S8E1: Psychology of Tradeshows with Sarah Griffin, CEM

Get ready to explore the evolving landscape of event management with Dr. K and guest Sarah Griffin. In today's episode, we dive into the dynamic world of event management and industry insights with Sarah Griffin, a Certified Exhibition Manager and seasoned professional in the field. Sarah shares her unique perspective on the evolving trends in the event industry, touching on topics such as the integration of psychology, adapting to changes post-COVID, and the blurring lines between traditional meetings and trade shows.

Connect with Sarah: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-griffin-cem/

Today we are discussing:
Sarah’s Journey into the Event Industry (0:50)
Significance of Psychology in Events (2:08)
Sarah’s Role as Certified Exhibition Manager (CEM) (4:05)
Decision Making in Events (6:10)
Industry Changes post-COVID (9:45)
Cohesive Design and Education in Trade Shows (13:06)
Continuous Learning (16:40)

Visit the Experience University website for more information!
www.experienceuniversity.org

Connect with us on our socials!
Facebook: Experience University
Instagram: @kristin.malek
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristinmm/

Transcript

Dr. K:
You are listening to the Experience University podcast: Season 8, Episode 1.

Welcome back, everybody. We have such an exciting episode for you today. I am here with Sarah Griffin. Sarah and I actually met last December when I was speaking at IAEE’s Expo Expo. I was giving a talk on innovative sponsorship models, and Sarah was in my session. It's been great to connect with you, Sarah, afterwards and all our conversations. Thank you so much for being on the podcast and a video, which is new this season. Welcome.

Sarah:
Thank you for having me.

Dr. K:
Absolutely. So the first question that I would like to ask for everybody is how did you get into the event industry? We hear it all—I fell into it. I've done this, I've done that. I'm really journalism, I'm really marketing. How did you get into the event industry?

Sarah:
Well, I usually say that I was born into it because when I was growing up, my mom was a fundraiser, and so I was constantly dragged to all of these events. I had to help with volleyball tournaments, bike rides, and any sort of evening events where people were donating lots of money. But I had no idea that that's where I was going to end up. It was just what I got to do during the day. Then I went through that slow time after I graduated, and I ended up at GES, which is a US-based general services contractor. I started at the bottom, with customer service, answering all the questions and doing all the things that needed to be done. The fun part is when I first started, a union guy came to me and said, "You know, if you make it a year, you'll be in this industry for life," and he wasn't wrong.

Dr. K:
That is awesome. Yeah. Even connecting with you after and looking at all the incredible things that you've done and all the different things you've touched in visual merchandizing, the whole gambit, and that all feeds into it. So many people don't truly appreciate or recognize until they're in this industry that events really are everything. It's the food. It's the legal. It's everything. I know your degree is in psychology. That's one thing that I have been talking to a ton of people about. If you're going into events, maybe double major in business or definitely get a minor in psychology or look at psychology and communications, marketing, all the things. Right. But psychology for sure. People are confused when I say it. Like, “I don't want to be a therapist,” and here you are living, breathing degree in psychology. Tell us how often you use it and in what ways you use it.

Sarah:
Yeah. Every day, to be perfectly honest. I decided to major in psychology because I like people. I like to see what people do, and I like to study what people do. It's funny because I really don't like sociology, which is supposed to be the sister, and I just don't like it because people act differently in groups than they do alone. But I knew I didn't want to be a therapist. I didn't want to listen to people's stories all day. That seems like a lot of emotional baggage that I didn't want to deal with. But it helped me understand how people were going to react. So they say, "You're gonna get more flies with honey." Well, that's kind of true because if you have a smile on your face and you're pleasant to be around, you can deescalate an issue. To be fair, there's a lot of issues when it comes to events; you're always going to have something happen. Being able to know how people are going to react and understand that kind of human side of business has been extremely valuable.

Dr. K:
Absolutely. I mean, we are a people-based business, whether you're online or in person or whatever. You're dealing with people and understanding how they think, work, and operate is so critical. I'm always a little confused when people are like, "Why psychology?" I'm like, "We're all people. It makes sense." So, from GES to now, you've gone through several different positions, but all kind of in the same strain. You're welcome to share about any of them that you want to share about. But what's been your pinnacle? What's the one that you're like, "Oh my gosh, I love this.” Why do you love it?

Sarah:
Well, I've always loved my job, to be honest, and everything in events is always a little bit different. I get bored easily, so I'm always constantly doing something new, and events make it a lot easier to do that. I will say my current position is my favorite. It is kind of that, "Oh, this is where I was supposed to be." Like, I've always had those days and like, "God, this has been a really bad day." I don't have very many of those. I run my own show; I'm the decision-maker, and that is kind of, I think, what I'm meant to do, to be honest. I got really lucky during the pandemic. I actually taught people how to do trade shows. I was part of the learning and performance team, and it was great. It was kind of good to get away from the everyday of doing things. I brought the CEM program into Informa in-house, which was amazing. That has continued on. I'm still a CEM instructor outside of Informa right now. But honestly, my current role is just perfect for me to be able to make the decisions and get things done and then see where we end up.

Dr. K:
Absolutely. For those who are listening that may be international, CEM is the Certified Exhibition Manager. So it's a certification that you can get through IAEE, very kind of heavy in trade shows but not just trade shows. There's a lot of really fascinating modules through trade shows. So I didn't know you were an instructor in the course. How fun is that? Which modules do you teach?

Sarah:
Pretty much any of the production ones, so plan development operations. Those are the ones that I like teaching. I have a lot of stories.

Dr. K:
Yeah, absolutely. So the natural question that comes to me right now is all about the decision-making, right? So events and experience design and management consistently ranks in the top three or top five of the most stressful careers in the world, often up there with air traffic controllers, and especially during COVID, like the home health aid people, as you're dealing with life and death situations and this deadly virus. And here's events, and people don't think about it that way: that it is so stressful with so much on your feet, thinking and problem-solving and all of these things. So making decisions and being the ultimate decision-maker seems really stressful, and here you are with a degree in psychology. So talk us through why you love that, and as a follow-up on that, there's a lot of people, I think, that listen, that are aspiring to be that person. They may feel like they're a “peon” or at the bottom of the totem pole, or they may be in a more junior position, and they want to be the decision-maker. They're striving to be the decision-maker, and they're looking up to you or listening up to you, I guess if they're on the podcast here. Talk to us about the pros and cons of that position, what you love, what's super stressful, and what advice you give to people who want to be in the position you're in.

Sarah:
That's a hefty question. In events, you have to get things done. That is step one. But I always want to know why I'm doing something. So, not afraid to try something new. I had a boss a while ago that used to tell me to fail fast. That is exactly what I like to do. If I'm going to fail, it needs to be quickly. I learned a long time ago that the way we've always done it usually needs to be challenged. It's not necessarily the right way to be doing things. As a decision-maker, it's my responsibility to question those things, and that just fits naturally into my personality. I get that feedback from managers in the past. "You question everything," like I do. That's really how I got to where I am because if you question things, you have the opportunity to make them better. You're not just doing what you're told. Why am I doing it this way? Is there a better way to do something? That's really why I think I have gotten to where I am because I do question and push boundaries, making things as best as they can be. Sometimes the way you've done it is right, but most of the time there's something new. The world has changed a lot, especially with COVID. We've gone to remote working, which was great. I loved that part, not having to commute. It is great, but it also takes away some of that in-person brainstorming and some of those things, which we can do virtually, but you have to be willing to do it and understand that things are a little bit different. Is it the way that you've always done it, or is it the best way to do it?

Dr. K:
Such great insights. Absolutely. Just for everyone that's listening or watching this podcast, Sarah is so good. She reached out ahead of time yesterday and this morning was like, "Where's my list of questions?" And I was like, "It's a natural conversation," you know, as planners who want to know all the things. So these questions that I'm asking her off the cuff, and she's killing it, crushing it. It's super awesome. Sarah, you mentioned after COVID, right? So you've been in the industry for a long time. In fact, you may be one of the few guests that was literally born into it. You had no choice. Your mom is dragging you to work, and she works in our industry. So post-COVID, during COVID, we're all trying to forget the during COVID years. Can you believe 2020 was four years ago? What is happening right now, right? But post-COVID, what are you seeing that are fundamental shifts in our industry versus the trends, the things that we thought were gonna be shifts, but they're not?


Sarah:
It's really interesting to me because I think people are still gun-shy from COVID. A lot of people lost a lot of money when the world shut down. We had contracts that were not written great, where they were in favor of a supplier. An organizer lost money because they had to pay out, and they canceled their event. So that's been a pretty fundamental shift. I see a lot more contracting, a lot more legal ease that I see on the website and registration sites and things like that. People are also waiting. They're waiting to register, waiting to book their hotel rooms, waiting to make sure that everything is gonna be there. Again, I think it's just because people are like, "I don't know, is it gonna happen? Are we gonna have a relapse? Are we going to have something else happen?" Whereas before, we would book six months in advance and things like that. So it's kind of shortened our planning time a little bit because we don't necessarily know how many people are gonna show up at the event until about 5-4 weeks beforehand. It becomes this interesting well we used to have these trends, and now we have these different trends, so planning has been very different. But I've also noticed that people want that interaction. They want to be in person with people. We're kind of over the online thing. It's fine because we have to do it on a daily basis. But when I'm gonna go have my meetings, I wanna go have a drink, I wanna go have a welcome reception, and that's where events are really gonna continue to excel. Every recession—I started in the 2008 recession. So that was fun. Before 2008, we got to spend a lot of money. We don't get to do that anymore. A whole different world now. But we really are an industry that gets to excel through it all.

Dr. K:
Exactly. Oh my gosh. There are so many facts and figures from IAEE Expo Expo and also from PCMA's Convening Leader, just in terms of everything you're saying. I mean, taking into account every size of meeting from small to large, your average lead time has gone from, I think, 81 days to 63 days. The buyer time from an attendee perspective is super short. I think I heard that at Cvent Connect, you know, multiple thousands of people, they had 1000 people register the day of the event. How do you plan for that? That's absolutely insane. Super interesting. One of the other things that I heard at one of the events was that you're gonna see a lot more blurred lines between your traditional meeting and your traditional trade show, right? A trade show would be B to B, you're coming just for sales, and the meeting is like, we're here for education. So some events like IMEX America, they have Smart Monday, which is like one day of education and then your trade show. So I'm thinking of some other prominent shows. It's like, okay, well, you have education before and after and scattered education on the show floor, just scattered. We're gonna see a lot more cohesiveness of blending because meetings need a lot better exhibit floors. Oh my gosh. And trade shows need some more education, some better education. Do you see that playing out in your area? Maybe if you can think of and you don't have to name-drop, but if you could think of some really cool trade show experiences or education or a tangible takeaway that someone could say, “Maybe that would work in my show.” Right?

Sarah:
Yeah. It's funny that you bring that up because at CPHI North America, which is my show, we just moved our content onto the show floor. We've historically been in a meeting room, and everything was all kind of pushed away and tucked away, and we're bringing it front and center, making it so that everybody has access to it. We've never charged additional for content. I know a lot of events do, but we really wanted to make sure that we had that kind of everything in one place feel. So it's really funny that that tends to be the trend at this point. It's more expensive, to be perfectly honest, to have that show floor. We are doing a silent stage as well. So everybody has to have their headphones, but that way it's not interrupting the business that's also happening. So we have to find that balance between education and show floor selling and buying. It is definitely a fine line, and you have to walk there. Some of the networking events, we opened it up to everybody. We doubled our number of networking events that we have after the show floor because people like that they have their business time, and then they have more of a social time, and people really respond well to that piece.


Dr. K:
That's so good, so good. I know a lot of the listeners online maybe follow me on LinkedIn or maybe they don't, and they should. But a lot of people now are starting to share more about their experiences now that they're out and about post-COVID. Like, "I'm at the show, and I'm doing this, I'm doing this." And I know 40,000 plus people follow Julius Solaris, right? They're getting their updated content from him, facts and figures, and he travels everywhere, and I love him. He's such a pleasure. I've taken a little bit of a different perspective on my LinkedIn this year where I'm constructively criticizing elements of events that I'm going to for the benefit of all. So Adam Grant has a quadrant, and I am in the bottom left quadrant of only 10% of people who are constructively criticizing because they genuinely want everything to be good. I'm not criticizing because I'm bashing, because I'm better than you, because I'm comparing. I'm only criticizing because we can all learn, like let's not make that mistake. I was at an event recently, and I was talking about the networking. So it's great to hear you talking about doubling the networking, and I had this big thing on intentional design. You can't just put up a bar and have a smaller group and expect people to network. So if you're not following me on LinkedIn, definitely recommend checking that out or giving a follow to add that content. And everything you're saying, Sarah, is just like we rehearsed it, and we didn't. We're talking back and forth, which is really great. So as we're wrapping up this episode, what's a key takeaway that anyone listening, whether they're seasoned or a student going into the industry, what's a key takeaway that you're gonna challenge everyone to do?

Sarah:
I think I would say question - question everything. Don't get stuck in the status quo and really see if there are places that you, in whatever role you're in, whether it be answering the phone and dealing with people who are yelling at you or if you're at the top of the totem pole. Question why you're doing things: question the why, question the how, and see if you can follow Kristin and find some great new ideas. Go experience other events and see if there's anything you can do to make things better.

Dr. K:
Yes. Oh, that's so good. That's so good. And I know when we were talking in a previous conversation, I asked you, I was like, "Where are you going for your information?" Because I'm such an information junkie. And I'm like, "I wanna know, and I wanna go," and it's not even like FOMO, it's just, I am so insanely curious about everything, and you had a really good, great perspective on that. Where are you finding your information?

Sarah:
Honestly, I go to other events. I've always liked trade shows. Even at a young age, we used to go to the home show in Indianapolis. They actually built a house in the middle of the fairgrounds, and I always just thought that was pretty cool. Like, because you're building a house inside of a building, like that's nifty. But I go to other events, I go to boat shows, I'm going to a motorcycle show next weekend, and I go to other informal events because I could get paid, and I look around and see what they're doing and what works from an attendee's perspective. Then I bring that back to my own show and think, "Oh, that experience wasn't great," or "This was really cool. I enjoyed the way that this experience made me feel." For me, that's the best place to learn.

Dr. K:
Absolutely. So true, beginner's mindset, attendee perspective, always going back, living the experience of our attendees. Beautiful. So, Sarah, if people want to get in touch with you, what's the best way for them to do that?

Sarah:
I am on LinkedIn as well. Feel free to join Sarah Griffin CEM. If you search on LinkedIn for that, I would be happy to accept your request.

Dr. K:
Absolutely. I'll link it in the show notes below this episode and in the video transcript. I am still getting used to the whole video think, like, “Oh, am I moving around too much?” I don't know. So, Sarah, thank you so much for being on our audio podcast and video podcast. It's such a pleasure catching up with you. I know our attendees and listeners on the podcast, all the people that are interacting with us are gonna get so many unique and interesting perspectives. So, thank you for being on the podcast today.

Sarah:
Perfect, thank you for having me.

Dr. K:
Absolutely.