Pivot Points with Cramer

Today on Pivot Points, Elise Orlowski talks with Jacqueline Wilson Cranford, Principal of Cranford Advisory Services and Cramer’s Patrick Martin, Partner, Business Solutions. In this episode, we look at Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DE&I). Jacqueline, Patrick, and Elise discuss how you can include DE&I efforts in not only your organization but also in your event planning. Jacqueline breaks down some of the key areas of focus and provides her insight into how to ensure the longevity of your DE&I plan. On our website, Cramer.com, you will find “Amplifying Black Voices on Every Stage” and “Making DE&I Actionable” insights as supplemental materials to this episode. 

Cramer is celebrating 40 years of business this year after being founded by Thomas “Red” Martin in 1982. On this episode of Pivot Points, Tripp and Elise sat down with TJ Martin, Cramer CEO and Rich Sturchio, Cramer President and Creative Director. Technology has changed a lot since Cramer opened its doors in 1982, but the company’s values have remained the same since “Red’s” first day. TJ and Rich dive into Cramer’s evolution and share why they believe some of the best years are still to come

Senior VP of Technology at Cramer, Sean McGuire joins Elise and Tripp on this episode of Pivot Points. As technology keeps growing, security has become more and more important. How do you keep your audience and company's data safe in the virtual events world? Sean provides his expertise and perspective to make sure you are taking the right steps to avoid some of IT's easiest pitfalls. 

Today is a special episode recording out of Las Vegas sharing observations and key takeaways from CES 2022. This year's CES once again returned in person. Cramer's Joe Case and C Space Host, James Kotecki, VP, Brand at Infinia ML, discuss the changing rules and priorities for in-person experiences and dig into what it means to truly engage your audience. 

When you attend a virtual event, what is the production value? What is platform capability? It can be hard to tell. Vincent Higgins, Senior Director of Creative Technology, and Pat Leonard, Senior Technical Producer here at Cramer join Pivot Points to discuss the difference between platform and production. They clear up some of the misconceptions around virtual events and give insight into how the technology has changed and the needs it must address to be successful.

 Today on Pivot Points we are joined by two of Cramer's own team members; Design Director Brad Harris and Senior Art Director Kari Ross. Brad and Kari sit down with Elise and Tripp to discuss the difference between art and design and how both are used to create impactful events and marketing content. They also discuss some of the myths behind one of the industries' most used and often begrudged tools - PowerPoint.

On this episode of Pivot Points, we are joined by Events maverick Martha Bunker. She sits down with Elise and Tripp to discuss how to be a successful and impactful leader in the events industry. Martha offers her insight into hiring the right people, how to support them, and how the industry has changed. We also discuss the pitfalls many leaders can make and how to avoid them.

Cramer's own SVP of Strategy and Content, Angel Micarelli joins us on this episode of Pivot Points. Angel has been creating impactful content at Cramer for nearly a decade. Before that, she worked at Seidler Bernstein as a Creative Director and Acom Healthcare as Vice President.  

Angel joins Elise and Tripp on this episode to discuss how strategy and creativity can work together to create impactful content. We break down the process of working through the 'why' to get to the best results and discuss how creativity can often thrive with boundaries. 

Global Head of Event Solutions, SVP of Strategy at Notified (formerly Intrado Digital Media), joins us on this episode of Pivot Points.  

Tony is 30-year business event leader with deep experience across a broad spectrum of the business events industry, from creative agency to trade show and event management and digital events and platforms, all rooted in a strategic approach to the delivery of omnichannel business events. In his most recent chapter prior to Notified, Tony served PRA as CEO, building the business to the position of sector leader in the Americas. Tony is an active industry leader through organizations including PCMA, MPI, ASAE, EIC and several other industry organizations throughout his career. Tony was recently recognized by Successful Meetings as one of the 25 most influential people in the global meetings industry. 

Elise and Tripp find out from Tony how Notified has invested in technology and increased the impact of virtual events. With audience expectations increasing for the virtual experience, Tony explains how platforms providers have had to level-up their capabilities and why it is important for production to do the same. 

They also discuss the new era for the events industry, and how it will become bigger and more relevant than ever before!

Listen back through Summer 2021 with highlights from our first five guests of Pivot Points! 

Thank you to Alon Alroy, Bizzabo, Mike Sheehan, formerly with Hill Holliday & The Boston Globe, Kathleen Vadenais, Fidelity, Idalia Rodriguez, Arbor Advisory Group, & Theresa McNeely, Homology Medicine.