Executive Roundtable Series, presented by mdg

mdg, A Freeman Company is launching an exclusive program for executive-level event professionals, called Leading Through Disruption: An Executive Roundtable Series. This weekly peer-to-peer exchange will focus on future-scaping and change management. Each week’s session will have a theme introduced by a thought leader in a 15-20 minute presentation followed by 40-45 minutes of facilitated dialogue in small break out discussion groups. Sessions will take place on Wednesdays at 11:00 am Pacific/ 2:00 pm Eastern from August 5 through September 9.

Qualified participants (executive-level event organizers) can email Kate Calderazzo to request an invitation to participate. Break out discussion groups will be determined in advance and limited to ~15 participants to maintain a size conducive for idea sharing and networking. Full session details are below:

Series Outline

DATE:	August 5
TOPIC:	The Future of Live of Events
SPEAKER(S):	Mo Husseini, SVP of Design at Freeman Mo combines clarity of purpose, design minimalism, optimism, and the power of human ingenuity to paint a beautiful picture of what’s possible for live events. Mo is relentless in his quest to anticipate and synthesize the needs, hopes, perspectives, and concerns of event audiences and align those desires with practical event solutions.
DESCRIPTION:	As painful as it is, this pandemic is a once-in-a-lifetime (we hope) opportunity to reimagine what the live event of the future should be. Although we are prioritizing health and safety, Mo will challenge us to simultaneously consider elevating the attendee experience to create stickier, more relevant, more enjoyable, and more profitable outcomes.

DATE:	August 12
TOPIC:	Safety Dance: Considerations for the Return to Physical
SPEAKER(S):	Dan Steiner, MBA, CPA, ARM, Vice President, Enterprise Risk Management, Freeman Dan has delivered progressive Enterprise Risk Management initiatives to best in class businesses across a diverse set of industries. His detail-oriented and analytical approach has helped give organizations the confidence they need to manage risk and seize new opportunities.
DESCRIPTION:	For our industry to return in force, we need attendees to feel comfortable making the decision to attend an event. It is our responsibility to be prepared and to offer assurances that the right measures are being taken to maintain personal safety at all times. This session will outline processes and protocols around safer events—including health and safety management planning, new safety standards, security, and medical facilities. After the session, you’ll be able to formulate the questions you need to ask your event partners to ensure the safety of your future events.

DATE:	August 19
TOPIC:	Translating Audience Research into Actionable Insights
SPEAKER(S):	Ken Hosinger, SVP, Strategy – Digital & Data Solutions, Freeman Kimberly Hardcastle, Chief Marketing Strategist, mdg Ken and his team have developed innovative methodologies, tools and dashboards that are helping clients make sense of disruption through research. Kimberly is not only a huge fan and frequent user of these tools but also savvy marketer experienced in translating the insights they reveal into meaningful business strategies.
DESCRIPTION:	The impact of COVID-19 on audience sentiment cannot be understated. Hear Ken present the third wave of research that addresses how attendees and exhibitors are feeling about the return to live, how virtual events have/haven’t met their needs, and what they are expecting from events in the future. Kimberly will be culling out key pieces of data and discussing how they can be used to achieve business objectives before and after the return to physical.

DATE:	August 26
TOPIC:	An Executive-Level Briefing on the Future of Digital Marketing
SPEAKER(S):	Marc Blumer, Customer Journey Architect, mdg Marc is an integral member of the mdg + Freeman strategy team, orchestrating and integrating the efforts of digital, web and data into marketing programs fully aligned with the customer journey.
DESCRIPTION:	Innovation, experimentation, nimbleness and continuous improvement have become essential for the survival of event organizers. Marc will provide a high-level overview about what this means in relation to your marketing department, specifically in relation to digital, and offer ideas for evolving your organizational systems, processes, people, technologies and structure.

DATE:	September 2
TOPIC:	What’s Actually Working (and Not) with Online Events
SPEAKER(S):	Mark Fein, Senior Vice President of Strategy, Freeman Jacquelyn Wells, Vice President and Marketing Strategist, mdg Jacquelyn is changemaker and a problem solver. Her passion for marketing has led to successful attendee acquisition strategies for clients across a multitude of industries. She and Mark are both helping clients seize opportunity (and mitigate impact) by helping them ideate, create and market online events. Fein, an industry visionary, has spent his career developing and executing global event strategies with special emphasis in the healthcare, technology, and energy sectors.
DESCRIPTION:	Normally disruption happens at a more gradual pace. For events, moving fast doesn’t begin to describe the past few months. Mark and Jacquelyn will share lessons from the trenches as well as best practices for creating successful online events that drive engagement, revenue, and other KPIs/objectives.

DATE:	September 9
TOPIC:	Okay, So Now What? An Exercise in Strategic Prioritization
SPEAKER(S):	Sara Baliti, Senior Account Director, mdg David Saef, Executive Vice President of Strategy, Freeman David helps clients set objectives, narrow priorities and keep their eyes on the prize. He and Sara are frequent collaborators, working together to assess challenges, seize opportunities, and customize the right strategies. Sara then translates those client strategies into effective tactical and creative campaigns.
DESCRIPTION:	Attempting to resume business as usual with a pre-COVID-19 playbook could have disastrous effects – from inadvertently exacerbating lingering fears about mass gatherings to wasting money on underperforming channels. Serving as a culmination of the 6-week series, this session will provide practical, actionable advice to help executives prioritize, reset KPIs, budgets, strategies and tactics.