Conference Storytelling: Creating a Cohesive Customer Event Successful with Allison Hunt Eubanks

Conference Storytelling: Creating a Cohesive Customer Event

A successful customer conference is more than a collection of speakers, sessions and social events.

The strongest conferences feel connected. The keynote introduces an idea that carries into the breakout sessions. Technical experts reinforce the larger message through relevant examples. Customer stories bring the organization’s value to life. And attendees leave understanding what the company wants them to remember.

Creating that level of consistency requires intentional conference storytelling.

In this episode of What’s Your Story?, Allison Hunt Eubanks discusses the strategy behind the LexisNexis CAM conference. She shares how the team develops themes, aligns content, prepares technical speakers and creates a cohesive experience for hundreds of attendees.

The conversation offers a useful perspective for organizations that want their conferences to accomplish more than attracting an audience. It explores how messaging, storytelling and speaker preparation can help an event create lasting business value.

What makes a corporate conference successful? The venue and agenda matter, but the strongest events also have a clear purpose, a cohesive message and speakers who understand how their content contributes to the larger experience. Allison Hunt Eubanks, Director of Content Marketing and Events for the insurance business at LexisNexis Risk Solutions, joins us to discuss how messaging, speaker preparation and storytelling help create successful corporate conferences.

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Today, we have the pleasure of speaking with Allison Hunt Eubanks about the LexisNexis CAM conference. How and why does a company host an event of this magnitude? How do they bring it all together, train their speakers, and generate a cohesive gathering? And what role does storytelling play in an event where attendees are meant to walk away with a message? Find out on today’s episode!

More About Allison:

Allison Hunt Eubanks is Director, Content Marketing and Events for the insurance business at LexisNexis Risk Solutions where she leads the content marketing team, and is responsible for the overarching messaging strategy, which includes driving messaging alignment for four business lines.  In her role, she oversees content for four blogs, and for more than 110 annual events, including a national customer meeting for approximately 500 attendees. Allison joined LexisNexis in 2014 and has more than 15 years of insurance marketing experience. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism – Advertising from the University of Georgia.

Show Highlights

• • What exactly is CAM and how does it relate to Lexis Nexis? If not lead gen, what is its purpose? How do you measure its success?
  • What is the process behind choosing the theme and the topics discussed at CAM for the breakout sessions? How do make it look like it all goes together?
  • LexisNexis itself is huge. What is the purpose of bringing everyone together? What value to attendees of CAM receive? What sort of customer feedback do you get from customers in reference to CAM?
  • Are there other actionable measures of success? And, on the topic of success, is there a formula, whether that be the venue, the topics, entertainment value?
  • What challenges do you have with assembling many technical experts? How do you help train and prepare your speakers to ensure the event goes smoothly? What are the benefits of bringing in an outsider instead of staying internally focused?
  • What are good and easy ways to facilitate connections? Can storytelling play a role? What story does Allison have to share? How does she use stories to show the value of CAM to customers?

Conference Storytelling: What Is Conference Storytelling?

Conference storytelling is the process of connecting the event’s messages, speakers and audience experiences around a clear central idea.

It is broader than asking individual speakers to tell stories.

A conference storyline helps attendees understand why the organization has brought them together, what the different sessions have in common and what they should remember after the event ends.

Without that connection, even strong sessions can feel unrelated. One speaker discusses market trends. Another introduces a product. A customer describes an experience. Each session may be useful, but the audience has to determine how the pieces fit together.

Effective conference storytelling makes that relationship clear.

Conference Storytelling: Begin with the Customer Conference Objective

Conference planning often begins with the venue, agenda and list of possible speakers. Message development should begin earlier.

Before choosing topics, decide what the conference needs to accomplish.

Ask:

• What should attendees understand differently?
• What business or customer issue brings the audience together?
• What should customers believe about the organization?
• Which conversations should the conference begin?
• What should attendees remember several months later?
• What action should become easier after the event?

These decisions give the event a strategic center.

The objective should be specific enough to guide content choices without becoming a promotional slogan. It must reflect something relevant to customers, not only something the company wants to announce.

Conference Storytelling: Turn a Conference Theme into a Storyline

A conference theme and a conference storyline are related, but they are not the same.

The theme gives the event a recognizable identity. It may appear in the event name, visual design and promotional materials.

The storyline explains how the ideas connect.

A useful conference storyline might move through questions such as:

1. What is changing for customers?
2. Why does that change matter?
3. What challenges or opportunities does it create?
4. How is the organization responding?
5. What examples demonstrate progress?
6. What should customers consider doing next?

This structure creates a logical path across the conference. Keynotes, breakout sessions, demonstrations and customer stories can each contribute a different part without becoming repetitive.

Conference Storytelling: Align Speakers Around the Central Message

Conference speakers are often given a topic, deadline and slide template. That is not enough to create alignment.

Speakers need to understand:

• Who will be listening
• What the audience already knows
• What the conference is trying to accomplish
• Which central message their session should reinforce
• What role their content plays in the larger agenda
• Which ideas other speakers will address
• What attendees should remember from their session

Alignment does not mean every speaker uses the same words. It means their different perspectives support the same larger direction.

A product leader may explain a capability. A customer may illustrate its value. A technical expert may clarify how it works. Together, those sessions create a stronger message than any one speaker could deliver alone.

Conference Storytelling: Prepare Technical Experts for the Stage

Technical experts bring credibility and depth to customer conferences. They also face a difficult communication challenge.

They know much more about the subject than the audience needs to hear in one session.

Preparation should help them select information rather than simply reduce the number of slides. The speaker must identify the central idea, understand the audience’s level of knowledge and decide which details make the message more useful.

Effective technical speaker coaching can help experts:

• Translate complex information without oversimplifying it
• Organize details around a clear storyline
• Explain why the subject matters to customers
• Replace internal language with audience-centered language
• Use examples that make the information easier to understand
• Prepare for predictable questions
• Communicate with greater confidence and audience connection

The objective is not to turn technical experts into entertainers. It is to help their expertise reach the audience.

Conference Storytelling: Use Customer Stories to Demonstrate Value

Customer stories can be among the most credible parts of a conference because they show how ideas work in a real setting.

But a customer story should not become a long company history or an extended endorsement.

The strongest customer stories clarify:

• What was happening
• What challenge needed to be addressed
• Why the issue mattered
• What decisions were made
• What changed
• What the organization learned
• What other customers can take from the experience

Conference planners should help customers prepare without scripting away their authenticity. The story should remain true to the customer’s experience while connecting clearly to the conference message.

Conference Storytelling: Create Connection Across the Event

Storytelling happens beyond the stage.

The questions used in roundtables, networking sessions and customer discussions can reinforce the larger theme. Event hosts can help attendees connect session ideas to their own experiences. Digital content and post-event communication can continue the storyline after the conference.

Consider how the central message appears across:

• Opening remarks
• Executive keynotes
• Breakout sessions
• Product demonstrations
• Customer panels
• Facilitated discussions
• Networking activities
• Closing remarks
• Follow-up communication

The audience should experience one connected event rather than a series of unrelated activities.

Conference Storytelling: Measure More Than Attendance

Attendance and satisfaction matter, but they do not fully measure whether conference storytelling worked.

Organizations can also evaluate:

• Whether attendees remember the central message
• Which sessions created the strongest engagement
• Whether customers can explain the conference takeaway
• What customer questions emerged
• Which ideas attendees shared afterward
• Whether the event created useful follow-up conversations
• How consistently speakers reinforced the storyline
• What actions customers or internal teams took next

The appropriate measures depend on the event objective. Begin defining them before the conference rather than after it.

Conference Storytelling: Create a Conference Message Customers Remember

A successful conference depends on more than strong logistics and individual speakers. The messages must work together.

SW&A helps organizations develop conference storylines, align speakers and prepare executives, customers and technical experts for important event moments. The goal is a cohesive experience that helps audiences understand the message, remember its relevance and continue the conversation.

Like what you hear? Hear more episodes like this on the What’s Your Story podcast page!