Jay Menashe: Most events are forgettable, not because the people running them don't care, but because they're optimizing for logistics instead of memory. I'm Jay Menashe Senior Director of Strategy and Growth at Exhibitus, and this is Event Experience Experts. Every episode I sit down with the creatives, strategists, and senior leaders who are raising the bar on what live brand experiences can actually do. If you're done accepting forgettable, you're in the right place. Vanessa Confessore is the head of experiential marketing at Life 360, a remote first company. Most of her colleagues share a screen, not a room. Once a year, she changes that. Circle Up is Life 360's annual employee event, and it is the one time the whole company is in the same place. She treats it like it's the most important event of her year, and today, well, we're gonna find out why that's the right call. So before I jump in, I just want to take a step back and tell our origin story, because not surprisingly. Started on LinkedIn. That's how most of these conversations start. But after CES, I posted that I thought the show lacked energy and excitement. And frankly, everybody I spoke to, I thought was just going to agree. Well, most people in the comments did. They fell in line. They were, yeah, I saw the same things. And Vanessa did not nod and agree. She jumped into the comments with her full self saying, I disagree. And frankly, now that I know you, it's not surprising because you're always bringing your full self. It's one of the things I love about you. And but that comment led me to my curiosity. It's like, who is this person? And really, what did you see that I didn't? And those are the questions that started. So one call became a working relationship. The relationship became circle up, your biggest event of the year. And it's not a customer event, it's an employee event. Six hundred people in one place, the only time the company comes together throughout the year. And it was a really honestly, it I thought it was really cool, but when I posted my opinion, you changed my mind. And I'm really excited to say first, you're the first client I've ever had on the show, so welcome. well and I'll take a I'll take a breath.
Vanessa Confessore: Yeah, thank you so much. Excited to be here. And I'm definitely one of these people that in the past year have gotten so much more comfortable on LinkedIn. I think in general, I don't see myself as a challenger, but I remember scrolling on LinkedIn as one does, right? Because chatting and engaging is just as important as posting on your own page. And I remember coming home from CES. Seeing your post and thinking, I didn't have that experience. let's talk more. I wanted to hear more. Because what's interesting is my experience of CES has always been in C Space, which is nine worlds apart from the other CES, which is the real CES, right? The convention center, where it all started, where the consumer electronics are, where all of the big brands are showing up as brands. Whereas this Little thing called AdTech took over the ARIA and the Cosmo probably 10, 15 years ago now. And it was a one-off outside, unsanctioned thing. And through the years, CES kind of caught on, brought in some rope and stanchion, added some badge scanners, and created this real world for brands and marketers to show up. And it's been really interesting to see the change and then as my world has been expanding and meeting different people through LinkedIn or in real life, s seeing and understanding that people didn't even know that that existed and how the energy really has shifted and grown over there.
Jay Menashe: Yeah, and I found the whole thing interesting. So when the C Space originated, I was working for an agency that was owned by interpublic group of companies. And it's actually what made me realize that CES is it's the marketing kickoff to the world. Yes, it is framed as the consumer electronic show. But the reality is brands that have nothing to do with consumer electronics are there, agencies that have nothing to do with events or trade shows are there. And it is, it's really, it's like this is it's why they haven't moved it from those really annoying first few days of January when it's like, I don't want to be here. before and after Christmas and before New Year's and doing all these things. But it's like, hey, it is what it is now. And I'm already registered. I just booked my flight last night. So I'm like ready to go already. but that's actually where I want to start my questions. I want to bring it back to CES because you know, listen, I walk that show and I talk about this all the time. Like I'm jaded. I've been to so many shows. There's not a lot of things I'm gonna see on a show floor that it's like, wow, that is the most amazing thing I've ever seen. So, what did you see at at CES and specifically the C space that made you push back on, frankly, what a lot of yeah, quote unquote industry insiders felt about it.
Vanessa Confessore: Yeah, I think for me, similarly jaded, right? I know what it takes to build a booth. I know what it takes to pay brand ambassadors. I know what it takes to have the most creative booth, but at the end of the day, it's still a 10 by 12 or whatever it is, right? what fueled me this year or helped me, you know, step up and have that conversation with you was less about the things and was more about the people. it really came down to the people who had True spaces to connect had something to really to talk about. the brands that were doing it right were the ones who were creating spaces for their teams to have curated meetings and actually drive business, but then we're also approachable by people who were just walking by. I think a lot of times at these things it can be intimidating. Because you're like, who am I? Why does that business care about me? Am I allowed to go? Is that free stuff really free stuff? Or am I gonna be chased for years to come? are they listening to me? Is it bugged or whatever? Right. So the spaces that have found the balance and created like a warm, inviting space to open up a brand conversation and also drive business and, you know, drive the goals that they were there and set out to do in the first place are the ones that I think got it right.
Jay Menashe: Yeah, it and I find that interesting and I think you're right. I think well, obviously, these spaces are about connection, it's not just about the shiny new object. Was there anything you took from C Space specifically in how you brought that to circle up?
Vanessa Confessore: Yeah, I think there was a handful of brands. anybody who's been to Vegas knows that it's really easy to get pulled into the suck and never see the light of day or like breathe real oxygen. So the couple there was a handful of brands that found terrace spaces or balconies or ways to like remind you that you were in the real world. I think we're the ones that did it right. And so when we started to build Circle Up, especially because it was in San Diego, which is just the most beautiful, happy, sunny place in the planet, I think. it was really important to not walk away from there feeling like we could have done this anywhere because we spent 98% of our time within four walls. We wanted to make sure that there was this kind of ebb and flow of indoor and outdoor for energy. For sunlight, for just overall happiness. of course, that always adds this element of like, well, what if it rains? Because even in San Diego, you have to have a backup plan. But we really lucked out and we were able to host all of our meals outside and really give the team some time to enjoy downtown San Diego.
Jay Menashe: and your point about if you could have done this anywhere and nobody could tell the difference, I think people miss that a lot because yeah, it's like I just traveled across the country for a demo I could have seen on my computer and or a meeting I could have had over the computer, whatever that is. So yeah, to transform or not even transformers, like live in the city you're in and bring people to it. I thought that was a really cool part about the event. especially, you know, exploring the city, being outside for breakfast and dinner every night. Like that was a it was a really It it does make it impactful, especially for, us north east people who are stuck inside eight months a year.
Vanessa Confessore: Right. And there's ways to do that beyond the actual event as well, right? So in the swag bag there was a protein bar, but it was this San Diego brand. It was a local brand, right? So we're not just putting Lay's potato chips in everyone's bag that you can get anywhere, get at the airport, right? So it was very intentional that the entire experience gave them something to talk about that they felt like they experienced San Diego and it wasn't just another kind of cookie cutter copy and paste in a new city type of thing.
Jay Menashe: Yeah, just can you give a quick shout out to your swag vendor? Because I can't pretend like first of all this Nito that I took one for my kids. One of them is now mine. but the quality of it was like outstanding. I you know, if you wanna give them a quick shout out. I always about cross promotion.
Vanessa Confessore: Absolutely. That's canary marketing. They are the best at what they do. Bailey and her team were in the trench with us. They got to know us. They made things happen really quickly on budget. We didn't just give one bag to everybody. We had a curated store where our employees got to come through and choose three items that then went into the bag that had a few items that were consistent for everybody. We know swag is not one size fits all. and then curating and ordering that type of order where it's not just okay, 700 of these and really doing the math. They were our partner the whole way through. So total shout out to Canary Marketing.
Jay Menashe: Yeah, and I'll even say, you didn't walk away with boxes of stuff to send back. It you guys were like bare bones empty at the end, which is really impressive. yeah, little thing, but still. Yeah. So, talking about the space a little bit more, you mentioned being on terraces. I know we had breakfast in the basically like the back courtyard. There was, dinner on the rooftop. For let's forget all that, because that was not such a constrained environment. It actually made it really easy. was there ever a time where you planned an event where What was that most constrained environment you had to work in? And what did it force you to do differently?
Vanessa Confessore: Yeah, so a little bit about this hotel. This hotel is the Hyatt Grand Manchester in downtown San Diego. Shout out to that team because they're phenomenal. I will say previously this event was held. It was a smaller group. So this was the first year we were of this size, right? 600 ish. and so that changes things, right? When you plan something for 200, it's very different than planning for 600. And so By the time my team came in and got the assignment to do this, we all know in a perfect world, these hotels are booked one, two, sometimes three years out. we signed this contract in April for a September event. So we got very lucky for this property. They actually had a cancellation and were able to take us on. Previously, this event had been held at more sprawling resort style events. So they were very used to kind of a lot of green space. And the direction was like, we need to be outside a lot, right? So now all of a sudden, our one and only hotel choice is plopped in the middle of downtown San Diego. There is no green space. But that was the challenge. Like we still needed to make these spaces work where they weren't just Wall-to-wall tables. There was experience. There was space for the teams to move around. We needed to make sure it didn't feel repetitive. So we worked with your team and our team to reinvent the spaces for each purpose. So the meals had a mix of table sizes, right? So I think sometimes when you're trying to grab lunch, some people are catching up on emails. Some people want to use that as social time. A table of 10. can feel very like we have to go around and everybody talks and it's like one, or it becomes like a chaos and it's a hundred conversations. I like when we mix in tables of four and tables of six and tables of eight so that you really can form these groups and have different types of conversations. So little changes like that where we're mixing up the table sizes, mixing up the table types, signage is gonna play a big part of the experience. So making sure that there's our brand is really fun. So we were able to incorporate a lot of kind of like smile, you're in the circle and welcome to circle up. And we have our mascot Lola, she joined us for a few of the welcoming moments. So I think just really Leaning into the space that you have, not trying to change it or build around it, but understanding we we knew we had escalators to deal with. We knew we had some construction we were dealing with, right? So I think what's important is you have to do that initial site visit. You have to feel the space, you have to walk around and build for the space. Sometimes the idea comes first and you try and kind of like squeeze it into the space, and that's when your people can feel it. But if you can build for the space, and I know that that's a luxury, sometimes you can't always do that, that's where you're gonna see the best experience.
Jay Menashe: Yeah, and I'm curious and I obviously a little bit of inside baseball here, but is there anything you had to cut because of the different spaces or because of the construction out of the what you were planning to do originally?
Vanessa Confessore: Yeah, budget always plays a factor here. I think half the fun of our job is dreaming really big and then getting the reality checked of well, that's a really big dream and you can't afford that. but I think it just forces you to be more creative. I think we definitely ended up winning in that game, right? So originally one of our kind of signature things is karaoke. It's always a fun thing. And when we first kind of dreamed it up, we were hoping to use one of the Other hotel spaces. There's this rooftop restaurant. There was this other empty restaurant space off of the lobby. And those spaces were going to cost another $10,000 for a site fee and then another X amount to build in it and bring the tables in and all of this. When we had foyer space that was ours that we had already built into a kind of lounge living room area for the conference comings and goings. And we were allowed to host there at no additional charge. All we had to do was pay for the beverages we wanted to bring in and the TV for the karaoke. So that wasn't our original plan. We had these grand plans of a big rooftop karaoke moment. But it ended up working really well because it gave life to the space we were already building. It gave us more time in the space we were already investing in. And that was the whole point of the space. It was a living room. It really ended up working in our favor.
Jay Menashe: And I have to say, when you told me we need karaoke at the event, I was skeptical. I'm like, twenty, thirty people will show up. that crowd had to be half the the the entire event was there and it was like the energy like that was the latest night I was up and it was not late for me. I still was like in my room by ten thirty, but I was like, I can't leave. I need to see this. people were performing. There was crowd work. it was it and you could but that's the energy you felt throughout the event. And it was really cool. That was kind of the culmination of all of it. Like this is the big night. so yeah, no, I think that was a really like I and especially coming from the sponsor of the event, which is, the chief human resource officer, is very surprising that it's like, wait, you want people staying up late, singing karaoke and Okay, let's go.
Vanessa Confessore: And we added chicken fingers and French fries, right? And so everyone was munching and drinking and and I think that's where it comes in knowing your audience. we knew this is what the audience would love. And so we leaned in and to your point it worked out really well.
Jay Menashe: And that's a consistent theme in in everybody I talk to. It's like you have to know your audience. And that is a very clear I would have never guessed. you're a majority of engineers in the company. And it's like, wow, everybody's thrown down, everybody's singing, everybody's involved, everybody's smiling and laughing. And that's you know, and me and the art team we're kind of just sitting on the side like, I can't believe this is happening. And it's success and and successfully. So yeah, no, I think that's great. So that's a moment where obviously we design for a crowd. And you know, have six hundred people in this one place for just a few days. Thankfully, I got to meet a number of employees. I'm not gonna I'm gonna play favorites here. Anne, the baker and cookie master with the most beautiful cookies I've seen. Don't tell my wife I said that. incredible person. But you also have to think about like how do you design for that individual person? I use Anne as the example, but you know, there's Anne, there's Anna, there's Chriselle, there's you know, there's a million peop six hundred people that you have to make feel special in that moment. You know, is there something you you take into consideration when it's like, all right, I need to feel the whole make the whole crowd feel special, but how do I make it feel like it's designed for each person?
Vanessa Confessore: Yeah, that's a great question because I'm relatively new at this company, right? I've I was part of an acquisition. I've always been at an ad tech company that was a majority of salespeople, right? And planning for salespeople is very different. You need music and alcohol, and they kind of take care of the rest. so going back to the drawing board and learning more about this company and who these 600 people are, to your point, over half of them are engineers. So, as a planner and as somebody coming from, you know, a lot of the events I do are for our advertising clients. So there's a there's a goal. We want them to drive business. There's a message we're trying to give them. A lot of those concepts come into play here. What is the goal? What do we want the outcome to be? How do we want people to feel when they leave here? And then understanding that not everybody wants to be in front of a microphone for four hours. Like, You need to build in those rest and recharge moments. And they are just as valuable as the human connection moments, as the meeting moments, as the 2027 strategy moments, as the karaoke moments, right? So making sure that your schedule has a really nice flow for that social recharge because I mean, whether we believe it or not, post-COVID, we are changed. Connection is as important as ever, but our social batteries don't last as long. And all of that, my God, hugging like all of that is exhausting, even if you're a person that's fueled by it. Like I love that. It fills my cup, it makes me so happy. I'm so energized by it and exhausted at the same exact time. So finding the balance between keeping people happy. And giving them space is really important. I think the other important thing of finding success in that is knowing that you are never gonna make everybody happy. There is not one thing aside from maybe cash that is going to make 600 people uniformly happy about one thing. It's just there will always be feedback. And honestly, a feedback survey is one of my favorite things because it brings me right back down to reality because there is always somebody who thinks about something to complain about that would never even cross your mind to think about, let alone type in a response that you know a human is going to read. so it's always a very humbling experience, but I think setting the expectation that you're never going to make anybody happy and it just means that there's room for improvement is the best way to go.
Jay Menashe: Well, and that's a really good segue because what I wanted to ask next is about building this case internally. this is an an expensive investment. It's something that is not gonna drive pipeline or revenue to your business. Ultimately, I always believe if you have happy people, they're gonna be more productive. But it's like how did you make the case internally for investing in an experience that, it can't really be fully measured on a spreadsheet?
Vanessa Confessore: Yeah, I will say I'm very lucky. Our head of people is is a really strong supporter of this. Life360 is a fully remote company. So the budget that they would have been using for offices and office supplies and office managers gets justified in this event budget. So I mean, I'm with you. think that this is our opportunity to build the heart of the brand. If we could get our entire team bought in, leaned in, proud, excited about what we're building, understanding what we're building, and really excited to be representing our brand, that resonates and kind of trickles down in the rest of their work, what they do every day. And then you can kind of go back into your hole and do your work from your island at home and whatever works for you. But that moment of huh. part of something so much bigger. especially in what we do, right? We're the family safety and connection app. We connect, keep families connected. if we weren't connected as an organization, we would be really misaligned with the work that we actually do.
Jay Menashe: Yeah. And I want to bring it back to what you said right before I asked the question. You mentioned surveys. So, you know, what is it something that you're tracking after circle up and what would you track if you could that you didn't?
Vanessa Confessore: Yeah, I would say the things we've dropped off of our survey are how is the food and how is the travel platform? Because hotel chicken's gonna hotel chicken, And we have to use the whatever travel platform we use, right? So those things we're less concerned about because those are logistics. The things we're asking about is did the content land? Do you understand what it means to be part of this team? Do you feel more connected to your team? and they're using a scale of one to five. So it's very personal, and everybody has a different take on the number. So we take it with a grain of salt. I think the proof comes out in the next couple of months as we're going through the planning process. Is everybody aligned? Like, is the planning and strategy that's coming out now truly aligned with what they learned on that day in September? Does everybody understand what our goals are? I think that we could probably do a better job of checking back in, but I think, so many of us, we're on to the next one. We're looking to book 2028. we have our eyes on all of our consumer events and our, you know, B2B events and and things are moving along. but yeah, I think just the overall love and the continued sharing of pictures is a little anecdotal and maybe not as measured as it could be. But feeling the love is is certainly one of the top indicators that we crushed it.
Jay Menashe: Yeah, no, I think that you're those are good questions that you're asking. It's like someone's always gonna you know, like everything else, someone is always gonna complain about the travel site, someone's always gonna complain about the food, or you know, didn't have this option, but you had this option. How come the meat eaters got all this? You know, it's like you we do the best we can and it and it is hard for especially six hundred people handling catering. but yeah, no, I think asking like if you feel closer to your colleagues, that's the whole point of this event, is a really great question. And it gives you a benchmark. obviously we're trying to aim for fours and above, but Yeah, let's go talk to that two. Unless it's like you're just a miserable person. But no, we'll we'll you gotta talk to the miserable people too.
Vanessa Confessore: Even those people deserve a voice for sure.
Jay Menashe: So, all right. So that's a really great note to hear about a the investment that you know HR is willing to make into this because I and I didn't even think about that way. Because of the remote first, like, yeah, you are saving like literally millions of dollars on office space and supplies and all that. You triggered a different light bulb that I will have to address after this. but bringing it back to like the original design of the event, is there any one thing you could redesign about? Whether it's Life Three Sixty or to any other brand, how brands approach live events from scratch. what would you do if you had the world was your your oyster?
Vanessa Confessore: Yeah, I think the the overwhelming feedback was that people love they just love to be together. So yes, you have to be in the room and be on stage and and do all those things, but give them space, like give them a chance to create their own groups or I think there's ways we could have done better at cross connecting people. I think we can, I think we can do better at giving teams opportunities to meet each other organically and not just expect that at meals they're gonna sit next to somebody new. So in a perfect world, circle up would be one day longer, where we had half day in the room on the stage doing the Steve Job things. We had half day out in the world at the zoo and surfing and on the boat. And then the other day would be a mix of non corny kind of networking activities and ways to really bring the teams together in a really more hands on way, where they're part of the conversation as opposed to sitting in an audience being talked at. I think if you can kind of find the mix of all three, so the executive content and future looking. There definitely needs to be a celebration moment. People want to be acknowledged for the work that they're doing. everybody likes their name and lights. I think there needs to be some just like human moments, so at the zoo or whatever your city is bringing to you. And then a true like cross collab moment where you can give people an opportunity to get hands on. I think that's the winning combination.
Jay Menashe: Yeah, you just got my mind swirling around, for next year. It's like, ooh, can we create little tabs at tables for it's like only two people from this department can sit here. sorry, you gotta figure out who's that's gonna be and then go sit with somebody else. But I I did see a lot of that this year. I will say it's like even people would randomly sit with us and obviously think we're part of the company which which was fun. It's like, ooh, tell me everything. I want to hear all the inside gossip about the company. But yeah, I think it's really hard to get that because you sit where you're comfortable and you sit with the people you know, and it's like I think it's a little bit more unique because you're such a remote first company than it's like, all right, well, we'll let it slide. But it's like, yeah, it's good to see the other departments, feel other people's pain, because you never understand what anybody else is working on, no matter what company you're at. So to sit with them and talk to them and get that feel, to have that human moment of networking. but no, I thought it was a really good mix of all of those things. Not that my opinion matters because it's not my event. But yeah, I think it's it's great to hear what you would redesign and how you would approach it. I think that's a really a good lesson for people to take away. Now you're also you work on a ton of, you know, customer events as well as internal event, obviously this being, you know well one of many, but what is is there one core difference how you approach a customer event versus an employee event?
Vanessa Confessore: Wow, thinking through that one a little bit. So my instinct is to say when I plan an internal event, I really think about it as like I'm hosting my family. I am the host. It is so important that there's real connection and brand love in the room. But then even as I say that, those are the things we want happening at our customer events as well. There's definitely more emphasis on measured metrics when it comes to our consumer events. because each audience is different, right? We have a publisher team, we have a supply team, we have a sales team, we have all different people with all different needs. so there's definitely different steps we take as we're curating, like always starting with the goal, what's the outcome? Is this a customer appreciation event? Are we thanking them for past work? Is this a net new thing? Are we trying to bring new clients in? Is this like we gotta seal the deal and really impress them? Who so your your planning is a little bit different. This one's fun because the audience, who's coming to the table, and the goal is brand love. So there's definitely a little bit of difference, but the more I talk, the more I'm realizing that there's not a lot. A lot of it is is really the same human connection and you know, relationship building.
Jay Menashe: Yeah, and I and I think it's funny because I was trying to hear, I'm like, I wonder what this valuable nugget's gonna be. And and I think what you're saying is is very valuable, but at the end of the day, and it's again, it's similar to other conversations. I spoke to somebody that's an expert in healthcare marketing and medical science liaisons, and it's like the entire episode focused on it's like, listen, we're human beings at the end of the day, and that's what you need to remember. We're all in this together in this crazy world doing this crazy stuff, and we happen to work for the same company, so it's like how can we build those bonds? Whether it's a customer event or an internal event, it's like, yes, think of the human first and be thoughtful about how you treat them and you'll be successful.
Vanessa Confessore: Hopefully.
Jay Menashe: Yeah, hopefully. Well, Miss Vanessa, that was the end. That was the last question I had. I really appreciate you joining me today. I think there's a lot of great lessons people could take. treat everybody like a human being, being one of them. And you know, don't confine yourself to a ballroom because then people will be bored and want to run to their hotel room and never come out for anything else. So it was an excellent event. I really enjoyed working with you at the event. And I well, again, thank you for joining me.
Vanessa Confessore: Thank you for having me. This was so much fun.
Jay Menashe: you're always easy to talk to.
Vanessa Confessore: Thanks, Jay.
Jay Menashe: If you walked away with one thing you'll use, we did our job today. Event Experience Experts drops every week. Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts and check us out on YouTube if you want to watch. I'm Jay Menashe see you next time.
Vanessa Confessore: Yeah, thank you so much. Excited to be here. And I'm definitely one of these people that in the past year have gotten so much more comfortable on LinkedIn. I think in general, I don't see myself as a challenger, but I remember scrolling on LinkedIn as one does, right? Because chatting and engaging is just as important as posting on your own page. And I remember coming home from CES. Seeing your post and thinking, I didn't have that experience. let's talk more. I wanted to hear more. Because what's interesting is my experience of CES has always been in C Space, which is nine worlds apart from the other CES, which is the real CES, right? The convention center, where it all started, where the consumer electronics are, where all of the big brands are showing up as brands. Whereas this Little thing called AdTech took over the ARIA and the Cosmo probably 10, 15 years ago now. And it was a one-off outside, unsanctioned thing. And through the years, CES kind of caught on, brought in some rope and stanchion, added some badge scanners, and created this real world for brands and marketers to show up. And it's been really interesting to see the change and then as my world has been expanding and meeting different people through LinkedIn or in real life, s seeing and understanding that people didn't even know that that existed and how the energy really has shifted and grown over there.
Jay Menashe: Yeah, and I found the whole thing interesting. So when the C Space originated, I was working for an agency that was owned by interpublic group of companies. And it's actually what made me realize that CES is it's the marketing kickoff to the world. Yes, it is framed as the consumer electronic show. But the reality is brands that have nothing to do with consumer electronics are there, agencies that have nothing to do with events or trade shows are there. And it is, it's really, it's like this is it's why they haven't moved it from those really annoying first few days of January when it's like, I don't want to be here. before and after Christmas and before New Year's and doing all these things. But it's like, hey, it is what it is now. And I'm already registered. I just booked my flight last night. So I'm like ready to go already. but that's actually where I want to start my questions. I want to bring it back to CES because you know, listen, I walk that show and I talk about this all the time. Like I'm jaded. I've been to so many shows. There's not a lot of things I'm gonna see on a show floor that it's like, wow, that is the most amazing thing I've ever seen. So, what did you see at at CES and specifically the C space that made you push back on, frankly, what a lot of yeah, quote unquote industry insiders felt about it.
Vanessa Confessore: Yeah, I think for me, similarly jaded, right? I know what it takes to build a booth. I know what it takes to pay brand ambassadors. I know what it takes to have the most creative booth, but at the end of the day, it's still a 10 by 12 or whatever it is, right? what fueled me this year or helped me, you know, step up and have that conversation with you was less about the things and was more about the people. it really came down to the people who had True spaces to connect had something to really to talk about. the brands that were doing it right were the ones who were creating spaces for their teams to have curated meetings and actually drive business, but then we're also approachable by people who were just walking by. I think a lot of times at these things it can be intimidating. Because you're like, who am I? Why does that business care about me? Am I allowed to go? Is that free stuff really free stuff? Or am I gonna be chased for years to come? are they listening to me? Is it bugged or whatever? Right. So the spaces that have found the balance and created like a warm, inviting space to open up a brand conversation and also drive business and, you know, drive the goals that they were there and set out to do in the first place are the ones that I think got it right.
Jay Menashe: Yeah, it and I find that interesting and I think you're right. I think well, obviously, these spaces are about connection, it's not just about the shiny new object. Was there anything you took from C Space specifically in how you brought that to circle up?
Vanessa Confessore: Yeah, I think there was a handful of brands. anybody who's been to Vegas knows that it's really easy to get pulled into the suck and never see the light of day or like breathe real oxygen. So the couple there was a handful of brands that found terrace spaces or balconies or ways to like remind you that you were in the real world. I think we're the ones that did it right. And so when we started to build Circle Up, especially because it was in San Diego, which is just the most beautiful, happy, sunny place in the planet, I think. it was really important to not walk away from there feeling like we could have done this anywhere because we spent 98% of our time within four walls. We wanted to make sure that there was this kind of ebb and flow of indoor and outdoor for energy. For sunlight, for just overall happiness. of course, that always adds this element of like, well, what if it rains? Because even in San Diego, you have to have a backup plan. But we really lucked out and we were able to host all of our meals outside and really give the team some time to enjoy downtown San Diego.
Jay Menashe: and your point about if you could have done this anywhere and nobody could tell the difference, I think people miss that a lot because yeah, it's like I just traveled across the country for a demo I could have seen on my computer and or a meeting I could have had over the computer, whatever that is. So yeah, to transform or not even transformers, like live in the city you're in and bring people to it. I thought that was a really cool part about the event. especially, you know, exploring the city, being outside for breakfast and dinner every night. Like that was a it was a really It it does make it impactful, especially for, us north east people who are stuck inside eight months a year.
Vanessa Confessore: Right. And there's ways to do that beyond the actual event as well, right? So in the swag bag there was a protein bar, but it was this San Diego brand. It was a local brand, right? So we're not just putting Lay's potato chips in everyone's bag that you can get anywhere, get at the airport, right? So it was very intentional that the entire experience gave them something to talk about that they felt like they experienced San Diego and it wasn't just another kind of cookie cutter copy and paste in a new city type of thing.
Jay Menashe: Yeah, just can you give a quick shout out to your swag vendor? Because I can't pretend like first of all this Nito that I took one for my kids. One of them is now mine. but the quality of it was like outstanding. I you know, if you wanna give them a quick shout out. I always about cross promotion.
Vanessa Confessore: Absolutely. That's canary marketing. They are the best at what they do. Bailey and her team were in the trench with us. They got to know us. They made things happen really quickly on budget. We didn't just give one bag to everybody. We had a curated store where our employees got to come through and choose three items that then went into the bag that had a few items that were consistent for everybody. We know swag is not one size fits all. and then curating and ordering that type of order where it's not just okay, 700 of these and really doing the math. They were our partner the whole way through. So total shout out to Canary Marketing.
Jay Menashe: Yeah, and I'll even say, you didn't walk away with boxes of stuff to send back. It you guys were like bare bones empty at the end, which is really impressive. yeah, little thing, but still. Yeah. So, talking about the space a little bit more, you mentioned being on terraces. I know we had breakfast in the basically like the back courtyard. There was, dinner on the rooftop. For let's forget all that, because that was not such a constrained environment. It actually made it really easy. was there ever a time where you planned an event where What was that most constrained environment you had to work in? And what did it force you to do differently?
Vanessa Confessore: Yeah, so a little bit about this hotel. This hotel is the Hyatt Grand Manchester in downtown San Diego. Shout out to that team because they're phenomenal. I will say previously this event was held. It was a smaller group. So this was the first year we were of this size, right? 600 ish. and so that changes things, right? When you plan something for 200, it's very different than planning for 600. And so By the time my team came in and got the assignment to do this, we all know in a perfect world, these hotels are booked one, two, sometimes three years out. we signed this contract in April for a September event. So we got very lucky for this property. They actually had a cancellation and were able to take us on. Previously, this event had been held at more sprawling resort style events. So they were very used to kind of a lot of green space. And the direction was like, we need to be outside a lot, right? So now all of a sudden, our one and only hotel choice is plopped in the middle of downtown San Diego. There is no green space. But that was the challenge. Like we still needed to make these spaces work where they weren't just Wall-to-wall tables. There was experience. There was space for the teams to move around. We needed to make sure it didn't feel repetitive. So we worked with your team and our team to reinvent the spaces for each purpose. So the meals had a mix of table sizes, right? So I think sometimes when you're trying to grab lunch, some people are catching up on emails. Some people want to use that as social time. A table of 10. can feel very like we have to go around and everybody talks and it's like one, or it becomes like a chaos and it's a hundred conversations. I like when we mix in tables of four and tables of six and tables of eight so that you really can form these groups and have different types of conversations. So little changes like that where we're mixing up the table sizes, mixing up the table types, signage is gonna play a big part of the experience. So making sure that there's our brand is really fun. So we were able to incorporate a lot of kind of like smile, you're in the circle and welcome to circle up. And we have our mascot Lola, she joined us for a few of the welcoming moments. So I think just really Leaning into the space that you have, not trying to change it or build around it, but understanding we we knew we had escalators to deal with. We knew we had some construction we were dealing with, right? So I think what's important is you have to do that initial site visit. You have to feel the space, you have to walk around and build for the space. Sometimes the idea comes first and you try and kind of like squeeze it into the space, and that's when your people can feel it. But if you can build for the space, and I know that that's a luxury, sometimes you can't always do that, that's where you're gonna see the best experience.
Jay Menashe: Yeah, and I'm curious and I obviously a little bit of inside baseball here, but is there anything you had to cut because of the different spaces or because of the construction out of the what you were planning to do originally?
Vanessa Confessore: Yeah, budget always plays a factor here. I think half the fun of our job is dreaming really big and then getting the reality checked of well, that's a really big dream and you can't afford that. but I think it just forces you to be more creative. I think we definitely ended up winning in that game, right? So originally one of our kind of signature things is karaoke. It's always a fun thing. And when we first kind of dreamed it up, we were hoping to use one of the Other hotel spaces. There's this rooftop restaurant. There was this other empty restaurant space off of the lobby. And those spaces were going to cost another $10,000 for a site fee and then another X amount to build in it and bring the tables in and all of this. When we had foyer space that was ours that we had already built into a kind of lounge living room area for the conference comings and goings. And we were allowed to host there at no additional charge. All we had to do was pay for the beverages we wanted to bring in and the TV for the karaoke. So that wasn't our original plan. We had these grand plans of a big rooftop karaoke moment. But it ended up working really well because it gave life to the space we were already building. It gave us more time in the space we were already investing in. And that was the whole point of the space. It was a living room. It really ended up working in our favor.
Jay Menashe: And I have to say, when you told me we need karaoke at the event, I was skeptical. I'm like, twenty, thirty people will show up. that crowd had to be half the the the entire event was there and it was like the energy like that was the latest night I was up and it was not late for me. I still was like in my room by ten thirty, but I was like, I can't leave. I need to see this. people were performing. There was crowd work. it was it and you could but that's the energy you felt throughout the event. And it was really cool. That was kind of the culmination of all of it. Like this is the big night. so yeah, no, I think that was a really like I and especially coming from the sponsor of the event, which is, the chief human resource officer, is very surprising that it's like, wait, you want people staying up late, singing karaoke and Okay, let's go.
Vanessa Confessore: And we added chicken fingers and French fries, right? And so everyone was munching and drinking and and I think that's where it comes in knowing your audience. we knew this is what the audience would love. And so we leaned in and to your point it worked out really well.
Jay Menashe: And that's a consistent theme in in everybody I talk to. It's like you have to know your audience. And that is a very clear I would have never guessed. you're a majority of engineers in the company. And it's like, wow, everybody's thrown down, everybody's singing, everybody's involved, everybody's smiling and laughing. And that's you know, and me and the art team we're kind of just sitting on the side like, I can't believe this is happening. And it's success and and successfully. So yeah, no, I think that's great. So that's a moment where obviously we design for a crowd. And you know, have six hundred people in this one place for just a few days. Thankfully, I got to meet a number of employees. I'm not gonna I'm gonna play favorites here. Anne, the baker and cookie master with the most beautiful cookies I've seen. Don't tell my wife I said that. incredible person. But you also have to think about like how do you design for that individual person? I use Anne as the example, but you know, there's Anne, there's Anna, there's Chriselle, there's you know, there's a million peop six hundred people that you have to make feel special in that moment. You know, is there something you you take into consideration when it's like, all right, I need to feel the whole make the whole crowd feel special, but how do I make it feel like it's designed for each person?
Vanessa Confessore: Yeah, that's a great question because I'm relatively new at this company, right? I've I was part of an acquisition. I've always been at an ad tech company that was a majority of salespeople, right? And planning for salespeople is very different. You need music and alcohol, and they kind of take care of the rest. so going back to the drawing board and learning more about this company and who these 600 people are, to your point, over half of them are engineers. So, as a planner and as somebody coming from, you know, a lot of the events I do are for our advertising clients. So there's a there's a goal. We want them to drive business. There's a message we're trying to give them. A lot of those concepts come into play here. What is the goal? What do we want the outcome to be? How do we want people to feel when they leave here? And then understanding that not everybody wants to be in front of a microphone for four hours. Like, You need to build in those rest and recharge moments. And they are just as valuable as the human connection moments, as the meeting moments, as the 2027 strategy moments, as the karaoke moments, right? So making sure that your schedule has a really nice flow for that social recharge because I mean, whether we believe it or not, post-COVID, we are changed. Connection is as important as ever, but our social batteries don't last as long. And all of that, my God, hugging like all of that is exhausting, even if you're a person that's fueled by it. Like I love that. It fills my cup, it makes me so happy. I'm so energized by it and exhausted at the same exact time. So finding the balance between keeping people happy. And giving them space is really important. I think the other important thing of finding success in that is knowing that you are never gonna make everybody happy. There is not one thing aside from maybe cash that is going to make 600 people uniformly happy about one thing. It's just there will always be feedback. And honestly, a feedback survey is one of my favorite things because it brings me right back down to reality because there is always somebody who thinks about something to complain about that would never even cross your mind to think about, let alone type in a response that you know a human is going to read. so it's always a very humbling experience, but I think setting the expectation that you're never going to make anybody happy and it just means that there's room for improvement is the best way to go.
Jay Menashe: Well, and that's a really good segue because what I wanted to ask next is about building this case internally. this is an an expensive investment. It's something that is not gonna drive pipeline or revenue to your business. Ultimately, I always believe if you have happy people, they're gonna be more productive. But it's like how did you make the case internally for investing in an experience that, it can't really be fully measured on a spreadsheet?
Vanessa Confessore: Yeah, I will say I'm very lucky. Our head of people is is a really strong supporter of this. Life360 is a fully remote company. So the budget that they would have been using for offices and office supplies and office managers gets justified in this event budget. So I mean, I'm with you. think that this is our opportunity to build the heart of the brand. If we could get our entire team bought in, leaned in, proud, excited about what we're building, understanding what we're building, and really excited to be representing our brand, that resonates and kind of trickles down in the rest of their work, what they do every day. And then you can kind of go back into your hole and do your work from your island at home and whatever works for you. But that moment of huh. part of something so much bigger. especially in what we do, right? We're the family safety and connection app. We connect, keep families connected. if we weren't connected as an organization, we would be really misaligned with the work that we actually do.
Jay Menashe: Yeah. And I want to bring it back to what you said right before I asked the question. You mentioned surveys. So, you know, what is it something that you're tracking after circle up and what would you track if you could that you didn't?
Vanessa Confessore: Yeah, I would say the things we've dropped off of our survey are how is the food and how is the travel platform? Because hotel chicken's gonna hotel chicken, And we have to use the whatever travel platform we use, right? So those things we're less concerned about because those are logistics. The things we're asking about is did the content land? Do you understand what it means to be part of this team? Do you feel more connected to your team? and they're using a scale of one to five. So it's very personal, and everybody has a different take on the number. So we take it with a grain of salt. I think the proof comes out in the next couple of months as we're going through the planning process. Is everybody aligned? Like, is the planning and strategy that's coming out now truly aligned with what they learned on that day in September? Does everybody understand what our goals are? I think that we could probably do a better job of checking back in, but I think, so many of us, we're on to the next one. We're looking to book 2028. we have our eyes on all of our consumer events and our, you know, B2B events and and things are moving along. but yeah, I think just the overall love and the continued sharing of pictures is a little anecdotal and maybe not as measured as it could be. But feeling the love is is certainly one of the top indicators that we crushed it.
Jay Menashe: Yeah, no, I think that you're those are good questions that you're asking. It's like someone's always gonna you know, like everything else, someone is always gonna complain about the travel site, someone's always gonna complain about the food, or you know, didn't have this option, but you had this option. How come the meat eaters got all this? You know, it's like you we do the best we can and it and it is hard for especially six hundred people handling catering. but yeah, no, I think asking like if you feel closer to your colleagues, that's the whole point of this event, is a really great question. And it gives you a benchmark. obviously we're trying to aim for fours and above, but Yeah, let's go talk to that two. Unless it's like you're just a miserable person. But no, we'll we'll you gotta talk to the miserable people too.
Vanessa Confessore: Even those people deserve a voice for sure.
Jay Menashe: So, all right. So that's a really great note to hear about a the investment that you know HR is willing to make into this because I and I didn't even think about that way. Because of the remote first, like, yeah, you are saving like literally millions of dollars on office space and supplies and all that. You triggered a different light bulb that I will have to address after this. but bringing it back to like the original design of the event, is there any one thing you could redesign about? Whether it's Life Three Sixty or to any other brand, how brands approach live events from scratch. what would you do if you had the world was your your oyster?
Vanessa Confessore: Yeah, I think the the overwhelming feedback was that people love they just love to be together. So yes, you have to be in the room and be on stage and and do all those things, but give them space, like give them a chance to create their own groups or I think there's ways we could have done better at cross connecting people. I think we can, I think we can do better at giving teams opportunities to meet each other organically and not just expect that at meals they're gonna sit next to somebody new. So in a perfect world, circle up would be one day longer, where we had half day in the room on the stage doing the Steve Job things. We had half day out in the world at the zoo and surfing and on the boat. And then the other day would be a mix of non corny kind of networking activities and ways to really bring the teams together in a really more hands on way, where they're part of the conversation as opposed to sitting in an audience being talked at. I think if you can kind of find the mix of all three, so the executive content and future looking. There definitely needs to be a celebration moment. People want to be acknowledged for the work that they're doing. everybody likes their name and lights. I think there needs to be some just like human moments, so at the zoo or whatever your city is bringing to you. And then a true like cross collab moment where you can give people an opportunity to get hands on. I think that's the winning combination.
Jay Menashe: Yeah, you just got my mind swirling around, for next year. It's like, ooh, can we create little tabs at tables for it's like only two people from this department can sit here. sorry, you gotta figure out who's that's gonna be and then go sit with somebody else. But I I did see a lot of that this year. I will say it's like even people would randomly sit with us and obviously think we're part of the company which which was fun. It's like, ooh, tell me everything. I want to hear all the inside gossip about the company. But yeah, I think it's really hard to get that because you sit where you're comfortable and you sit with the people you know, and it's like I think it's a little bit more unique because you're such a remote first company than it's like, all right, well, we'll let it slide. But it's like, yeah, it's good to see the other departments, feel other people's pain, because you never understand what anybody else is working on, no matter what company you're at. So to sit with them and talk to them and get that feel, to have that human moment of networking. but no, I thought it was a really good mix of all of those things. Not that my opinion matters because it's not my event. But yeah, I think it's it's great to hear what you would redesign and how you would approach it. I think that's a really a good lesson for people to take away. Now you're also you work on a ton of, you know, customer events as well as internal event, obviously this being, you know well one of many, but what is is there one core difference how you approach a customer event versus an employee event?
Vanessa Confessore: Wow, thinking through that one a little bit. So my instinct is to say when I plan an internal event, I really think about it as like I'm hosting my family. I am the host. It is so important that there's real connection and brand love in the room. But then even as I say that, those are the things we want happening at our customer events as well. There's definitely more emphasis on measured metrics when it comes to our consumer events. because each audience is different, right? We have a publisher team, we have a supply team, we have a sales team, we have all different people with all different needs. so there's definitely different steps we take as we're curating, like always starting with the goal, what's the outcome? Is this a customer appreciation event? Are we thanking them for past work? Is this a net new thing? Are we trying to bring new clients in? Is this like we gotta seal the deal and really impress them? Who so your your planning is a little bit different. This one's fun because the audience, who's coming to the table, and the goal is brand love. So there's definitely a little bit of difference, but the more I talk, the more I'm realizing that there's not a lot. A lot of it is is really the same human connection and you know, relationship building.
Jay Menashe: Yeah, and I and I think it's funny because I was trying to hear, I'm like, I wonder what this valuable nugget's gonna be. And and I think what you're saying is is very valuable, but at the end of the day, and it's again, it's similar to other conversations. I spoke to somebody that's an expert in healthcare marketing and medical science liaisons, and it's like the entire episode focused on it's like, listen, we're human beings at the end of the day, and that's what you need to remember. We're all in this together in this crazy world doing this crazy stuff, and we happen to work for the same company, so it's like how can we build those bonds? Whether it's a customer event or an internal event, it's like, yes, think of the human first and be thoughtful about how you treat them and you'll be successful.
Vanessa Confessore: Hopefully.
Jay Menashe: Yeah, hopefully. Well, Miss Vanessa, that was the end. That was the last question I had. I really appreciate you joining me today. I think there's a lot of great lessons people could take. treat everybody like a human being, being one of them. And you know, don't confine yourself to a ballroom because then people will be bored and want to run to their hotel room and never come out for anything else. So it was an excellent event. I really enjoyed working with you at the event. And I well, again, thank you for joining me.
Vanessa Confessore: Thank you for having me. This was so much fun.
Jay Menashe: you're always easy to talk to.
Vanessa Confessore: Thanks, Jay.
Jay Menashe: If you walked away with one thing you'll use, we did our job today. Event Experience Experts drops every week. Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts and check us out on YouTube if you want to watch. I'm Jay Menashe see you next time.
