The CXApp Live!: Recent Episodes
The CXApp Live!
The CXApp Live! podcast is an interview-style show for briefing programs and meetings. Our goal is to be your dedicated channel for all things customer experiencer where we ask industry thought leaders the tough questions about building a world-class program. Each month we’ll explore a new topic or trend that impacts customer experience, employee engagement, digitization and more…We’re unfiltered. We’re authentic. We’re having a conversation… join in!
This month’s CXLive! episode features an inspiring conversation with one of the true legends of the customer engagement and briefing industry: Russ Fowler, Vice President of Marketing Environments at Derse.
From his first role in experience design to more than three decades of shaping unforgettable brand experiences, Russ reflects on the defining moments, lessons, and leadership principles that have guided his remarkable 32-year career. He shares his perspective on how both briefing programs and live events have evolved, offers practical strategies for elevating customer engagement programs, and discusses how teams can demonstrate value and secure future investment.
Throughout our conversation, Russ’s passion for people shines through. He speaks with genuine appreciation for the GACEP community that has helped shape the industry and for his Derse family, where his visionary leadership, mentorship, and commitment to excellence have left a lasting legacy. Whether you're new to the field or a seasoned professional, this episode is filled with timeless insights from a man who has helped define what exceptional customer experiences look like.
Highlights
- Learnings from early job experiences
- Building diverse teams and expanding portfolios
- Storytelling across venues and industries
- Tradeshows and Events - the power of meeting face to face
- Using architecture and physical graphics
- Human storytelling, building trust and closing deals
- Reflections on the Derse family and culture
- DOTS - Derse Old Timers - 10+ years and annual dinners
- Russ 32 years, Susan 35 years, Pete 20+ years, Brad 20+ years
- Briefing Programs and Events
- Similarities, differences and latest trends
- ABPM / GACEP Community
- Professional, non-selling org, strong emotional connections
- Derse First Impressions & Newcomer orientation
- Elevation of the briefing and events programs
- ‘Funding Strategies’ for long term impact
- ROI to justify investment
- New Derse HQ Opening and Russ’s Upcoming Adventure
Resources
- “A World Appears: A Journey into Consciousness” - Michael Pollan
- “Four Points of a Compass” - Jerry Brotton
- “The Best Strangers in the World” - Ari Shapiro
- “Unruly Places: Lost Spaces, Secret Cities, and other Inscrutable Geographies” - Alastair Bonnett
Guest Thought Leader
Russ Fowler, Vice President of Marketing Environments, Derse
Over 32 years Russ has helped global brands create immersive customer experiences through exhibits, experience centers, branded environments, and live events. He has helped expand the agency's capabilities beyond trade shows and championed the philosophy of "accountable creative". An active industry leader, Russ served on the GACEP board and is a frequent session leader. His contributions have earned multiple EXHIBITOR Design Awards, an EX Award, and the 2006 EDPA Designer of the Year honor.
Most recently Russ earned the 2026 GACEP President's Service Award recognizing more than three decades of leadership and service. To quote Elizabeth Simpson, President of GACEP, ‘his sessions and workshops have become must-attend events: creative, brilliant and always leaving people thinking differently than when they walked in.’ She continues, ‘It’s leaders like Russ who make GACEP not just an organization, but a community worth belonging to.’
Our first episode of the summer is an 'insightful' conversation with Dmitry Risukhin, a builder of world-class executive engagement programs at companies including Microsoft, AWS, F5, and T-Mobile. Dmitry explains why, as AI, LLMs, and speech-to-text eliminate traditional barriers to capturing customer feedback, the true differentiator is contextual listening; understanding what matters, why it matters, and how to turn insights into action. He emphasizes that collecting feedback without routing it for action is simply filing, underscoring the need for closed-loop systems that drive accountability. Dmitry also explores why effective customer listening starts not with data, but with business leaders committed to acting on what customers say. Tune in as he shares the Insight Flywheel, the current state of customer listening, and where it's headed next.
Highlights
- Recognizing the value of briefing conversations (Microsoft + McDonald’s example)
- Right insight reached the right person at the right time
- Flywheel Introduction: more than collecting VOC
- Capture, synthesis, routing and back to the business
- Only works when all parts turn together
- Amazon Flywheel Concept
- Solving problems with systems
- F5 Aspire Manual System
- Early AI Adoption Scenarios
- Aspire: 3 weeks, 10 parallel tracks, 78 customer accounts, 90 partner accounts, 550+ attendees, 12 C-Level executives, 43 VPs and above
- 53 Ambassadors trained to listen in a specific way, understand context
- Results including 1407 insights that shaped product decisions
- T-Mobile: Using Tech and AI, Gaps Remain
- BriefingSource, CoPilot, ChatGPT
- Aggregate, generate summaries and Insights Doc in BriefingSource field for retrieval
- 2 Gaps:
- Briefing Managers curating AI processed insights not necessarily experts in the customers needs or T-Mobile solutions
- No organizational mechanism to systematically act on what was captured
- Honest framing: Listening competency remains scarce
- Knowing what to listen for, why it matters, discipline to close the loop
- Future: Programs must solve the routing problem
- Ownership of insights collected, what decisions they are connected to, how does the loop close back to the customer
- Advice for leaders starting fresh: measurement model first
Resources
- Dmitry’s GACEP Aspire to Innovate Presentation
- Amazon Flywheel Strategy
- ‘Crossing the Chasm’ by Geoffrey Moore
- ‘Good to Great’ by Jim Collins
- BriefingSource - Retrieval platform
- Qualtrics - F5 insight capture form
Guest Thought Leader
Dmitry Risukhin, a builder of world-class executive engagement programs across some of technology's most iconic companies, including Microsoft, AWS, F5, and T-Mobile. Find more atdmitryrisukhin.com
Dmitry is a customer engagement leader whose career has moved through three lanes of enterprise technology: writing code professionally since the age of 16, running enterprise IT, and building executive briefing programs.
A builder by nature, Dmitry combines strategic vision with operational execution, whether launching programs from scratch, securing capital for world-class facilities, or running self-hosted AI models in his home lab. Today he is focused on helping companies build the executive engagement infrastructure that accelerates enterprise technology adoption.
Fresh from delivering his fantastic keynote address at the GACEP Spring Conference in April, Evolutionary Biologist, TV Host, Keynote Speaker, and Bestselling Author, Dan Riskin, Ph.D. shares how principles from evolutionary biology and human behavior can help organizations design more connected, memorable customer engagements. From the role emotion and curiosity play in how people learn and retain information to the impact of active problem-solving and diverse team dynamics, we discussed how brands can create experiences that deepen engagement, strengthen relationships, and influence buying decisions. Known for blending humor with science-backed insights, Dan brings a unique perspective on human behavior, communication, and connection that organizations can apply today
Highlights
- Emotion
- Experiences like Adrenaline - stimulates the amygdala
- When emotionally connected, more memorable
- Brain works better when have an emotional connection
- Examples of how we connect when take a journey
- Sports highlights, comedy, crying at movies
- Curiosity
- Don’t just tell your guests the answer
- Engage them and let them figure it out
- Science conservation example
- Have students or guests get involved, then explain why
- Teamwork
- Teams with conflict are better able to find solutions to complex problems
- Embrace diversity and different points of view
- Board games: safe ways to find smart and calm team members
- New paper: people work better together if in sync (i.e. singing)
- Check out ‘The Bat Signal’ Newsletter
Resources
- Dan Riskin’s Webpage
- The Bat Signal - Weekly Newsletter (be sure to subscribe)
- Science TV Shows
- Wildlife Tours
Guest Thought Leader
Dan Riskin, Ph.D., Evolutionary Biologist, TV Host, Keynote Speaker, and Bestselling Author, Noctillo.com
Dan is an evolutionary biologist turned science journalist whose career spans research, media, and public engagement. Dan did his PhD at Cornell, studying how vampire bats move on the ground. Then he worked at Brown University, flying bats in wind tunnels, trying to understand how they fly, maneuver, and land. His research earned international recognition, and Dan took that opportunity to slide into science TV. He has since become a prominent television personality, hosting shows on the Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, National Geographic, the Smithsonian Channel, and elsewhere. Beyond television, Dan is a bestselling author and sought-after keynote speaker known for using humor to translate science into insights people can apply to everyday life.
Our latest episode derives from a series of LinkedIn articles that highlight ‘Influences that Create Thoughtful Leaders.’ Amos Wampler, former Director of the Executive Briefing Program at Gore, shares how his life and career experiences shaped his leadership style and passion for the briefing profession. Building on principles like continuous improvement and beginning with a clear intent, Amos offers real-world insights showing how effective leadership is grounded in adaptability, trust, and self-awareness. He emphasizes the importance of identifying your team’s strengths while supporting their growth, embracing diverse viewpoints, and earning credibility through consistent action. At its core, strong leadership means elevating others' voices, fostering an environment where people can thrive, minimizing distractions, and having the courage to push boundaries, all while staying anchored in the values that shape meaningful outcomes.
Highlights
- ‘Begin with the End in Mind’ (Peter Bay Method) - orchestra practice
- ‘What if the Baton Goes Missing?’ - the team executes on their own
- ‘Holmes & Watson: Data vs Stories’ - a Watson among the Holmes
- Diversity Mentoring for Development (DMD) - mentors understand mentees' backgrounds
- “Leadership Comes From Followship” - help others believe, then lead
- “Innovation From Collaboration” - the “Lattice”, develop the next great idea
- ‘The Slide and the Show - Parts I, II & III’ - always prepare for your audiences
- ‘Be true to yourself and you will never fall’ - Beastie Boys
Resources
- University of Chicago Leadership Lab - The Craft of Writing Effectively
- Annotated Beastie Boys
- Impact Podcast
- Amos’ LinkedIn Articles
- The Daily Stoic by Ryan Holiday
- The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran
Guest Thought Leader
Amos Wampler, Former Director, Executive Briefing Program atGore
Amos’s career has spanned classrooms, manufacturing floors, and analytical labs with a consistent track record of making meaningful contributions in each space. For the past several years, he led a high-visibility executive briefing program, overseeing thousands of interactions annually with customers, partners, board members, legislators, and media. His work operates in close partnership with senior leadership and spans strategy, operations, content, technology, facilities, and team development. It’s a role that demands sound judgment, discretion, and the ability to deliver high-stakes moments with consistency and impact at scale.
Born from a passionate presentation sharing his joy for creative technology, our latest episode features Matteo Mosca, CEO and Founder, at Leva (Impossible) Engineering. Matteo shares how crafting meaningful moments pushes their team to explore how people process the world around them; how the brain interprets movement, light, sound and space, shaping emotion and memory. He explains how each project begins by understanding what the client wants their guests to feel, remember and carry with them long after they leave. In our discussion, Matteo defines key elements to designing kinetic environments that bring guests into an ‘awake state of wonder’, capturing their attention and fostering greater participation. He also encourages us to think of this approach as a new language that speaks to both logic and emotion.
Highlights
- Approach to designing memorable experiences - ‘Suspension of disbelief’
- Designing spaces to bring people into an ‘Awake State of Wonder’
- Wonder is intense presence
- Predictability kills wonder
- Movement triggers attention
- Emotionally charged information is more memorable and builds stronger human connections
- Use technology to tell the story, speaking to both logic and emotion
- The discovery phase: strategy before technology and using movement to amplify meaning
- Best Practices shared: ‘Stop Selling, Start Storytelling’, ‘Use Edutainment to Make Learning Stick’, and ‘Shake People Awake, Intentionally’
- ‘Safe Ideas are Forgettable’ - Differentiate your brand from others
- Turning motion into emotion - see Resources to visualize
Resources
- Leva Reel 2026: Motion into Emotion
- Leva in EBC
- Aramco EBC (Visitor Center Kinetic Welcome Wall)
- Microsoft EBC (Experience Center One)
- Kinetic Smart Board and Kinetic LED Wall
Guest Thought Leader
Matteo Mosca, CEO and Founder, Leva (Impossible) Engineering
Matteo is a founder and media engineer working at the intersection of creative technologies, design and communication, with a focus on interactive environments that foster meaningful human connections.
At Leva, Matteo leads a multidisciplinary team of engineers and creatives designing custom kinetic and immersive installations that blend mechanical movement, motion content and spatial storytelling. Their work turns physical, brand spaces into responsive, participatory environments that people can explore and connect with, not just observe.
Matteo also spearheads Leva’s strategy, developing marketing and business growth initiatives, while building the structure that allows technical experimentation to become scalable, real-world solutions. With a background in computer engineering and a strong creative drive, he brings a structured, results-oriented approach to innovation, combining technical rigor with a strong understanding of customer and market needs.
His goal is to help organizations leverage cutting-edge technology to connect with audiences, support growth and drive long-term competitiveness – with the type of experiences that break through the noise and reshape the way people interact with brands.
In our latest episode, Imogen Broomhead, Senior Director, Global Executive Experience Program, shares how she and her team built ServiceNow’s global program strategy, with a focus on Location and Investment Strategy. From defining primary pillars and KPIs with executive leadership to establishing a six-element infrastructure, Imogen outlines the consistent, data-driven methodologies behind their approach. She explains new center eligibility criteria, her partnership with Workplace Services (WPS) to create Global Playbooks for new builds, and how red/amber/green assessments give executives a clear view of Innovation Center health and upgrade needs. The result is a scalable model for building and managing a global program that showcases ServiceNow’s value to current and prospective customers.
Highlights
- Growth from 3 Centers/4 team members to 10 Centers/50 team members by December 2026
- Developing a Global Program Strategy
- 3 Pillars (set with CMO)
- Program: Immersive Storytelling
- Place: World-Class Experiences
- People: Elite Team
- Must have: team member onboarding program - 6 months
- 3 Pillars (set with CMO)
- Location and Investment Strategy
- Innovation Center Global Map
- Alignment
- Marketing does not decide innovation center locations
- Work with Execs in Sales and Go-to-Market teams
- Complex RACI model
- Don’t open centers too fast
- New Center Eligibility Criteria
- Pipeline/TAM data in region - opps, industries, etc.
- Success metrics - capacity targets per location
- KPIs for Areas - High volume accounts
- Budget, Ops Resourcing, SMEs, etc.
- Specs Overview
- WPS Global Playbook - templatized
- Define ‘Apple Store’ look & feel
- Set consistent specs for architects to work from
- Center Upgrades / Business Case Process
- Map capital works plans with WPS Teams
- Red/Amber/Green assessments - clear picture for executives
- Process to seek funding to insert centers into capital works plan
- Retiring Centers + Supporting the Field
- Sunsetting strategy
- Out of Center offerings “Beyond the Briefing”
- Global Non-Negotiables
- Program, Place and People
- Deliver elite experiences w/storytelling & technology
- EBC - in service of customers
- Capturing Impact
- Quality not quantity - influence most strategic accounts
- Host C-Suite only - Focus on closing business
- Be ‘Yes’ People, Be Creative and Customer-focused
- AI Networking Breakfast, Wine Club, etc.
Resources
- How ServiceNow Uses Executive Briefing Centres to Grow Relationships with C-level Clients
Guest Thought Leader
Imogen Broomhead, Senior Director, Global Executive Experience Program, ServiceNow
Imogen is a dynamic technology leader and customer experience champion with over eight years at ServiceNow. She leads the vision and execution of the company’s global Innovation Centers, transforming them into strategic programs that help customers, account teams, and executives innovate faster. Recognized as a CXO empath, SaaS marketer, and technology specialist, Imogen blends strategic thinking with strong execution. Her leadership is rooted in empathy, collaboration, and delivering measurable outcomes that align executive experiences with business goals and drive meaningful transformation.
In our first episode of 2026, Spencer Waldron, CEO of Cenrox, shares a deeply personal story that led him to uncover ways of managing difficult situations with new behaviors and choices. He walks through many elements that contributed to creating his Resilience Roadmap. From understanding neuroscience and the power of our eight emotions to identifying new habits that offer self care that we need in challenging situations, Spencer offers ways to navigate these situations, i.e. driving our boat while not focusing on the river. He also reinforces the fact that resiliency is not about having it all together. It’s about moving forward anyways and making a daily impact. As he says, ‘we are capable of handling more than we think we can’.
Highlights
- Neuroscience and Emotions
- Thousands of ‘Feelings’, only 8 ‘Emotions’ which are physical
- 5 are negative, 2 are attachments: Love/Trust and Joy/Excitement
- Only 1 other emotion can flip negative to positive
- Offer ‘Surprise’ early in presentation to establish emotional attachment
- Aristotle: Emotion + Trust = Persuasion
- Think of presenting as a gift = ‘a present’
- Resiliency from Spencer’s son’s accident
- Buddhist book: ‘Living a Life With Heart’
- The river: cannot control where it goes
- The boat: control what you do
- In each situation, ask yourself, “Is it the River or Boat?”
- Buddhist book: ‘Living a Life With Heart’
- The Resilience Roadmap
- Resilience is a choice
- Steps taken to get through - not about perfection, self care and daily impact
- Put yourself in challenging situations
- PTSD & Psychological Safety
- Remove from the trauma (i.e. at work: operationalize, relationships, self care)
- Comedy Improv Example
- Challenging, humor and a form of therapy
Resources
- Resilience Keynote
- Speaking of Success Podcast
Guest Thought Leader
Spencer Waldron, CEO, Cenrox
As the founder of Cenrox, Spencer helps people show up as the best version of themselves when it matters most. He’s best known for his work in Conversational Presenting, helping leaders and teams move away from one-way slide decks and toward clearer, more engaging, audience-led conversations.
Spencer’s work isn’t just based on theory or technique. In the past year, his perspective on communication and leadership has been shaped by navigating a serious family crisis, which led him to explore what resilience really looks like under pressure.
Today, he brings those lessons into his work with organisations, combining clarity, presence, and human connection in high-stakes moments. He’s also a LinkedIn Learning instructor, a TEDx speaker, and a student of improv comedy.
In our final episode of 2025, Liat Scheffer Ben Yakov, Founder of Masters Academy and the CEO of Masters Creation Group LTD, shares the key elements of her Masters of Creation Method including examining the 4 realms, addressing our life purpose, embracing our core values and setting daily intentions that allow us to live our life as the Masters that we are. The perfect guide for evaluating our current path while looking ahead to the New Year!
Highlights
- The body / mind connection - Masters of Creation Method for manifestation
- Importance of duality - positive vs negative gives us choice
- Evaluate our life, what is working, choose to continue to not
- Manifestation - 4 realms:
- Physical - habits, rewiring our nervous system
- Emotional - from fear to happiness, influences changes we can make
- Mental - beliefs, paradigms, what is possible
- Spiritual - energy, the method starts here
- Get started:
- Life purpose: Who am I? Why am I here?
- Core values: What is important to me?
- Letting go: Trust yourself
- Managing our day to day lives:
- Know your purpose and what you bring to the room
- Prioritize your core values, nurture yourself with daily anchors (i.e. morning coffee, breathing, meditation, afternoon break, gym, etc.)
- Set your intention:
- For connection but know it has “nothing to do with me”
- What you want others you interact with to feel
- Embracing AI
- Shifting to the next era of being paid for our energy / vibration
- Will not take over, will allow us to decide what we do to be fulfilled
- ‘Live your life as the Master that you are’
Guest Thought Leader
Liat Scheffer Ben Yakov, Founder of Masters Academy and, CEO of Masters Creation Group LTD.
Liat holds an MBA and a BA in Economics, alongside advanced studies in holistic psychotherapy, and brings more than 20 years of experience consulting with CEOs, senior executives, and entrepreneurs around the world - including leaders in Silicon Valley. She’s a best-selling author, an international speaker, and the host of a long-running podcast now in its fifth year. Throughout her career, Liat has helped thousands of people break through limitations, achieve their goals, and create the life they truly want.
She is also the creator of the Masters of Creation Method, a 12-step framework for conscious reality creation which has grown into a global movement. What began as Masters Academy is now expanding into a larger, bolder, international group with a clear mission: to empower millions with the knowledge, tools, and practical pathways to become the leaders and masters of their own lives. Liat’s work is dedicated to deep personal transformation, global impact, and elevating human potential.
In this episode, Michael Herren, Director, Global Customer Engagement Program at Illumina, shares strategies to deepen partnerships with sales teams and create strong evangelists. He advises to understand sales structures, motivations and pain points, then prioritize the desired outcomes of the partnership. Whether it’s the guidance you provide, tools you offer or ‘rules-of-engagement’ you define, make working with your team as frictionless as possible. Sales engagement must be earned!
Highlights
- Embrace Challenges to Achieve Measurable Successes
- Define Clear Sales Engagement Outcomes
- Understand Sales Structure, Motivations and Pain Points
- 7 Key Sales Engagement Strategies
- Share Key Tools and Collateral
- Develop an Effective Communication Plan
- Define Clear Rules of Engagement
Resources
- 7 Engagement Strategies & Rules of Engagement
- “The Power of Moments” by Chip & Dan Heath
- “The Art of Gathering” by Priya Parker
- A Bit of Optimism - Simon Sinek
- A Good Hang - Amy Poehler
Guest Thought Leader
Michael Herren, Director, Global Customer Engagement Program, Illumina
Michael leads a world-class team dedicated to delivering strategic, story-driven experiences that strengthen partnerships and drive business growth. With over 18 years of experience in the biotechnology, life science, and diagnostics industries, Michael brings a unique combination of technical expertise, operational excellence, and customer engagement strategy to his leadership role.
In our latest episode, Emre Ozbek, Executive Managing Director at BICEP Solutions, shares how customer-facing programs can build repeatable, intelligent systems that free up their best talent to focus on what truly matters: creativity, strategy, and connection. He digs deeper into his ‘touch it once philosophy’ and the ‘lazy approach’, a principle of profound efficiency rooted in automation. Emre advises teams to avoid ‘managing what you measure’, and instead ask ‘why’ to ‘eliminate’ unnecessary metrics and ‘illuminate’ your data. He also suggests how to change our mindset related to AI including the practical step of selecting one small process, then ask ‘why’, and either eliminate or automate. An important takeaway for listeners is the realization that the process of leveraging business intelligence is more accessible than we may have imagined.
Highlights
- The ‘touch it once philosophy' and the ‘lazy approach’
- A long term strategy, take time to ‘sharpen the saw’
- Auditors review past data, strategists use the data to look to the future
- ‘Garbage In, Garbage Out’ - understand the data before you automate
- Leading vs lagging indicators
- Avoid ‘Manage What You Measure’ - ‘vanity vs actionable’ metrics
- Ask ‘WHY’ and ‘ELIMINATE’ unnecessary metrics
- Utilize data across customer facing programs: Executive Sponsorship, briefings, meetings at events, CABs, etc.
- Build in processes to keep systems up to date and reliable (i.e. integrate HR employee database into scheduling and CRM tools)
- Automate to spend time for relationship building, critical thinking and creativity
- AI: how to shift from a ‘Fear mindset' to a ‘Partner mindset'
- Start small, start now - strive for clarity over quantity
Resources
- Book: Measure What Matters by John Doerr
- TED Talk: The Beauty of Data Visualization by David McCandless
- HBR Article: Ensure High-Quality Data Powers Your AI by Thomas C. Redman
Guest Thought Leader
Emre Ozbek, Executive Managing Director, BICEP Solutions
Emre is a business and data strategist with a simple but powerful philosophy: if you have to do something more than once, it should be automated. He calls it his "lazy" approach, but it's a principle of profound efficiency that has guided his 30-year, multi-national career helping some of the world's top companies solve their most complex operational challenges.
His journey has taken him through enterprise architecture, business consulting, and innovation leadership across a range of industries. This unique cross-sectional view revealed a universal truth: most businesses are stuck solving the same problems over and over, wasting valuable time and frustrating both employees and customers.
Today, Emre channels this passion through his new company, BICEP Solutions, providing Business Intelligence for Customer Engagement Programs. He now helps program leaders apply the lessons learned from running a world-class customer engagement program, complete with briefing centers, innovation labs, and executive sponsorship, to their own organizations.
In our latest episode, Bryan Hobbs, Executive Briefing Manager at Zoom, provides lessons learned from his years of designing and implementing technical demonstrations for industry leading companies like Cisco, Symantec, Google Cloud and Microsoft. From identifying viable spaces and deciding who to partner with, to confirming what products/services to showcase, it is important to build for the short term and plan for the long term. Bryan also shares best practices for overcoming the unique challenges faced when installing in regional locations.
Highlights
- Visioning, the Art of the Possible
- Designing technical demo spaces for a variety of visitors
- Demo elements: wow factors, humor, addressing challenges
- Build in flexibility, see products/services working, leads to faster decision making
- Consult with Internal and External teams including industry partners
- Elements to consider: budget, size of space, content, exec involvement, roadmap
- Define scope and work with partners for alternatives (budget)
- Lessons learned for regional demos
Resources
- ‘Career Mapping: Charting Your Course in the New World of Work’ by Ginny Clarke
- ‘REVOLOGY’ by Todd N Williams about Tom Scapello
- ‘From Good to Great’ by Jim Collins
Guest Thought Leader
Bryan Hobbs, Executive Briefing Manager, Zoom
Bryan is a dynamic leader with over 25 years of experience at the intersection of technology, people management, and business processes. Bryan consults with businesses to refine their processes and harness the power of strategic partnerships. His career began at Cisco where his love for technology and customer engagement was established. Fostering strong partnerships has been key to his repeated successes during his leadership at Symantec’s Experience Center and to building groundbreaking hybrid experiences at Google Cloud’s Executive Briefing Center. Recently, as Director of Immersive Experiences at Microsoft, Bryan led teams in creating interactive, immersive customer experiences while mentoring high-performing individuals.
In our latest episode, John Morley, Principal of John Morley Co and CEP Innovation Coach with GoProBriefings.com, shares how EBCs/CEPs are the ultimate innovation engines within organizations, driving new value through fresh insights. From his years managing the EMC EBC Program and work in Design and Innovation, John outlines numerous ways to position and deliver EBC-as-a-Service, seen as a business and the complete value differentiator it is.
Highlights
- Design Thinking - desirable, feasible, viable
- Value Proposition Canvas - customer wants to achieve, what’s in their way?
- “Brokering” experiences - framework designed within EMC Program
- EBC-as-a-Business - program intention, business model canvas, innovation
- EBCs/CEPs are Innovators - new value from new insights (example: VCE)
- 3 Types (Horizons) - revenue, transformation, futures
- EBCs/CEPs - reduce cost and complexity for sales teams
- Design - identify, codify, make repeatable
- Codify: 5 elements of strategy, design offering, streamline operations
Resources
- ‘Move Fast, Break Shit, Burn Out’
- ‘Design a Better Business: New Tools, Skills, and Mindset for Strategy and Innovation’
- ‘Innovation Accounting: A Practical Guide For Measuring Your Innovation Ecosystem's Performance’
- Ten Types of Innovation: The Discipline of Building Breakthroughs
Guest Thought Leader
John Morley, Principal ofJohn Morley Com, CEP Innovation Coach withGoProBriefings.com
John helps forward-looking leaders and organizations rapidly realize exponential value through the investments they have already made – in their existing people and resources. He focuses on generating net new value by looking beyond problems to reimagine the impact we can create when we reframe challenges as opportunities. John’s expertise lies in being an intrapreneur and program leader, where he leverages his skills in innovation, design, data science, and AI to resolve complex challenges. He credits what he works on now to the skills and the relationships he learned to value and grow while working in CEPs.
In our latest episode, Mary Stratton, Senior Manager of CXO Experiences at Rubrik, shares how she set her vision for her small program and through data-driven reporting solidified executive support and expanded her program. From setting clear parameters like requiring VP-level and above attendees, and requests be tied to SFDC Opportunities, to developing an all inclusive reporting dashboard to address executive level care-abouts, she has been laser focused on improving deal closure and driving pipeline. Mary partnered with Marketing Operations to build this dashboard using data from multiple platform tools which helped justify her HQ center upgrade and the addition of a new team member. She also highlights her latest adventure of taking on executive meetings at trade shows and conferences as well as ‘EBCs on the Road’. Mary is an inspiration in our industry and happy to meet with those who seek her council on demonstrating value through reporting.
Highlights
- Rubrik’s CXO Experiences - 3 modalities
- Briefing Program
- Meetings at Industry Shows / Events
- EBCs on the Road
- Challenges faced while launching the Briefing Program
- Build network, connect with resources
- Leadership buy-in
- Build trust, create sales champions
- Building Executive Support
- Critical: Articulate your program's impact on the business
- Using tools/integrations: BriefingSource, Salesforce, Tableau
- How to collect data needed for Reports
- Leverage Briefing Management Platform
- Work with Marketing Ops Team
- What metrics to build into Dashboard to showcase impact
- Address Marketing and Sales organizations careabouts
- Target metrics for C Level Personages: CEO, CRO, CSO, etc.
- Individual win rate percentage for opps using briefings vs not
- Account Type Breakdown (existing customers vs prospects vs partners)
- Closed Won vs Closed Lost opportunities
- Reporting allowed for program expansion
- Headcount, Center upgrades, tools, etc.
Resources
- “We Can Do Hard Things” Podcast
- “We Can Do Hard Things: Answers to Life's 20 Questions” by Glennon Doyle, Abby Wambach, Amanda Doyle
Guest Thought Leader
Mary Stratton, Senior Manager of CXO Experiences, Rubrik
Having led the Rubrik Executive Briefing Program for more than 2 years by herself, Mary has worked extremely hard to build upon the foundational aspects she inherited when joining the company in 2022. From finishing an ‘in-progress’ physical Center to rebuilding a program that was dormant for more than a year, she’s demonstrated the value that her executives and sales team have come to rely on to support them in closing more business.
Prior to Rubrik, Mary cut her teeth in the briefing world at the Rackspace Technology and AppDynamics Briefing Programs where she learned from strong mentors about the importance of both the strategic and tactical aspects of managing a program and reporting on every metric possible. Today, Mary has expanded her program to support global briefings beyond her Palo Alto headquarters and has added executive meetings at top tier tradeshows/conferences to her plate. She is married and mom to 3.5 year old twins.
In our latest episode, Bram Jonker, Principal Evangelist at Miro challenges program teams to think differently and offers a number of new approaches for designing memorable experiences that allow customers to feel safe, heard, and want to build a long term relationship. From inviting external thought leaders to engage with customers and assigning specific roles to internal attendees, to employing an abundance mindset and implementing AI to support more effective facilitation, teams can truly focus on, listen to and delight their customers.
Highlights
- The Role of the EBC - visitors feel safe, heard and come back
- Not Repeating the Same Process - think differently, plan for unique return visits
- Making the most of Opportunities with Customers - empathy, listening
- Gather Feedback After Briefing - search for ways to improve, constantly innovate
- Invite External Thought Leaders - spark change, drive impact
- Building Trust with Account Team - MDC facilitation, specific roles for each attendee
- Employ AI in all Briefings - AI for admin functions, facilitator focuses on customers
- Abundance Mindset - shift from limitations of scarcity mindset, set bar higher
- 'Hug Your Customers' - authentic moments to show you care
Resources
- ‘Why an abundance mindset is key to getting hybrid work right’ by
- Dr. Brennan Jacoby, Founder, Philosophy at Work & Bram Jonker, Principal Evangelist, Miro
- ‘Hug Your Customers: The Proven Way to Personalize Sales and Achieve Astounding Results’ by Jack Mitchell
Guest Thought Leader
Bram Jonker, Principal Evangelist, Miro
Bram’s focus is on cultivating collaborative relationships with key executives from leading multinational corporations to define the future of work. He engages with industry thought leaders to co-author thought leadership articles and deliver impactful presentations to diverse audiences. Additionally, Bram collaborates closely with Miro’s Account Executives, leveraging his network to expand their market presence and support the sales cycle effectively.
With a background in the consulting sector, Bram developed his skills over seven years at Deloitte, where he led teams dedicated to Technology and Innovation both internally and in collaboration with customers. Furthermore, his entrepreneurial spirit led him to found and successfully exit three data analytics companies within the healthcare domain.
Bram’s passion lies in driving change through innovative approaches to work and the strategic implementation of disruptive technologies for digital transformation within large enterprises. He is dedicated to building enduring partnerships and leveraging insights to help organizations differentiate and thrive in competitive markets. One of his key strengths is his ability to translate marketing visions and strategies into actionable plans that deliver tangible results.
In our latest episode, Traylor Woodall, CEO and Founder of Fivestone Studios, shares how working in the film and TV world has informed unique approaches to working with clients in the briefing world and beyond. He ‘opens the kimono’ on how supporting creativity and collaboration helps to establish and maintain a unique culture that makes space for artists to grow and thrive - what he calls ‘Bad Math - the power of 1+1 = 3’. Traylor is very honest about the transition that he is making as CEO, to not be the center of every decision while continuing to live the company’s values, celebrating team members inside and outside of work, and listening to everyone’s ideas.
Highlights
- Space for artists to grow and become ‘creative warriors’
- Learnings from motion packages for TV networks, ad agencies and large brands
- Approaches to creativity and collaboration with clients
- Storytelling - the narrative thread
- Motion Design - transform static assets into motion toolkits
- Brevity - tell the story with simplicity and focus
- Culture that embraces creativity and collaboration
- A space for ‘Bad Math’, where 1+1 = 3
- Supporting your team
- Manage client expectations
- Talk about life outside of work
- Unlimited PTO
- Rhythms of connection
- Honoring your team outside the company
- Protect the culture
- Repeatable processes that don’t rely on the CEO
- Weekly direct 1:1s with all leadership
- Demonstrate good culture in public
Resources
Experiences outside the briefing world can provide fresh approaches when working on EBC projects
- Vanderbilt Medical Center art installation
- Take-over of Times Square for Kia
- Partnership with Escape Game called Cosmic Crisis
Guest Thought Leader
Traylor Woodall, Founder and CEO, Fivestone Studios
Traylor is a lifelong storyteller, artist, musician, and experience creator. His journey began with a traditional degree in graphic design, but during a college internship he discovered a passion for motion graphics. Fast forward many years later, Traylor now serves as the CEO and Founder of Fivestone Studios, an integrated production company that blends design, technology and storytelling to create visually rich narratives across a wide range of channels.
At Traylor’s core lies his steadfast belief in the power of creative culture and collaboration. He’s always on the hunt for Bad Math - the power of 1+1=3. Even after 25+ years in the industry, Traylor lives for the moment when a creative idea comes together that is greater than the sum of any one individual’s ability or effort.
In our first episode, post the GACEP Spring Conference, Pete Riddell, Executive Creative Director with Derse, shares his gift for human storytelling while offering key ways to stay connected and inspired in today’s noisy world. It’s no surprise that Pete’s moving LinkedIn posts were the ‘inspiration’ for this conversation. From helping us to be more mindful of where we focus our energy and creating opportunities for ‘conversational jazz’ with kindred spirits, to how we center ourselves and take a moment before we respond or participate with others, Pete showcases the joy of savoring connectedness by turning people into storytellers. Be curious, listen, contribute positively to our society, make kind gestures, lift others up, make lasting memories… so many Peteisms.
Highlights
- Connection: Check in with friends - how are you doing (daily rating 1 to 10)
- Inspiration: practice conversational jazz with kindred spirits - who to reach out to
- Being better stewards of our time - unsubscribe from social apps
- Remind ourselves of memories - scroll through personal photos instead
- Centering ourselves: Being mindful in the moment - doing smallest of things
- When you think of friends and family: reach out, text, call, send hand-written note
- We have agency to choose how we respond or participate
- Humble pebbles to put on the scale - contribute in this noisy world
- Curiosity - ask questions that turn people into storytellers
Resources
- ‘This Is Water: Some Thoughts, Delivered on a Significant Occasion, about Living a Compassionate Life’ by David Foster Wallace
- ‘This is Water - Commencement Speech’ by David Foster Wallace
- ‘Dartmouth College Commencement Speech’ by Mr. Rogers
Guest Thought Leader
Pete Riddell, Executive Creative Director, Derse
Pete is the beating heart of Derse’s Customer Experience & Storytelling team. Their mission: to help Derse’s clients tell their best stories … as engagingly as possible. Pete has remained a perpetual student while growing Derse’s experiential practice over his 20+ years. His work includes novel engagement strategies on behalf of IHG, Charles Schwab and Cencora while spanning a broad range of industries, including healthcare, tech, automotive, financial services and hospitality (among others).
A gifted writer, storyteller and thought leader, Pete has presented, authored content and facilitated workshops at ExhibitorLive!, ABPM (now GACEP), HCEA Connect, Event Tech (now EMS), and also with/for Derse clients. He and the CX team love sharing inspiration and trends with clients and kindred spirits in this Golden Age of experience design.
In this episode, Jack Griffin, CEO & Certified Coach, Light Up Ventures and Ellen Barnes-Pfiffner, Principal & Consultant, EBP Business Consulting highlight the power of Transformative Facilitation. Our conversation was rich with statistical data, step by step approaches, industry trends and real-life program examples that illustrate the art of facilitation and how it elevates ROI.
Highlights
- Why Transformative Facilitation and How It Affects ROI
- Addressing Cognitive Overload
- Briefing Professionals Becoming 'Pilots'
- Start by Understanding the ‘Who'
- The Science of 1st Impressions
- Working with Executives - The Rule of 3
- Trends - Beyond Directing the Flow of Conversation
- Meaningful Agendas to Tell Your Story
- Employing the 7 Steps of Storytelling
- The Power of Listening
Resources
- EBP Articles: 'Emotional Intelligence and Facilitation' and more
- 'Lucid Meetings: Number, Effectiveness, and Cost of Meetings in the U.S.'
- ‘Luminary’ by Jack Griffin
- ‘Presence’ by Amy Cuddy
- 'The Effectiveness of Briefings' GACEP Report
Guest Thought Leaders
Jack Griffin, CEO & Certified Coach, Light Up Ventures
As CEO of this award-winning leadership development firm, Jack is on a mission to illuminate tech leaders through story development. He is also the author of Luminary, a #1 Best Selling book about communication for technical professionals. As a certified executive coach and leadership consultant, his expertise is dedicated to guiding ambitious leaders and their organizations toward transformative growth.
Ellen Barnes-Pfiffner, Principal & Consultant, EBP Business Consulting
As the Principal of EBP Business Consulting, Ellen is a highly skilled business executive with experience spanning sales, marketing, organizational development and corporate training. She utilizes her extensive experience to benchmark briefing programs, implementing plans to develop best in class briefing practices.
In this episode, Chad Hutson, Chief Strategy Officer, and Tim Kail, Executive Creative Director, both of Dimensional Innovations, explore how experience-based destinations provide unique avenues for storytelling and creating memories that last. Employing ideas from these sources, managing budgets to achieve client objectives and testing future technologies are ways they encourage customer-facing programs to create well-rounded experiences for a variety of audiences.
Highlights
- Museums: compelling content, interactivity, memorability
- Theme Parks: ‘surprise & delight’, design, customization
- Everyday Destinations: hospitality, education, relationships
- Budgets: design, deploy, measure, optimize
- Innovation Labs: test early, fail fast, fail small
Resources
- ‘Immersive Storytelling for Real and Imagined Worlds' by Margaret Kerrison
- Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge
- ‘Go Big or Go Home' by Tucker Trotter and Diana Kandar
Guest Thought Leaders
Chad Hutson, Chief Strategy Officer, Dimensional Innovations
Chad helps to develop and execute the strategic direction of the organization. Previously, as co-founder and CEO of specialized creative agencyLeviathan, Chad led overall operations, business development and strategy for the organization, which was acquired by Envoy in 2017.
Tim Kail, Executive Creative Director, Dimensional Innovations
His day to day is learning as much as possible about a wide array of business categories, and working hard to reflect back some nugget of undiscovered truth that will help them connect with their audiences in a meaningful way. Prior to DI, Tim co-founded Rockbox, a strategic video content agency.
Happy New Year! What a fantastic way to start 2025…with some amazing news! Elizabeth Simpson, President of the Global Association of Customer Engagement Professionals (GACEP, formerly ABPM), shares everything you want to know about why the decision was made to make this significant change after 30 years as the ABPM. We discussed this evolution including the ‘aha moments’ that the universe kept sending to confirm this was the right path. Elizabeth tells multiple stories about discussions with members, the Advisory Board and the European Leadership Council that helped inform the decision, as well as the necessary steps and the timeline for the transition. She also reinforces who the GACEP will continue to support at its core and which roles may naturally join the community over time. This trusted community remains essential in supporting programs to achieve their vision and provide valuable guidance, best practices and insights from real-world experiences.
Highlights
- The impetus for changing the association's name to GACEP
- Clear ‘Aha’ moments leading to the change
- The process for change: confirming the new name
- GACEP = Global Association of Customer Engagement Professionals
- Who the GACEP will continue to serve
- Who we still are at our core
- Who we will welcome:
- CAB Teams
- Executive Sponsor Program Teams
- Customer Insight Teams
- Customer Reference Teams
- Who we are not (few to many)
- How to pronounce GACEP > G-ACE-P
- Symbolism of the new GACEP logo
- The complete change will take time, please let us know if you find any locations or documents where the change from ABPM to GACEP has not been made
Resources
- GACEP Resources Webpage
- GACEP Spring Conference 2025 Registration
Guest Thought Leader
Elizabeth Simpson, President, Global Association of Customer Engagement Professionals (GACEP) (formerly ABPM)
Elizabeth has been with the association for nearly 25 years and took on the role of President in 2018. She works closely with Briefing and Customer Engagement Program teams to understand their challenges and opportunities, then works with the Global Association of Customer Engagement Professionals (formerly ABPM) team to provide the support, resources, and connections that will help GACEP members be successful now and in the future.
In our year-end episode, Sharon Gewirtzman, Founder of TheCreativebySharon, shares her insights and expertise for becoming a ‘Super Connector’ - a career path dedicated to facilitating valuable introductions. From her time managing Visitor Centers to building trust with customers within the Amdocs and Palo Alto Networks briefing programs, Sharon is following her lifelong passion for connecting people and offering tools to help others do the same. She reviews the principles of intentional networking and techniques to be more effective including icebreakers to kickstart meaningful conversations and a connection tracker to assist in follow up activities. Key takeaways include learning how networking can be a joyous experience and the importance of surrounding yourself with people who have a positive mindset, who lift you up and bring you to long term relationships. The perfect listen for this holiday season!
Highlights
- Definition, Benefits and Steps to become a ‘Super Connector’
- The Power of Networking
- Sharon’s Term: ‘Principles of Intentional Networking’
- Approach to Networking is a ‘Mindset’
- True human interaction, not just on smartphones
- Generation Z Networking Workshop - coming in January
- Tools to Step Up Your Networking Game
- Ice Breakers for Meaningful Conversations - many different scenarios
- Networking Connections Tracker - the key is Follow Up!
- Key Takeaway: start meaningful conversations and not just collect business cards
- Networking can be a joyous experience
- Surround yourself with people who have a positive mindset and lift you up
- Truly listen with curiosity and develop your mental brain database
- Apply in professional and personal settings
Resources
- Ice Breakers to Kickstart Meaningful Conversations
- Networking Connections Tracker
- Shlomi Haster’s Mindset.org Webpage
- The True Meaning of Ikigai
Guest Thought LeaderSharon Gewirtzman, Founder of TheCreativeBySharon
As a seasoned connector, Sharon specializes in bringing people together. She fosters invaluable connections between individuals and brands, propelling growth and opportunity. With a passion for opening doors and nurturing relationships, she serves as both a Connector and Executive Advisor, guiding aspiring entrepreneurs towards their ideal goals.
What distinguishes Sharon is that she thrives in a global environment, infusing each interaction with boundless energy and innovative thinking. Her forte lies in seamlessly merging her expertise in event coordination, sales process management, and project oversight to craft unforgettable customer and client experiences.
With over a decade of hands-on experience steering customer engagements for top-tier technology firms including Amdocs and Palo Alto Networks, Sharon has honed her ability to cultivate enduring client partnerships and deliver exceptional production value across on-site, hybrid, and virtual events.
Sharon’s diverse background in graphic and web design, art history, and digital marketing adds a layer of creativity and ingenuity to every endeavor. She is continuously driven by a thirst for knowledge, a commitment to surpassing expectations, and a collaborative spirit that fuels success within cross-functional teams.
In this episode, Keeley Lundquist, Founder and Executive Consultant of Lime Group LLC, and Executive Briefing Center Expert/Transformation Leader, formerly of IBM, shares impactful approaches for effectively managing change within organizations. From her ‘Integrated Success Framework’ that focuses on people, processes and projects, to the power of design thinking, Keeley illustrates how briefing professionals can remain agile and address barrier points to drive continuous innovation and transformation. She also introduces our audience to the powerful 5 stage ADKAR model from Prosci for overcoming resistance, ensuring team members are ready to adapt to change.
Highlights
- Rattlesnakes - Meet People Where They Are, Build Trust
- How Organizations Manage Change - Flywheel vs. Pinball
- Design Thinking in EBCs - Collaborative Problem-Solving with Customers
- Integrated Success Framework - People, Processes, and Projects
- Overcoming Resistance to Change - Introducing ADKAR
- Barrier Points - Address the Emotional and Motivational Aspects Early
- Future of EBCs - Continuous Innovation and Transformation
Resources
- ‘Good to Great’, Jim Collins
- ‘The ADKAR Advantage: Your New Lens for Successful Change’, Karen Ball
- prosci.com
Guest Thought Leader
Keeley LundquistFounder and Executive Consultant, Lime Group LLC Executive Briefing Center Expert and Transformation Leader, formerly of IBM
Keeley brings over two decades of expertise in driving strategic change, leadership development, and organizational effectiveness through her consultancy. Keeley’s credentials include Lean Six Sigma and Prosci Change Management, and she’s currently leading a Learning & Development change initiative with a Fortune 100 company. During her 25+ years at IBM, Keeley specialized in EBC transformation, leveraging her expertise in change management, project management, and process improvement.
Over her 25-year career, Keeley spent more than 20 years in the Executive Briefing Center environment, taking on a variety of impactful roles. She began in a Client Enablement role, later transitioning to a position focused on marketing and communications. As a Client Experience Leader at IBM’s Global Solution Center in Dallas, Keeley led efforts to update the physical space and digital content, ultimately earning the center the prestigious ABPM World Class Center Award in 2015. In her final role with IBM, Keeley led Talent Transformation within the Innovation Studio program where she developed a skill strategy for a 250-pers
In this third episode of our mini-series related to ‘Mindset’, Naomi Price, SVP Global Accounts with Vantage Partners, offers insightful use cases and relevant stories along with step-by-step methodologies to shift our mindset for greater influence in our daily interactions. From coaching discussion leaders to engage at a deeper level with their customers, to preparing for powerful opportunities to speak with executive leadership, her guidance can support feeling more prepared, being more authentic in our engagements and to truly be present when these opportunities are presented to us.
Highlights
- Customer-Focused Mindset: From “Me” to “Them”
- Mindset Mantra: Think Your Way into a New Way of Acting, Act Your Way into a New Way of Thinking
- Mindset for Influence: Internally, Externally and those presenting on your behalf
- Shift from thinking about speaking with audiences as “Exposure” to “Visibility” where you are more in control of your own personal brand
- The 3 Step Presenting Mantra
- Self-Coaching Worksheet Example: “How do I want to be perceived?”
- Addressing Difficult Questions: Understanding the Why first
- Methodologies for Response: Fact or Feeling and Align-Respond-Maintain
- Quiet Recalibration from AmyK Hutchins
Resources
- AmyK Hutchens on Recalibration
- “The New Rules of INFLUENCE” by Lida Citroën
- Ep 73 - Benefits of Connected Balance with Kathy Sebuck
- Ep 74 - Addressing our Stress - From Depletion to Renewal with Shlomi Haster
Guest Thought Leader
Naomi PriceSenior Vice President, Global Accounts,Vantage Partners
Naomi is an internationally recognized expert in the art and science of business communication, moment of truth messaging, and high stakes communication consulting. Her commitment to her clients and professional partners has earned the trust of an extensive global network.
Naomi is an ABPM Solution Partner Advisory Board Member. Her first ABPM Conference was in the spring of 2006, with long time solution partner, Mandel Communications. When the owners of Mandel retired in December of 2022, Vantage Partners made it possible for Naomi and the best of Mandel’s trainers from around the world to continue doing the work they love, with and for people they value. Her portfolio of capabilities has expanded dramatically, thanks to Vantage’s consulting and training solutions (including sales and account management academies, negotiation skills training, new product launch consulting, and strategic deal coaching).
A travel and adventure junkie, Naomi has ridden her bicycle across New Zealand, fly fished in Argentina, and hiked in Bhutan. She is an avid rugby fan and just returned from supporting the USA mens’ and women’s Rugby 7s teams at the Olympics in Paris.
In this episode, Crissy Manwaring, New Business Development Manager with Robertson Marketing, calls on those crafting meaningful experiences to incorporate branded merchandise earlier in their strategic planning process and to recognize the impact that a well chosen artifact has far into the future. From defining more concrete goals to exploring new approaches for selection and delivery, we need to understand that the psychological elements of gifting and human engagement matters. Planning for multi-sensory interactions and employing the latest technology to simplify how and when customers engage can transform relationships by triggering powerful recall moments. For our customers and internal teams, being more intentional about this aspect of engagement could open a whole new way of elevating experiences.
Highlights
- The purpose of branded merchandise including sensory engagement
- Impactful approaches for appropriate merchandise selection and distribution
- Setting an anchor at the emotional peak of an experience - triggers recall
- The power of anticipation - the message and when you give gifts matters
- Partnerships thrive or fail based on logistics - digital experiences that make building a true promotional program possible for even managers of small briefing programs
- Strategies for internal audiences - identification, appreciation, recognition, and motivation
- Meaningful brand artifacts live on - authenticity is key, full custom/scarcity
- “It’s the message that makes the merch matter – and it’s the merch that makes the message stick!”
Resources
- Collections from the Google Store: Chrome Dino and Google Bike
- ‘Ultra-rare’ Apple Sneakers on Sale for $50,000 - Apple Shoes Auction
- Crissy has nothing to do with the manufacturing or distribution of these shirts from Splunk but LOVES the case study and the evidence that they provide for the power of promotions:
- Splunk T-Shirt Company
- Favorite Splunk Video
- See timestamp 2:04 when he enters the shipping department, and they throw in some Splunk software as swag at timestamp 2:15
Guest Thought Leader
Crissy Manwaring New Business Development Manager, Robertson Marketing
Crissy collaborates with her clients to get them noticed, believed, and remembered through effective use of promotional products. Leveraging 25 years of experience in advertising, marketing, and branded merchandise consulting in addition to a bachelors in English Communication, and Masters in Business Administration. Her graduate education emphasized global marketing, experience design, and service design.
Crissy helps her clients select the right product to communicate their message, and the right technology to deliver an exemplary customer experience. Her specialties include: promotional marketing, campaign design, branding and identity, logo design, promotions, advertising, creative thinking, sourcing, product design and development, tag-lines, presentation for maximum impact, print and promotion.
In our latest episode of the CX Live! Podcast, Jocelyn Domabyl, Strategic Program Manager & Global Discussion Leader Bureau Lead at Dell Technologies, and Kelly Deroche, Speakers Bureau & Strategic Engagements Lead at Google Cloud, highlight the importance of building relationships with other customer facing programs teams. From account tiering and aligning with the sales cycle to leveraging stakeholder overlap, memorable touch points across the customer journey maintain consistent messaging and offer customization where possible. Both also share examples of maximizing synergies across briefing and events teams.
Highlights
- Customer facing programs boost customer loyalty, advocacy and satisfaction
- Value of long-term relationships with customers across programs
- Storytelling - more cohesive customer journey across teams
- Dell: Tiered Accounts, Sales Cycle (Inspire, Engage, Convert)
- Google: Align Customer Programs to Tiers, Map to Customer Journey or Sales Cycle
- Best practices for customer tiering
- Synergies between customer facing programs
- Google: Stakeholder overlap - EBC, Executive Sponsorship, and Speakers Bureau - In same org
- Dell: Executive Sponsor Program (ESP) and Executive Briefing Program (EBP) - In different orgs
- Merging EBC and Events Teams
- Dell: briefing planning infrastructure for meetings at Events, DL Strategy and Sourcing, communications with Sales organization
- Google: Focus on Priority Accounts, briefing managers create Executives itineraries
Resources
- DT Accounts & Customer Program Alignments - Journey
- DT Accounts & Customer Program Alignments - Pyramid
- Google Cloud Storytelling Across Programs
Guest Thought Leaders
Kelly DerocheSpeakers Bureau & Strategic Engagements Lead, Google Cloud
Kelly is responsible for building and growing the Speakers Bureau program at Google. With this work, she’s scaling executive engagements by recruiting and supporting a community of thought leaders and experts from across Google to speak with customers on 100s of topic areas. In addition to Executive Briefings, Kelly works with Customer Programs like Executive Sponsorship and Customer Advisory Boards to create unique executive engagement strategies for top customers. Kelly is engaged in the ABPM community as a frequent Session Leader, Tour Host, World Class Award winner and now as a member of the ABPM Advisory Board. Kelly spent most of her life in Boston and now resides in San Francisco.
Jocelyn DomabylStrategic Program Manager & Global Discussion Leader Bureau Lead, Dell Technologies
Jocelyn spearheads the strategy for recruiting, maintaining, and supporting a community of 2,500 Discussion Leaders who engage with customers on over 200 topic areas during Executive Briefings and other events. She has a proven track record of orchestrating diverse projects, building business frameworks, streamlining operations, and mentoring teams to foster professional growth and strategic alignment. Jocelyn is actively involved in the ABPM community as a frequent session leader and a two-time World Class Program Award winner.
In this, our diamond episode, Ellen Barnes Pfiffner, Consultant with EBP Consulting, examines a multitude of approaches for putting our programs on the path to achieving excellence. From identifying the key indicators for evaluating our programs, to the steps to follow and the tools to invest in, Ellen encourages us to work toward our greater vision. Setting quarterly team meetings to review our vision and goals as well as holding an annual team review of how we are aligned to the ABPM World Class Characteristics supports the idea of continuous improvement being a mindset and excellence being a daily commitment. While the goal is to create memorable experiences, Ellen illustrates how teams must optimize across the board for efficiency and effectiveness.
Highlights
- Identifying key indicators for evaluating your program
- Complaints, corporate consolidation, new executive management, etc.
- Excellence = Continuous Improvement… it's a mindset!
- Make it memorable… optimizing for efficiency and effectiveness
- Referencing the ABPM World Class Characteristics and other steps to evaluate our program
- Annual team WCC review; reviewing vision, goals and project plan quarterly
- The value of comprehensive benchmarking
- Process and year over year outcomes
- Most effective tools to implore when evaluating or re-evaluating a program
- ABPM resources, The CXLive! Podcasts, A Scheduling Tool with Reporting
- Advisory Boards, Submission for ABPM World Class Awards and more
Resources
- Characteristics of a World Class Program (CCC) Virtual Workshop - July 16, 2024
- ABPM WC Characteristics
- Members can download for free
- Non-Members can purchase
- ABPM World Class Awards Entry Page
- Articles — EBP Business Consulting : Ellen Barnes Pfiffner
- The CXLive! Podcast Series
Guest Thought Leader
Ellen Barnes Pfiffner
Consultant, EBP Consulting
Ellen is a Management Consultant with over 25 years of business experience spanning sales, marketing, operations, customer experience and training. She advises and coaches briefing programs globally on how to achieve their goals, increase revenue, and how to be best in class.
Ellen is well-known in our briefing community and is a frequent session leader at ABPM Conferences, Fall Workshops events and provides ABPM Core Competency courses via webinars. She is an ABPM Advisory Board member emeritus and received the ABPM “Hero Award” at the 2021 Spring Conference for her tireless work to provide valuable information and resources to our entire community as soon as the pandemic hit and throughout 2020. She served on the ABPM Hybrid Taskforce and has been deeply involved in the evolution of the ABPM World Class characteristics.
In this second episode of our mini-series exploring the power of a positive mindset, Shlomi Haster, Growth Mindset Expert, Speaker, Podcaster and Stress Management Specialist, shares his powerful techniques for recognizing and shifting our mindset related to stress. From challenging our default mindset and inner critic, to focusing our energy to harness stress for positive outcomes, Shlomi guides us to identify our own unique stress, our common predictable stressors and levels of our stress signals. He’s created a "Stress Management Workbook for The CX Live! Podcast Listeners" that includes a “My Stress Profile” and “3-step Mindset Change Method for Real Time Stress Management” to help us live a more fulfilling life.
Highlights
- Defining Stress - specific vs chronic, our core beliefs and their impact
- Changing our Mindset Related to Stress - “peak performance”, harnessing energy to cope, our “default mindset”
- 3 Step Approach: Recognition, Acceptance, Utilization
- Address our “Inner Critic”
- Levels of stress in our modern life
- My Stress Profile - own definition of stress, common stressors (predictable), stress signals (3 levels: thoughts, body, behavior)
- Taking Action - growth mindset, connect the dots, change our experience
- Changing our neurological patterns
- Hope - reduce stress, improve our daily life, the journey of living a fulfilled life
- “State of Ease” (HeartMath), being curious, practicing gratitude
Resources
- Stress Management Workbook for The CX Live! Podcast Listeners
- "My Stress Profile"
- "3-step Mindset Change Method for Real Time Stress Management"
- Mindset.org.il (click on Translate to English)
- Mindset Podcast - “Leadership, Stoicism and The Meaning of Life with Fred Kofman”
- “Mindset: The New Psychology of Success” - Carol S. Dweck, PhD
- Sharon Gewirtzman, Relationship Connector, coming soon “TheCreativeBySharon.com”
Guest Thought Leader
Shlomi Haster Growth Mindset Expert, Speaker, Podcaster and Stress Management Specialist, Mindset.org.ilAs a passionate advocate for personal and professional growth, Shlomi finds joy in witnessing individuals flourish, develop, and achieve success. This deep-rooted passion led him to the intersection of organizational Learning and Development (L&D) and personal growth mindset. With a BA in Human Behavior and an MA in Organizational Science, Shlomi has worked in startup and high-tech environments for 15 years, primarily in Learning & Development functions.
For 5 years, Shlomi has hosted one of Israel's leading podcasts, called "Mindset," featuring experts in their field, encompassing various aspects of personal and professional development. He is a HeartMath Building Personal Resilience (BPR) coach, trained to help individuals develop emotional resilience and stress management skills.
In this episode, Kathy Sebuck, Founder & CEO of Marchitecture, shares perspectives for coping with stress, change and uncertainty to ensure our long term wellbeing. She provides compelling reasons and methods for examining our personal core values, implementing growth mindset tools, and employing positive intelligence tools among others to bring balance to our lives which is reflected in our personal and professional endeavors.
Highlights
- The 4 Cs - Briefing World Takeaways
- Community, Connection, Collaboration, Communication
- Perspectives for coping with change and uncertainty
- Ancient Wisdom/ History, Growth Mindset Tools, Personal Development, Conscious Leadership
- How to set boundaries, focus on strengths, know our job is not our value
- The “Connected Balance Experience”
- Core Values, Your body’s intuitive guidance system (HeartMath and Neuroscience), Transformational Presence, Positive Intelligence Tools
- Remember the Golden Rule - kindness, gratitude, positivity
Resources
- Suggested Reading List
- Start with Why - Simon Sinek
- The Four Agreements - A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom - Don Miguel Ruiz
- The Power of Now - Eckhart Tolle
- The Universe Has Your Back - Gabrielle Bernstein
- Radical Forgiveness - Colin Tipping
- Untethered Soul - Michale A. Singer
- Transformational Presence - Alan Seale
- You2 - Dr. Price Pritchett
- Manifesting Change: It Couldn’t Be Easier - Mike Dooley
- Marchitecture
- Waves of Change: Growth Mindset Tools for Connected Balance
- The Connected Balance Experience
- Digital Resources and Podcasts
- Speaking Opportunities
- Tech for Good
- World Economic Forum - Tech for Good
Guest Thought Leader
Kathy Sebuck
Founder & CEO, Marchitecture
Kathy is an award-winning strategic thinker, entrepreneurial leader, athlete, author, public speaker, and Fractional CMO with over 25 years of corporate tech sales and marketing leadership expertise working for Fortune 500 enterprise software companies in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors such including Sun Microsystems, Verisign, Microsoft, Citrix, SAP, and Amazon Web Services.
For 10 years she physically built and managed corporate briefing center programs at Sun Microsystems and Verisign. In 2019 she launched Marchitecture and offers services rooted in conscious leadership, growth mindset tools, and proven marketing communications best practices to build successful business strategies using storytelling. Her heart-centered approach is grounded in the neuroscience of HeartMath and a term she created called “Connected Balance”. She works with all types of le
In this episode, Mark Coxon, Director of Business Development and Joe Whitesides, Director of Experience Technology, both of the XTG Division of AVI-SPL, delve deep into the psychology of attracting, educating, entertaining and moving your audience to take action. It’s very clear that their backgrounds in the areas of behavioral psychology drive their passionate approach to creating impactful spaces and experiences. From examining what is 'Wow Factor’ and the need to prepare our audience for messaging, to studying how to create truly immersive experiences, we discuss ways of stacking senses like understanding vision and auditory more deeply, plus exploring techniques like coding memories, the newness of content, contrast of scale and transporting via the narrative just to name a few. Get ready!
Highlights
- Examining “Wow Factor”
- A World of Overstimulation
- Sensory Resetting
- Preparing for the Message
- Interrupt for Attention to Drive Action
- Providing Less Choices
- Using Novelty and Scale
- Peripheral Vision vs Foveal Vision
- Stacking Senses
- Newness of Content
- Contrast of Scale
- Appeal to the Senses
- Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) - Coding Memories
- Anchoring / Triggering / Nostalgia
- Auditory - Contextual Immersive Directional Audio
- Transporting Guests
- Educating While Entertaining
- Leverage Existing Physical Design
- Leaving White Space
- Narrative Transportation
Resources
- "Thinking Fast & Slow" - Daniel Kahneman, "The Paradox of Choice" - Barry Schwartz, "Stories That Stick" - Kindra Hall, "Free Guy" Movie
Guest Thought Leaders
Mark Coxon
Director of Business Development, XTG Division of AVI-SPL
Mark has been in the technology industry for the last 23 years and has a wide variety of experience in the design and implementation of workplace technology. Mark’s current role with XTG involves supporting conversations around the future of work and executive briefing center programs with some of the world’s largest companies. Although Mark has a deep technical background, his real passion is working at the intersection of physical space, behavioral psychology, and technology design to create real impact. Mark writes for several trade publications and is a regular guest on several podcasts and industry panels. He also teaches a workplace technology workshop for AVIXA (Audio Visual and Integrated Experience Association) on Creating the New Connection Center.
Joe Whitesides Director of Experience Technology, XTG Division of AVI-SPL
Joe has over 25 years of experience in the AV industry serving as systems designer, executive manager, and consultant. Joe works with clients in a variety of markets, including experiential environments, associations, large law firms, banking, defense contracting, and federal government. As a leader, Joe has worked to develop teams and improve processes from sales to installation, while striving to provide industry-leading customer service. As Director of Experience Technology, Joe leads a team designing systems for Corporate Experience and Briefing Centers, working on international projects. Joe maintains certifications from a variety of manufacturers and industry partners (including CTS-D) and has a BS in Psychology from Virginia Tech.
In this episode Brittany Bell, Managing Director at Deeplocal, and James Chester, Managing Director at Gumband, share the unique ways that briefing programs can develop more memorable in person experiences. From initial discovery and ideation sessions to how to engineer spaces that evolve over time, it’s the ability to measure the impact of these spaces by tracking actual utilization that briefing teams need to understand.
Highlights
- A different approach to the Ideation Process - bring Creatives and Engineers together from the start
- Key principles of “showing, not telling” and the concept of learning through play
- Keeping experiences focused on a singular message using levels known as “Wading, Swimming, Diving”
- Future proofing with technology - ensuring spaces can evolve over time
- Applying an integrated approach for platform control and measurement
- Being prepared for Day 2 - the concept of installation as the starting line
- Strategies for working with partners - collaboration, communication, and transparency
- Gathering stakeholder voices, and keeping the process on track via roles, not people
- The importance of playtesting and prototyping in the build phase - why testing design assumptions pays off
- A 6 step Process - from “concepting” to “install and wrap-up”
- Gumband design - flexible and modular to integrate numerous technologies
- Measurements including collecting, storing and displaying data on both passive and active engagements helping to determine future content strategies
Resources
- Simon Sinek: A Bit of Optimism Podcast “Humanize with Thomas Heatherwick”
- The Deeplocal / Gumband Process
Guest Thought Leaders
Brittany Bell Managing Director, Deeplocal Brittany Bell is the Managing Director of Deeplocal, an award-winning creative technology and experience design company. She has nearly a decade of experience in project management, interactive exhibit design, integrated marketing strategies, consumer insights, brand communications, customer experience, and events.
At Deeplocal, she works with brands to create permanent interactive spaces that evoke playfulness, and build emotional connections and loyalty with their customers. As a forward-thinking business leader, she has the ability to distill complex ideas into easily understandable content and project plans. She excels at motivating large, cross-functional groups to align around a single goal and balancing multiple deadlines while maintaining an organized, yet creative, approach.
James Chester Managing Director, GumbandJames Chester is the Managing Director for Gumband, an award-winning SaaS platform that allows brands to control and measure their interactive environments in real time from anywhere. With his expertise spanning architectural design, marketing and tech, he has worked on multi-million dollar building and development projects, and led the digital transformation of Samsung's global media business at Starcom.
In 2021, he oversaw the launch of Gumband as a product division out of Deeplocal. Since then, Gumband has powered experiential activations and spaces for global tech and retail brands.
Clients: Google, Stripe, Meta, TikTok, Museum of the Future, Activision, Linkedin, Spotify, Netflix, etc
In this episode, Jackie Haywood, former Director of the Aetna Customer Center, shares about her experience developing and managing the briefing program while staying focused on building an environment that prioritizes team and community. She reveals the guiding principles that she implemented to build a strong team while advising how today’s program leads can expand their reach and pay it forward. From Advisory Boards and Speakers Bureaus to the Voice of the Customer, Jackie highlights ways to build both internal and external community partnerships to help programs evolve and grow.
“Never underestimate opportunities that could come from very unexpected places (i.e. serve on a committee, give an opinion, be part of a project)...It could influence your future career. As managers, we must be willing to do whatever it takes to support your team for success! Never stop supporting each other and always stay in touch with your network.”
Highlights
- An overview of Aetna, creating the Aetna Customer Center and team
- The importance of Executive Support and being flexible
- Expand your program and space to external community initiatives
- The Aetna Customer Center program differentiators and best practices
- Guiding principles for building a strong and motivated team
- Advice for EBC Program Directors to Pay it Forward
- Expanding team member roles to align with interests and strengths
- Strategies to build support from the internal Aetna Community: Advisory Boards, Speakers Bureau, Voice of the Customer
- Impactful contributions that leave a legacy
- How to transfer skills learned in briefing programs to our future careers
Resources
- “Learning to Lead” Ron Williams, former Aetna CEO
- “In The Current” by Virginia Kravitz, Writer & Mentor
- This blog contains inspiring posts on a variety of topics, each with universal life lessons that are both relevant and relatable.
Guest Thought Leader
Jackie Haywood Former Director of the Aetna Customer CenterIn her 35 years with Aetna, Jackie held multiple positions including Implementation Manager in National Accounts Sales Support before moving to the Aetna Customer Center first as the Operations Manager and then promoted to the team’s Director.
Jackie managed the proposal and building process for the new Aetna Corporate Executive Briefing Center. She was responsible for all aspects of managing the Center and team, including program development, staff, budget, marketing initiatives, internal & external communications, sales, training & experiential display elements.
Jackie assembled a diverse team representing external suppliers & business partners from various professional disciplines (content writers, exhibit designers, media, construction, audio-visual) as well as company-wide business leaders and subject matter experts. She determined program specifications, design requirements, overall content and business objectives for the Center, which was the first of its kind in the healthcare industry and was LEED Silver-certified upon completion.
In this episode, Ricken Patel, Senior Leader, Global CXC, with Cisco goes into great detail about expansion of the Cisco Experience Centers, including new models for recently opened centers in Atlanta and Paris. He also focuses on how Cisco has applied strategies related to each of the ABPM world class characteristics (Management, Operations, Branding/Experience and Analytics) to create a more globally unified team that moves together, celebrates together and learns together. **“Democratize and evangelize your data - being more open with our data has allowed us to build tighter relationships, get access to the right people, and even get some funding out of it. The more people know about what you’re doing and bringing to the table, the better off you’ll be.”
Highlights**
- The Cisco Global CXC Program defined including locations, team member roles, demos and onsite requirements
- How to fast track the build and launch of a new regional center while implementing a new service model
- The importance of referencing the ABPM World Class Characteristics
- Management
- Functional organization
- Communication
- Move Together
- Celebrate Together
- Learn Together
- Embracing so called “Rogue Centers”
- Operations
- Vision - how to set priorities according to your “North Star”
- Tools & Resources - driving strategy through consistency
- Processes - Common vs Local
- Branding / Experience
- Consistent branding across locations
- Daily communications to provide consistent experiences
- Analytics
- The motto of “share all data!”
- Curating self-service dashboards by personae
- Partner with “sister teams” for executive insights
- Lessons Learned including ‘Be extremely curious’, ‘Right-size advice and best practices’ and ‘Democratize and evangelize your data’!
- Management
Resources
- “Good to Great” by Jim Collins
- “Turning the Flywheel: A Monograph to Accompany Good to Great” by Jim Collins
- “Hit Refresh” by Satya Nadella
Guest Thought LeaderRicken Patel Senior Leader, Global CXC, CiscoRicken is responsible for the Global Cisco Experience Center program. He and his team are accountable for helping their sellers execute high level engagements across all 11 CXC locations. The team’s purpose is to connect their customers and partners with the best of Cisco.
Ricken graduated from San Jose State University with a Bachelor's Degree in Industrial and Systems Engineering and immediately began working for CIsco. His entire professional career has been with Cisco including a number of interesting and challenging roles within the Sales organization.
Having attended ABPM conferences since 2019, Ricken presented his first session at the ABPM Fall Workshops in San Diego this past October.
In this episode, my daughter, Jaxlyn Werner, and I review the highlights of our 2023 season providing key nuggets and resources from this year’s amazing interviewees. We introduce our 5th season which will start in January 2024 to include more conversations with global briefing industry leaders who are changing and elevating our profession with their creativity and willingness to think outside the box.
Highlights:
- A review of all 11 episodes of our 2023 thought leader interviews
- Key topics of interest provided in each episode
- Important resources referenced by our interviewees
- A look ahead to our 5th season of The CXLive! Podcast
Guest Co-Host:
Jaxlyn Werner
Artist, Entrepreneur, Honor Student, Tinker, Athlete and a leader for our next-generation, Artveva
Jax just turned 12 and is currently in 6th grade at the same middle school I attended! She loves math and science and is on the Principal’s Honor Roll. She loves the arts including musical theater. She recently won 1st place in 2 drawing categories in 5th grade and has created a number of painting series including one for Ukraine relief efforts last year. Her creativity is showcased in her pop up Art Booth where she sells her paintings, bracelets, stress balls and more. She plans to start her own Etsy site very soon called Artveva.
Jax has a mechanical mind like her dad. She’s so curious, taking things apart and figuring out how to put them back together. Thank goodness she also has a scheduling mind like me. She is very athletic having been involved in dance, gymnastics, tennis, basketball, and volleyball over the years, now focusing on her latest passion: Karate.
Jax stays informed about what is going on in the world and is defining her own voice. Needless to say, we are very proud of her and are so excited for the next steps in her journey.
And her journey to the briefing world was an obvious one. Already a veteran of ABPM events, Jax attended her first ABPM Spring Conference in 2012 in Boston at 6 months old. Many of you may remember meeting her there and seeing her again at Solution Partner Showcase events when held in Santa Clara before we moved home to Redding, CA in 2016. And of course, I couldn’t resist sharing photos of her in opening slides when teaching ABPM sessions. Thank you to so many of you for your care and interest in her life over the years.
In this episode, Rebecca Bucher, Senior Director, Global Accounts with HelmsBriscoe, takes us along her journey from her days managing the Xerox Briefing Program to working with the ABPM team and ultimately defining a new career consulting for global events. She shares key elements that everyone leading event teams, including those briefing programs who have taken on event teams, should know when negotiating contracts for hotels, AV, transportation, and other services. Rebecca specifically addresses how important it is to look for and uncover hidden costs when negotiating on her clients’ behalf.
Highlights:
- Rebecca’s career with Xerox where she held many different positions
- The road to managing the Xerox Briefing Program
- Her introduction to and ongoing relationship with the ABPM Team
- How to leverage the power of global players to address clients’ needs
- Specific event elements Group Business clients should know when looking to secure hotels, AV, transportation and other services
- How to negotiate for value and avoid hidden costs
Guest Thought Leader:
Rebecca Bucher
Senior Director, Global Accounts, HelmsBriscoe
Rebecca worked for Xerox Corporation for more than 20 years and held numerous positions including Manager of their Briefing Program. She has been an active member of ABPM since 2000 participating in every conference, hosting Tour Day in their NYC Center, and also served on the ABPM Advisory Board.
Today, Rebecca is an associate with HelmsBriscoe, the global leader in meetings procurement. In this role, she offers an easy and cost-free alternative to the time-consuming and costly aspects of finding and contracting a hotel for group events. Rebecca has received their President’s Club Award 11 times. And, the ABPM staff relies on Rebecca to find, negotiate and contract hotel locations for all their conferences.
In this episode, members of the Procore briefing team including Jessica Gass, Simone Sterling and Cheyanne Faulkner share the story of how they envisioned, built, grew and continue to expand their APEX briefing program and its offerings. From the importance of understanding their unique audience to the organic evolution of a program that the whole company believes in and is proud to participate in, this is a success story that inspires!
Highlights:
- How the Procore briefing program began in 2020
- Stages in the evolution of APEX, the Procore briefing program
- The gift of Executive Buy-in and Sponsorship
- Knowing the Construction industry and creating unique “white glove” Procore experiences
- Expansion to internal, external and industry relevant engagements
- The power of Processes, Tools, and Solution Partners
- The Procore team’s vision for the coming years including international growth and formalizing the Executive Event program
Resources:
- “Unreasonable Hospitality” by Will Guidara
Guest Thought Leaders:
Jessica Gass Senior Manager, Field and Executive Marketing, Procore
Jess currently manages the briefing program as well as field marketing and other executive event programs at Procore. Her previous experience includes roles in field marketing at BMC and Cloudera as well as some Marketing generalist roles at early stage startups that were acquired into those companies. Her early career included concierge work at the Hyatt and an overnight bellman role at the Four Seasons which really spurred her interest in delighting people and not really ever being able to say no (which has been both a blessing and a curse - her team can attest).
Simone Sterling Executive Program Marketing Associate Member, Procore
After graduating with a sports marketing background. She has pursued her roles in events over the last 10 years in nonprofit events, sports events, tradeshows and now executive events.
Cheyanne Faulkner Executive Event Program Associate Member, Procore
With her early roles at WeWork and Zendesk in marketing events and hospitality, Cheyanne has always had a passion for making people feel welcome and connected ever since she was a kid. Cheyanne’s first time interaction with ABPM was at the Boston 2023 conference!
In this episode, Corey Hansen, Dynamic Delivery Coach and Trainer with GoProBriefings.com offers our Executives and discussion leaders specific strategies and frameworks for building confidence in their delivery while customizing their content. From understanding Dynamics and Foundational Principles, to implementing the 4-A Way of Dynamic Delivery, Corey provides proven techniques to elevate conversations with our customers.
Highlights:
- Similarities of “performances” on the theatrical stage and the corporate stage
- Understanding Dynamics: Physical space, people, macro and micro levels
- Foundational Principles including clearing the distraction and getting to action
- Implementing the 4-A Way of Dynamic Delivery model (reference graphic): Audience, Atmosphere, Action, Actor
- Content guidance for Discussion Leaders: “Expectations Set, Expectations Met”
- The Importance of being prepared, not “winging it” and not ‘prejudging”
Episode Resources:
- 4-A Way of Dynamic Delivery Graphic
- “Key Techniques for Dynamic Discussion Leaders” Blog
- “How to Act in Business: A Dialogue For Businesspeople in One Act” Book by Corey Hansen
Guest Thought Leader:
Corey Hansen
Dynamic Delivery Coach and Trainer, GoProBriefings.com
Corey blends strategies and techniques from theatrical and corporate stages to help briefing professionals deliver their most confident and engaging performances. Corey earned his Master of Fine Arts degree in Acting at UC San Diego then earned membership in actors’ unions. Following his passion for teaching, Corey served as Professor of Acting at the University of Washington Graduate School of Drama.
While at Sprint, Corey held management positions in multiple disciplines including expanding roles in the Executive Briefing Program as Solution Demonstration Manager, Briefing Consultant, and General Manager of the award-winning Sprint Executive Briefing Program, selected as ABPM Program of the Year in 2014. Following Sprint’s merger with T-Mobile, Corey served as Senior Manager of the Executive Briefing Program.
A member of ABPM since 2013 Corey has attended and presented at Conferences and hosted the 2022 Fall Workshop attendees to the T-Mobile Experience Center in Kansas City.
In this episode, Steve Deitz, CEO & Founder and Susie Tobin, Customer Engagement Advisor, both of 900lbs, share unique ways to design memorable and customized experiences that enhance the customer and employee experience. From building in mechanisms to track metrics to utilizing ‘Practical Applications’, Steve and Susie showcase specific examples of how to expand the value of our programs.
Highlights:
- The importance of ‘Customer Experience” - both Program Excellence and Center Design
- Key elements to consider when creating an experience that tells your corporate story - How to Customize, Scale, and Maintain the Experience
- Incorporate gathering metrics that your management cares about while buying an Experience - Platforms such as Adobe Analytics and Unity Analytics
- New Trend - the development of “Practical Applications” with Briefing Program and other stakeholders’ use cases in mind (Royal Caribbean Safety Command Center example)
- How to effectively leverage the Briefing Program Customer Experiences for the Employee Experience
- Recommendations for “Breaking the Script” when designing memorable experiences
Episode Resources:
- “Power of Moments: Why Certain Experiences Have Extraordinary Impact” by Chip Heath & Dan Heath
- “Tiffanys NYC Flagship Store Shining Brighter Than Ever”
Guest Thought Leaders:
Steve Deitz CEO & Founder, 900lbs
In 2009, Steve founded 900lbs, a Dallas-based experience design agency. He leads a talented team (also known as a design and development Special Forces Unit) specializing in interactive customer engagement, technical software development and high-impact visual content to showcase the art of the possible.
With an arsenal of cutting-edge tools, 900lbs brings complex ideas to life driving business results for customers such as: Amazon Web Services, NTT Data, Bell Flight, Royal Caribbean, Textron Systems, Volvo, PepsiCo, Dallas Cowboys, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, and Shell Oil.
Steve is a 2000 graduate in Design Communications from Texas Tech. He was a 2018 honoree of Dallas Business Journal’s 40 under 40 and Dallas Innovates Future 50 in 2023. Steve is happily married and lives in Plano, Texas. He enjoys the outdoors, traveling, technology, drawing, camping, and Da Bears!
Susie Tobin Customer Engagement Advisor, 900lbs
Susie brings her passion for unique and extraordinary experiences along with her knowledge of the corporate world to support all aspects of the go to market and growth strategy. Susie spent a number of years in the IT industry always with the customer top of mind. Her global experience included leading teams in building and managing briefing programs and events. She thrives when creating and developing memorable customer experiences.
A graduate of the University of Oklahoma, Susie lives in Frisco, TX with her most favorite miniature schnauzer, Poppy. She loves the outdoors, golfing, and spending time with friends and family.
In this episode, Renee Niebylski, Director of Global Experience Program at Crestron, shares the importance of analyzing the data that she collects in order to craft the most relevant story to each of her distinct audiences, always driving toward her program goals. With a broad spectrum of data collection methods, she provides factual evidence that influences executive decisions ensuring long term program and team success as well as future program expansion.
Highlights:
- Strategies for understanding a briefing program’s current story including listening to many different points of view
- How to define your program’s internal audience and key executive or group stakeholders’ care-abouts
- Ways to analyze your data to craft stories that align to your audience’s specific care-abouts and objectives
- Methodologies for reporting to achieve desired outcomes - additional resources, geographic expansion, filling the briefing pipeline at specific times, etc.
- How to market yourself and your program for inclusion in highly visible meetings - CMO All Hands, Sales & Marketing QBR, Regional Monthly Calls, etc.
- Effective ways to manage reporting tools and build a master presentation layered for immediate delivery to any audience
- Avoiding “Data Vomit” - ways to provide just the right amount of detail during presentations and when providing access to dashboards
Episode Resources:
- MasterClass - Neil Degrasse Tyson
- Presentation Psychology: Proven Strategies to Truly Connect with Your Audience
Guest Thought Leader:
Renee Niebylski
Director, Global Experience Program at Crestron
Over the past 16 years, Renee has held nearly every role in the briefing and experience world. From her early days as a Briefing Consultant to General Manager of global teams, she has driven strategy for well-known briefing programs including Sprint/Nextel, VMware, and Polycom/Poly.
Renee is now starting a new program and leading the Global Experience Team at Crestron Electronics.
A native New Yorker, Renee relocated to the DC Metro area about 25 years ago and has just moved to Maryland with her husband and 12 year old daughter to lead the Crestron team.
In this episode, Riaz Meghji, who provided an amazing Keynote at the recent ABPM Spring Conference in Boston, offers additional insights and approaches for creating more authentic connections in our professional and personal lives. He provides specific questions we can all utilize to build trust and manifest deeper relationships. Even if you attended his Keynote, Riaz offers so many more meaningful insights during our conversation that you won’t want to miss! Episode Highlights:
- How to create space for people to show up as their authentic selves instead of overwhelming them with data
- Key approaches to “make small talk bigger” including asking questions in a way that prompts deeper responses
- The importance of “listening without distraction” and how to be confident in our preparation to allow for improvisation
- Ways to “convey credibility before vulnerability”... modeling how to share imperfections which allows others to do the same
- Practicing “making people feel famous” through specificity, milestone moments and gratitude
- How being “empathetic curiosity” can ease anxiety around difficult conversations and help us show up in better ways
- Steps to encourage stories that evoke positive emotions - “trials, transitions and triumphs”
Powerful Quotes:
- “Real Connection is the ability to admit imperfections.”
- “Efficiency is the enemy of human connection.”
- “Connected leaders give their people permission to get personal.”
Episode Resources:
- RiazMeghji.com
- YouTube - Riaz Meghji
- "Every Conversation Counts" Book by Riaz Meghji
- Scott Shute - Changing Work (and the World) from the Inside Out
- "Full Body Yes" Book by Scott Shute
Guest Thought Leader:Riaz Meghji Human Connections Speaker, Author and Executive CoachDrawing on his almost two decades of experience as a broadcast interviewer and presenter for brands such as Citytv’s Breakfast Television, MTV Canada, CTV News, and the Toronto International Film Festival, 'Every Conversation Counts' author Riaz Meghji now serves as a human connection keynote speaker, helping leaders build trust, meaningful relationships and collaborative cultures in our new world of work.
His practical insights have been featured in various publications including Harvard Business Review, Fast Company and Financial Post.
In our second “Icons of Impact” episode, Barb Anderson, shares insights from her 33 years at McDonnell Douglas and Boeing, including her time as Director of Customer Engagement for Boeing Defense and Space Systems. From her experiences building the award-winning Boeing Briefing Program and Collaboration Center to important advice for becoming leaders who “cast long shadows”, Barb offers critical strategies for achieving your vision. Episode Highlights:
- Building the award-winning Boeing Briefing Program and Collaboration Center in DC
- How leaders have a vision for the future and continue to deliver great value
- The power of the ABPM World Class Characteristics - timeless and flexible
- The importance for leaders to “cast long shadows” by empowering and involving their team
- Strategies for creating memorable experiences that focus on the customer first
- Advice for today’s briefing professionals - Be Bold, Speak Up, Say YES to new opportunities
Guest Thought Leader:
Barb Anderson
Formerly Director, Customer Engagement with Boeing Defense and Space Systems
Happily Retired
Barb joined McDonnell Douglas in 1984 and was involved in Communications activities for the next 20 years – through the 1997 merger with Boeing and beyond.
In 2004, Barb became the Director, Customer Engagement for Boeing Defense and Space Systems. She had a team of 70 people located at a dozen sites across the US, who’s number one job was the flawless planning and execution of senior customer meetings, special events and Air & Trade Shows. She reported to the VP of business development who reported directly to the President of Boeing Defense.
In 2011, Barb began a four year journey to design and build the Boeing Collaboration Center at the new Boeing Headquarters in Washington, DC. She led her team to achieve World Class status – winning 3 ABPM Awards including World Class Management in 2016 plus World Class Center in 2016 and World Class Planning in 2017. Barb served on the ABPM Advisory Board for 3 years from 2015-2017.
After 33 years with McDonnell Douglas and Boeing, Barb retired in 2017 and has continued to stay active with the ABPM often volunteering at Conferences and Workshops, ensuring that new and experienced members alike continue to gain valuable insights from our briefing community.
In this episode, Nathan Pisik, Global Leader in the Executive Briefing Program world and ‘professional raconteur’, explores approaches for mission-driven storytelling, a way of communicating an organization’s values and goals through a compelling narrative. He provides powerful examples from the briefing world and beyond that implore us to think creatively, sparking our own heightened sense of curiosity.
Episode Highlights:
- Keys to effective mission-driven storytelling including authenticity, transparency and focusing on the impact of the organization’s work
- How to utilize curiosity-driven questions to drive compelling stories
- The formula for developing “visual evidence” and then “context” while highlighting specific briefing program that cause us to “look at this thing”
- The possibility of providing ways for guests to learn more about themselves when engaging within our Centers
- Addressing the challenges for programs to achieve mission-driven storytelling
- The distinction between technology that enables innovation and those we use to take care of things that are not our engines of innovation
- Advice for telling the truth in order to elevate our outcomes and strengthen relationships that serve a greater purpose
Episode Resources:
- The Book of Beautiful Questions - Warren Berger
- A More Beautiful Question - Warren Berger
- The Culture Map - Erin Meyers
- Johnny Harris Website
Guest Thought Leader:Nathan Pisik
Global Leader in the Executive Briefing Program World and "Professional Raconteur"
Nathan has developed, led, and scaled global Content & Messaging strategy for some of the largest and most respected Technology companies in the world. Most recently, Nathan served as International Head of Content & Messaging at Google, overseeing global content strategy and serving as The Central Region Briefing Program Lead tasked with launching and managing Google’s burgeoning CloudSpace Briefing Program in Austin, TX.
Prior to joining Google, Nathan led global content & messaging strategy for the Dell Technologies Executive Briefing Program, managing Briefing Consultant Enablement and training across Dell Technologies 11 global locations, and serving as a Discussion Leader Developing, Facilitating, and Leading Design-Thinking and Innovation Workshops for Fortune 100 executives from around the world.
Nathan has served as a session leader at three ABPM conferences since 2021 and has been a keynote speaker at various industry events. He holds degrees in International Business and Chinese Language Studies from Texas A&M University.
We’re reaching out to thought leaders from different industries to share their perspective on topics important to the briefing community. Adam Alfia, Founder and Managing Director at Real Time Feedback, shares best practices to elevate the customer experience from making first interactions matter to addressing the Service Recovery Paradox that increases customer loyalty. He discusses how to overcome survey fatigue and the rise of the Customer Effort Score (CES).
Episode Highlights:
- The importance of training team members to actively address customer pain points and provide next level customer service
- Why the first interaction matters and impacts the remainder of the experience - positively or negatively
- The Service Recovery Paradox and how to empower your team to make decisions that increase customer loyalty
- Key insights into developing a 2-way feedback mechanism that encourages customer responses and suggestions for overcoming survey fatigue
- Technologies that allow customers to give real time feedback and make them feel they have made a difference in the process
- The value of the Customer Effort Score (CES), a way to measure success and ease of customer interactions
Episode Resource:
- Gartner: What's Your Customer Effort Score (CES)?
Guest Thought Leader
Adam Alfia
Founder & Managing Director, Real Time Feedback
Adam is a serial entrepreneur and currently involved in over 25 businesses. He started a European auto repair shop out of college, expanded to 4 locations and sold them all in 2005 for $7.5M. He then founded Maestro, a white-labeled virtual personal assistant service catering to the automotive industry with clients including Infiniti, Nissan, Mitsubishi and Subaru. Most recently, Adam is the Founder and Managing Director of Real Time Feedback, an important tool that helps companies learn more about customer experiences as they happen, giving them a chance to correct issues. Additionally, Adam manages a successful chain of restaurants called Shell Shack.
In our first ever “Icons of Impact” podcast episode, Ann Benett, formerly Manager of the Global Executive Briefing at Apple and President of Benett Communications and now happily retired, shares her valuable insights on the evolution of the briefing industry and key strategies for today’s briefing professionals all while reflecting on her love of the briefing profession and community.
Episode Highlights:
- The most important shift in the briefing industry over the past 25+ years
- What she loves most about the briefing profession
- How the pandemic changed the briefing landscape and positive outcomes
- Key hurdles briefing teams need to overcome to gain credibility with executive management
- Three key strategies for today’s briefing professionals to: looking outward, looking inward, looking forward
Episode Resources:
- Harvard Business Review
- ABPM Homepage
In our first episode of 2023, John Heiman, Consultant with EBP Consulting, shares how to capture meaningful data to demonstrate the briefing program’s ROI. With a focus on effectiveness and efficiency, he highlights the importance of having a baseline to measure sentiment and methods for reporting the impact to executive management.
Episode Highlights:
- The importance of understanding C Level “care abouts” related to data collection and analytics
- Ways to refocus the collection of metrics into two main categories: Effectiveness and Efficiency
- The power of the Net Promoter Score to demonstrate briefing impact on changing customer sentiment
- The top 3 most impactful metrics to report to executive management
- Strategies for communicating with executives for buy in on your long term program requirements
- How to build advocacy for prioritization with IT teams to utilize CRM tools for reporting briefing program influence
Episode Resource:
The Ultimate Question 2.0
In this episode, Elizabeth Simpson, President of ABPM, and Candie Hurley, Coach, Trainer & Consultant at GoProBriefings.com, share key insights from our 2022 episodes dedicated to the main categories of the ABPM’s Characteristics of World Class Briefing Programs document and give a “first look” into recent changes to this aspirational guide that briefing programs reference to achieve world class.
Episode Highlights:
- An understanding that this document offers the foundational principles that briefing programs reference for each of the five categories: Customer Experience, Analytics, Management, Operations, and Multi-Center Programs
- The importance of the characteristics within each of the five categories, how they continued to guide briefing teams through the pandemic, and remain applicable for programs
- Key insights from each of the five thought leaders who were interviewed along with examples they shared for achieving world class
- A review of the process for making changes to the document, a “first look” at those changes and the thinking behind them
- Inspiring words of wisdom for briefing programs as we move into 2023
Episode Resource:
- ABPM’s Updated Characteristics of World Class Briefing Programs
In this episode, Emily Kester, Creative Director and Marshall Thompson, Director of Strategic Growth, both of Hyperquake, share how to build stories that are rooted in truth, making people connect emotionally and inspiring them to take action.
Episode Highlights:
- The importance of creating powerful stories that build deeper connections and strengthen trust with your audience - motivating them to think, feel, and do
- How the Experience Framework guides the development of unique stories that resonate with customers by tapping into how humans communicate on an emotional level
- Tips for ensuring the customer journey through your space addresses the right elements to achieve your goal, specifically a sense of safety that grounds the rest of the experience so guests can receive what you are sharing
- New ways to leverage experiential environments to demonstrate key corporate values that inspire your internal stakeholders including your discussion leaders
- Ideas for creating more inclusive stories that resonate with a new breed of today’s decision makers - sustainability, equity, collaboration
Episode Resources:
- Hyperquake - Storybuilding Capes
- Hyperquake - Highlight Reel Video
In this episode, Sid van Wijk, Executive Briefing Center Lead at Miro in Amsterdam shares the journey he and his team are on to reimagine how briefing experiences can be more collaborative including a new approach to the briefing planning process that involves the customer much earlier in the conversation.
Highlights:
- How to explore the different ways that technologies can be integrated to bring a whole different level of collaboration to all briefing phases
- The importance of building for scale and flexibility including various approaches for designing the initial physical briefing center space and amenities
- How to immerse your guests in the tools even before their engagement date so they can drive the objectives and the agenda to a more positive outcome
- Ideas for elevating the hybrid briefing experience including moderators who advocate for both virtual and in-person guests
- Thinking “outside the box” and being flexible when defining the customer journey such as changing from “talk, talk, talk” to “talk, show, prove”
Description
In this episode, Jennifer Anthony, BSc (Hons) Therapeutic Radiography and Customer Engagement Manager at Elekta explores how many professionals find success in the briefing industry by connecting their previous technical background to interactions with customers, further strengthening relationships and accelerating sales closure.
Highlights:
- How previous technical knowledge can be valuable in the corporate world by supporting product releases, testing hardware and software for efficiency in the field, educating other employees and finding new solutions
- The importance of speaking the customer’s language to build trust and tell a story that evokes a feeling that makes your briefing experiences memorable
- How to use expertise to have empathetic and insightful conversations with customers while facilitating conversations between customers and discussion leaders
- Ideas for building genuine spaces within a physical center based on one’s technical knowledge and deeper understanding of what will resonate with your guests
Description
In this episode, George Astacio Jr., Sales Manager of Client Experiences at Jupiter Systems explores how audio visual (AV) technology can elevate the customer experience and increase engagement at Briefing and Experience Centers.
Highlights:
- How AV technology supports meeting equity and brand messaging
- What new and innovative AV technologies are emerging and how they’ve impacted briefing centers
- How AV technology is a tool that organizations can use to increase employee retention, improve productivity, add excitement to their program and encourage guests to visit in-person
- Key considerations to keep in mind when evaluating if you need to introduce new AV technologies or upgrade existing ones in your program
- Ideas for maintaining a strong relationship with your AV Partners to stay informed about technology to align to your short and long term needs
Description
In this episode, Darby Mason-Werner, host of the CX Live! Podcast, celebrates episode 50 with a bonus episode, providing exciting new updates on the podcast and inviting guests to share best practices they’ve learned from the podcast over the years.
Highlights:
- Elizabeth Simpson, President of ABPM shares the impact the podcast made on the briefing community
- A variety of guests share which podcast episode was their favorite, and key takeaways they learned and implemented in their own briefing programs
- Andrea Williams, Director of Marketing at Inpixon shares the journey of the podcast since its inception in 2020
- Exciting updates on the new re-brand of the podcast, and what’s to come in the future
Description
In this episode, Laurent Picot, Director of EMEA Innovation Centers at Salesforce discusses how to manage regional briefing centers while staying consistent with the goals of a global briefing program.
Highlights:
- The value of building trust with your team members while remaining focused on the shared vision and strategy
- Strategies for prioritizing shared tools, gaining access to executives and discussion leaders, providing metrics in dashboards, and evangelizing the value of the program across the company
- The importance of communicating with new hires and the sales team on what the overall goals are to stay aligned with the same measures of success
- Why it’s crucial to prove the value of your briefing program to executive management and continuously innovate
- How the Salesforce Innovation Center incorporated virtual reality to add another layer of interactivity to their customer engagements
Description
In this episode, John Panek, Senior Manager of Zebra Technologies’ North American Executive Briefing Program & Experience Centers explores the idea of promoting the value of executive briefing programs within the organization, and the opportunities that can create for growth.
Highlights:
- How internal promotion creates excitement among the sales team and executive leadership, and can help gain their support
- The value in creating internal resources to report on the success of the briefing program, such as annual reports and newsletters
- How to encourage the promotion of briefing sessions on social media to share with an entire network and increase awareness
- The power of analytics in gaining insights that enrich the briefing program and evangelize its success
- How empowering briefing team members to be more consultative and recognizing discussion leaders builds a stronger, more dedicated team
Find John Panek’s examples of internal resources, here.
Description
In this episode, Simon Grice, Senior Director in the Chief Innovation Office at ServiceNow discusses how to build a global briefing center program to support company objectives and customer success, capable of evolving with the organization.
Highlights:
- How to set a clear vision for reimagining the customers’ experience while aligning to your corporate brand and values
- The importance of understanding that re-designing a briefing space takes time, and the value in patience when building global briefing centers
- How to adapt the briefing center to its region and work with executive leadership around the world
- The process of building brand new briefing centers from start to finish, and how to leverage technology to improve storytelling
- How to create innovative and dynamic spaces such as boardrooms, theatres, broadcast studios or spaces for strategy sessions
Description
In this episode, Jan Mark Holzer, Senior Distinguished Engineer at Red Hat Inc. explores how having a data-driven approach in your briefing strategy can help gain insights to further customize your briefing program and deepen your relationship with customers.
Highlights:
- How data enables us to get a holistic view of the customer lifecycle to identify the best opportunities to engage
- The importance of visualizing data in an accessible format to make it valuable to a variety of stakeholders, including tracking account activity for the sales team
- How evaluating pertinent data supports briefing program teams in building more impactful agendas that achieve customer objectives
- The way tools and technologies can be useful in receiving alerts or subscription updates around new engagement and activities
- How the use of data can inspire a data-driven approach in other departments of the organization, streamlining various processes
Description
In this episode, Nathan Pisik, Global Strategy Senior Advisor for the Dell Technologies Executive Briefing Program discusses the importance of building trust with the sales team to create customer-focused briefing agendas, that will ultimately help sales reach their goals and elevate the experience for customers.
Highlights:
- The importance of having a collaborative partnership with the sales team to establish a focus for the briefing agenda, especially as virtual briefings are shorter than in-person briefings
- How briefing program managers can benefit from understanding the perspective of the sales team and use sales focused terminology to capture customer specific details and build trust with them
- The value of embracing the ‘why’ to create meaningful briefings that address the customer’s objectives while clearly communicating your company’s purpose
- How developing a methodology to offer an outcome-based topic catalog along with suggested discussion blocks that are delivered by qualified discussion leaders ensures global consistency
Description
In this episode, David Rogers, Director of Operations & Technology Integration at Microsoft explores the topic of analytics and performance measurement strategies that can help briefing programs achieve world class.
Highlights:
- The importance of having a measurement strategy that measures success and meets the needs of stakeholders
- Key metrics used to evaluate briefing program effectiveness
- The value of gaining immediate feedback to assess the impact of the briefings
- How to adjust your analytics methodology for virtual vs in-person briefings
- The importance of utilizing tools for collecting meaningful analytics and reporting to management
Description
In this episode, serving as the second of two parts in a conversation on multi-center briefing programs, Ellen Barnes Pfiffner, Consultant at EBP Business Consulting, discusses how briefing programs can achieve consistency across multiple locations.
Highlights:
- The most common structures of multi-center programs and how each one can achieve success through coordination
- How virtual briefings are here to stay thanks to the value of virtual briefing platforms
- The importance of regular communication among briefing center locations
- Key insights in maintaining cohesive branding and customer experiences
- What factors to use when defining segmentation criteria for global program location tier levels
Description
In this episode, serving as the first of two parts in a conversation on multi-center briefing programs, Ellen Barnes Pfiffner, Consultant at EBP Business Consulting, explores the best practices for programs to reach excellence across all their locations.
Highlights:
- The importance of sharing a common business strategy among all centers to maintain consistency
- How centralized tools enable visibility and cohesiveness across various locations
- The headquarters’ role in balancing the workload, giving regional centers more room to focus on their customer experience
- How having defined standards and metrics of success provides a roadmap to reaching world-class
Description
In this episode, Marcy Nelsen, Director of AT&T’s Corporate Briefing Program, shares insights on the best strategies to achieve world-class operations in your briefing program, and staying competitive in a continuously evolving industry.
Highlights:
- The importance of storytelling and creating engaging experiences for customers
- How situational fluency and clear communication among your team is key to operational excellence
- The value of customer feedback in evaluating the quality of your briefing program
- How providing regular analytics to executives on a regular cadence increases their awareness and support
- The importance of a complete discussion leader engagement strategy to ensure successful engagements
- How leveraging technology can optimize operations and create personalized experiences
Description
In this episode, Jesse Hanz, Director of Customer Experience at Schneider Electric dives into the Management category of the ABPM’s Characteristics of a World Class Briefing Program and how to create a strategy for success in management best practices. Additionally, Jesse offers some examples of important challenges he has faced and successful ways to overcome them.
Highlights:
- Approaches for gaining executive support
- How a strategic business plan should be dynamic and consistently reviewed
- The value of investing in and empowering your team
- How to prioritize how your resources are being used to best support your strategy
- Different methods for fostering program advocacy and feedback
- The power of promoting your program with customized value propositions
Description
In this revisited episode that’s part of the podcast’s world class theme for 2022, Candie Hurley, Trainer, Coach and Consultant with Benett Communications shares key insights on delivering world class virtual customer experiences, and how developing strategies that build true customer loyalty can be rewarding for your briefing program.
Episode Highlights:
- Addressing the 5 elements of world-class customer experience
- How to create meaningful virtual experiences for customers
- The added value in striving for customer loyalty over customer satisfaction
- How customization is key to building trust in a virtual environment
Description
In this episode, Candie Hurley, Trainer, Coach and Consultant with Benett Communications shares what makes a briefing program world class, and how the characteristics set by the ABPM serve as a benchmark for organizations striving towards providing the best experiences for their customers.
Episode Highlights:
- The origins of the Characteristics of World Class Briefing Programs and a look into the five main categories
- How the ABPM continuously updates the characteristics to meet growing industry standards and changes in technology
- How the different categories allow organizations to evaluate their performance and make meaningful changes
- A deep dive into how organizations use ABPM’s characteristics as a roadmap to excellence
In this episode, Roxanne McCreery, President Emeritus of ABPM, provides insights from her unique perspective into the foundational years of briefing programs and the biggest strategic breakthroughs that took place in the industry. From elevating key elements such as automating processes and working with subject matter experts (discussion leaders) to facilitation and integrations with CRM tools to prove true ROI, she discusses how the ABPM’s open culture has always supported programs in creating the best customer experiences possible.
Episode Highlights:
- The founding vision for briefing programs and how they’ve evolved
- How facilitation and collecting feedback from customers has elevated what is possible from briefing programs
- Key learnings on how the use of data is instrumental to managing a program effectively
- The skillsets that briefing programs need to enhance the customer experience
- How recent challenges and advancements have strengthened briefing programs and industry
In this episode, Darby Mason-Werner, Senior Director, Client & Partner Strategy with the CXApp and our host, takes the time to share some of the key learnings and stories she’s gathered from this year’s CXApp Live! podcast guests, emphasizing the value in integrating creativity and technology in briefing programs to engage customers in a hybrid world.
Episode Highlights:
- The importance of creating memorable moments with your customers
- How data can help you optimize for higher engagement
- Key learnings on how to deliver hybrid briefings that enhance customer experiences
- How different tools and technologies can strengthen your briefing program
- How to engage discussion leaders who are the heart of our briefings
In this episode, David Brull, Vice President of Global Accounts at kubik explains why many programs are turning to broadcast studios to extend their reach after going hybrid and the most important elements to keep in mind in order to maximize customer engagement when creating one.
Episode Highlights:
- Key reasons why briefing programs are choosing to implement broadcast studios
- The physical requirements of a broadcast studio as well as the specialized skillsets needed to run one
- How to secure executive buy-in for your broadcast studio by demonstrating long-term value
- Lessons learned over the years from building broadcast studios for briefing programs
In this episode, Dana Drissel, Chief Marketing Officer and Howard P. Stern, Creative Director & Mixed Reality Experience Strategist at Kaon Interactive, talk about how to deliver immersive storytelling with interactive technologies that allow briefing programs to genuinely connect with their C-suite audience and translate to a higher ROI.
Episode Highlights:
- Stand-out customer experiences that have inspired them
- How EBCs have shifted in the post-pandemic era of hybrid work
- The importance of self-navigation in driving customer curiosity and engagement
- Why interactive technology is essential to elevate virtual EBCs
- How advanced technologies such as 360 photography, 3D environments, hyper-personalized content and virtual reality (VR) can play a critical role in your customer’s decision-making
- How you can use emerging technologies and tools to produce a uniquely different and memorable white glove treatment for your customers
In this episode, Jill Swartz from Dell Technologies Executive Briefing Program gives insights into how to build a strong discussion leader bureau and maintain it while strategically tackling the challenge of navigating from virtual to hybrid engagements.
Episode Highlights:
- Overview of Dell Technologies global briefing program and how it evolved since the merger with EMC
- Foundational elements that worked so hard to build the DL Bureau before COVID happened
- Role of Discussion Leaders has changed as we’ve had to shift from in-person to virtual briefings
- What new strategies have you implemented to empower DLs to feel confident in this virtual time
- The current plan for moving to hybrid and then to in-person
- Lessons learned
In this episode, Patrick Muse shares his insights on how we can bring stories to life that touch our guests and provide them with moments they will remember long after their experience with our brand, team, and company.
Episode Highlights:
- Patrick's unique journey into the briefing world
- The vision of the role of briefing programs to provide special moments for guests
- Centers that have provided memorable moments
- How to make a different for guests that engage with our teams and visit our centers
- Lessons learned
Short Description
In this episode, Bryan Hobbs shares his insights on the way technology truly elevates the customer experience.
Episode Highlights
- The evolution of the Google Cloud program
- Key elements currently being implemented for virtual briefings
- Biggest challenges being faced
- What ways does Bryan's team collaborate and support briefing managements to provide the most impact engagements possible
- Places where technology most impacts the overall customer experience
- What the future holds for Technology at Google and in the EBC industry
- Lessons learned
Short Description
In this episode, Trent Oliver shares her insights on how and why interactives will enhance guests’ visits. Learn more about what goes into creating interactives that achieve our goals and take our customers beyond.
Episode Highlights
- A better way to think about ‘interactive media’
- How briefing programs approach if ‘interactive media’ is a good fit for their centers
- Who should briefing teams collaborate with inside their companies
- What should programs make sure not to do in their spaces
- New tools we can consider for more meaningful interactive experiences
- How should programs be viewing creating these experiences in the short and long term
- Key lessons learned
In this episode, Pam Evans shares her insights on staffing strategies for success. Learn about how to evaluate and define what staffing resources we need in the new normal.
Episode Highlights:
- How briefing teams have been affected related to staffing
- Key things that programs need to consider around staffing for the near future
- Key “new positions” and “skills” that programs are looking to add to their teams
- Tips for briefing teams looking to hire
- How briefing teams can approach management to talk through their changing needs
- 3 lessons learned
In this episode, Tim Larson shares his insights on designing centers. With programs looking to reopen their centers, there are many elements to take into consideration for experiences now and the future across live, virtual, and hybrid experiences
Episode Highlights:
- Positives came out of briefing programs/centers during COVID-19
- The benefits of wellness rooms and how they work
- Where briefing teams should start in the process
- Key areas to focus on when dealing with remote attendees
- Touch screens and voice recognition
- Real time translation and self-guided experiences
- Think more comfortable, less formal
- Leveraging multiple screens and gallery views for in-room participants
- How people can stay informed on these technologies
- Lessons for having programs ready-to-go
In this episode, Karen Bintz shares her insights on training discussion leaders for virtual briefings and beyond. Whether it’s virtual or in person briefings, learn how to empower discussion leaders to continue delivering engaging sessions that provide real value, build trust for long term relationships, and close business.
Episode highlights:
- Why discussion leaders are such an important part in the success of briefings
- Training discussion leaders for virtual briefings
- Some positive outcomes from shifting to virtual briefings
- How annotations and tools can help
- Key skills that BPM have and what should they focus on
- Future of hybrid working
- The facilitators partnering with discussion leaders – how can that partnership lead to make sure folks that are virtual are not left out
- How program managers can go about identifying and approaching folks who may need more training
- How soft skills are just as necessary as hard skills
In this episode, Joe Perry shares insights and information on how to strategically reposition your briefing program to showcase your program's value company-wide by instilling the right changes that drive transformation.
Episode highlights
- How to audit the existing program and prioritize the right kinds of changes that drive transformation
- Audit how your program is perceived by internal stakeholders
- A highlight of the Autodesk Customer Briefing Program
- How to prioritize the steps to take in implementing a briefing program
- Incorporating survey tools, real time dashboards, program assets, and reporting
- Creating a utilization model for forecasting program capacity
- Tips for facilitating briefings both in person and virtually
- Helpful tools like VisitOps and Salesforce
- Leveraging marketing to help create reports and support sales reps
- How to course verbal and budget support
- Become a student of your company, the structure, and account segmentation
In this episode, David Walford gives us a crash course on briefing tools as a foundational element for any briefing program and how a centralized place to manage operations can help increase team efficiency and productivity.
Episode highlights:
- How data helps briefing program managers tie initiatives together
- What types of APIs can drive interactive experiences and engagement
- Building speaker agendas
- Creating a speaker’s bureau
- Easing calendaring and scheduling tasks
- New features, like tying into virtual rooms
- Working closely with sales for better enablement programs
- Tips for getting buy-in and budget approval
- When evaluating briefing tools:
- Get as many demos as possible
- Look for features that address current and future needs for your program
In this episode, we discuss with Ellen Barnes Pfiffner what lessons learned and elements we can leverage for future briefings across team management, staffing, content management, executive support - and identify new ways teams can work together to orchestrate the most impactful customer experiences.
Episode highlights:
- Using the past to help us shape and respond to unplanned and unexpected occurrences beyond our control in future customer briefings
- How programs have pivoted to address virtual and other needs as they arise
- Revisit the ABPM world class characteristics AND the new whitepaper from the hybrid task force
- Leverage community-driven resources
- Put an emphasis on working together globally
- Schedule an updated workshop on facilitation
- Budget and update to support in-person briefings
- Consider ‘serial briefings’ and keep it brief
- Create a ‘virtual center’
- If you’re not ready for prime-time … wait
- A nice example on innovation - Elizabeth Simpson has been reactive and visionary during these times and aptly facilitates a community, webinars, articles, and broadcasts to enrich the member experience.
Links to ABPM assets
- Resources Page
- Processes & Tools
- Revisit the ABPM Characteristics of a World Class Briefing Program PLUS the Updated Considerations for Reopening Centers provided by the ABPM Task Force for Reopening Centers
- Review the NewStaffing to Support New Briefing Models (May 2021 - auto download) and New Considerations for Hybrid Briefings provided by the ABPM Task Force for Hybrid Briefings
In this episode, Stacey Milligan addresses demonstrating the strategic value your briefing program brings to your company and identifying what data you need to provide and present as part of your program’s identity.
Episode highlights:
- How to create a great experience when you don’t actually have a facility
- Look for support from executive staff
- Asses your own team and their level of engagement, talents, development efforts etc.
- For headcount, show what it takes to run a successful program and the impact you’re having
- Speak in numbers - dollar values are always impressive
- Tips for creating an executive engagement plan
- Create a master plan/deck
- Select slides and adjust for different audiences
- Continually update and refine your program
- Understand the mix of customers to partners
- Use a briefing tool to help you manage information and pull necessary data
- Plan for now and plan for the future
- Most importantly, when creating value: identify the need, illuminate the risk if the need is not fulfilled, then present the ‘ask’
In this episode, Tom Sullivan walks us through the technical journey for hybrid and virtual briefings as we discuss the technical elements programs can evaluate and implement for the current and future state of how we deliver customer experiences.
Episode highlights:
- The ‘once in a lifetime’ opportunity to design a corporate experience center from the ground up
- Working cross functionally with marketing, technical, operations and logistics teams
- Using physical/touch components in your center
- Insights when performing a virtual program audit
- Leveraging augmented reality and apps to create in-home experiences
- Performing live demos to virtual customers
- Using robotics to physically represent a digital audience
- Incorporating tri-directional communication
- Thinking about scalability, 2 -3 years out
- PTC’s 80/20 strategic approach to digital/in-person
- Using pre-brief surveys - even while conducting business virtually
- Using webcasting and web conferencing tools independently
Follow these steps to take a virtual tour of the PTC Corporate Experience Center utilizing their Matterport technology
- Go to www.ptc.com
- Click "Why PTC"
- Click "Visit PTC"
- Click "Take a Virtual Tour
In this episode, Stacy Cummings addresses cultural and technological elements that the team at Verizon have identified as part of their global strategy for virtual and hybrid experiences across 5 locations.
Episode highlights:
- Briefing programs as a strategic tool to build and drive relationships
- Incorporating voice of customer
- How briefings have influenced Verizon’s webinar program
- Understanding that no matter the success of your program, you’re not immune to ups and downs
- Partnering with with sales to build what engagement should look like
- How to manage tech support in/during briefings
- Creating best practices guides
- Setting up a ‘series briefing’
- Using demos as a standalone session
- Creating hubs as part of a go-forward strategy
- Being mindful of a slow return to the office
- Embracing virtual and live demonstrations
- Leveraging BlueJeans video conferencing
In this episode, we sit down with Jillian Neasom of Citrix to tackle the challenge of bringing consistency to global programs in an effort to provide customer’s a unified experience representative of your company’s values and goals.
Episode highlights:
- How to raise your program’s profile beyond local centers
- Making a commitment to sales alignment in local regions
- Creating a strong blueprint for success
- How facilitation has elevated the Citrix program
- Tips for leveraging a virtual briefing platform
- Consideration for training programs - e.g. how to command a virtual room
- Think intentionally things about customer touchpoint before, during, and after
- Focus on organizing digital assets and creating a content library
- Standardize nomenclature, text/messaging, presentation templates etc.
- Formalize big and small tasks to create full team transparency
- Onboard emerging markets into virtual programs
- Consideration for a sales leaderboard
- Harness team insights across capacity, flow, and individual load.
- Use visual cues and virtual graphics as a ‘team uniform’
- Share timezones for all attendees to build awareness
- Never underestimate the value of teamwork!
After you listen to this episode with Jillian, you can also check out this video chat with Stacey Lovegren for more insights into how Citrix Experience Centers are operating in a virtual and hybrid world.
In this episode, we talk with Christina and Craig from Omnicell and get candid insights about what it’s like and what it takes to run a small briefing program with less staff, less budget, and fewer resources.
Episode highlights:
- Small briefing center challenges
- Reflections on sharing responsibilities between 2 people
- Being the wearer of multiple hats
- Addressing the blurred line between job role and where to focus efforts
- How to ensure on-site visits are strategic
- Knowing what information to share/show customers in shorter timeframes
- Allowing space for the in-between moments
- Helping leadership understand capital improvements/facilities for the center
- Helping leadership understand EBC best practices
- The value of laying ground rules for how/when/who can use the space
- Ideas for using multimedia in agenda details
- Using briefing tools to aid in before, during, and after journeys
- Use cases for increased automation
- How to create one reference place to house all customer information and touchpoints
- And of course… building trust within your team first and foremost!
In this episode, we talk with Candie Hurley about the world of virtual and how to make truly meaningful connections, deliver satisfying experiences, and build loyalty amidst new strategies for virtual customer engagement.
Episode highlights:
- Addressing the 5 elements of world-class customer experience
- How to pay more attention during the pre-purchase phase
- Shopping for a product VS shopping for a person to buy the product from
- Why the approach to customer-centricity is behavioral
- The value of implementing VOC appropriately
- Reconfiguring meetings, schedules, and setting up briefing ‘series’
- Be sure to allocate more time for conversation
- Think about creating shared virtual activities
- Why programs are embracing facilitation
- Meetings are no longer about information transfer
- Most importantly, build a strategic partnership
In this episode, we talk with Pete Riddell of Derse about what it means to “choreograph unique” experiences for customers - in an effort to combat Zoom fatigue - and make your own virtual meetings/experiences stand out.
Episode highlights:
- Deconstructing and recognizing the building blocks of experiences
- Accounting for the loss of white glove immersion
- The power of ‘Dr Pepper & Doritos’
- The simplistic nature of delivering an extraordinary moment by being extraordinarily human
- Suggested reading: “The Power of Moments: Why Certain Experiences Have Extraordinary Impact” by Chip Heath and Dan Heath
- Identifying the how and where you can flip the virtual script
- Creating ‘to go’ containers
- Consider exclusivity for your customers (i.e. limited access to people, content, resources)
- Addressing ‘pushback audiences’ by creating stories and experiences that resonate
In this episode, we are joined by the President of the Association of Briefing Program Managers, Elizabeth Simpson, as we reflect on challenges and transformations that 2020 brought upon us as an industry, acknowledge lessons learned along the way, and continue delivering impactful briefings through the New Year.
Episode highlights:
- A quick recap of 2020
- How members and supplier members aggregated with best practices and encouraged the use of new technologies
- The value of the community and a heartfelt appreciation for coming together
- Examples and resources from teams at Cisco, EBP Consulting, Mandel Communications, NetApp, Palo Alto Networks, Benett Communications, Schneider Electric etc.
- Getting sales and account teams to buy in
- Keeping facilitation as a part of the program
- Using Virtual Briefing Platform and Virtual Briefing Center tools
- The emergence of the 'Producer’ role
- Personalization is still key!
- Addressing the new ‘phygital’ world
- Plans for 2021 include > how to address hybrid experiences
*ABPM is continuing to grow their resource library - so be sure to leverage membership resources.
In this episode, Paola Angeleri provides a deep dive on forging strong relationships with internal teams to create better touchpoints for the customer journey and instilling briefing teams with a culture of learning to deliver impactful experiences and virtual briefings. We cannot do it alone!
Episode highlights:
- Consider the briefing center ‘a stage’
- Relationship building is an investment - and it takes time
- Tips for identifying which teams to collaborate with
- Relationships evolve - revisit stakeholder relationships and adapt accordingly
- Considerations for leveraging unique ‘tour guides’ that can contribute to the process from other parts of the business
- Be ready to take input, and really listen
- Understand what success looks like for each stakeholder group
- Understand what success looks like for you
- Set up an internal advisory board and provide guidelines, expectations
- Secure an executive sponsor
- Learn what motivates sales
- What to consider and how to prepare for hybrid briefings. Address technology, video conferencing, and white boarding technologies
- Make friends with AV!
- Also specific use cases and examples from inside of Rackspace
In this episode, Roseanne Bell discusses the purpose of humanistic design in customer experience programs and the power of creating a comfortable environment for in-person and virtual engagements to support business goals, create long lasting relationships and build trust.
Episode highlights:
- How design plays into customer-facing spaces
- Why the customer experience journey and physical environment need to be designed at the same time
- Getting the right people on the team from the beginning
- Think backwards, sideways, and upside down
- Exploring color, light, volume, layout, and physical comfort in your spaces
- Incorporating elements of nature into the design
- What to do with virtual engagements - mirror real life as much as possible
- Ideas to replicate movement around your center as if you were really there
- Using robots that are more refined and manageable than before
- The top 3 things to focus on when designing your center’s experience
- When and how to do value engineering
- Do yourself a favor now - make friends and grease the wheels!
In this episode, Kelly Reeves provides valuable information on the power of listening and addresses the most effective listening habits that make an important difference in our day to day business lives and executive briefing programs where we can be more focused, present, and effective with others.
Episode highlights:
- Listening is one way we can make briefings as valuable as possible during these unconventional times
- A look at the science of listening (neuroscience)
- How you can give people skills they can use every day
- Why we are hardwired to be distracted
- Defining the 4 Categories of Listening: connective, reflective, analytical, and conceptual
- Examples of different types of customers/team members and how they distribute and receive information
- How to use this information pre-briefing for communications, building agendas, and inviting guests
- Unwrapping listening intelligence in your personal and professional lives
- Implementing ‘Spa Timing’ into your daily routines (do it!)
*Also - a new course offering: The Listening Edge with a 10 question assessment offering a multi-page profile on your own listening skills so you can improve and be more present.
In this episode, Karen Olivero gives us an exclusive look at what it takes to build a world-class briefing program (at Hewlett Packard Enterprise) from developing a unified team that is customer focused to incorporating your company’s culture.
Episode highlights:
- Sharing a complete laser-focus on the customers
- The drivers of briefing excellence (e.g. planning, discussion leader prep, customization)
- How to build consistency across multiple centers
- Creating teams that can operate as in-house, high value consultants
- The value of working with Human Resources to create core competencies around the BPM role
- Handling change management, especially during tough times
- A look at some of the tools the HPE team uses to help with ROI and analytics
- Give your team opportunities to stretch and grow
HPE received the following awards at ABPM 2020
- 2020 World Class Center, San Jose
- 2020 World Class in Management
- 2020 World Class in Analytics
- 2020 World Class in Customer Experience
- 2020 World Class in Operations
- 2020 Innovation Award - Management
*Karen Olivero received the 2020 President's Service Award
In this episode, Ann Benett highlights the power of a strong business plan, how to go about building one, and why they are so important for preparing and launching a new briefing center.
Episode highlights:
- The value of speaking ‘executive’ language - i.e. a business plan
- Why it’s important to keep your plan direct and concise (a page out of Guy Kawasaki’s playbook)
- Understand the audience you’re going to be speaking with
- Creating a ‘master deck’ you can pull different slides and conversations from
- A brief overview of the “10 Essential Elements”
- Collaborate early and often with a broad base of stakeholders
- E.g. your manager, their manager, other stakeholders across different business units from HR to Finance
In this episode, Candie Hurley discusses the importance of benchmarking within customer experience and briefing programs to ensure that teams are planning, executing, and refining program initiatives that match with current industry standards and business trends.
Episode highlights:
- Assessing whether your program is behind the curve, playing table stakes, or an industry leader
- Benefits of outside consultation
- Including ‘world-class characteristics’ in your assessment of strengths or gaps in that criteria.
- How to prioritize operational and capital investments.
- Get an example of an industry use case and getting to your ‘aha’ moment.
- Learn what the heck is a '“well-baby” check and why it matters!
In this episode, Marshall Thompson discusses the enterprise shift of digital experience management and how curating impactful content that resonates with guests - across all forms of corporate messaging, branding, experiences, and in-room content - can create a more memorable on-site experience.
Episode highlights:
- Putting a definition/constructs around what digital experience management is
- How to manage content and keep it updated
- Identifying opportunities for automation - from easy to more advanced technology
- Tips for personalization across content and activations
- Other ideas for content engagement (i.e. proximity based and triggered experiences)
- How to use a distribution model to drive consistencies across all client interactions
- Top groups to partner with and why: marketing, executive teams, social media, and events
- Strive to keep the conversation going and continually evaluate your own digital experiences
- Ideas to up-level your existing content and strategies
In this episode, John Kolesar talks with us about ways we can delight and create an emotional response with your customers that makes them want to come back to your center. We’ll look at ways to infuse customer experience programs with more creativity and human interest. Put your hands up and enjoy the ride!
Episode highlights:
- Main goal of an EBC or customer experience center is to deliver and experience the customer remembers.
- Things to consider from a hospitality perspective.
- Be sure you have a consistent goal and theme always present.
- Ideas for creating the ‘Ritz Carlton’ of briefing centers.
- Considerations for less obvious touchpoints (i.e. signage, cleanliness, parking, and accessibility)
- How to utilize resources and your existing network to collaborate and create. “It’s a small world after all.”
- Suggestions for different “types” of rooms and spaces you can create to serve different health, wellness, and emotional needs of your customers.
- And… how to ‘secret shop’ your center. And why it matters.
In this episode, Ellen Barnes Pfiffner provides valuable insight into setting up strategy for and organizing efficient advisory boards. Through collaborations across the organization with key departments and individuals, you will have greater success in building a sustainable and effective briefing program.
Episode highlights:
- Form a committee. Fit it to your company culture and get other people in the organization talking about you and your program.
- Advisory boards have two different goals: identifying what you want to accomplish, and identifying people with the knowledge and experience to help.
- Assess the qualities you look for in people you want to bring in. Availability shouldn’t be the determining factor.
- What to include in your meetings to have good meeting hygiene for success. For example, set a charter.
- Ellen’s Advocacy Journey Model and tips to build awareness/educate internally.
- Use cases and examples from Amadeus and Schneider Electric.
In this episode, Dave Rogers talks about Microsofts renowned briefing portfolio and the different types of experiences and journeys customers can “take” across any briefing or customer experience program.
Episode highlights:
- A insider’s look at the variable experiences offered across Microsoft locations.
- The power of setting up priority, industry vignettes.
- Leveraging resources as a powerful way to engage with top customers (Microsoft’s CEO to CEO series)
- Why it matters to be experiential vs transformational
- A bird’s eye view of the evolution of the briefing industry
- How to focus on what your customers are doing with your technology
- Upcoming goals for the Microsoft customer experience team
- Tips for achieving the coveted ‘trusted advisor’ status
- And most importantly… stop doing things that don’t work.
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In this episode, Dale Tesmond shares an interesting take on how neuroscience (the brain, behaviors, and cognitive emotion) play into briefing programs and how experiences truly impact our guests. And that backed by science and experiments, you can better suss out authentic responses to what you’re delivering.
Episode highlights:
- The effects of oxytocin and dopamine.
- Why truth testing is so important in the briefing world
- Most importantly - test everything before you put it out into the market
- How studying and learning about influences for different age groups, genders and demographics can help you create something that’s valuable and memorable
- Yes, you can incorporate in-person and off-site testers/subjects
- The value of being able to pivot conversations using real-time data analyzing top and bottom effects
- Be sure to continually evaluate and measure your program effectiveness
- Also, geek-out with us: wristbands, mobile phones, and data oh my…
In this episode, Candie Hurley addresses the importance of facilitation in briefing programs and the strategy required to strengthen customer relationships and accelerate the sales cycle. The role of facilitation is structure to ensure customer needs are fully expressed through the experiences we create for them by sharing ideas, answering questions, and keeping their best interest in mind.
Episode highlights:
- What it takes to be a good facilitator.
- The #1 customer frustration: relevancy. There is an overall lack of customization that needs to be addressed.
- The #2 customer frustration: feeling their voice isn’t heard. Facilitators need to actively promote interaction with strategic conversations.
- Addressing the role of the account manager and how they can enable the facilitator and vice versa.
- What a fully facilitated model looks like. For example: open and close the briefing, set the agenda, transition between topics and drive VOC (voice of the customer).
- How smaller teams with lower bandwidth can leverage alternative resources.
- Candie’s best tip for any briefing… scheduling MORE breaks. Listen in to find out why!
In this episode, we’ve brought together a panel of experts to discuss the current need for shift to virtual briefings. The current state of business is forcing several companies to reimagine their customer experience programs for short-term effectiveness and long-term sustainability. Each of the guests on this podcast bring a unique insight to the conversation from facilitation, to technology, and a real-life use cases.
Episode Highlights@ 6:23 ELLEN BARNES-PFIFFNER - INTERNAL MARKETING, PLANNING & AGENDA, FACILITATION & ETIQUETTE
- Shifting focus to create highly personalized, customized, internal events
- Which audiences you need to reach out to and how to prepare for those conversations
- Tip! Hold a mini virtual briefing for top sales people to demonstrate the structure
- Suggestions on how to prepare and set-up your virtual briefing model
- Tips for virtual collaboration and video meeting etiquette
- How to address the four pillars of emotional intelligence
@ 23:20 ALYSSA TAYLOR - REAL-LIFE USE CASE FROM RIPPLE
- How Alyssa shifted the Ripple customer program to create a virtual briefing strategy
- Suggestions on getting buy-in and leveraging resources
- Recommendations for thinking about the process holistically
- The importance of tools, infrastructure, and training!
- Setting yourself up to build trust and gain commitment in a virtual selling environment
@ 33:06 KEVIN POWERS - MANAGING AND DELIVERING CONTENT VIA VIRTUAL CHANNELS, TECHNOLOGIES
- Helping you understand the terminology of technology
- Considerations for what different platforms offer and are capable of
- For example, what can be used internally vs externally (beyond the firewall)
- How to match applications with your company’s objectives and existing technologies/services
- Tips to avoid “talking heads”
- Paying attention to what you’re doing before, during, and after to nurture and extend the relationship
In this episode, Leon Papkoff gives us insight into how he became a strategist and thought leader for Executive Briefing programs and discusses his outlook on customer experience, how to incorporate “CX” into briefing programs and why it matters.
Episode highlights:
- Taking cues from other industries (like hospitality and retail) can help you incorporate a ‘white glove’ approach.
- Customer journey mapping needs to incorporate core objectives, points of success, and desired outcomes.
- Touchpoints, physical or digital, should be factored into the customer journey map, as well as feelings and sentiment.
- Personas are the key building blocks for mapping to the right audience.
- Incorporating technology into your program should be balanced with the experience itself.
- Creating natural white spaces that are marketing free is a building trend in physical customer experience build-outs.
In this episode, Pamela Evans addresses the importance of getting executive buy-in for Customer Experience Programs and Executive Briefing Centers within an organization. When you have executive management support for your vision, only then can you up-level your program.
Episode highlights:
- Taking a “lean-in'“ approach to your role to take the necessary steps up the ladder to engage with management team.
- Having the confidence to demonstrate that you know where you want to go and how you want to grow your program.
- Addressing what executives actually care about, for example: lifetime value, revenue, and technologies.
- Why automation is key for program managers. Data, data, and more data.
- Building cross-functional relationships to round out your program across data science, marketing, and other subject matter experts.
- Self-proclaimed mistakes, lessons learned, and being your own advocate.
In this episode, Russ Fowler discusses best practices in regards to planning for and opening a new center or renovating an existing one. Best efforts in planning and thinking through the customer journey should help alleviate some of the difficulties associated with these types of endeavors.
Episode highlights:
- Thinking about and creating personas to help jumpstart the planning process. What do your customers know about you and how do they feel?
- Budget strategy - securing a budget first VS pricing out potential options
- Identify key stakeholders by mapping out who, when and how early you engage them in the planning process.
- Talking to people on the front-lines to see what works, what doesn’t, and additional insights.
- What to look for along the way and how to avoid bumps in the road.