So many good tips, especially for, you know, people who aren't as comfortable with the whole idea of of presenting on video, we actually shared that more widely within informa for other event brands, because it was so well done. And it was just great advice. I mean, obviously there, there are speakers who are so seasoned and professional and have all the audio and video capabilities you could possibly imagine. But many people are sitting in a home office, a bedroom, a basement, you know, with horrible overhead lighting, and they suddenly adjust and like what's a ring light? Oh. So he was very helpful with many of those basics. So we were so appreciative.

Shark 19:18
So how do you grade speakers differently? You know, it's such a big deal for so many conferences to rate the speakers because that's the feedback you need. But that's some groups do it through an app some do it through a piece of paper in hand, some do it with an online survey later. I mean, how do you start looking at doing that not necessarily to just get numbers. It's really to give you feedback that helps you move forward to the next level when you're already in sort of an unknown territory as

Stephanie Stahl 19:46
it is. Yeah, yeah. We so we did all of us digitally. We moved away from paper years ago, just because sustainability is such an important strategy for us here at informa so we did them digitally. And I think there's more Well, several important things, but one, we asked for the rating of the speaker. Right? So then we're getting a feel for how, how good was that speaker's presentation, but we also asked for the topic, you know, what, how do you rate the topic, because we may want to, you know, look at the topical data and say, Okay, so the speaker didn't really get a lot of good feedback, but the topic is important to the odd. So let's look for a different speaker on that topic in the future. I think we will, you know, as we, we've, we've been evaluating, you know, but as we start selecting speakers for 21, we'll use that data very heavily. I, you know, I feel like, we'll, we'll give people a bit of a break, right, you know, some people are so much more personable, and comfortable when they can stand on the stage. And they can, you know, use all kinds of hand movements, and look, people in the eye and all of that. And they're really good at it. And then when you're just staring at a camera, in your quiet, Home Office, it's a little harder. So I feel like we will give people a break, you know, this, just because it was only for people, you know, so

Shark 21:10
Well, I have a friend who has hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of 1000s of followers, very well known name in the space, very well known, very informative, thoughtful, virtual presentations puts me to sleep. And I laughed, and I loved hearing you say that because I did the same thing, watching this person speak and thought, you know, maybe it's just not something that they you know, I don't look at them differently because they're not doing a you know, hula hoop and juggling stuff while doing a virtual presentation trying to navigate kids and family and you know, the trash and the neighbors and everything else next door. It's it's tough for everybody trying to figure out how to be a better virtual speaker. How did you look at sponsors, though? What do you think the expectation is, because you said this about engagement with the speakers, I personally absolutely love having those conversations after from a business standpoint, you get leads from just meeting people, it's fantastic. You know, you go deliver a speech, they hopefully like what you have to say, and then they come you come talk to a few, either right there outside the stage or out on the floor, sponsors have an even higher expectation of what they've got to get out of putting their brand name because especially in the b2b space, for so many of them, that's really where a lot of their lead gen comes from. Now, fairly or unfairly, you're kind of pushed into the space now as the event organizer, how do you evaluate helping them get what they want out of an event? Because obviously, it's real tough for them to be able to engage with somebody unless they strictly track a click to their page somewhere.

Stephanie Stahl 22:53
Right? Yeah, it's truly one of the biggest challenges, I think for a virtual event.

Shark 22:59
Yeah. And nobody has the right answer perfect answer yet. So that's not

Stephanie Stahl 23:03
And trust me, we we've been researching. And, you know, we're, we're trying to, you know, find a few gems, to be honest, to try to make this easier, because it is it's very much a challenge. You know, it's one thing when you are walking through a big expo hall after you've just left a keynote, and you see these beautiful displays, and they're friendly people there who are welcoming you and, you know, with you, they've got cool stuff to give you. It's just a fun and friendly type of environment. But when you're saying to attendees, hey, we really want you to engage with our sponsors. You know, their portions on the site are here, please be sure to go there. We can't, we can't walk them there. We can't hold their hands there. You know, it's just it's so much tougher and so it's partly the event organizers responsibility to try to find ways to make that easier and better and gets a sponsor is more involved and you know, attendee conversations and that sort of thing. The responsibility also falls on the sponsors to to creative ways to engage, we had some hoops.

Shark 24:14
Oh, glad you say that,

Stephanie Stahl 24:17
you know, just really active on social media and join, you know, come to our portal, and you know, we're going to talk about this, we're gonna have this person in our virtual booth, and we're gonna do this giveaway. I mean, it it takes a lot more energy on their part for sure. But it makes a difference, you know, real difference. And so, we're trying to find, you know, better ways to make it easier for attendees to engage with sponsors and sponsors to engage with attendees. And it's a challenge for the whole industry, quite honestly. But, you know, we've been having wonderful conversations with sponsors to hear directly from them, you know, what do they like when they what have they liked at other events? What didn't they like? That sort of thing to see if we can figure out, you know, sort of the magic formula.

Shark 25:06
There's just little things that are sort of tricks of the trade that I find interesting that they're not pushing themselves to do very often. And again, if every if there was a secret formula that we all knew how to fix, then everybody would fix it. But it all it's going to take a collective expectation level setting from not just the event organizers, but the sponsors, the speakers, and even the attendees to some degree, because it's a new world order with whatever we're going through. So other than the content of the event, was there content that you created as part of this in virtual process, as opposed to in person that you thought, we've seen where this is really working, and we can move this to also an in person experience? Maybe we didn't do it before, as well, not necessarily the content of the speaker, but in some way that you help promote the show?

Stephanie Stahl 25:54
Yeah, so we did a few things before event that I think were very effective. One, we welcome speakers on our weekly Twitter chats, you know, it's a chance for a speaker to get recognition, a chance for us to talk about a topic that, you know, obviously was important enough for us to have session on it content marketing world, and that those are highly engaging. We also created a private Facebook group for attendees and speakers for the event, and that made it easier for attendees to get to know other attendees ahead of time to engage with speakers ahead of time to ask questions, to just build excitement, to be honest, we also had a very active Slack channel. So we try to use multiple channels, there's

Shark 26:44
some community,

Stephanie Stahl 26:45
yeah, to focus on the community build some excitement, how help attendees get to know speakers better, especially some of our newer speakers, you know, not the ones who are necessarily well known. And we're continuing that, you know, every Thursday now, on that private Facebook group, we have a discussion about one of the tracks, you know, today's or this week's, you know, topic is on content creation, and we'll invite the speakers in and that track, and it's just a way to keep the conversation going. Because, you know, once you attend a virtual event that, quote, live week, and you move on to something else, it's hard to think about re engaging. And so we're trying to keep that going. We're trying to keep the momentum going. And it's it's been great. Do you

Shark 27:32
think more of your content will be focused around, I'm going to say sales and leads and revenue and all that kind of stuff that because I know I've had this conversation about how, you know, content marketers often get aimed because they've been under the scrutiny with with budgets and 2020. And they were before but especially with COVID, because everybody expects such a direct return on investment with their marketing spend. Do you find though, that some of your own content for your own show may be geared towards less of the and I don't want to use the wrong word to be offensive, fluffy content versus sales driven? gotta show the return on investment to the CFO kind of content? Have you thought through that at all?

Stephanie Stahl 28:15
It's a great point. And, you know, I would say like trying to find that balance was pretty imperative, regardless of beforehand. Yeah,

Shark 28:24
absolutely.

Stephanie Stahl 28:24
What do you hear? And you know, we eat so our demand Gen tracks, for example, very popular. Our content strategy, that's good, because that's the one I was in. Yeah. And so trying to find that balance between very practical How can I leave this event, whether it's online or in Cleveland? How can I leave this event with, you know, five, 610, whatever ideas that I can implement right away? How can I leave this event with some new ways of thinking, you know, about our strategy? How can I leave this event feeling inspired about what's ahead? I mean, that's the kind of balance we're looking for. And so that's why we try to have a nice mix of very practical, how can I grow my business through content marketing? How can I improve my SEO? What do I need to do to do to have better podcasts? I mean, very practical, and then also very provocative thought leadership style, inspirational style, speakers as well. So, you know, I mean, I think we all have to adapt. I mean, just adapting the topics is important, you know, in 2019, did we think we were going to be talking about how businesses needed to quickly adapt and change because of a global pandemic? No. You know, just and, you know, a bigger focus on diversity and inclusion that was so important for 2020 and it has to be important for 2021 and 2022 and 20. I mean, you know, these are topics that we sort of considered very important for 2020 are topics that we need to consider very important for 2021 as well and beyond so so

Shark 30:13
this is where the section the show where we get to know you a little bit better and ask some of my my ridiculous questions. But I'd like to know, what do you do for fun? for fun? Besides stay at home and you know, watch the living in DC and watching the news. Yeah. Well, I'd

Stephanie Stahl 30:32
like to run. It's a little cold in DC right now. But I do like to run I like to read. Those are my favorite things. My my girls, I have two girls who are away at college. So I like it when they come home. And we spend time together. But yeah, I mean, you know, My hobbies are really mostly around running and reading. Well,

Shark 30:55
I asked this of all my guests, it's, it's one of the most important questions I always ask is, what is your favorite kind of shark and why? And I said, since you're on the sharks perspective, with a goofball named shark,

Stephanie Stahl 31:05
well, you know how before we started, we were talking about the Hammerhead, you know, I can move it size around. So, but we have a lot of animals in our house, my husband's a veterinarian, we have a lot of animals and birds can do the same thing. We have an Amazon, right, and they can rotate their eyes in ways that are amazing and amazing to see. And I've always kind of liken that to the sharks that can do that. So I think just because I'm a bird lover, that would be that would be my, my favorite.

Shark 31:39
So Steph, a special time to show you ready for the five most interesting and important questions that you're going to be asked today. Number one, this is gonna be an odd question, but there's a good context behind it. And then I'll explain in a second, Danny DeVito or Arnold Schwarzenegger, Danny DeVito. And I asked that because I know you're a twin. Yes, I did my homework. So yes, yes. There's not a whole lot of movies about twins. So I had to grasp it at the one that was the most obvious

Stephanie Stahl 32:10
that's so you know, what's funny about that? My twin sister Melanie, they have an ongoing like prank in their house. They they have a Danny DeVito cut out. I don't ask me why, but it's like, and it shows up in weird places and usually scares people. You know, it could be in your best. You don't know it, it could be in a closet. But yeah, so there we

Shark 32:32
go. All right, number two, social media or email, a little bit about content channels for you, ah, personally, and we talked him personally or from a business standpoint. You pick from a podcast standpoint, has that nebulous enough? I'm gonna go social media. Are you saying that from a business standpoint? Or?

Stephanie Stahl 32:58
Well, you know, from a from a business standpoint, email and social media are both great channels, right for, you know, building your community. from a personal standpoint. There's just so many perspectives and fun and exciting things that you can see on social media including Tick Tock done you don't know.

Shark 33:19
Right? That's been my favorite channel. It's, there's some phenomenal content there. Alright, number three. And I will say this from trying to not make this too obvious a setup question, virtual events or in person events. And I'm asking you that as an attendee, not necessarily as the organizer, but from what an attendee can gather from an event in person just can't be the hugs and the camaraderie. All right. Number four, Jefferson Memorial or Lincoln Memorial, since you live in the DC area. I love going to both of those.

Stephanie Stahl 33:56
They're both beautiful, beautiful, beautiful places. I'm going to have to go Jefferson I've got a daughter who goes to UVA so nice. Just a tighter connection there. Yeah. Beautiful.

Shark 34:07
Where's the other daughter go? Virginia Tech. Oh, well, no, we're you know, we support the Virginia schools here. Alright, number five. And the most important question that you're going to be asked today is biscuits or cornbread

Stephanie Stahl 34:18
biscuits. I grew up in the south and they were both you know, you know, on the dinner table at every Christmas dinner, thanksgiving everything like I grew up eating both of this but this gets a bad answer.

Shark 34:35
So Stephanie, where can people find out more about you the event and everything else and then some?

Stephanie Stahl 34:42
Yeah, Content Marketing Institute calm is easiest place to find information about everything we do. My Twitter handle is at editor stall sta HL. My email is Stephanie dot stall at informer comm we'd love to hear from you.

Shark 34:59
Definitely. Thank you. You again for being with us today on A Shark's Perspective. Thank you.

Stephanie Stahl 35:03
Thank you so much. And thank you for your participation and content.

Shark 35:12
So there was my conversation with Stephanie stall the general manager, the Content Marketing Institute, as well as the leader of the Content Marketing World Conference, let's take a look at three key takeaways from my conversation with her.

Shark 35:22
First, let's talk about attendees. For attendees, especially platforms make a real impact. And just think about watching the event. Zoom is easy, for example, and fairly reliable, but so many expect so much more from the interaction in events. Platforms don't make the events but poor delivery, even if they have great content. And great speakers can be a real concern to me when I watch an event. Luckily, content marketing world did very well in 2020, in their platform choice. And I've spoken at some events over the last year where it really felt like the event team didn't pay enough attention to the platforms. So as we move forward with events that include virtual hybrid, and so on, splurge on your customers with a great platform, whatever it is, and there's so many coming out with so much more functionality and interaction platforms don't make it a great show, just like the type of wood on an in person stage doesn't make it that way. Ultimately, it's about the great content coming from the great speakers and platforms can make it a lot better.

Shark 36:16
Second, I mentioned having a friend who's a speaker with a big number of followers, great speaker in person, but I saw them speak at a different conference and their virtual presentation fell pretty flat compared to their in person presentation. Some of that's obvious and somewhat expected just considering it's virtual. But it simply served as a reminder that none of us speakers can ever coast. And despite the fact that we were all calling that out early to mid 2020. And with virtual shows, we're still seeing it months to a year plus later, we all need to do better as speakers, our audience deserves that you deserve it.

Shark 36:48
Third, sponsors continue to have it tough, if not the toughest for virtual events. To some degree, it takes a sponsors being innovative as well so that conferences and events can help them offer more many, we're not being innovative before when the events were in person, I mean, who needs yet another pin with a startups logo on it. So be innovative. And like anything else, make your offering your tchotchke if you will, something worth really wanting. Nobody knows the perfect solution. So if we're going to fall, let's do it quickly. And let's fall forward.

Shark 37:18
Got a question, send me an email to Kenneth at asharksperspective dot com. Thank you again for the privilege of your time. I am so grateful for every listener, and I hope it's the kind of content that keeps you coming back for more and more. Join us on the next episode of A Shark's Perspective.
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