Cvent x Splash: Raising the Bar for Event-Led Growth

Kate Hammitt:

Forward-invest in working with your marketing operations team and whoever's controlling your CRM to start to make those connections so you can constantly be capturing data. I know we get really bogged down in the day-to-day event issues, and nothing is more important in today's world, in my view, than capturing the data that you need to prove your program successful.

Alyssa Peltier:

Great events create great brands. But pulling off an event that engages, excites and connects audiences, well, that takes a village, and we're that village. My name is Alyssa.

Rachel Andrews:

I'm Rachel.

Felicia Asiedu:

And I'm Felicia.

Alyssa Peltier:

And you are listening to Great Events, the podcast for all event enthusiasts, creators, and innovators in the world of events and marketing.

Rachel Andrews:

Hello, everyone. What is going on in this wide, wide world of events? My name is Rachel and you also have my co-host, Alyssa, as your host today for today's episode of Great Events.

Alyssa Peltier:

Hey guys, how's it going?

Rachel Andrews:

So Alyssa and I recently talked in our last podcast about our very exciting acquisition of Splash. We are so, so excited to welcome them into this event family. But I'm even more excited to introduce our guest for today, Kate Hammitt. She is the CMO of Splash. Welcome, Kate.

Kate Hammitt:

Thanks for having me, ladies. Excited to be here.

Rachel Andrews:

Yeah, we are too. Fun fact, Kate is actually a former Cventer, and back in the day, Kate actually hired me at Cvent 14 years ago. So a holy full circle moment, Kate. Welcome back to Cvent, and glad to have you back as a co-worker.

Kate Hammitt:

I mean, what a great hire.

Rachel Andrews:

I'm still here.

Kate Hammitt:

14 years later after just exploding this program. It's always been fun to see from the sidelines all the magic you've been making over the years, but really excited to be back in the fold now. Definitely full circle moment.

Rachel Andrews:

Yeah, it's awesome. Well, before we dive into the meat of it, and obviously after bragging about Kate, Kate's an amazing marketer. I've been following her career since she left Cvent and has done some really kickass stuff. Kate, I'd love for you to take our listeners through. So just so for our listeners, I know we have a whole myriad of listeners from event marketers to planners to students all over the board, but for our listeners, why don't you just level set with them who is Kate? Tell us about yourself. Your career journey, events have obviously been woven into your makeup coming from Cvent obviously, and before that, so take us through that.

Kate Hammitt:

I started in events, actually. My first job out of college. I was a UVA grad, wahoo-wah to the Virginia Tech grads who are hosting this podcast. But yeah, my first job was with the US Golf Association and I was focused on all of their championship events and I was a paralegal, so everything from the security contracts to the liability insurance to the liquor licenses, all the logistics of these events that was on me. Loved the events part, did not like the legal part, decided to not go to law school, which was my original plan, and got into events. So I got deeper into sports marketing and just decided that I should really pivot into the tech industry. And I was telling Alyssa before, just applied to a job on Craigslist. So that's really way, way back. A little tech company in Arlington, Virginia at the time.

And Reggie called me after getting my application and I applied to Cvent. So when I was at Cvent, it was majority hired for field marketing, what is now field marketing, doing communications and events and started to expand from there. So obviously, as you both know well, our team grew exponentially, opened up different divisions, whether it was in PR or product development as we're launching Hospitality Cloud. And during that time it was a really exciting time to be in marketing the dawn of digital advertising, the dawn of social media. So it was a really exciting time to start to add all of these different channels into the mix and then see how they came together for different audiences. And during that time, Cvent became a platform, which was an incredible journey to be a part of. So in 2013, I wanted to see if I could repeat the success that I had had at Cvent being the leader of my own marketing department, starting from the ground up.

So I really focused a lot on growth companies while I've been away. I've been focused on SaaS and growth companies generally. And so it was in healthcare, went to another organization after that, that was in healthcare, retail, financial industries, really bringing brands to the forefront of consumer consciousness through reviews and reputation management. And then I found my way back to Splash. So I joined the Splash organization shortly after COVID had quote, unquote, "ended" and wanted to, I was excited to be back in the event space, but really to take a growth company to the next level. I did not foresee such a fun intersection of my past and present with joining Splash, but it's really fun to be here and be a part of the next chapter.

Alyssa Peltier:

I have a follow-up question to that because a little looking in the mirror, I feel like I have some of your CV going on here. I've actually worked under Rachel and helped found the event marketing function, so some ties here from the field and the events. So I'm curious because I know a lot of our listeners, and Rachel alluded to this already, how did you navigate that shift from more of a traditional planner and more logistics facing role, more onto the marketing strategy piece here? You made it successful leap, and that's not always that easy to do given the skill sets are not always the same. So I'm curious about that experience from your end.

Kate Hammitt:

Yeah, I think something really tactical is in terms of how to make the leap, is to think about how you report and communicate on the outcomes of your events. I think when I have utilized events throughout my career, of course events come with lots of stories, lots of anecdotes, lots of feel-good moments, and those are really important to obviously share, but being able to report back on the ROI, what the revenue in the room is, being able to do that actually pre-event as well and make sure that your sales force and leadership are in lockstep around who is going to be at the event, what the key stakeholders are, what your next steps are, and making sure that not only you expand the relationship or get an initial engagement within that event, but that you report on that after the event and you're able to tie that through.

And getting that data prepared throughout the pre, during, and post-event journey as well as the year-end wrap ups, I mean, where we are now with budgets and everything like that, being the sort of events person who comes with that ROI data helps make that transition almost natural into more marketing opportunities. People come of course with different skill sets, but that's something that you can definitely learn and skills that you can hone to start to open up your aperture for opportunities within the broader go-to-market motion.

Alyssa Peltier:

I love that. That's great. Yeah, really speaking the language of business and not just the language of events, and I think it's really easy to get pigeonholed in that space when there is so much to do within the event itself. You can sometimes get stuck in the details of that, right? As opposed to, like you said, widening the aperture and bringing it up to a business conversation.

Kate Hammitt:

Yeah, I think you bring up a really good point too, because when you're dealing with the lumps and bumps of events, we should say, I mean, there's always something that's going to go wrong, need extra attention. We all know that. But how do we carve out that time, that 10% to stay rooted in strategy to up level? I think, Rachel, this is something that I was always amazed that you did year after year is just up the ante both from an art and science from the event. How do you get more creative, more impactful in the experiential piece? And then from a science or from a data perspective, from a revenue perspective, how do you up the ante to increase your goals and take that from attendance to revenue?

Rachel Andrews:

Yeah, I think there's other little things you can do because events can be the central fabric of things, but then from that comes product marketing. How are you aligning your products at your events or your offerings or content or what martech are you using? That just starts to bleed out into the other marketing functions. Learning that, you can creep up into all the other marketing areas without even realizing it, even SEO, like you can creep into that with events and then go and learn more in that rabbit hole too. So I feel like there's a lot of ways you can do it. Keep taking little pieces here and there and then you understand it all.

Alyssa Peltier:

Yeah, I think there's a lot of cross-functional learning opportunities in the world of events. And Kate, I think it was interesting because your career started in field and oftentimes that is the core building blocks for a lot of organizations to build an entire marketing strategy around, which is a good segue to talk a little bit more about Splash, because that's really the reason why we brought you on here. So I do want to talk more about Splash and the amazing work that this company has done and the amazing work that you've supported and your time there. So tell us a little bit more about Splash, because Rachel and I gave our audience a sneak peek at the advantages of Splash and everything that it's done for the market thus far, but we'd love to hear it from your point of view as well.

Kate Hammitt:

I like to break down what Splash can do in four different buckets. To me, as just as an events person, as a marketer, these are the things that I'm trying to do with my event and experiential programs. I think one that's really, really tactical, but an important pillar of Splash is simplifying the process, whether it's with your integrations, with your marketing operations team, with the broader event team and all the opportunities to create content around an event or how it all comes together. Are you on a platform that's going to help you simplify your process and be something that you can scale with in that way? A lot of the reason why Splash was originally created was we felt like there was an opportunity to really be brand forward in events from every single touch point, make sure that that buyer's journey is super tight.

So the elements of Splash weave together that visitor's journey, that attendees journey, that registants journey. So your brand stands out in the way that your design team would be proud of. And also in a way that, again, going back to the simplify the process, doesn't bottleneck. You can easily replicate that design impact, and that's a really large strength of Splash's. Measure your results. So what we talked about earlier, be that events person and that marketer who's able to measure the results of the program. I mean, we're in a profitable, efficient growth world now, and everyone is turning to say, what are our efforts yielding in terms of revenue? And so for every single marketing channel, we have to be able to measure the results.

And then growing the business is the final pillar of Splash, and I see this in two ways. One is scaling event programs. So you can do more of what works in a really simple and easy fashion as well as grow the business, grow your revenue, grow your engagement, expand your customers, involve your employees, and be able to scale the business aspect too. So those four pillars are where Splash thrives within marketing teams and what we bring to the table.

And what we're trying to accomplish with all of our customers and accomplish ourselves as an organization is event led growth. So I define that as event-led growth is the most powerful marketing channel for revenue acquisition, retention, data capture, of course, authentic connection as we all know, and engagement. So how do you do that in a programmatic way as you would with digital marketing channels or with a product-led growth or partner-led growth or inbound? There are all these different go-to-market motions that you can use to capture your audience. And for many, many companies, event-led growth is a really strong growth lever to pull and a really perfect go-to-market motion to get connected to buyers and customers.

Alyssa Peltier:

I love this stance and Rach, I know you probably have a question here too, but I just love the stance that Splash has taken on that. I think Cvent has touted for a really long time that Cvent is part of an omnichannel marketing plan, and it's really important to be included and to bring that channel into the broader mix. But it's one of many, right? And I think the stance that Splash takes is, but it's the leader of all of those channels. It can quite arguably be the most important of all of those channels that you're operating on. So it's just really hats off to you because I think that that stance is a really compelling one. Rach, I'll pass the ball to you.

Rachel Andrews:

Yeah, no. I was just going to say with events being anywhere from 20 to 30 to 40% of a marketing budget, for people that don't lead with event-led growth, let's say you're a digital first company and you only focus on SEO as ways to grow and you work in a marketing team. I'm just trying to think about our listeners for a second. If you work in a marketing team that maybe doesn't prioritize events, how would you start an ELG, event-led growth program, and speak to the C-level in that same voice of say, hey, this is actually important. We should be leading with these events to close business. I know a lot of heads of events that struggle with how do I actually track ROI? That conversation isn't just a buzzword. It's so hard for some companies, especially smaller companies that don't have all the data in one place. What would your advice be to somebody trying to build an ELG program on their team?

Alyssa Peltier:

I can't prove it, right? It's first, but we can't say that it's first. Where's the rough [inaudible 00:14:35]?

Kate Hammitt:

Yeah, you got to start somewhere, right? It's chicken or the egg. I think the best way to go about it would be we encourage customers as an example to look through the funnel. What are you looking for in your business goals and how do you augment event-led growth to make sure that you're meeting that business strategy? So if you have issues top of funnel, then I encourage more of a webinar approach. There certainly could be an in-person element to this, but you want to make sure that that's super targeted and customized and use the right tools to make sure that you can have that bespoke event and that you're curating your guest list and all of those things. There's a program for that, if you're looking for top of funnel growth.

If you're looking at your business strategy and saying, we need to get closer to customers, they're a huge part of our revenue and we need them to utilize our product more, you'd be looking at more customer-led events that you would be trying to conduct both in-person and then also virtually to give them either the tools they need or the camaraderie and community. It depends on what those goals are, but usually we start to talk first with customers. And when I'm talking to marketers, what's your business strategy? Where are you looking for juice? And start there with events and customize your event program to that strategic initiative because that's really where it's going to have teeth. And then when you're able to prove through the value of the event with this business need, then you can start expanding and start getting honestly more event expertise on the team. So you can start to think full funnel, so you can start to think about how you can increase customer engagement, capture more data, do all the great things that events can offer.

Rachel Andrews:

Yeah, the initiatives that you're doing around event-led growth as far as trainings and learning more about how to do that. Do you want to share a little bit more about that?

Kate Hammitt:

Oh, I'd love to. Yeah. So I've always found that it's hard to get educated around events. It's very much trial by fire and experience, and you work your way up. And just like we were talking about earlier, making the transition from logistics into event marketing roles or future, it's hard to know where to start, and it's hard to know how to set up a program and how to create a business case around events, how to start tracking ROI. There are so many different ways to do it. You throw a little attribution in there, it can really make your head spin.

So what we have done at Splash is create an event-led Growth Masterclass and certification. So we bring people through two hours of in-depth programming to make sure that at the end you feel locked and loaded to understand exactly what you need to do to create those programs. You're certified, so you can tell your boss, "I've got this." And it really gives people a leg up with either growing new programs or being more confident in their role. And it's the first certification of its kind. So that's going to be launching in 2025, so we're very excited. It'll probably be out by January.

Alyssa Peltier:

Where might listeners be able to find that, Kate?

Kate Hammitt:

Yeah, so we should put it in the show notes for sure. And you can also find it on splashthat.com, and you'll get right in the program. We have a waitlist now, so you'll see that banner and just click in and we'll let you know as soon as it's available.

Rachel Andrews:

Do you think Alyssa and I can get to the top of that waitlist? I feel like this is a certification that I'd like to take.

Kate Hammitt:

For you guys, I'll pull some strings and make sure that you get to the top, although you could probably teach a few levels as well. We're hoping to build on it too, so it's not just this initial course, but more advanced levels. So we'll tie into those as we go on.

Alyssa Peltier:

That sounds great. And I think so many individuals, I know we're talking about the planner and the marketer and the synergies there and how you weave between the two roles, but everyone's really looking to quantify ROI. Even in other more traditional marketing channels, it's still an elusive thing for many. So managing that data, trying to drive your programs forward with a more consistent, concise strategy around ELG is really compelling right now. So I love that. For 2025, I think this is a really good initiative. I think there's market readiness around it.

Kate Hammitt:

And I should mention, you don't have to be a Cvent customer or a Splash customer. This is not about product. It's about strategy and execution and the frameworks you need to be successful.

Rachel Andrews:

I have to ask, I feel like it's the elephant in the room, but not really. It's like, why Cvent and Splash? I know some people have asked why does this make sense for us to be together just from a technology standpoint, but also for the industry? Why did it make so much sense for us to merge together?

Kate Hammitt:

I go back to when I was interviewing for my job at Splash. At first I was like, why would I want to go up and compete against Cvent? But as I heard more about Splash, I was like, oh, there is an opportunity for Splash to excel because it's more of the repeatable event programs, more directed towards the marketer. And Cvent does so many incredible things within the Total Event program, but this is a place where Splash really has a great strength and let's see what that looks like. So that's what brought me to Splash is what brought Cvent to Splash as well, because I think when you think about just working with marketers and what they need, and as the industry has really changed, if you look at Forrester and Gartner and how they're evaluating our tools, and there's like 3000 event platforms available to everybody, the criteria has changed along the way, changing from logistics and event management tools to, you're starting to see even more of an emphasis on marketing.

So I think that's where, interestingly enough, lots of our customers are also Cvent customers. So for their Total Event program, they're using Cvent for their more complex, multi-day conferences, and then they're using Splash for the repeatable events that they're trying to accomplish weekly, monthly, and get out the door for revenue and expansion. So it's really interesting to see how our own customers had discovered that mix in many cases and now being together as one organization is pretty cool.

Alyssa Peltier:

Yeah. And I'll just underscore that because I think from the Cvent vantage point, I think there's always been this opportunity to have one provider for the total event program. And I know Cvent has talked about this Total Event program for years, but it's not really been a dream realized, right? It's been like a notion that we've put in market, but it's not necessarily something that we could truly, truly act on from a technology standpoint. So I think the Splash-Cvent partnership here is going to be one that will enable and empower marketers, planners, procurement, all different types of hosts and attendees of events to execute on one single technology system. So it's an exciting time to be in the meetings and events tech space at Splash or Cvent, honestly.

Rachel Andrews:

Yeah. Well, awesome. This is, I feel like a good place to tie this up with a bow. I feel like we talked about a lot. I love talking to people that have been in events, but also transitioned into marketing. So thanks for sharing that journey with us, Kate. If you had to leave our listeners with one piece of advice or a trend or just something to look out for, what would that be?

Kate Hammitt:

Yeah, I would say forward invest in working with your marketing operations team and whoever is controlling your CRM to start to make those connections so you can constantly be capturing data. I know we get really bogged down in the day-to-day event issues, and nothing is more important in today's world, in my view, than capturing the data that you need to prove your program successful. So I would spend that time, I would forward invest that time, work with people in your organization to make sure that that's prioritized. If you want some help, you can connect with me on LinkedIn because I've done this at many organizations, but it's necessary for event folks to be able to prove this business value. And it's really impactful. It's going to truly wow your leadership and stakeholders at your organization on how much events can do, whether that's you're trying to engage an audience, you're trying to expand a customer, you're trying to get net new buyers, or you're mixing them all together. So that would be my advice for anyone listening. If you haven't done that, make sure you check that box.

Rachel Andrews:

Awesome. I would just echo that. I feel like a lot of people in the industry, especially leads of events, sometimes get bogged down in too much data. And I just want to harp on what Kate said. Figure out those six things that you need to say, this is what makes our events important. And just track those for a year and then add another, and then add another if you want. But that's a place to start, because people sometimes look at the whole picture and get super overwhelmed. And if you just pick a couple tactics and say, here, we're just going to track these three things, that's a place to start. And then start to add to your event-led growth data sets year over year to make that better.

Alyssa Peltier:

I mean, what Kate was talking about earlier is getting really, really prescriptive about what your business objectives are for each event. So if it's a brand generating event, what are those data points that you actually need? It might not be six, it might be two, right? What are those particular points that you need per event type or per event program or whatever it is that you're supporting, and really, really get religious about making sure that you're capturing all of that data for every single one of those events that you do. And certainly in a platform like Splash, there are a lot of events that are going on. So there's a rigor that goes into just collection of data itself. But it always talks back to the outcomes and objectives to me, so [inaudible 00:24:55] a really great conversation on that.

Rachel Andrews:

Amen. Well, Kate, thank you so much for joining Great Events podcast. It was a pleasure talking to you and having our full circle moment. For our listeners, we have a ton of resources that we talked about today that we will definitely link for you. Splash has many tools and content for event marketers, so we'll make sure we link to all of that. But Kate said, splashthat, and obviously you can connect with her on LinkedIn or Alyssa and I, we're always available. Thanks again, listeners, for joining.

Kate Hammitt:

Bye.

Alyssa Peltier:

Thanks for hanging out with us on great events, a podcast by Cvent. If you've been enjoying our podcast, make sure to hit that subscribe button so you never miss an episode.

Rachel Andrews:

And you can help fellow event professionals and marketers just like you, discover great events by leaving us a rating on Apple, Spotify or your preferred podcast platform.

Felicia Asiedu:

Stay connected with us on social media for behind the scenes content updates and some extra doses of inspiration.

Rachel Andrews:

Got a great story or an event to share. We want to hear from you. Find us on LinkedIn, send us a DM or drop us a note at greatevents@cvent.com.

Felicia Asiedu:

Big thanks to our amazing listeners, our guest speakers, and the incredible team behind the scenes. Remember, every great event begins with great people.

Alyssa Peltier:

And that's a wrap. Keep creating, keep innovating, and keep joining us as we redefine how to make events great.