Founder and consultant Michelle Nicole McNabb gives a sneak peek into her process.
Michelle Nicole McNabb is a firm believer in delegation. So much so, she started a company to take work off of plates, to free clients to focus on the substance of what they brought to the table at events.
“Delegate, so You Can Generate in Your Field of Genius” is the unofficial tagline for Emenee Marketing ‘n’ Events. McNabb launched the company in 2016, upon realizing that companies were so caught up with the “How?” of organizing, attending, and/or sponsoring events, they weren’t pausing to consider the “Why?”
“In today’s day and age, we want to make sure that we’re looking at events not just on the logistics side, but also asking: ‘Why are we using events?’” McNabb explains of Emenee’s raison d’etre. The question—existential as it indeed sounds—is one that McNabb routinely helps clients answer in concrete terms, to lay the groundwork for a strategy.
Typically, the next step is to determine which events are ideal for a client based on their desired role (e.g. co–host, speaker, sponsor) and business objectives. McNabb also takes into account individual preferences. For example: a recent client indicated that he was interested in attending multiple–day conferences, on the (firm) condition that he wouldn’t need to log on to Zoom on any one of those days.
Once an event is decided upon, McNabb dives into the agenda to get a sense of layout and flow. In this phase, she asks plenty of questions of clients to determine—among other things—the best people to send.
“Can we apply to be a speaker? If that’s the case, then we need to consider who will speak,” she says by way of example, continuing: “If it’s thought–leader–driven, if there are opportunities for fireside chats, or panel discussions, then you’re going to want to evaluate your executive level—your C–level team.”
If speaking opportunities aren’t of interest but the format is still largely educational, McNabb would suggest sending more representatives from marketing or communications—with a caveat: “You don’t want to send five people from your organization down the same track.”
Another important consideration is whether or not there will be a trade–show floor. If it’s a straightforward sponsorship with a booth, having plenty of SDRs (or BDRs) is a good bet. For reverse trade–shows, on the other hand, McNabb would recommend only sending top sales reps—or “closers.”
A recent adopter of Vendelux, McNabb is counting on our platform to help her qualify events and determine which relevant prospects and VIPs will also be in attendance at client outings (up until now, she’s relied on public info like LinkedIn posts to sleuth).
Vendelux presents dual benefits for professionals like McNabb. In the short–term, the platform automates a time–consuming process. But at a higher level, solutions like Vendelux nudge decision–makers to become more data–driven. As more and more processes are streamlined and the methods for measurement multiply, the importance of asking “Why?” is poised to become more important than ever.
McNabb, a 15–year veteran who started planning events as a freelancer in college, is gung–ho for whatever the future holds.
“The more that I can be an advocate to use events, the more that it’s flooding back into the industry that I love,” she says.
