Welcome to the HopSkip Planner Spotlight Series, where we highlight event professionals making waves across the events industry to share lessons learned and raise awareness of their invaluable contributions.
Name: Kristen Martinez
Company Name: Fast Forward Events
Job Title: Director of Events
Can you briefly tell us about your background in event planning and how you got started in the industry?
I started as an operations manager for a global retail and service brand with a little line that's in everyone's job description called "other duties as assigned". I was assigned to support the planning of the annual sales meeting for the whole organization. I was in my element, and I knew, without a doubt, that events were my home when I worked registration at my first meeting. From there I left that brand and moved into medical education programs for physician and nurse CME. Then, like most, COVID happened, and I lost my job. The blessing came 8 months later when I landed with Fast Forward, and I now produce the San Diego Bay Wine & Food Festival, SommCon, and several other tradeshows and events in the alcoholic beverage and culinary space.
How do you go about selecting the perfect hotel or venue? What factors weigh most heavily in your decision?
Cost is always a factor. I do have a few show-stoppers. The main one is corkage. Since our events are designed by and for beverage professionals, we are opening 5000+ bottles. At most hotels, there is a ++ factor, which would run me around 50K before I even order coffee. What weighs the most heavily on me is a hotel that wants to partner for mutual success. There are some quirks to our programs that require some creative solutions, and a partner who is willing to get in the ring and help navigate solutions is my favorite kind to work with. On the flip side, no amount of money will make me want to work with a property that is inflexible and out for their own benefit at all costs. I am sure you have worked with properties who have tried to sneak self-serving clauses and charges into the contract disguised as legitimate and reasonable fees. I also usually look for something that has a more inviting feel. Most of our events are with people who work in hospitality or are about delivering on those same principles and so this being a core value of the property is immensely important!
What does the initial planning phase of securing a venue look like for you? Could you walk us through your initial steps?
I survey all of my stakeholders to gain insight from not only attendees but also speakers, sponsors, advisory boards, etc. I pull together and RFP and get it over to my housing procurement partner. I use HPN. They have much more leverage with hotels across the industry than I do with my handful of shows so I tend to get much better contracts with increased protection, better rates, and much better concessions going through them.
What common financial challenges often arise when organizing an event, what strategies do you use to mitigate them, and how do you avoid them?
Most of the time, it is the little fees and labor that sneak up on you. Asking for a detailed quote before signing a contract will allow you to see the fees at the bottom that are added in, so you can ask to have them discounted, waived, or at least get them worked into the budget if it is unavoidable. With labor, managing this cost comes down to open communication with your vendors. I recently had to scale way back on the number of booths we had at a tradeshow, and at first, our load-in schedule remained the same. When the general contractor mentioned that the Sunday load-in resulted in 4 guys working overtime for the full 8 hours, we agreed to push back the opening of the show floor a little and have the guys do all of it on Monday on straight time. That saved us thousands of dollars and a full hotel night for each laborer.
Another major factor for us is that revenue performance drives the budget. We start with our assumptions but if sales and/or registration is behind, then the budget is out of whack and needs updating for the expenses to stay in alignment. If Sales is ahead, we may have some wiggle room for adding content to the show. The tough part is when sales/registration is behind and we need to add content to generate registrations, but the budget is struggling. We have to get creative!
How do you leverage technology to boost efficiency during the planning, execution, and post-event stages? What does your “event tech stack” look like? (For example, using Survey Monkey for surveying attendees post-event)
My tech stack grows all the time, as it should in this day and age! We use Swoogo for registration, Ticket Sauce for ticketing for our consumer events, InGo/Snoball, and Expocad for mapping. We use the ZOHO enterprise platform and most of their apps within the platform for everything we do. It has everything from collections forms with payments to project management to surveys and more. What we have been utilizing more now to support our internal teams is ChatGPT4 and Glide App. I sat in on an AI presentation where James Spellos connected those dots for me. Within Ghat GPT4, you can build a chatbot and feed it the information you want it to pull from. Then, you can pop that link to the bot into a low/no-code app like Glide App and make it internal for your team. I am launching this internally in May 2024. We are feeding it all of the manuals, schedules, and data we would normally print to bring onsite. Then, our team can ask the bot questions and get long-form answers without having to find the person who wrote it or sift through 100 pages of their clipboard. In addition, we can add those documents individually in the app as tabs for them to review if they need more information. This internal staff app will be a game-changer for our teams!
Do you use frameworks, templates, or other tools/documents to help you stay organized and manage the event planning process?
Yes, I built a very detailed F&B template that calculates your full F&B order, including ++, and tracks your performance to minimums. It is great to share with executives or clients who have no idea what a gallon of coffee actually costs onsite. It is also incredibly accurate for your budget and helps with your onsite verification when the BEO/invoice for the meal function arrives. There are columns for adding the final cost and the BEO #, so you can refer back to them later.
For the full process, our team utilizes a suite of apps in Zoho to keep us as efficient as possible! We are able to manage the projects and tasks in the Zoho Project, but all of the pieces are connected. Our exhibitors register through a form we built in Zoho Forms, which sends not only a confirmation email but also alerts our team that registration has come in. This app is then connected to an app that essentially creates a workflow for each of the registrations that come in - adding them to our tracking sheets, saving their asset into specific locations (and renaming them so we can find them), creating tasks for follow up, and sends a message in our company chat software to alert and celebrate the new sign up, and so on. If you can't tell, we are quite focused on finding automation efficiencies where we can so that we can use human power for all the things we need our hands on.
Do you have any specific strategies or insights for enhancing the attendee experience at your events?
We spend much time going to other events and taking notes. We stalk their socials, and we walk the floors as attendees. We take note of what is working and what isn't.
One important thing we do is build a board of directors for each of our shows that represents not just industry experts but also the scope and diversity we hope to see in our audience. This group becomes the sounding board and gives input on what is important to the industry now and in the coming years. They provide guidance to us on what is expected, desired, and despised! We also make a point to get friendly with attendees, seek out feedback in person from our long-time attendees, and walk the show/sit in on a session. We also do a post-survey like everyone else, but we also get on the phone with every sponsor to get their insights for improvements going forward.
Effective communication is crucial in any planning process. How do you ensure you and your event stakeholders are always on the same page?
We are in very regular communication with all of our stakeholders. Our board meets 4 times a year, but the committees meet more often. We hold meetings with our teams and provide updates. Exhibitors get a live Q&A recall the week before our shows. We built them a resource page with all the information they could need, and they have our direct numbers if they need to call. Sponsors get a series of calls to plan out their activations. These are collaborative and ongoing. We do similar calls with our volunteers, speakers, onsite teams, and external vendors.
How do you facilitate networking opportunities among attendees? Are there any specific tactics or strategies that you recommend?
Networking is a major part of our tradeshows. We set up a scholarship program where we have young professionals matched up with industry veterans, and we have them all arrive and meet at the reception 30 minutes before the rest of the attendees. The expectation we set with the veterans is that they should be introducing the young professionals to their network. This is how we politely force the start. These receptions always include a bar because we all know that that's where most of the business happens at these events! We also create space for networking within the agenda, schedule time for the late-night bar scene, and make sure that the venue keeps it open for our group. Our attendees learn a ton, discover new things, and keep coming back because it feels like a reunion every time they arrive!
What's your go-to plan for handling emergencies or unexpected situations during an event?
Well, I don't know if there is a one-size-fits-all solution for this one. You kind of have to just roll with the punches and take what's right in front of you. The most important thing in these situations is to solve the problem now and dissect its origins later. You cannot waste time being upset with the person who made the mistake. Even if you are sure it isn't true, it is best to go into every situation believing that, however, we got here, the people involved were doing the best they could with what they had available to them. Also, if you ask for grace and you are genuine about it, you will most likely get it!
Can you share an example of a significant challenge you faced while planning an event conference and how you overcame it?
This is a bit of a trick question because there are always significant challenges with all programs. The point is that we always overcome it. Currently, we are launching a program. We were planning to come out of the gate with 260+ exhibitors and 2500 attendees, but we are ending up with only about 750 attendees. Until last week, we had only about 35 exhibitors. I am in the thick of this one, but it is a lot of going back to partners like the venue, the hotel, and the GC, renegotiating the terms, adjusting the costs, and removing concessions. This is where the importance of having great partners who have a vested interest in your success comes in. I have worked with properties who would have just handed us the attrition bill and the invoice minimums and told me to pay up... In this case, that would prevent this show from having another chance to return next year. Instead, our partners are pulling together, and we are looking at creative ways to manage labor, supplies, equipment, and costs to minimize the impact on us financially so that we can come back next year and be stronger for it. We have been meeting with them regularly to give updates on how the show is performing. This has allowed us to communicate all the ways we are working to close the gaps and fill the show. They trust that we are doing all that we can to be successful and as a result, they are supportive of us coming back. We may still have some attrition to pay or some revenue to make up, but it will be manageable for us to handle. Partnership with vendors/suppliers is everything!
What are the typical steps you take in the post-event phase?
I think this process is pretty typical. We send a thank you email to everyone (exhibitors, sponsors, attendees, speakers, vendors). We send a survey and gather feedback. We have a post-call with all sponsors to capture first-hand feedback and plant the seed for the following year by assumptively asking how they would like to adjust for next year. Then, we gather up all the data, update our sales decks for the next year, and use that information to shape the plan. We then get on the phone with the advisory board and start planning for the following year.
What key performance indicators (KPIs) do you use to evaluate the success of an event?
I would imagine that these don't differ too much from other shows. We look at ticket/registration, length of stay in the market, revenue targets across income categories, attendance to all events, survey data, profit margin, and ROI.
What advice would you offer someone just starting their career in the meetings and events industry?
Remember that no one in this job had a straight shot to where they are right now. Most opportunities come from people you know, and if you lean into what you want to do and do it well, the money will follow. If you chase the money, you will never be happy!
This post is part of the HopSkip Planner Spotlight Series, where HopSkip spotlights planners across the industry to bring awareness of how important the meetings/events community is to our world.