EMT #38 with Emily Dilbeck - Backyard Party Thinking: Why Micro-Events Will Revolutionize B2B Events

This episode of Event Marketer’s Toolbox dives deep into the art and science of micro events—those intentionally small, connection-focused gatherings that break through the noise of traditional B2B experiences. Guest Emily Dilbeck of Unbound shares her practical five-step micro event playbook and explains how “backyard party” philosophy creates stronger emotional bonds, higher ROI, and more memorable attendee experiences.

From LEGO figurine check-ins to wizard-themed sidecar events, Emily offers a masterclass in designing events that feel human, not transactional. If you’re overwhelmed with bloated budgets and underwhelming outcomes, this episode offers clarity, strategy, and actionable takeaways to reshape how you view event marketing.

1. Connection Over Crowd Size

“Small is powerful.”
 Micro events don't need 500 attendees to make an impact. In fact, smaller, curated events often foster stronger, more authentic relationships—the kind that lead to deals, partnerships, and lasting brand recall.

2. The Five-Step Micro Event Playbook

Emily’s roadmap for planning impactful small-scale events includes:

• Define the Goal – Know your purpose: pipeline, relationship-building, or thought leadership.
• Curate the Guest List – Choose attendees who contribute, not just consume.
• Map the Journey – Think beyond the event itself: pre-invite messaging, on-site interactions, and post-event follow-ups matter.
• Play & Delight – Create whimsical, joyful moments that disarm and connect attendees.
• Measure What Matters – Success is not just attendance. It's about conversations, connections, and follow-ups.

3. The "Backyard Party" Mentality

Instead of high-pressure corporate events, Emily recommends experiences that feel intimate, familiar, and safe—like a gathering in someone’s backyard. Think: cornhole, fire pits, and real talk. These relaxed environments encourage vulnerability and build trust fast.

4. Sidecar Events = Control + Creativity

Emily shares a memorable case study of Lavender’s “Wizard Rave” at SASTR—an example of a brand bypassing the noise of the trade show floor to create an unforgettable, socially sharable experience. Sidecar events give marketers the power to own the narrative and the vibe.

5. Budget Constraints Breed Innovation

Big budgets ≠ Big impact. Emily emphasizes the value of intentional design over flashy production. Even a $15K event can drive results if it’s rooted in emotional experience, clarity of purpose, and meaningful attendee selection.

👉 If you're a field marketer, event planner, or experiential strategist, Emily’s micro event playbook should be your new go-to. And remember: belonging is the best branding.

👉🏼 Join us for more insightful discussions like this by tuning into 'Event Marketer's Toolbox,' where industry leaders share the tools, tactics, and trends driving success in the event world.

This Show is sponsored by Blue Hive

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Chapters

• 0:00 Intro + Guest Welcome
• 2:39 Meet Emily Dilbeck & Her Journey in Events
• 6:24 Micro Events & the Backyard Party Philosophy
• 9:09 Creating Safe Spaces for Connection
• 11:39 Scaling Down: The Power of 15 Attendees
• 15:39 Sidecar Event Case Study: Lavender’s Wizard Rave
• 20:39 Budget Strategy: Realigning Event Spend
• 25:39 Building a Unified Event Experience
• 30:39 Emily’s 5-Step Micro Event Playbook
• 36:39 Curating the Perfect Guest List
• 42:39 Designing for Play & Delight
• 45:39 Measuring Impact Beyond Attendance
• 50:39 Top Tips: Humanity, Intention & Whimsy
• 55:39 Beyond the Booth: Emily’s Monthly Roundtable
• 58:39 Final Wrap-Up + How to Connect

Transcript

0:00:01

(Chris Dunn)

Hey, hello, everybody, and welcome to the Event Marketers Toolbox. I got a couple of friends on. We've been chopping it up in the green room, and we're already smiling and having a good time. I'm Chris Dunn. I'm with Blue Hive Exhibits. We are here on the Event Marketers Toolbox. 

0:00:16

(Chris Dunn)

This is a community of like -minded event professionals we're building here. We are looking forward to hearing from you if you're in the audience and you've got some questions. This is a live show, as we normally do, so we'd love to have you weigh in. We've got a familiar guest. His name is Brandon Hamlin. He's from Asheville, North Carolina. 

0:00:34

(Chris Dunn)

Hamlin Creative. He's joining in as our guest podcast host. Hello, Brandon. 

0:00:40

(Chris Dunn)

How are you? 

0:00:41

(Brendon Hamlin)

Hey, Chris, I am doing great. Happy to be here and on another episode. So I appreciate you continuing to ask me to participate. And you keep coming back, which I know I do. But yeah, so I'm Brendan Hamlin. I run Hamlin Creative. 

0:00:56

(Brendon Hamlin)

We are based out of Asheville, North Carolina. We do a lot of work, video production work in and around events. So whether that's trade shows or conferences or activations, experiential live marketing, We love creating content within live marketing. And so we are super happy to have Emily Dillbeck with us today. So Emily, why don't you introduce yourself to us? 

0:01:22

(Emily Dilbeck)

Yeah, absolutely. I'm super excited to be here. Thank you both for having me. My name is Emily Dillbeck and I lead our global field marketing team over at Unbound. Unbound is a B2B demand generation agency. And so we're actually kind of going through this evolution now. 

0:01:43

(Emily Dilbeck)

We're layering in this brand to demand evolution. So we're kind of this full 360 marketing agency, which is really exciting. And I've pretty much spent my whole career in events. So I kind of started out on more of the creative experiential realm with working with a smaller creative studio and B2C brands. So primarily in the alcoholic beverage space. 

0:02:09

(Emily Dilbeck)

So that was a lot of fun. We did kind of experiment with some uptails, but that was a few years ago. So definitely things have been transitioning, have hopped around from a few places. And then here I found myself at Unbound. So really excited to be here with you guys today and kind of talk about what we're going to talk about. 

0:02:28

(Chris Dunn)

We might talk about events or something like that. 

0:02:30

(Speaker 13)

I mean, it's in the name. 

0:02:32

(Chris Dunn)

We should probably address that. So, hey, some woman named Sarah Hamlin is checking in from Asheville, I believe. Who? She's stalking you. She's actually off to the side of the camera. Your partner in crime, your wife, and your business partner. 

0:02:48

(Chris Dunn)

So, yeah, it's It's, it's been awesome getting to know Brendan, as I find, or we find a lot of our guests, it's folks that I come across on LinkedIn, and we get connected, we start having conversations. You know, Emily, you're considerably younger than Brendan and I, but you bring an awful lot of great experience. So I'm always looking, you know, in trying to pick apart or look into what's that conversation point look like? What are they talking about? And we've had the, I'm very grateful and blessed that we've met so many great people online who have a similar philosophy of how, you know, how events can move the needle. So good stuff there. 

0:03:31

(Chris Dunn)

And before we kind of get into the meat and potatoes of the conversation, just a quick word from our sponsors, because without them, we would actually have no show. So I work for Blue Hive Exhibits. Blue Hive is a creative agency. We're 20 years old. We are located in the Boston area, and we also have a West Coast facility. We actually build and produce in both of our locations. 

0:03:54

(Chris Dunn)

So East Coast, West Coast, we like to, we like to think that we're in that right -size area, right, where, where boutiques are awesome and they're creative, but sometimes you need more resources and more firepower. We're about 100 people strong. And again, with those both locations, we can service, you know, shows all over, really, North America and the, and the world. But you know that we've got a ton of stuff happening on the West Coast, and we're really building a lot of momentum out there. And then on the, on the agency side, The folks at Fist Bump are producing this show. I met Brandon Lee, the, sorry, Brandon Lee, the, Brandon and Brandon, right? 

0:04:37

(Chris Dunn)

The owner of Fist Bump a few years back, we got connected. He started helping me kind of work on my, my LinkedIn game. It became, how do we help Blue Hive? And then it kind of bled into like, wouldn't it be great to produce a show? And I was like, Yeah, I can do this -ish. And I struggled. 

0:04:56

(Chris Dunn)

And I, we were actually just talking about this with Emily, right? How do you get a podcast and a live show like this off the ground? Well, the answer is, if you've got a small team, it's really, really hard. But when you partner with somebody like Fistbump, they do all the heavy lift. So behind the scenes right now, we've got Juana, who's helping us. these guys just take on the heavy load at Fistbump and they help us produce this content. 

0:05:20

(Chris Dunn)

We are now being found. AI searches are looking through blogs and transcripts and so forth, and we're being found more more than ever. So there's so many benefits to kind of spin out of creating content like this, not to mention that we make a lot of friends and have great conversations. So that's a bit of a wrap on that. And then I'm going to kick it back to Brendan to start off with the questions, because we've got a great topic today. Emily kind of comes to the table, and we're going to talk micro events. 

0:05:48

(Brendon Hamlin)

And specifically, she's got a concept of Yeah, and I do. I love this. I love this, this topic today, because I think that there is some real energy in connecting, in making stronger connections. 

0:06:05

(Emily Dilbeck)

And so Emily, I'd love for you to kind of tell us about this, you know, maybe this philosophy of, you know, the backyard party mentality, and how that translates into, into micro events and how, how they're more impactful. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. You know, and I think that I think that one of the things that, you know, you touched on, Chris, is like like AI. And so AI is very noisy. And so, of course, the world of like B2B marketing, the world of B2B events, it has gotten noisy as well. I feel like there's always another conference that is popping up. 

0:06:43

(Emily Dilbeck)

There's always another webinar, digital event, you know, massive event that you know, is being pushed to your inbox, you're being invited to, someone's hitting you up on LinkedIn and your DMs and saying, Hey, I have this really cool experience for you, like, would you be interested? So I think that that has just gotten more and more noisy. And, you know, over time, I've realized, you know, something that the biggest flashiest events aren't the most impactful. I think that, you know, the impact often happens in these like smaller, more intentional settings. And I think that's where my focus has definitely shifted and my approach has shifted on designing these micro experiences that feel more like a night with your friends in the backyard rather than some corporate, you know, event where you feel like you're on, you know, You feel like you're on and not in the like on way that you want to be. when you're at an event, right? 

0:07:46

(Emily Dilbeck)

Like you should be going to an event to kind of like unplug, relax, hopefully, you know, digest some valuable content. That's what events are about, you know, it's about connection and then hopefully bringing some valuable content. 

0:08:03

(Chris Dunn)

So yeah, that's where I start. Fantastic. So are you saying that fire pit, you know, cooler full of beer, cornhole, like all those things, right? 

0:08:14

(Emily Dilbeck)

Like that's, that's kind of we're going to build those events with those wonderful components, maybe some small. Absolutely. Hey, like, don't don't knock it till you try it. I mean, I have heard of instances and, you know, examples where, you know, people have gotten really creative. And I think that that's, that's one of the things too, with with kind of this backyard mentality thinking, is that it's really not about like, going in and doing the most, you know, and sometimes it's taking a look at B2C brands that are, you know, engaging with customers on such a personal level and kind of stealing some points from them. 

0:08:55

(Brendon Hamlin)

So, you know, I have seen events where, you know, people do, they set up in a field, they've got, you know, different activations going on and it is an amazing time. I love, Emily, what you said on one of your posts recently talking about AI and how AI is, and I kind of have the same mentality that it's this tool that we're going to, we're going to use, but it's not going to get to the heart. And I think that what you're talking about here is like, you're, when you're in this, these small, when you're, when your guards let down a little bit, then you're able to open up and be a little more effective. And I think that's where micro events really can, can flourish. 

0:09:33

(Emily Dilbeck)

Right. Yeah, exactly. I mean, I think that taps into, you know, exactly why they work, right? It's that kind of of psychological safety. 

0:09:41

(Brendon Hamlin)

So when you get real, walls fall down, people open up, the trust is built almost in lightning speed versus an event where you come in, you feel like you have to be on, you're listening to a panel of something where you're just not necessarily aligned or engaged with the content, but you're like, well, I'm here, I was invited, and you leave kind kind of feeling like, well, my time wasn't valued or appreciated. I guess one question I have real quick, just as it relates to sort of maybe the dynamic of a large event, how does it scale down to a small event? 

0:10:21

(Emily Dilbeck)

So like, say for instance, a well -known keynote speaker, can something like that translate into a micro event? Absolutely. 100 % yes. So and I was just thinking about this the other day, for an event. And, you know, when you're thinking about a keynote speaker, like think about, you know, a book launch or a book signing, right? Like, right, well, taking that, you know, format into that format. 

0:10:52

(Emily Dilbeck)

So you're, you're taking the concept and just moving it into a different format. So you're, you may be popping up at a local coffee shop. You keep it very limited. Um, the, the FOMO around wanting to get to that sort of event where it's like, this is extremely exclusive. Um, the event space can only host, you know, 30 to 40 people max. Maybe there is a book that's related. 

0:11:17

(Emily Dilbeck)

Maybe they are an author. Maybe you do a custom book signing. 

0:11:22

(Brendon Hamlin)

And so that's kind of taking that major concept and making it more a little bit backyard thinking digestible. 

0:11:29

(Chris Dunn)

Yeah. I love that. Yeah. We were, we were talking before we started recording here and you know, I, asked the kind of the elephant in the room questions like, so what defines a micro event? Like, what are we looking at number wise is an important, and I was kind of half kidding, but I was like, 10 to 200, you know, but Emily, you brought up a great points, like you think about myself, or anybody being part of a large crowd, you, you feel You feel maybe small, less comfortable. 

0:11:58

(Chris Dunn)

You don't have a voice. There's just a lot of people going on, right? Or, sorry, there's a lot of things going on, a lot of people. But if you, if you pull back that number to the point where there's a comfort level, and I think you mentioned, you know, even at getting in the 50 range can feel like a lot. But it, you've got to be mindful of the numbers of people that you're going to put in that room. But what happens, and you've already mentioned this as well, it's just guard comes down, level of comfort goes up. 

0:12:23

(Chris Dunn)

conversations get real. I'm not necessarily just focused on like, well, I got to tow the company line. 

0:12:28

(Speaker 11)

I got to say the right things here. 

0:12:29

(Speaker 10)

Now I can, you know, have real life conversations with the person sitting next to me. 

0:12:34

(Emily Dilbeck)

And that changes the flavor of not only the overall event, but like what, what I leave with is like my memory of like, I really connected with that, that person, that woman who's in a similar job to me, struggling with some of the same things as me. So. Yeah. And it's all about creating those moments of, of connection, you know, from, from concept to creation. You know, I think that, you know, when you think about your attendees first and you think about, you know, how do I want them to feel the second they step in the door? And for me, you know, how I want to feel whenever I step into a door is, is belonging, right? 

0:13:14

(Emily Dilbeck)

Like I want to feel like I have some sense of belonging, like I meant to be in that room. And so, you know, it's, it's really getting like intentional about even, okay. You know, a lot of times you're, you're looking at name tags, you know, how are you even able to get like, Oh, you're personalized. like with a hand printed name tag, like, cool. Like, that's not that level of personalization that we need to get, like, maybe at the check in table, you have, you know, a Lego station where they're creating their own figurines, and they're able to, you know, pick from, like certain, you know, elements that create their version of a marketer. And then at the end, you know, maybe there's this group of people that all kind of have a similar Lego figurine. 

0:13:57

(Speaker 20)

And there's that opportunity to connect on a really personal level, because not only is it like, oh, wow, like I feel seen and heard through this activity, but it's also this like tactile experience where there's been play involved. 

0:14:09

(Chris Dunn)

And they've almost been able to like play with each other through creating that, you know, whatever it may be. Um, and so it just creates connection from the moment that they step in. Yeah. You know, um, As you're, as you're talking about this Lego figurines, I'm thinking like, I'm going to build a little one that's wizard -like, right? Because event people have magical powers. And that's going to take us back to, also, we started having this conversation, but you were mentioning this great example, right? 

0:14:39

(Chris Dunn)

So people are sitting there, they're forming opinions in their head, trying to picture like, okay, so what does this look like? You had a great example of a company called Lavender at a recent SASTR, maybe it was a year or two ago, but they did kind of a sidecar or a bolt -on event to this, this trade show, which is kind of in really in my world, right at Blue Hive, we're focusing primarily on helping people on the trade show floor. But that show experience is so much larger than that. 

0:15:05

(Emily Dilbeck)

And it can be, it can be, you know, amazing to have those attachment events, the bolt -on pieces or whatever. So can you tell us a little bit about that, that Lavender concept and then kind of in general, like how does this, how does, how does a sidecar work with a larger event to get that done? value out of it? Yeah, absolutely. So I think, you know, um, first I'll, I'll kind of share about the, the lavender event. Um, so yeah, it was a few years ago at Saster and, um, lavender, they were, they were an exhibitor. 

0:15:39

(Emily Dilbeck)

Um, and they were, you know, obviously like trying to, they were definitely a growing brand trying to get their name out there a little bit more, trying to interact and engage with, you know, attendees on that more personal, like one -on -one level. This event, it was a little bit larger because, you know, they were kind of looking at who's their audience, right? They were kind of primarily after tech attendees, people in the B2B SaaS space. They knew that the conference had a pretty high, you know, concentration of like Gen Z, millennials. really played into, you know, who they were serving and what their attendees were. And so they actually, you know, they ended up creating a sidecar event and had it one of the nights. 

0:16:24

(Emily Dilbeck)

And it was a wizard rave. So they actually, you know, went in and rented out like this total bar space. They had, you know, strobe lights, neon lights, everything that was branded, you know, in all their colors. They had people that were walking on stilts. They had all this music. And kind of the aftermath was what was really interesting to see is that how much social buzz was created out of that moment, right? 

0:16:56

(Emily Dilbeck)

You had, you had attendees that were posting, you had, you know, just general people who were like walking down the street, you know, recording outside and being like, Oh my gosh, look at this, you know, this lady on stilts. Um, and so it's just that kind of crazy moment. And it allows you to, you know, get a different level of connection than you would on a show floor, right? Like on a show floor, you know, you're hoping that whatever conference you, you go to, they have put some kind of parameters in place that, you know, offer some type of, you know, booth engagement, attendee engagement, some type of scavenger hunt, whatever it may be, you know, some type of activation that that drives traffic to your booth. But that's that's uncontrolled. 

0:17:43

(Emily Dilbeck)

You have no idea what is going to happen. And so, you know, for me, when I look at trade shows, and when I look at conferences, you know, I really think about like, okay, like, absolutely, I want to have my presence there. But maybe that's not where I'm putting my full focus. I think sometimes I'm kind of splitting that and saying, okay, well, well, is there an opportunity to really connect with a key group of people? And I'm talking like, 15, 15, 20, maybe. And that's where I have the opportunity to really cherry pick the list. 

0:18:20

(Emily Dilbeck)

I can look at the people who I've been trying to get in contact with. I bring an experience that is totally different. You know, a lot of times when you're looking at creating sidecar events outside of a main, like major industry conference, you have to get really creative, right? So you can't just do a happy hour. You can't just do a dinner at any kind of steakhouse. You have to, you know, really pick a space that has that draw, you know, the attendee draw. 

0:18:53

(Emily Dilbeck)

because they think that, you know, there's, there's so much that's going on. And a lot of times people want to want to rest also outside of a conference. So it's also like even, you know, I've seen a huge rise recently in places and in companies renting, you know, wellness spaces. 

0:19:14

(Chris Dunn)

or, you know, renting out just a little studio and creating like a wellness room. And so it gives attendees really like that moment to kind of step away and take care of themselves. So that's even an avenue that you could go when you're thinking about a sidecar event is giving people an opportunity to rest. Yeah, no, those are both great. I got Two points that I'd love to kind of pick at a little bit. So one is turning or using a show as this kind of gathering spot for your company. 

0:19:53

(Chris Dunn)

Because in the remote first world, where so many people are scattered around the country or whatnot, or even around the world, this event that they're coming to anyways becomes kind of that magnetic piece, right? So when you're thinking about I've got the show, right? We're coming. We've rented the concrete, we got the booth, we're doing the activations. We've already agreed that we're going to spend the T &E, we're going to fly the people in and so forth. So how do we maximize the event? 

0:20:23

(Chris Dunn)

Doing a sidecar piece where we can really control the narrative is an amazing piece to kind of add on to that, right? And as much as it you know, pains me as the booth guy. But like, when you look at your overall budget, do you do you maybe like you were saying, do you think, well, I've got several $100 ,000 that we're allocating anyways, do we peel back on one part of the spend in order to do something that's going to make it make the overall experience even better, right? Because I'm guessing that the lavender event that you described, you put that in, you know, most shows are three days, right? You put on, put that on night one, or night two, and you create all this buzz, there's a push and a pull, right? We're talking about it on the show floor, we're driving, you know, more attention to what's happening off, off floor. 

0:21:08

(Emily Dilbeck)

And then that buzz is created there pushes back to create more buzz on the show floor. So you're kind of creating this cool flywheel of energy. Yeah, it really becomes that unified experience, right? 

0:21:20

(Chris Dunn)

And I think that As you're talking about that, there's even ways that you can gamify it, right? Like you could you could create some sort of an activity, you know, at the event that where if they come back to, you know, visit you at your booth, they get entered into a drawing or something like that, or they get to they get to, you know, take place in some sort of like exclusive panel or, you know, whatever it may be. But I think that there's definitely not way to keep that as like a full connection loop and really maximize the ROI of being at an event and your investment in a trade show. Let me pitch this to my co -host here, because I know that he's going to absolutely die on the cell, but this is your bailiwick, right? It's like, if you're going to bring in a production crew, like a Hamlin creative, and say, we're doing this booth, we're already here to capture the content on the show floor, because we know we're going to use it in so many different ways. Right, Brendan, you've said this so many times, it's really ingrained in my mind. 

0:22:24

(Chris Dunn)

It's the most expensive video is the first video. Everything after that is like, it's gravy, right? Because you've already got the team there. 

0:22:31

(Brendon Hamlin)

You're already, you're already kind of engaging in the conversations, creating the narrative and creating the thought process around all the content we're going to create. You go ahead and add this additional component to your overall stay in said show city, you're not doubling your budget. You're actually adding a very small proportion to that, but your value is like exponentially growing. Yeah. And I think you're also, you know, in that regard, when you, when you separate or when you kind of double your footprint, you're also able to kind of make them purpose -built and And one is the delivery of the product, let's say on the show floor and the mechanics, the business of why you're there. 

0:23:11

(Brendon Hamlin)

And the other piece can be really the personality of that brand, which really is much more open and it gives, it gives two touch points. 

0:23:18

(Emily Dilbeck)

And, and again, it goes back to what you're saying, Emily, this just the FOMO of it all, you know, you could see that kind of generate more, more recall after the fact. And that's where we talk about like, you know, if you're capturing this stuff, after spending all of this money, and investing in this event, you can then be sharing that out, or leading up to your next event. You know, if it's a multi stage or next year, whatever it is, you know, there's a lot of opportunities there. So I see this as a secondary way to just kind of continuing that brand message and pushing that out. Yeah, I agree. I agree. 

0:23:56

(Emily Dilbeck)

And I think that, I think that you'd almost be, you'd be foolish not to bring in a production crew if you're, if you're doing, you know, a sidecar event, um, whether it be to get, you know, small customer testimonial videos, um, just general, like kind of B roll footage that you can leverage for your socials. Um, a lot of times people want to see the real raw moments of what it looks like to interact with your brand. They don't want to see the, like, you know, clean, crisp production, you know, of like, here's my commercial and this is what we do. 

0:24:30

(Brendon Hamlin)

And, you know, here we are and we're XYZ agency. 

0:24:33

(Speaker 19)

They want to be able to kind of get an, you know, insider's view into kind of that background noise. 

0:24:41

(Speaker 11)

And so I think that this gives such a great opportunity and then, you know, Also, if you're not capturing the content that comes out of your events, why are you even hosting the event in the first place? 

0:24:53

(Speaker 18)

That content has legs to run. 

0:24:58

(Chris Dunn)

Where's the thumbs up? button? 

0:25:00

(Speaker 6)

Where is that? 

0:25:01

(Speaker 17)

Keep hitting it. 

0:25:03

(Chris Dunn)

The applause button, where is that? That's right, Sarah, that's your job on the other end. Yeah. Awesome. Awesome stuff. Uh, so we got, we do have a question and it's just really about, you know, where can we, how can a person listen to this after the fact? 

0:25:18

(Chris Dunn)

So yes, this is a live show, but it gets recorded here on LinkedIn. It's also on our YouTube and it will come out as a podcast. So, um, right here at this very same length where you're watching us live, you'd be able to circle back and watch this in the future as well. So, um, we're creating content, look at what we're doing here and then repurposing it in the future. Um, all right. So we, Sarah says, say it again. 

0:25:41

(Chris Dunn)

All right, so we kind of alluded to this, but let's kind of do a little bit of a deeper dive. So scaling an event on every budget, right? We already kind of talked about like, boy, if you're gonna do it, then it doesn't cost twice as much money to really do it right. And that kind of plays into that budgeting. And before Emily, you jump in and kind of let us know your thoughts on it. What I'll say is what we're seeing on our end is when we're talking to our clients, about creating this end -to -end experience. 

0:26:11

(Chris Dunn)

We're also reminding them that, listen, there's other buckets of money that live within the, whether they live in the marketing department or they live somewhere else within the company, but there's an ad budget, there's a social budget, there's a promotional budget, there's a sales budget, there's a recruitment budget. 

0:26:28

(Emily Dilbeck)

The content that's being created at these events, how many different things can it benefit? Different vertical silos within the company, right? go ask around, tell people what your thoughts are, plans are, all of a sudden, they're like, Well, hey, if you're going to do that, like, take some of this budget right now, all of a sudden, you just, you know, increased your, your spend by $25 ,000 or whatever, because everybody is pitching in a little bit more. And now you're creating benefits that go across the board. Yeah, yeah, it's kind of that, that, you know, across the board benefit, right? 

0:27:02

(Speaker 5)

You know, there's when, when you're, when you're really getting intentional in like, kind of starting from, from step one, and really getting clear about your goals. 

0:27:17

(Emily Dilbeck)

Um, right. I think that getting clear and getting aligned with your team, you know, I think that you can, you can push on an event and your team can be like, oh, cool, whatever. But I think that whenever you have the buy -in and there's the alignment and they feel excited, it just makes the impact 10 times, you know. greater. And I think that that's where, like you said, you can really understand, like, what are your needs? And how can this event help your team with content that could come out of it? 

0:27:51

(Emily Dilbeck)

And so that's definitely something that I do whenever I think about events is I talk to our teams, and I'm like, hey, you know, what's our, what's kind of our content calendar? What are what are, you know, big rocks for the year? And how can I align everything that we do back to those overarching goals? You know, and I think that the truth is that, you know, a big budget doesn't equal big impact. 

0:28:17

(Chris Dunn)

You know, I think that you could have all the dollars in the world to spend, but I think that if your strategy and your intention isn't in the right place, then you're just burning dollars, right? You know, you can, I think, First start with two questions. So like, why are we hosting this event? And then how do we want people to feel when they leave? Excellent question. So from some scaling events, you 

0:28:49

(Emily Dilbeck)

pretty much rolled that out. It's not necessarily about the budget. So how do you get bigger impact from small scale events? Any specific examples or just a general kind of overarching thought process that you utilize? Yeah, so I think that, I think that it's really about like focusing on the small thoughtful details, right? So, you know, when you think about the experience, you know, are you thinking about, you know, that personalized handwritten note? 

0:29:21

(Emily Dilbeck)

Are you Thinking about, you know, the room of 500 people who would barely remember you. Are you thinking about the 15 that are going to be raving after the event? So it's really thinking about, you know, the experience as a whole, right? Um, so going back and saying, okay, I've, I've got, you know, $15 ,000 to spend on this event. You know, my goals are. thought leadership, you know, and I want to bring in a expert speaker and kind of create this experience. 

0:29:57

(Emily Dilbeck)

And so I think that when you think about that, you know, in tandem, you want to look at, you know, what is the environment that I want to create for this experience, right? So it's, you know, saying, I don't need to necessarily deliver this content to a group of 200 as long as the people that are in the room are the people that matter the most. 

0:30:29

(Chris Dunn)

Um, and, and it's really about just getting intentional about that. I think did that, did that answer the question? I don't know. I feel like I kind of went on a ramble there. Like anything else, you start with the right questions about like, what are the goals? What are we really trying to accomplish here? 

0:30:43

(Chris Dunn)

Cause like you said, all the money in the world. doesn't fix anything if you don't really know what you're aiming at, right? You're just throwing a bunch of shit against the wall and seeing what sticks. 

0:30:53

(Brendon Hamlin)

Strategery, absolutely. So back to you, Brendan, we're gonna maybe get into, so we're about halfway through here. We're at the 30 -minute mark. 

0:31:02

(Emily Dilbeck)

I know Emily's got a playbook for micro. Yeah, some, a visual aid. So can you share with us a little bit about, well, share this playbook visually, and then, and then talk a little bit about how you would design a micro event? What are the, what are some of the, you know, tentpoles of doing, doing that? Yeah, yeah, absolutely. 

0:31:21

(Speaker 16)

So I will have a visual to share for those who are watching live, but then I will also talk through this for those who can't see and definitely want to follow along. 

0:31:33

(Emily Dilbeck)

So I'm going to go ahead and share my screen now. And if you can see my screen, give me a thumbs up. All right. We're good. Awesome. So, you know, really, I think that I've, I've kind of broken down this micro event playbook into, into four steps. 

0:31:53

(Emily Dilbeck)

So I have, you know, our first step is, is define the goal. You know, I've, I've kind of talked about this throughout the show so far. And I think that it, you know, any great event really starts with, with clarity, right? So the foundation of the successful planning really lies in understanding the core business objectives. So if your company is, you know, suffering for for pipeline, you're not going to go out and create, you know, thought leadership events, you're really going to want to create pipeline focused, pipeline generating focused events. So it's really about, you know, what is the bucket that you want to fall under? 

0:32:38

(Emily Dilbeck)

And I think that there's kind of the three big ones. There's, you know, generating pipeline, there's strengthening relationships, and then there's thought leadership. So I think that the event design should really reflect that goal completely. So, you know, at a customer appreciation event, that should feel totally different than a high intensity, you know, demand generation dinner. And I think that, you know, that objective really shapes every single decision. 

0:33:10

(Emily Dilbeck)

It shapes every single touch point. It shapes where you're selecting your venue, what city you're going to be in, what the experience is going to be. Are you going to actually have a panel? Are you going to bring in a speaker? Are you going to have interactivity moments? And so all that really goes back into the overarching goal. 

0:33:34

(Emily Dilbeck)

You know, I think step two is about curating the guest list. So I think that, you know, the guest list is everything. If you're hosting a dinner party, you know, I'm not going to just like post something on next door and be like, hey, dinner party at my house, you know, come join me for braised beef ribs. No, I'm going to, I'm going to reach out to the people that I know the best to curate that space. Um, you know, I, I want to invite the people who bring energy, who bring ideas, um, that actually bring genuine connection to the experience. Um, and so I think, you know, there's, Three things to consider quality over quantity, right? 

0:34:19

(Emily Dilbeck)

So I think that, you know, a carefully curated list is really like absolutely more powerful than 200 people that you'll never speak to again that are just kind of coming in for the experience. The strategic selection. There we go. The strategic selection. So, you know, you want to choose attendees that align with your event goals. So, you know, and actually can contribute to the conversation. 

0:34:49

(Emily Dilbeck)

So you're not going to invite people who are, you know, kind of, like, more fly on the walls than actual conversation contributors if you're having a roundtable, right? That's not going to be a very good roundtable. You're not going to get a lot of conversation. And then, you know, the last thing is the energy consideration. So I think that, you know, you definitely want to bring people in that have that positive energy, fresh perspectives, and genuine interest in engaging with others. You know, I think that One of the biggest things that we face now in the in the event spaces is actually trying to get people out to interact. 

0:35:31

(Emily Dilbeck)

But for me, I'm really focused on like finding the people who are already interested in interacting rather than trying to convince them to come out, um, for this reason, for this benefit that, oh, you're going to miss this X, Y, Z. Like if you're not wanting to interact, you know, I'll find another way to, to have that touch point, but that may not be the person that I want. in my, you know, carefully curated room. You know, and I think that pro tip is kind of consider the group dynamics. 

0:36:05

(Chris Dunn)

So I think, you know, industry veterans, emerging leaders, you know, bring in some introverts, extroverts, just because you're an introvert doesn't mean that you don't want to engage in a community setting. And I think that when you have like a dynamic group, it creates that natural conversation catalyst. The third step I'll pause if you guys have. any questions. No, this is great. I mean, you know, we, we talk a lot of theory on, on the, on the pod, but to see the actual tactical steps of like, okay, this sounds great. 

0:36:41

(Chris Dunn)

How do I actually get started? How do I go about it? 

0:36:43

(Emily Dilbeck)

So I think it's awesome. And just so everybody knows, uh, this will be available. We'll put it in the, we'll put it in the show notes, but we can, uh, totally share this. Um, and we'll let you know how to, how to do that once we kind of wrap up the conversation. Yeah, absolutely. Totally available as a download if you want to have access to it. 

0:37:01

(Emily Dilbeck)

Free, open, no worries at all. It is here for you. So I think, you know, the kind of third step that I like to focus on is mapping the attendee journey. So, you know, the events aren't just about like all the pre -planning and about what happens in the room. I think that really the experience starts the moment that someone receives their invite. You know, so like that pre -event invitation, that sets the tone, that makes it personal, not just transactional. 

0:37:39

(Emily Dilbeck)

I think crafting the messaging that really creates the anticipation and clearly communicates value. I think a lot of times, especially with our favorite friend, Chad GbdT, however you want to say it, there's a lot of fluff. There's a lot of this, you know, and I, and I've seen it come across my inbox for event invitations. And it's all these great, interesting, you know, word salad, but I don't actually understand why I should be attending or what the valuable takeaway is going to be. So I think it's like really creating the anticipation, but also clearly communicating the value. And Sarah, I see, I see a question from 

0:38:25

(Emily Dilbeck)

does it typically take to plan one of my events? 

0:38:28

(Chris Dunn)

It it really depends, so it depends on on what the goal is. You know, I would say, you know, really from my perspective. cons from idea, you know, I take around three months, you know, for, for like these smaller kind of micro events, um, to kind of get the idea and then to, to fully plan it out, um, through execution. 

0:38:51

(Emily Dilbeck)

So it is kind of a longer process, but it's just because I like to be really intentional and partner with, um, different stakeholders in my company, um, to make sure that we're, you know, all working together to hit the goals that we have outlined. Um, Can I just also add on that if you're doing a sidecar event at a large trade show or conference, there's lots of other companies who are thinking the same thing. There's only so many venues. uh that might fit the bill right so you get within three months of this you know of a large conference in a in a certain city like that's that's not enough time either right so it's obviously contextual right if you're if you're tagging this along on something that people are planning for a year ahead of time you're going to need to get out in front of that uh you know with the with the actual securing of the venue and so forth well ahead of that Yeah, I would say yeah, definitely a great call out. Because when I when I say three months, I'm talking about if that's just an owned and not outside of an industry conference, I think that if you're, if you're talking about, you know, doing a sidecar event outside of an industry conference, that planning needs to start the second that you sign your contract for your industry conference, honestly, you need to be thinking about, you know, all those different kind of, you know, pieces, parts, as you're going through the whole planning process. Because I think that it just, it unifies the experience when you do them in tandem. 

0:40:22

(Emily Dilbeck)

OK, second thing, on -site experience. So I think that it should really feel intentional and not chaotic. So every touchpoint from the registration to the departure should really reinforce the purpose. So that's kind of what I was talking about earlier, is the second that somebody walks in the door, it's not just generic name tags. creating an intentional moment for like play and connection through the check -in process. You know, and then there's that, you know, big looming thing of the post -event follow -up. 

0:41:00

(Emily Dilbeck)

So, you know, events should feel like a continuation of the conversation and not a cold pitch. So I think that, you know, a lot of times there's, and this is really where it gets to, you know, the alignment between sales and marketing and making sure that your sales team knows how to handle contacts post -event or for post -event follow -up or whoever that is, you know, Structured within your organization. I think that's just about the alignment there, right? So you want to make sure that post event attendees are. getting a message that feels organic and feels like that natural continuation of the conversation and not this like, oh, hey, you attended our event and now here's, you know, this pitch about who we are and what we do and here's how we can help you. So I think that, you know, when you're when you're able to reference, you know, specific moments through that were made throughout the event, it just strengthens that connection a little bit more between that prospect and the respective account director, SDR, whatever it may be that is kind of handing off that process. 

0:42:16

(Emily Dilbeck)

You know, I think that a kind of final word here is that, you know, I think that really when it's seen between the transitions between the formal moments, I think that those organic conversations that emerged throughout those times, that's what really makes people feel comfortable and engaged. So, you know, if you're thinking about, you know, a wraparound event outside of a major industry trade show, you know, maybe there's some type of, you know, transfer from the trade show to the event where it's that touch point where it's kind of that pre moment where you're allowing that comfort and kind of the walls to start breaking down after they've been in such an on setting. So that really depends on your budget as well. Kind of the fourth part that I like to really focus on is play and delight. So, you know, play breaks down walls. I think that when people laugh or they're experiencing joy, you know, they open up. 

0:43:30

(Emily Dilbeck)

There's the psychological, you know, studies. There's all the benefits that come from laughing and like just kind of seeing the world through a lens of joy. joy. And I think that that's when the natural conversations and relationships begin to form is when you're laughing together, when you're kind of in that backyard party setting. So, you know, it's not cheesy gimmicks. It means, you know, weaving in really unexpected, delightful moments that create memorable experiences and genuine connections. 

0:44:08

(Emily Dilbeck)

So you could do, you know, a people scavenger hunt for your attendees. You could have a secret menu experience, or you could even, you know, weave in meaningful icebreakers from the start. So those are kind of three things that I like to do whenever I'm thinking about how can I add play to any kind of event, because that's definitely a big, I think emerging theme as we're, you know, going into 2026 and wrapping out 2025 is, you know, I think people are craving more moments to kind of get a little bit more childlike. And so then the fifth part is, you know, measure what matters. So, you know, I think that too often we judge events by attendance numbers alone. 

0:45:00

(Emily Dilbeck)

And I think that, you know, while the headcount matters, and especially when you're talking micro events, you know, you don't want to have only five people show up, but you can still make it a great experience, if that happens. You know, I think that the real success lies in the quality of the interactions and the lasting impact of the relationship. So I think, you know, 15 quality connections and meeting full conversations matter more than the total number of attendees. You know, and I think that when you look at like kind of post -event statistics, you're looking at, OK, well, maybe I just want, you know, one or two or three follow -up meetings after the event. I don't need, you know, 20, 30 follow -up meetings after the event. And when you're looking at these follow -up meetings, it's with prospects that you've already curated the list, you already know who they are. 

0:45:51

(Emily Dilbeck)

And so that meeting is going to be that much more impactful, because you've already kind of done the pre -work. You know, and so I have some key success indicators that I always, you know, have top of mind when I'm thinking, -event is, you know, did attendees walk away feeling inspired and connected? Did the event spark follow -up meetings and deeper relationships? And even if it's not a follow -up meeting with myself, was I able to connect to other people and, you know, bring a new relationship together? And then that just creates so much more brand recall because maybe you haven't helped them In something where you can necessarily directly help them with something in your company, but you've connected them with somebody else that can help them with an immediate need and then whenever they do have a need where you can service your name kind of automatically comes up um you know. 

0:46:47

(Emily Dilbeck)

Are people still thinking about the experience weeks later? And then, you know, I think the most important thing is, did you achieve your original goal from step one? So, you know, did you generate pipeline? Did you improve your experience? 

0:47:02

(Chris Dunn)

Or did you, you know, create some thought leadership? So with that, that's kind of my five -step playbook. 

0:47:10

(Brendon Hamlin)

Very high level. I think that a lot of this is things that A lot of field marketers, marketers already know but can get easily forgotten. 

0:47:21

(Emily Dilbeck)

Yeah, no, that's a great little roadmap and just reminder of like, here are really the important pieces. And there's room to plug a lot of the things that we've already talked about into all of those pieces, specifically like that content creation, the content capture, and all those pieces will kind of play in there. One quick question, do you ever adapt any of that philosophy to virtual? Does that ever come into your planning? Yeah, yeah, definitely. So you know, I think that I think that it depends on on what the setting is, right? 

0:47:58

(Emily Dilbeck)

So I mean, when you're thinking about. virtual, are you thinking about, are you doing a round table? Are you doing, you know, a smaller keynote fireside chat type of thing? Are you doing a, you know, digital, you know, deal acceleration event? So I think that it really depends on what the format is. 

0:48:16

(Brendon Hamlin)

But yeah, I think that this philosophy definitely carries over into digital, because at the end of the day, you're, you're thinking about companies, a lot of companies, you know, when you're thinking about budgets, a lot of field marketers, marketers in general, they don't have, you know, even a hundred thousand dollars a year to spend, you know, it really depends on, on what you're looking at. Um, and so I think that it's about figuring out how you can meet your attendees and meet your audience and still create an authentic moment for them to connect. even if it's virtual. You know, I think that if it's virtual, it's leaning a lot more on the experience while still being able to kind of reinforce your brand messaging throughout, but not like leading with your brand messaging. Yeah, yeah, I was just curious, because it's, you know, there's, obviously, we're driving towards in person and in real life. And we really want to want to see that flourish. 

0:49:12

(Brendon Hamlin)

But there is that in between where, you know, a virtual used to be everything everybody was doing. And now it's sort of secondary, but it still can be impactful. I was I went to a meeting yesterday with like 50 people, maybe 80 people. And then they broke us out two to three people into these breakout rooms for 10 minute you know, one -on -one, one -on -two. And it was really, it was really effective, I thought. 

0:49:35

(Speaker 15)

But it was small. 

0:49:36

(Emily Dilbeck)

And so, and it was quick. And it was, but I really, and I think we might have gotten a job out of it. So it's weird. And guess what? Those breakout rooms, like, those were intentionally set. 

0:49:47

(Brendon Hamlin)

They weren't just randomized. 

0:49:49

(Chris Dunn)

There was somebody who was looking at your, your name, your title, your background, 

0:49:55

(Chris Dunn)

your experience, and like curating you with those other two or three people in that breakout space. And so I think that's what I'm talking about when you're thinking about attendees is that level of, you know, kind of personalization and intention that goes into the planning. Yeah, I love that. Yep. Nice, nice. Hey, we're at 50 minutes, and here in the toolbox, we try to cap it off within an hour or so. 

0:50:24

(Chris Dunn)

So I think we've done great. 

0:50:25

(Emily Dilbeck)

You got through the presentation of your playbook, which is wonderful. Once again, I think everybody out there who's either hearing this after the fact or have seen this, you can drop something into the comments, or go ahead and feel free to send either three of us a note, we'll make sure and get it from Emily, but just reach out and say, hey, we'd love to get our hands on that playbook. So as we do here in the toolbox, we like to kind of cap it off with a question for you and kind of put a bow on things. So Emily, if you had kind of a couple, two or three kind of top tips that really kind of stick out, maybe it's something that you've already talked about we can circle back to, or maybe it's something new to introduce, but what can you leave our listeners our attendees with that they'd be able to maybe put into action or take and make their own right away. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I think that if you're feeling overwhelmed by event marketing or events as a concept in general, and you don't even know where to start, I think my advice is, you know, start small, be intentional and focus on creating moments, not just meetings. 

0:51:41

(Emily Dilbeck)

You know, I think that small is powerful, right? Micro moments create these massive ripples effects like was, you know, clearly seen with the, with the lavender, um, wizard rave. You know, if you go and like search that on social, I'm sure that something will pop up and you'll see just all these recap videos. Um, so there is definitely that like ripple effect outside of it. You know, the second thing is lead with humanity. 

0:52:09

(Emily Dilbeck)

So I think, you know, people crave connection and not just more content. So I think that especially in a realm of, you know, digital, in a realm where we are all, you know, isolated probably, you know, some working in siloed teams, some not having a, you know, team office space. A lot of us are in remote and distributed teams. You know, really we're creating those moments of connection, of being able to be in person. If it's not in person, being able to connect digitally in a, you know, kind of no walls type of setting. And then I think that the third thing is that that play really matters. 

0:52:53

(Emily Dilbeck)

So I think that when you think about events through the lens of whimsy, whimsy is what keeps people engaged and energized. And I think that events are truly like they're, they are one of the last truly human events. focused for marketing channels. And so I think that when you strip away the noise and focus on the connection, you don't just stand out, but you make people really feel like they belong. 

0:53:28

(Chris Dunn)

And so I think that that's really what I try to focus on whenever I'm building any kind of event, whether it be digital, whether it be an owned event or a wraparound sidecar event. I really want to make people feel like they belong. And so I think that that's my. advice that I would leave you with. I love the, I love the last part. I mean, you don't have to look very far. 

0:53:51

(Chris Dunn)

The world's tough right now, right? There's a lot of, a lot of crap. There's a lot of sadness and, and like, how can we, how can we bring joy? and create those moments, right? And that leaves impact. Somebody's in a crummy mood and walks into this event, and you flip that on its head, and they leave feeling really good about everything. 

0:54:14

(Chris Dunn)

And granted, we're not whitewashing over all the things, but we can control what we can control, right? So we can control what we do with these events and the goal being we want people to leave with a great, memorable experience. And not only think positively about our brand, but about have them feeling great about like, I just made a great connection. 

0:54:36

(Speaker 13)

I just learned a bunch of stuff. 

0:54:37

(Speaker 14)

Now I'm excited. 

0:54:38

(Chris Dunn)

And now I become a brand evangelist. And I'm, I'm all about, you know, promoting what their mission is. Yeah, exactly. Excellent. 

0:54:48

(Emily Dilbeck)

Well, this has been a fantastic conversation. We're right at about 55 minutes. This is a perfect time to kind of put a bow on it. So I've already mentioned it with regards to reaching out to Emily, but Emily, what's the best way to get ahold of you? Yeah, definitely. If you want to reach out to me on LinkedIn, send me a friend request, shoot me a DM. 

0:55:08

(Emily Dilbeck)

I will definitely be sure to get back with you. And, you know, I would say at least three business days. 

0:55:15

(Brendon Hamlin)

So yeah, definitely find me on LinkedIn. 

0:55:19

(Speaker 5)

I'll connect, happy to connect with anyone that wants to connect. 

0:55:22

(Chris Dunn)

I tend to post a lot of things about field marketing. A lot of it can be nonsense sometimes. 

0:55:33

(Emily Dilbeck)

You didn't even touch on your gator wrangling. Exactly. Well, you are from Florida. So, I mean, you get that. 

0:55:39

(Chris Dunn)

I am from Florida. I did get asked if I worked at an alligator farm. And I have traded paintings for a car. So, I mean, if you want to learn more, then follow on LinkedIn. There you go. Actually, before we totally cap it off, you do a thing. 

0:55:57

(Emily Dilbeck)

It's like an online round table. It's called Beyond the Booth. What's a little plug for that? Like, what, what are you, what are you doing and what kind of community are you building around that? Yeah, absolutely. So Beyond the Booth, it kind of is, is a connection for field marketers and marketers, marketers who are doing events. 

0:56:17

(Emily Dilbeck)

So we all just kind of come together each month. We try to do it each month. It's, I think the, first Wednesday of each month. 

0:56:25

(Chris Dunn)

I post about it, post the registration link. And it's really just coming together, shooting the stuff and, you know, getting down to the nitty gritty about, you know, what's working. You know, a lot of times event professionals are working in small teams. And so this is really just an opportunity for those of us who are in small teams to come together and feel like we kind of have a bigger team. 

0:56:49

(Speaker 13)

That's really cool. 

0:56:50

(Chris Dunn)

Now, did you and some of your colleagues or associates basically just, you were sitting around shooting the shit? I'm going to say it. It's my show. 

0:56:58

(Emily Dilbeck)

I can say shit. Did you just kind of come up with this one day and say, you know what, this would, this, like, we're having these wonderful conversations, but we're doing it in a vacuum. Why don't we involve more people and get more ideas? Is that a little bit of how it was born? Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So it's actually, and I will, I will plug Pam. 

0:57:16

(Chris Dunn)

So Pamela Strug, she is a good friend, and actually kind of put the put the thought in my ear and was like, you know, you post so much about events, and you know, you're giving, you know, good, you know, nuggets of truth and wisdom and, you 

0:57:35

(Speaker 12)

all learn from each other, like we need to get a little meetup together. 

0:57:38

(Chris Dunn)

And so I kind of took the charge and said, All right, I'll get it together. And just here we are now. And it was born and it was born. Awesome. Fantastic, that's so cool. This is one, there's many things that are really cool about this digital platform that we're using and the community that it creates. 

0:58:00

(Chris Dunn)

And I'll just, before we totally tap out, I appreciate both of you guys. It's only because of LinkedIn that I know you both. 

0:58:08

(Speaker 11)

And Brendan and I, we're putting it out there. 

0:58:12

(Chris Dunn)

We're having a meetup, we're having a beer summit in Asheville in real life over, over the Halloween weekend. I've always wanted to, I've wanted to go to Asheville for a number of years. Um, and obviously you guys are still in recovery mode after the, the devastating hurricane that kind of went through almost about a year ago right now. Right. 

0:58:32

(Brendon Hamlin)

So I'm really looking forward to, um, to meeting you in real life. Big hug for, uh, for you and, and, uh, and Sarah, we're going to check out a bunch of breweries. 

0:58:41

(Speaker 11)

We're going to see Asheville and, uh, and, uh, and, uh, I'm looking forward to, um, to that to that process and just expanding, you know, what we have together here online into into the real world. 

0:58:54

(Chris Dunn)

So yeah, that's great. Can't wait. 

0:58:56

(Chris Dunn)

Can't wait. 

0:58:58

(Speaker 10)

Right on. 

0:58:59

(Chris Dunn)

So feel free to get involved and be part of Emily's group to be on the booth. 

0:59:03

(Chris Dunn)

And if you want to come to Asheville on that weekend, let's do that. 

0:59:07

(Speaker 8)

Awesome. 

0:59:09

(Chris Dunn)

Thanks, y 'all. 

0:59:10

(Brendon Hamlin)

I'm inviting everybody to Brendan's house. 

0:59:12

(Chris Dunn)

Yeah, right. Sarah. 

0:59:14

(Speaker 7)

Backyard. 

0:59:15

(Speaker 6)

Get ready. 

0:59:15

(Speaker 5)

We just talked about backyard micro events. 

0:59:17

(Chris Dunn)

Who knows how many people might show up to the backyard. Exactly. Awesome. I felt the summit. Guys, this has been wonderful. Thank you so much. 

0:59:26

(Chris Dunn)

I appreciate everybody's time. Emily, thanks for joining us. You've been a wonderful ray of sunshine. You've had some great experiences to share and examples and another good episode here in the toolbox. 

0:59:37

(Speaker 4)

So thanks so much. Everybody have a great rest of your week. Happy eventing and take care of yourselves. Take care.