Virtually Live, The Podcast

 Welcome to the season finale of VirtuallyLive! The Podcast!  In this special episode, we wrap up an incredible season by bringing together insights from leaders at top companies like IBM, Nasdaq, Mayo Clinic, Adobe, Salesforce, Bloomberg, Workday, Teradata, Novartis, Siemens Healthineers, AstraZeneca, and Red Hat. Together, they share their predictions on how generative AI is transforming industries and shaping the future of work, education, and healthcare.   From the ethics of AI to practical applications like digital twins, personalized healthcare, and smarter decision-making, this episode offers a thoughtful look at the innovations shaping industries today and into the future.   Don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe

In this episode of Virtually Live! The Podcast, discover how AI is reshaping patient care, data-driven engagement, and corporate communication. Our guests explore the challenges and opportunities in creating accessible, inclusive, and efficient systems, discussing concepts like “digital twins” and how AI enables more personalized, impactful experiences across industries. Hear their insights on how organizations must adapt to stay connected and inclusive in a rapidly changing world. Get inspired by their perspectives on the future of technology and the transformations needed to build a more connected, resilient world. Don't miss out! If you enjoyed the episode, remember to like, subscribe, and share.

In this episode of VirtuallyLive! The Podcast, top industry leaders from Salesforce, Teradata, Bloomberg, and Workday come together to explore the "Three I's" — Impact, Inclusion, and Innovation. Get ready for a conversation filled with personal stories, real-world experiences, and insights that bridge the worlds of data, technology, and leadership. Each speaker reveals a game-changing decision that shaped their career or transformed their organization. Tune in to discover how innovation and data-driven strategies are shaping the future of business and digital experiences! Don't forget to like and subscribe!

In this episode of Virtually Live! The Podcast, we bring together two inspiring leaders from vastly different industries for an insightful discussion. Jodie Bartz, Sr. Business Analyst at Mayo Clinic, and Brian Buckley, CMO of Nasdaq, share their unique perspectives on overcoming challenges in their fields.   Jodie delves into how her team at Mayo Clinic is revolutionizing access to video, empowering both medical professionals and patients through innovative streaming solutions. Meanwhile, Brian shares his experience at Nasdaq, leading efforts to merge digital and physical experiences, particularly during the pandemic, and transforming how companies go public.   Join us for this compelling conversation on the transformative power of technology. Don't forget to subscribe for more expert insights!

In this episode of Virtually Live! The Podcast, Nohar Zmora, VP Brand and Strategic Marketing at Kaltura, sits down with Jon Miller, MarTech Entrepreneur and Co-founder of Marketo & Engagio, to explore the future of B2B marketing. Jon shares his fascinating journey from studying physics to becoming a prominent figure in the marketing world, highlighting how his analytical background has shaped his approach to modern marketing. The conversation dives deep into the evolution of traditional B2B marketing tactics, emphasizing the need for strategies that align with today's rapidly changing buyer expectations and economic realities. They also discuss the transformative role of AI in marketing, particularly how it can automate complex operations, empower marketers to make more informed decisions, and drive more efficient campaign execution. Whether you're a seasoned marketing leader or just starting out, this episode offers valuable insights to help you stay ahead of the curve and confidently navigate the future of B2B marketing. Tune in now, and don't forget to subscribe for more expert discussions!

Great ideas come from everywhere, sometimes from places you didn't even expect. In our latest episode, we are joined by Erica TG Warren, VP of Corporate Communications & Employee Brand at Adobe, hosted by Kaltura's CEO, Ron Yekutiel. How does Adobe deploy AI in their tools? What digital capabilities support an excellent employee experience? Does AI support individualism? Get the answers to these questions and more in our newest episode!

Discover how IBM is turning every digital touchpoint into a growth opportunity using data, video, and AI. Tune in to the latest episode of

Triple your event engagement? That's impressive, but how about a 536% increase? Yes, it's possible! This week on 'Virtually Live! the Podcast,' Nohar Zmora, Kaltura's VP of Brand & Strategic Marketing, sits down with Jennifer Sacks, VP of Brand Insights & Technology at Salesforce. Together, they discuss how Salesforce incredibly boosted their event engagement by harnessing innovative technologies and community collaboration post-pandemic. Don't forget to hit the subscribe button to stay updated with our latest episodes!  

If you think your job is done once your virtual event ends, think again! Any marketer will tell you that the real work starts after the event wraps up, like creating those catchy snippets to send to attendees. What if we told you that turning a basic event video into an awesome snippet could be almost instant? Well, guess what—it's totally possible now! Check out this week's episode of 'Virtually Live! the Podcast,' where Kaltura's CRO, Navi Azaria, chats with Craig Chapman, Senior Manager of Broadcast and Live Events at VMware by Broadcom. They dive into how VMware is harnessing GenAI in their marketing strategies. It's a game-changer, but it's gotta be done right to really shine! Listen on your favorite platform and don't forget to hit the subscribe button to get notified on our latest episodes: 

"Well, these tools are able to do a lot of the work that comes after when someone signs up for something, whether it's a form where they sign up for a product and they're able to like, do personalization better than we've been able to do through humans." - Kieran Flanagan, CMO at Zapier and co-host of the successful podcast 'Marketing Against the Grain' with Kipp Bodnar, HupSpot's CMO. Listen to our new episode where you'll hear from Kieran Flanagan and Ryan Howard, Technical Program Manager at Google. They share insights on leveraging AI to transform audience engagement from mundane to mesmerizing. They'll have your audience double-tapping, sharing, and subscribing before you know it!   Check it out!

Don't miss our deep dive into AI's impact on digital experiences in the creative industry and the healthcare field. We're joined by Clara Galán, Product Marketing Lead at Adobe Live, who shares her insights on Adobe's newest AI features, how AI is transforming the digital landscape, and fostering a global community of creatives. Plus, Jessica Federer, former Chief Digital Officer at Bayer, discusses the essentials of successful virtual healthcare experiences that emphasize the need for accessible, interactive platforms and the power of AI in advancing pharmaceutical operations and improving patient engagement. Check it out!

Discussing the overlap between marketing and technology isn't complete without acknowledging the significant challenge of creating an effective event strategy, a task increasingly managed by AI. In this episode, we get into how AI can not only suggest the ideal event content but also streamline attendee management and revolutionize event strategies. Gain first-hand insights from our guests: Bob Bejan, former Corporate Vice President of Global Events, Production Studios, and Marketing Community at Microsoft; Josh Shepherd, Head of Event Technology & Innovation at Atlassian; and Megan Henshall, Global Event Strategist at Google. Check it out!

We're diving deeper into the intersection of marketing and technology by tackling a familiar marketing and event challenge: how to achieve ever-evolving goals with the same limited resources. Enter GenAI to revolutionize the playing field.   Our guests this episode, from some of the world's most renowned brands, share how they've been using AI to succeed in a variety of marketing and event goals. We're bringing you insights from Kieran Flanagan, CMO at Zapier, Meghan Keaney Anderson, VP of Marketing at Jasper, Jaime Hunt, CMO at Old Dominion University, and Angie Smith, former Head of Experiential Events and Field Marketing at Atlassian. Check it out!

We're kicking off a new season of our podcast with a focus on innovation at the intersection of marketing and technology! We've invited marketing and event leaders to talk to us about how AI is revolutionizing the way we do things and what tools and tactics you can already use.   We're starting with a critical exploration of using AI and maintaining brand identity. To navigate this challenge, we called experts who specialize in preserving brand integrity, fostering creativity, and making sure that AI-driven content aligns with your brand values.   Whether you're a marketer looking to embrace AI, or you're just interested in learning more about the future of digital creativity, join us as we discuss these topics with our guests: Jessica Hreha, formerly Head of Global Integrated Campaigns & Content Strategy at VMware by Broadcom; Yadin Porter de Leon, Global Executive Content Marketing Lead at VMware, a Broadcom company; Bob Bejan, formerly Corporate Vice President of Global Events, Production Studios, and Marketing Community at Microsoft; Clara Galán, Product Marketing Lead at Adobe Live; and Meghan Keaney Anderson, VP of Marketing at Jasper.

‘Customer experience' gets thrown out there a lot these days but it could mean a bunch of different things depending on who explains it and for what. What all these different meanings have in common is they start and finish with what the customer wants and needs. But what if those wants and needs change because of a global pandemic, economic downturn, and well, life itself? Alvio Barrios, Cisco's SVP Customer Experience is here to try to answer not just that, but also tell from his experience – pun intended – how to keep answering them come what and who may.  

The new normal led to a spike in virtual events and webinars. But once organizers caught the hang of them and the invites came charging at our inboxes, events' appeal and value started to slump and ‘Webinar Fatigue' became the new norm. For Datadog, that meant going back to basics, i.e., targeted events with prime content. In this session, Alex Rosemblat, their CMO, tells us more about what they learned from all that about their event strategy. 

What can we do to design virtual event experiences that support engagement, and how can event data be utilized to support our goals? Join us for 10 minutes of sips & tips with Mor Kristal Paul, Accelerator Group Lead at monday.com 

Customer-centricity is the name of the game at Oracle's NetSuite and Kerry Mentel Throckmorton, their VP Marketing and Communications and Chief of Staff, is leading the charge. She considers her team to be the sidekick helping the superhero max their powers. Her words! Join this session as she talks us through SuiteWorld, the annual conference put on for the NetSuite community including partners and customers. As well as the kind of ROI you can see by putting your customers at the center of your marketing strategies and events.  

Creativity isn't the sole property of musicians, painters, and artists in general. It belongs to everyone, including marketers. And not just brand marketers and the so-called “creative marketers” in charge of writing clever texts and designing beautiful ads. Event marketers, marketing analysts, and certainly growth hackers can all gain a lot by infusing creativity into their work. Join this session with Adobe's Head of Brand Strategy & Customer Insights, Heather Combs, to hear about the many beautiful sides of creativity, and how it can improve your marketing, any marketing.  

Where should we draw the line between people and business in the world of B2B marketing? And does such a line exist at all? Join us for 10 minutes of sips & tips with Paul Knegten, CMO at Outbrain.  

For too long, or at least for two years, we've been debating between virtual and in-person, synchronous and asynchronous, live and on-demand, trying to nominate which one or ones are clearly superior to the others. But there is no all-encompassing best. It all depends on the exact circumstances, the timing, and the persons involved. To offer the best experience, we have to create a mix of options available and leave it to people to choose the one that fits them best at any given time and place. Sitting at the intersection of marketing and education, Associate Dean for Digital Innovation, Kellogg School of Management, Mohanbir Sawhney, has seen it work time and time again. Join this session to hear more about why the future is in multichannel, converging experiences. 

In-person? Virtual? Hybrid? All of the above? Companies have had to pivot a lot over the last few years to find the right balance to achieve their goals and engage their target audiences. Marketers at large, and event professionals specifically, still struggle with the challenge of attribution and showing clear ROI from events, and across the marketing funnel. In this session, Qualified's VP Demand Generation, Sarah McConnell, will share how she and her team have found the right mix of events, as well as an attribution model that works - helping them measure what brings them better ROI. 

When is an event really hybrid, and when it is just an in-person occasion that is being streamed? And what are we supposed to do with the content flood that we see as a result? Join us for 10 minutes of sips & tips with Stacy Nawrocki, Head of Product Management and Division Leader at IBM Watson Media.

The world has never been smaller. Audiences, never bigger. And delivering meaningful content to people worldwide while still reflecting local values and interests, has never been trickier. Luckily in this session, Rachel Lockwood, EMEA Marketing Director at Amazon Web Services, shares her insights on engagement in regional and field marketing, and doing more with less, all the while keeping an eye on sustainability and “customer obsession.” 

Everyone's talking about events, but not enough talk about the people making them. Rakuten's VP Events, Sara Gorlick, is here to remind us that behind every event we see and attend, even the virtual ones, there's a team of real people. Not only that, but the skillset that's needed of them in the post-covid state-of-things is unreal. On the one hand, they must understand trends and decipher the data coming in, somehow juggle different venues, platforms, and technology and on the other hand, they need to kick up a worthy experience for whatever type of attendee and keep their eyes open and heads on a swivel for any change in plans. It's a full body effort. Join this session to hear how they do it and if you are one of those remarkable beings – get some tips and tricks that might help. 

How does education function as a key pillar in a huge partner marketing program? And what are the benefits of a cohesive event experience over a fragmented one? Join us for 10 minutes of tips & tricks with Roman Faminou, product marketing manager at Google.

While a global pandemic was the main drive for the digitization of events, what keeps it around are all the fresh options to engage attendees remotely and the ability to measure every action and interaction. Not many people can say that they didn't just witness it unfold but also played an active part in it. Bob Bejan, the man behind and at the forefront of Microsoft's events and global marketing community, can. He recognized early on that virtual events are here to stay and, just as quickly, realized that all events from now on – yes, yours too – will center around a digital core.   Join us to hear more from him about the state of events today and where the industry is going.   

Knowing your audience is central to any marketing strategy. Of course, knowing your audience is a constant practice of learning and adapting to how your audience evolves. Higher education institutions have unique challenges in that their audiences are multigenerational, ranging from prospective students to senior decision makers in business and government. In this session, Amy Jaick, Chief Marketing and Communications Officer at Columbia Business School provides insights on how to identify your audience and engage with them where they are, evolve alongside them, reach and track your engagements with them throughout their journeys, and how virtual and hybrid events provide exciting opportunities to build everlasting relationships with your brand.

What sentiments have to do with engagement - and what do we gain when we start looking at disengagement? What can we find in the spectrum between informational and inspirational messaging? Join us for 10 minutes of sips & tips with Steven McNellie, Senior Platform Manager at Airbnb.

Implementing a minimal viable brand requires an analytical and iterative approach. That's exactly what Nadia Hitman, Simply's (formerly JoyTunes) VP Brand Marketing, did. She'll talk us through how she led Simply to a successful new brand using a product development methodology coupled with an audience- and community-focused mindset. 

We are in an incredible time of shifts in our businesses, with our employees, and in how we nurture the customer journey. Digital transformation has become the buzz word of the day and we no longer need to convince our customers and partners they need digital - they already know and need help fast to survive and thrive. In the face of economic head winds, a looming recession and employee fatigue, how do we navigate these choppy waters to lead our companies and customers to a data-first model and make the shift to digital transformation? It starts with evaluating and defining a standard definition of metrics and a myopic focus on impact over activity. In this session, Ada Agrait, SVP Global Head of Corporate Marketing at SAP, will talk us through how data and marketing are playing a critical role in transforming a company that for more than 50 years has led other organizations through change – with and via technology.

What role does creativity have in event planning? And why should we embrace a hands-on approach to increasing creativity to drive engagement in virtual events? Join us for 10 minutes of sips & tips with Clara Galan, Product Marketing Leader at Adobe Live.

Undergraduate enrollment is on a 10-year decline, culminating in the sharpest drop in enrollment in 50 years during the pandemic. Universities are not only competing with other institutions, but with the promise of higher education itself. Join Jaimie Hunt, VP and CMO at Old Dominion University, in a session about the expanded strategic role of marketing in higher education, the importance of engaging with prospective students across multiple touch points throughout their journey and infusing excitement in engaging events that hold true to brand that are more inclusive and far reaching than ever before.

Marketing hasn't just changed in the last couple of years because it's been changing for much longer than that. Our world is always on the move, hence so are our customers, therefore so are the marketers who try to keep up. But one strategy always holds true in the middle of all that change: building relationships with customers. Still, that doesn't mean we can't do it better. In this session, Amit Bivas, VP Enterprise Marketing at monday.com will enlighten us about relationship marketing and how events tie perfectly into it. He'll also share his recent experience building an event strategy in light of more change – his company's new business game plan.   

How can global content be delivered to a local audience, and how do different forms of content generate different kinds of engagement? Join us for 10 minutes of sips & tips with Sophie Mellor, EMEA Events Program Manager at AWS.

The race for brand awareness brought forward more options to raise brand awareness, which in turn, supercharged the brand awareness race, opening even more doors and possibilities to raise brand awareness. Confused? Don't be. Join this session with Daniel Simon, VP and Head of Strategic Marketing at HERE Technologies to hear more about it, along with real-world examples from HERE's brand positioning. If you're still not sold on the idea that your brand is a sure way to drive demand, you will be after this session ends.

The education industry took a big hit during the first few months of Covid before receiving a big boost from it all. Luckily, it's an industry that can handle changes well as it's been changing and evolving since forever, more or less. Today, learning has become practically boundless. It can happen in one of a million different ways – a conference, for example – and the teacher can be just about anyone. Join this session with Leah Belsky, Chief Enterprise Officer of online education pioneer Coursera, to learn more, a lot more.

Not only are developers responsible for some of the largest and most active communities on the internet, they're also responsible for the first digital communities ever. Yes, it helped that no one else knew how to use the internet back then, but no, that's not the only reason for it. Either way, that's just one of the things that make marketing to developers so exciting. Join this session with VMWare's CMO, Laura Heisman, to learn how to do it in and out of events, and why it's so important for almost any digital business.    

 Virtually Live! the podcast is back for season 2! It's a place for those obsessed with event marketing, audience engagement, and brand experience to hear the latest and greatest from event professionals and marketing leaders from various industries. Subscribe here! 

We tend to think there's a clear cut between content designed to entertain and content designed to sell. Yet, the lines between the two are somewhere between blurry and invisible. Either way, people watch or read it to get informed, get inspired, get a thrill, or all of the above. Acclaimed writer, producer, and actor, Lior Raz, has spent the last 20+ years creating and delivering content for TV and - interestingly - marketing, too. In this session, Raz will talk through what marketers can learn from show business to create enjoyable and engaging content, whatever the intent.

Virtual events are not just a replacement for physical ones. They have created a new marketing category, with new content formats, new ways to engage, broader audiences, new forms of networking, new perspective of time and place, vast amounts of data and analytics, and greater inclusion for both speakers and attendees. Join Michal Tsur, Kaltura's Co-founder, President and CMO and panelists: Rob Giglio, CMO, DocuSign, Nicola Kastner, VP Global Head of Event Strategy, SAP, Bob Bejan, Corporate VP Global Events, Production Studios and Marketing Community, Microsoft  for a conversation about where this new evolving virtual event category fits into our marketing funnel, how it impacts the customer experience, what we've learned in the past 18 months, what we've all gained, what we miss, and what's left to innovate in this new normal world of marketing.

In the past decade, the weight of marketing strategy and operations has shifted online, taking in more and more digital touchpoints. Still, 2020-21 have shaken things up again and the entire customer journey from start-to-finish has become virtual, relying even more heavily on data.   This conversation with Oracle EVP and CMO Ariel Kelman will look at the impact Covid-19 had on marketing, the shift towards virtual events and video engagement, and the vast amounts of data digital encounters generate.

According to Lumiere's law, we're bound to treat new media based on the media it replaces or adds to. Consequently, many of us defined our virtual events based on in-person events, but not Esri. They looked at live TV shows to design their virtual experience, which explains a lot about why their shift to virtual events was so successful. In this panel, we'll hear from them and their partners at Freeman on the mindset the company embraced to inspire their format and audience engagement and how that dictated their technology and production process.

Virtual events' growing popularity has put a bigger focus on adding value to attendees, which almost always boils down to sharing new knowledge, insights, and ideas from speakers and peers alike. As it happens, peer learning is like second nature for teachers, leading ISTE, the education experts, to emphasize that aspect in their community and events strategy. Join Jennifer Ragan-Fore, ISTE's Chief Experience Officer, and their Sr. Director of Event Logistics, Stefanie Arnold, to hear how educators draw on their colleagues' experience and how you can do the same in your events, as well as some secrets and best practices of designing online content.

If you recall, the Covid-19 outbreak was quickly followed by hundreds of event cancellations. Atlassian, though, decided to keep their April event as planned but do it virtually. One of their core values is “Don't #@!% the customer” and a pandemic wasn't going to stop them from living their values. While they only had a month to do it, the event was a massive win for them and led to many more since – 536, to be exact. What's more, the shift to virtual events proved to match their digital-first culture and data-driven mindset perfectly. In the aftermath of a very eventful year, their Head of Experiential & Field Marketing, Angela Smith, will join us to share some numbers and stories around the success of their digital experiences and how reskilling event marketers is now table stakes.

The shift from physical to virtual events changed many things, but content is still the most important factor in the success or failure of your event. With more than 25 years in the streaming media business and as chairman producing more than 70 in-person conferences globally, including NAB Show Streaming Summit, Dan Rayburn is both a technology expert and an authority on how to keep viewers on the edge of their seats. In this session, Dan will discuss content strategy for online and hybrid events and share from his vast experience on how to produce the right content and content format, craft the right agenda, and ROI methodology to measure success.

For all the tools and automation now available to aid marketing and sales, deals are still a matter of personal touch that, up to 2019, were often sealed with a handshake. Gong's products are the ideal sales companions, allowing to maintain relationships with leads and customers close and direct while also providing usable data, analyses, and insights. No wonder their sales skyrocketed during social distancing. Their accomplished CMO, Udi Ledergor, will talk about how the pandemic and virtual events affected marketing and sales funnels, as well as the opportunities ahead.

As if we needed further evidence on the importance of community building, the switch to virtual added communities' power to elevate events into the mix and re-emphasized their marketing value. Since the early days of its two-sided marketplace, Fiverr has recognized that potential and set the standard for community building. In this session, you'll hear from Fiverr CMO Gali Arnon why community building should be a main pillar of any marketing strategy. You'll also learn how to build communities through events and leverage members as an integral part of your agenda and campaigns.

For many businesses around the world, Covid-19 left no choice but to pivot. In one way or another, for a short spell or indefinitely, every business had to change and adapt in the past year and a half. Even for an established brand like YouTube that was well-positioned for people spending more time online, a global pandemic is a force to be reckoned with. Join Soo Young Kim, Head of Global Brand, Programs & Experiences at YouTube, to chat about maintaining your identity when times are changing and carrying your brand experience to your virtual events.

The marketing funnel has been around since before the 1917 pandemic, before the internet, mobile phones, and social media. Believing that, in light of all that's happened, it's time to treat the customer journey less linearly and give customers more credit as brand promoters, HubSpot introduced the flywheel model in 2018. Marketers quickly adopted this new model, prioritizing the buyer's experience and measurable ROI above everything else. In this session, their SVP Marketing, Jon Dick, will tell us why Covid made their model all the more relevant, how it's accelerated its adoption, and where virtual events come into play in all that, including in HubSpot's event program.

Find out all about the latest and greatest in event marketing, hybrid or virtual – and how they are transforming marketing roles, programs and budgets. In this series, based on Kaltura's 'Virtually Live' event, prominent marketing and business leaders share their stories, insights, and forecasts. Is the flywheel a more adequate name for it than the marketing funnel (yes, if you ask Jon Dick, SVP Marketing at HubSpot)? Should you treat your agenda and content differently now that it's digital (definitely, says Soo Young Kim, Head of Global Brand, Programs & Experiences at YouTube)? How have hybrid and virtual events changed the sell cycle (it's complicated, according to Gong's CMO, Udi Ledergor)? Plus a lot more.