#369: Kayla Steinberg on Turning Events Into Your Best Business Development Tool
In this week's episode of AU, guest Kayla Steinberg of ADI joins Ron to discuss the three Ps of event planning: planning, process, and promotion, and why most events fail on the first one.
SEE ALSO: #368: Jason Barth on Turning AI From Cheap Hacks Into Real Company Standards
Transcript
Ron:
Hello, hello there. Ron Callis here with another episode of Automation Unplugged, and we have a good one for you today. One of the hottest topics over the last year, year and a half or so has been that integrators, technology contracting businesses, have been investing time, money, and energy in expanding their business development efforts through holding events. These events could be for your existing customers, your existing trade partners such as architects, designers, or builders, and/or maybe the events are aimed at bringing in brand new potential clients or trade partners. We at One Firefly have been supporting our clients throughout the country with promotional activities to help drive people into events, as well as day-of activities like signage, presentation materials, or collateral to help represent their brand. And then after an event, you need to stay in touch with the people who were there and make sure they understand all the ways that you, the technology professional, can help them and support them with their projects. So today's show is focused solely on that subject. I asked one of our industry's best to return to the show and talk to us in specific detail. I've got a whole bunch of questions ready to go for the one and only Kayla Steinberg. She's the Certified Showroom Program Lead at ADI, and she was last on the show. If you want to hear her full story, the normal Automation Unplugged backstory of where she comes from, tune in to show 334. That was released back in December of '25. But today we're going to zero straight in on all of Kayla's wonderful experience. She has more than a decade of experience in various industries, all things events and promotion for business. Today she runs the Certified Showroom program at ADI for Control4, and she's very tied into and running the C4 Yourself event that's here in the month of October. So depending on when our show releases, it's likely going to release just prior to that, so hopefully this is helpful in guiding the many Control4 dealers around the world. But this is also going to be a broader conversation about the art and science of running a successful event, and how to help ensure that investment of time and money delivers a return for your business. So with that, let me go ahead and bring in Kayla. Kayla, how are you?
Kayla:
I'm doing well, Ron. How are you?
Ron:
You know what, I'm not going to lie, you're catching me as I've just returned from vacation. I was in Italy for 10 days.
Kayla:
Wow.
Ron:
I had lots of pasta, lots of wine, and lots of walking, so fortunately I don't think I gained too much weight. But I had some wonderful time with my family, which I think is important to balance us. We can't be all work, we need to work and play.
Kayla:
I completely agree, and it sounds like a fantastic trip. Next time, if you need a travel partner, let me know. I'm happy to come along with your family.
Ron:
You got it. I'm sure my wife and I would love a companion as we visit the museums and whatnot. So where are you coming to us from, Kayla?
Kayla:
Yeah, Ron, I'm coming to you from Huntersville, North Carolina, which is where I reside with my family, and I work out of the Charlotte ADI headquarters office.
Ron:
Awesome. And we're right here at the beginning of the school year. I know my son, he's a high school student entering his senior year, and at the time we're recording this, he actually starts school next week. Is it similar for you? Do you have little ones about to start school?
Kayla:
Yes, I do. I have a five, seven, and nine year old, so finally all three of my young children will be at the same school, and my baby's starting kindergarten. So we're in the trenches of getting ready for school to start, a bit of a happy sad this time next week.
Ron:
Does that mean your little one's been at home up until now, and this is the first official school day for him?
Kayla:
Yeah, he's been in a pre-K program, so he's still been in a school environment pretty much since he was two years old. But this is the true official first day of school at what he likes to call "the big school."
Ron:
The big school. Those are such fun ages, so enjoy every minute.
Kayla:
Thank you, I'm soaking it all up the best I can.
Ron:
Awesome. All right, so bring us up to speed here. Remind our audience, what does it mean that you're the Certified Showroom Program Lead at ADI?
Kayla:
Yeah, so we have a very special group of Control4 integrators that have gone above and beyond to essentially create an experience center in their storefront space. The goal is to bring in trade partners and customers to their showrooms to let them experience the Control4 ecosystem and our exclusive brands, and how they integrate with the Control4 ecosystem. It's about creating an experience for customers and trade partners to really showcase the comfort, convenience, and control that Control4 has to offer. By doing that, it's a large investment into their business, and then they get entered into this exclusive program where I'm the lead. We support them with marketing efforts, campaigns, third-party partnerships like the one with One Firefly, and a plethora of other things like early product information and product launch access. So they get a slew of benefits for being part of this program as a thank you for their continued investment in Control4.
Ron:
That's interesting. What percentage of the Control4 dealer base worldwide, if you can share, meets this criteria and is a certified showroom?
Kayla:
That is actually a great question. It's about 6% right now. They believe there are probably quite a few more who are equipped to do it, they just have a couple more steps to take, so maybe about 10% in total.
Ron:
That's exciting, that sounds fairly exclusive. What is the process, just to dig into that, for a Control4 dealer who says, "I'd like to be in this exclusive club"? What's the process of becoming a participant?
Kayla:
Absolutely, great question. It really starts with your sales rep, having an open relationship and constantly engaging with them. Your sales rep is the first line of saying, "Yes, you're eligible to become a certified showroom," or "not yet, and here's what we need to work on together." That's step one. Once you talk with your sales rep, they'll inform you of the current year to date guidelines, which could mean how you equip your showroom with signage and product, and what kind of space you need. They'll also take a look at your sales and make sure you're positioning Control4, and that your sales speak to the way you're positioning Control4 as the leading automation system in your business. Those are some key components we look at. Once they engage with their sales rep and the rep says, "Let's get the process started," we share the current guidelines. They have to order some signage, maybe install some new product based on what they currently have in their space, and make sure they have a dedicated space for this. For some it looks like a complete new build out, for others it's upfitting the space they already have to align with our program standards. From there, they make an application. We review photos and video, their sales rep goes out to visit and makes sure everything is up to standard, and from there we can move into the approval process.
Ron:
I love that. For context for everyone watching or listening, Kayla and I are going to make this conversation broad and applicable to everyone, regardless of whether you're a Control4 dealer or a certified showroom. If you're participating in the C4 Yourself event, this is applicable to you, but we also want this to be broadly beneficial to everyone in the industry who's trying to grow their business through enhancing their event or business development activities, reaching out to their community.
Kayla:
Yes.
Ron:
So with that said, give us the specifics of the C4 Yourself event, for everyone who's not aware of what that is and why it exists.
Kayla:
Yeah, great question. C4 Yourself is an annual Control4 certified showroom dealer event. What that means is we invite all of our CSDs, as we call them, to participate in what we consider a global campaign. It's global because ADI and Control4 channels at the global level are putting out the same messaging that we'd expect our certified showroom dealers to be marketing in their local markets. It's centered around key messaging that's aligned from the top to the bottom. Ron, I know you're very familiar with the funnel. For anyone listening who isn't, it's basically taking your lead, whether that's an end customer, a trade partner, or an existing customer, through the different stages of nurturing them toward some sort of conversion. Conversion can look like different things: giving you their information, making a sale, and so on. The goal of C4 Yourself is to carry someone from the top of the funnel through a conversion experience based on their audience and the intended goal. This year the event window is during the month of October. Some people ask why it's a month long. As I mentioned, we have a global presence for our certified showroom dealers, so what makes sense in the US may not make sense in Australia. We want to give our dealers the flexibility to choose the date, time, or series of dates that makes the most sense for them and for the different audiences they're bringing into their showroom. This year it's centered around X4 and all the amazing updates Control4 X4 has had, especially in the last year, and we continue to innovate. We're tying that to all the exciting hardware we've launched this year, things like our T5 and some exciting Lux and lighting products, but I'll keep it light because I want you to go check it out for yourself. If you're interested in C4 Yourself, head to our global landing page, which launches August 31st, just before this episode goes live.
Ron:
Awesome. So Kayla, you joined ADI and the Snap company — well, first let's back up. I'm mentioning Snap, I'm mentioning ADI, I'm mentioning Control4, and there's been a lot of moving and shaking with brands and acquisitions. Many close to the industry have probably been following it closely and know exactly what's what, but for those who'd say, "Kayla, can you give me a primer on the brands and where Control4 fits into the ecosystem?" Let's go there, and then I've got a couple more tangential questions.
Kayla:
Yeah, so Control4 was acquired by Snap, and then Snap was acquired by ADI. It's kind of like the Russian doll of acquisitions, which has been an amazing transition. Exciting news if you don't know: ADI became publicly traded on August 4th this year, so that's a really exciting thing. Now ADI is the parent company, and Snap was absorbed into ADI because of the residential market. ADI was primarily commercial, Snap was primarily residential, so it's a beautiful merriment of the two audiences and the ways we service different folks in the industry broadly. On the residential side, or the Snap side, we came in as a manufacturer, and Control4 was part of that. So we're manufacturing Control4 and our exclusive brands, and we're also a distributor on the ADI side, though now that we're all ADI, it's really not really "a side" anymore. We distribute third-party products, most of which also integrate with Control4, so it's a beautiful merriment of everything together. The story makes so much sense when you think about how ADI truly gives you more, how we can service more people now that we've got both the residential and commercial side, as well as developing our own products and continuing to own innovation there, while also integrating and distributing our third-party products. I absolutely love this brand. I think it's such a great asset to how we continue to serve all of our pros out in the world.
Ron:
Love that. You joined ADI in early 2025, if I'm correct?
Kayla:
That's correct, yes.
Ron:
All right. Since you joined, I know you've been traveling across the country visiting your dealers and their showrooms. I'm wondering if you could give a few highlights of what you'd consider a successful showroom environment or experience, from your point of view.
Kayla:
Yes, absolutely. I think if you know Control4, you know that the best part about it is that you don't really see it. When you walk into a showroom that looks like a home or a high-end space, and then you get to walk through it and experience Control4, you get to feel the change in lighting, you get to feel the automation. That, to me, is what makes a successful showroom. You're showing a customer what it would feel like if they were standing inside their own home or their own business, and what difference it makes to actually have Control4 and all of our exclusive brands installed. I've seen so many showrooms, and our certified showroom dealers do it very well. It's super impressive. We always try to say we're not a Best Buy. When you go into Best Buy you see a bunch of wires and things overlapping, it feels cluttered and overwhelming. You're not going to get that when you walk into a Control4 certified showroom. You're going to get an experience, and that's what's really important and special about our certified showrooms. We actually like to call them experience centers, because it's not just about showing solutions or what they look like. No one cares what the speaker looks like that's in their wall. They want to know what it sounds like. They want to know how it's going to make them feel when they're watching a movie, or if they're a big audio lover, they want to feel how that audio comes through when they're listening to their favorite song. I've just personally loved seeing the different types of showrooms, but the ones that do it best are the ones that take you through and show you what Control4 can do for you.
Ron:
I love that. Why should the folks listening consider either starting or accelerating their approach to holding events? Just as an umbrella concept for business development or marketing, why is that a successful type of activity?
Kayla:
Yeah, that's a great question. I think for any business listening to this, but specifically for our industry, we're solution oriented. We need to be storytellers. We need to help someone understand how we solve their problems, because these are expensive systems. Most people in the industry aren't just hanging up a TV, they're installing full systems that require in-depth knowledge. When you host an event, it allows you to showcase what you know and what's different about you and your business, and people will pay attention to the small details. They'll pay attention to how you interact with them, how you know what you're talking about. What they don't care about, most of the time, is the technology itself. You'll get a few people who care about the nitty-gritty, but most people want to know that you've got them, that you're going to take good care of them. An event is a great way to showcase that, because I like to think of it as a first date. When you go on a first date with someone, you almost immediately know, "Yes, I want a second date," or "No, red flag, I'm not interested." An event gives you the opportunity to open a door. Ron, I know we're both in the marketing industry, so you know there's so much noise out there. There's an ad every time you scroll. There are people trying to make posts constantly. AI is entering the chat, so things are even faster and more automated. Those are all great things, but an event allows you to separate yourself from all of that and really tell your story as a brand. So I say, why not? I'm a big believer in omni-channel, meaning you do it all, and that includes events. That's true grassroots marketing in my opinion.
Ron:
Thinking about an integration firm, what are the types of events? How would you categorize them? Because I'm going to guess there's not just one type of event, there are differences. So let's start with what the different types of events are, then we'll get into the logistics of making them successful.
Kayla:
Yeah, absolutely, that's a great call-out. There are so many different types of events, and I'd recommend people don't put themselves in a box. You can think of virtual events. Right now we're on a virtual call, you could even host a virtual event this way, especially if you're working on a project that's far away from you and someone can't get out to you. How could you host a virtual knowledge event, a Q&A, or some sort of panel? There's an in-showroom or in-business event, in your actual physical space. You don't necessarily have to have a showroom to host an event in your space. If you have some sort of demo set up, or some sort of experience you can take someone through, you can host an event in your space.
Ron:
You could partner with a luxury car vendor in your market, or a luxury jewelry shop, right? You could partner with various types of people to hold events.
Kayla:
Yes, absolutely, and that was going to be my next call-out: going to someone who has a similar target audience as you. You're not going to go to McDonald's if you're one of our Control4 integrators and try to host an event there, but you might go to a luxury car dealership, or I love the idea of a jeweler. There are other places where, if they're hosting an event, you can tack onto that event and bring your experience, expertise, and demo items to showcase. While that might not be your event, you're still a participant, and it requires a similar strategy to what we'll be talking about today. Then there are things like trade shows or industry events, where you might be a small fish in a big pond, but again, what we're going to talk about today is how you stand out, how you look a little different. There are a lot of different ways to host events, and I'd always recommend thinking through unique ways to do it, because that's what helps you stand out. If you don't try, you don't know what works, so you have to get out there and do your best.
Ron:
I'll throw out a couple other concepts and get your response. What about holding events where you hope to teach your audience about some new technology or capability, whether it's about music, projection, screens, video walls, lighting, or shading?
Kayla:
Yeah, lighting is such a big concept right now. We see this a lot with our certified showroom dealers and their trade partners, bringing in designers and hosting seminars on how lighting can impact health. That helps designers think critically, even though many already know this, about how our solutions can support telling that story to their customers.
Ron:
I agree. When you think about education, you have the consumer, your customers or prospects, as an audience, but then you also have education to the trades, the architects and interior designers. I know they're offended when you say "designers."
Kayla:
Sure, yeah.
Ron:
Fair, the interior designers. They need to maintain their certifications and CEU credits. CEDIA has various CEU courses, and a lot of manufacturers and reps have CEU courses too. Many moons ago, I was a certified outreach instructor, maybe 15 years ago or so, and I know that was a successful way to bring in new audiences. Is there a right way, or a right type of event for a dealer, or should they try different things?
Kayla:
I think that's a bit of a tricky question, because it depends on your space. If you don't truly have space in your business to host an event, you have to think uniquely and step outside your box to create an event and experience outside of your space. If you have a showroom, your space is the perfect place to host an event. I'd think through any unique way, and it doesn't have to always center around what your solutions are being presented in the showroom. Like I mentioned earlier, we have some of our CSDs who like to bring out their specifiers and host trainings and networking events in their space. What that does is start the conversation. They don't have their team on-site doing full demos of solutions, they're focused on that one specific thing they brought people in for, but then it starts to spiral into conversations, people start asking questions, and the non-intended demo becomes the demo. I think even hosting simple events works. We have another CSD who, when there was a big golf event nearby, decided to host the viewing party at his showroom. What a brilliant idea, because a lot of times when you're sales-forward in our industry, that can be really off-putting. Again, we're trying to make people say, "If this were my home, this is what it would feel like, this is such a unique thing, I love how that looks, I love how that sounds, I love how that feels, let me try." So there's a difference based on what your space and what you have to offer, but I'd still challenge people, even if you have a showroom, don't just stay in your showroom. Still find ways to step outside and collaborate with trade partners or other local partners that make sense for your business.
Ron:
All right, so you decide you're going to hold an event. Hold our hand, Kayla, how do we make this effort a success and increase our probabilities? There's no guarantee, but how do we increase our probabilities of making this event, or events plural, successful?
Kayla:
Yes, this is such a great question, Ron, and obviously we've talked a ton, so you know I'm super passionate about this whole conversation.
Ron:
And you bring such a wealth of experience. We didn't cover it on this particular recording, but if folks listen to show 334, they'll hear about your background. Maybe give the 30-second synopsis here. You have a background in events and marketing.
Kayla:
Events marketing, and I'd just say operational execution. I believe in high operational efficiency, and a lot of times in my experience, when I talk to someone and they say, "Oh, my event wasn't successful," and we really start to break down why, a lot of people plan events with feelings, they don't plan events with strategy. So I've developed an approach after doing this for many years that's allowed me to create a blueprint, and the blueprint can change based on the specific event, but there still needs to be flexibility because you have to cater your events to your different audiences, or the different varieties of events you can have. Some of those things will change, but it requires what we like to call the three Ps: planning, process, and promotion. When you think about an event, you really have to start with your end goal and work backwards. I like to think of an event as one big SMART goal in action. When folks are planning events, sometimes they just want it to feel good, and then they don't know how to measure it, so they think it's a fail. Not necessarily true. I always challenge anyone I'm working with on events: what is your end goal? Is it to get leads? If so, how many? Once you determine that, you'd look at your cost per lead, which you can do with a marketing agency, or if you're familiar with your marketing dollars, you can figure that out yourself. That tells you how many leads you need to make up your investment, because every event is an investment, and that's something else to consider when you're planning. How much time do you need? How much manpower? What kind of things do you need there? What's your budget? So it really starts with planning: what's my goal, what are my outcomes, who's my audience? That's really important, because your audience changes how you plan for your event and how you message it. In the case we work with a lot right now in our industry, it's your existing customers, we're always wanting to have a conversation with them. It's your new customers, how do we cast a net and bring in new people? And it's your trade partners, how do we bring in designers, architects, specifiers of any type, trade partners who will help us continue to create partnerships that expand both of our revenue. So it really starts with planning, setting sales goals, and getting aligned clearly and early. If one person sets these goals on their own and no one else knows about it, that can create gaps in how we view success and what the end goal is. So again, thinking through, do we want leads, do we want sales, do we just want information so we can continue to nurture, or is this truly just a feel-good event? And then how do we measure that? You have to have a measurement. I'm a firm believer that with any event, in order to understand success, in order to understand if your investment was worth it, you have to be able to put it to some sort of number. Is that how you think about it too, Ron?
Ron:
I think planning is the — I mean, this idea of starting with the end in mind. I'd venture that for some folks listening, they may be squirming in their seat a little bit because they're so excited to get into "what's the event going to be, who's going to be there, what's the demo," all those fun details, when the boring stuff is actually the prep in advance of deciding what success looks like for this event. Are we generating upsells or new sales from our existing customers who come in? Are we trying to sell so many of this or that? Are we trying to bring in so many new prospects, and if so, exactly how many, and how many of them do we want to convert to the next step in the funnel? I'd say that's not the first nature or natural state for many of our mutual customers, that's not naturally where they're operating first. So I think it's the right reinforced message to give them, that you need to start with the end in mind, and that impacts how wide to cast the net, how many touch points. Maybe you could go into that. How many times, once you design an audience, do you just send one email?
Kayla:
No, I'm a big believer — going back, right, fail to plan, plan to fail. As part of process, what we're leaning into now is a true omni-channel approach to communication. Once you've done the most important thing, the goal-setting piece, because that's how you identify your audience and the marketing activities needed to reach your goal, then you go into continuing that planning with the marketing activities, which is essentially communication and storytelling. That's what I want everyone to hear, because people think of it as a checklist of things. Yes, that's true, it is a checklist, but the end goal is storytelling and communication. If you want someone to come to your event, you have to communicate to them, you have to tell them why they need to come, you have to put it in their mind that they should be at this event, and you do that through your omni-channel approach. Omni-channel means everywhere all at once. Think about your email cadence, and your email is going to be different based on your audience. If you're talking to existing customers, your language has to sound like you know the value of your already existing relationship with them. If you're talking to new customers, it has to sound like you're the best partner to partner with, and communicate why they should come to your event and what they're going to get out of it. If you're talking to trade partners, why are you the best partner, what will they get when they come to this event, what will you show them that helps their business grow more, how can the partnership be mutually beneficial? So you have to think about those different lenses, email, social media. I also like to think of social media as a first date. Let's say you go on vacation, say you go to Italy like Ron, and you want to eat somewhere, you're likely going to research that place before you sit down. You might look at their social media. I always do two things when I'm looking for food: I look at Yelp or Google, and I look at their social media, and that tells me what I need to know about who they are. Am I going to get good food? Does the food look appealing? Do people seem to like it? Everything you put out publicly is how people perceive you and your brand. So I'd also challenge you to make sure that when you think through your audiences and what you're putting out, it's clear and concise, education-focused, showing what they're going to get from this. There are other channels too: local marketing, grassroots marketing, getting out into your local area partners. We had an amazing certified showroom dealer share on one of our happy hours recently how he partnered with a local bar and restaurant, installed a whole Control4 system into their bar and restaurant, and established a partnership. At their C4 Yourself event, that bar and restaurant catered all of the food. So they continued that partnership, and when it came time for C4 Yourself, they were advertising in that bar and restaurant, and the bar and restaurant supported the event locally. So thinking through local partners, who have you installed for, that has a space that can also showcase the solutions and say, "Go to this event, you're going to see even more." So thinking through local grassroots marketing too.
Ron:
I was just going to relate to what you were saying. I think everywhere we ate on our recent vacation, we checked the Yelp of the restaurant or facility, the Google reviews, and we went to their Instagram. Literally what you just said was the exact process. We ate at a couple of restaurants that were big hits on social media, and it's to their credit that we landed there and gave them our money, because they were doing such a great job on their social media and their Google reviews. I want dealers to now look inward for a second. Is your social media going to help people feel confident about your business or brand? Is your website going to help people feel confident? Are your online reviews going to help people feel confident? And so often the answer is no.
Kayla:
Yeah, I agree, it's a hard truth.
Ron:
I'm the bearer of bad news, if you will. I know so many in our industry want to poo-poo marketing or a digital presence and just say, "I get my work through referral," and I hear you, and referrals are very true, you do get work through referral. But these businesses could make a better reflection of who they are, their values, and their craftsmanship if it also worked on their identity out in the digital realm. Would you agree with that?
Kayla:
I totally agree. Social media is so powerful now. I like to think of it as, how many scrolls does it take for me to know what you do? It's kind of like the owl and the Tootsie Pop, how many licks does it take to get to the center? Because we live in a world of instant gratification. If it takes someone a long time to understand your identity and your values, they're going to disconnect with your brand almost immediately, and once they put up that wall, it takes twice as much effort and money to break it down. So constantly, in every effort, I love the marketing story in the digital space. Yes, referrals are super important, but those areas are also important because you're going to get people who are new to Control4 or new to what you do as a business, and it's not going to come through referrals, and you want that person to have full trust in you. You do that through the storytelling you're putting out in your digital presence, and through your marketing activities leading up to your event or any campaign. It's a really important thing to consider.
Ron:
I'm going to plant a seed here, and then we'll move on. I just want the folks listening or watching to, at their convenience, go over to their Claude account or their ChatGPT account and act like they're a homeowner, curious about technology in their home, and ask what company they should engage in their local market. The reality is AI is going to make some recommendation, and it's either going to recommend your business or your competitors. That's part of that digital storytelling Kayla and I are discussing. AI, in addition to Google, is picking up all these signals from your website, your reviews, your social media, forums, podcasts, from all of these places, and ultimately using its "magic black box" technology to synthesize and determine who to recommend. It's a very different way the world works here in 2026 than it worked in years past. Everyone listening owes it to themselves to be aware of how they're being positioned, not only in Google and all these forums we've discussed, but also in AI. I think that's something to think about as you're holding events moving forward, particularly if you're targeting audiences like new trade partners or new potential clients who don't know you yet, because some of those people are probably going to do some due diligence before RSVPing and saying yes.
Kayla:
I completely agree with that, such a good perspective to have. When you feel like you've poured everything into your business, and rightfully so, you're very close to it, we want to believe we're doing everything we can to grow our business and doing it all well, and likely you're doing a really good job, especially if you're a sole operator doing all the things. But I think it's really important to zoom out to 60,000 feet and ask, "How would someone who doesn't know me, doesn't know my brand, doesn't know what we do, view us?" I absolutely love that recommendation, that would be a great way to understand how your business is being perceived by someone who doesn't know what you do.
Ron:
So Kayla, you said your three Ps are planning, process, and promotion. I want to zoom in on process. What does that mean to you?
Kayla:
Yeah, so I mentioned earlier that I like to have a blueprint. Event planning as a whole is one big, giant process and checklist, and there are predecessors, things that have to happen before other things can happen. You have to think about, again, the goals of your event. What's your process going to be for marketing communication, what's your cadence? That's a process. I have an email going out this week, a social media post going out this week, this going out this week. Those things are process because they're time-bound, they have a goal, someone has to execute on them. How am I educating my sales team? That's a process. How do we articulate our goal to them, how do we articulate their role in bringing people to the event and then their role at the event? Everything in event planning is a process, it all ties into your goals, but it's important to think of it that way, because events can be really overwhelming for people who haven't done them. When you create a process, it might seem like a lot up front, but it simplifies everything you do and creates a foolproof blueprint for execution and operational efficiency. It also lets you, when you go back and look at your goals, ask, "What part of the process broke down, what went really well, how do we replicate this to do even better?" But without a process, you're almost grasping at straws to figure out what did and didn't work. So I like to think everything has a process, and without one, things break down really quickly, people don't know what's going on, and your end customer or target audience can feel that. The goal of an event is to create an experience, something memorable. I'll give an example of where process is really important. Let's say you walk into a high-end department store at a mall and you're not greeted, you're not met, and you find yourself looking at a pair of jeans and can't find the size you want, and need help but have to go out of your way to get it. That's a breakdown in process, because at a high-end department store, that customer should have been greeted and checked on several times, and shouldn't have felt like a burden asking for help. That's the same thing in a showroom or at an event. If a customer walks in and no one greets them, that's a breakdown in process. If no one takes them around your showroom, that's a breakdown in process. How do we get to our goals if we're not doing the activities that support getting there? So thinking through process: communications process, planning event day, getting your team aligned, engaging outside partners, if you're bringing any outside partners into your event, that's a process too. I know that sounds overwhelming, but it can be super simple once you get into it, sometimes process can be three steps, it doesn't have to be overcomplicated. But it's important to document it and make sure everyone understands the different processes, to prevent breakdowns later down the road.
Ron:
Something we've talked about is AI from the standpoint of visibility for the dealer. Another way AI could help is you could probably leverage your friendly AI to help you develop your process for your event.
Kayla:
Yes, absolutely, and it'll even cater it down to your specific goals. As a type-A event planner myself, I have my standard event blueprint and I duplicate and customize it for each event, but AI would definitely take a lot of the legwork out for you.
Ron:
Particularly if you've never held an event, or feel newer or greener to doing these and having success. Garbage in, garbage out, so if you give a good prompt to AI and tell it your goals, your target customer, who you are, what you'd define as success, and give it all that context, you could probably get some really valuable direction or coaching, at a high level, that would help you go from zero to a decent level of comfort.
Kayla:
Yes, I love that. I think you could go back to that planning stage, quite literally write a SMART goal, and if you do that well and put it into AI and say, "Now build me a backwards plan and process for executing this event," it would do that. I'd even go as far as to ask, "What should my communication cadence be, what should the key messages be to different audiences?" A lot of times we get stuck on thinking we need to tell everyone something all at once, and emails get so long. AI helps you zone in on the key message you want someone to take away from that communication. It's a really great tool, especially for our integrators, who are busy, they don't have time to create 92 processes to execute an event. Let AI help you, then elevate and delegate, get out of your business, give it to your teams, let them run with it because the process is there for them, assign roles, and let them go execute.
Ron:
In this concept of planning, process, and promotion, I have a very high-level question, I want to step above that for a moment. What have you seen be successful for integrators in terms of owning or running this whole effort? Is it the owner running this, or are they delegating it to someone on their team? What works best?
Kayla:
Yeah, that's a fantastic question. I believe if you're an owner, you should work on the business, not in the business. That's my firm belief in how success happens. I still think, as an owner, you're close to it, you have grit, you get into it, you're talking with customers, but an owner truly should not be the sole planner of an event. What the owner should do is say, "Here are our business objectives, here are our goals, we're hosting an event," and give the broad details needed for the team to go execute on that. Giving it to a marketing professional, if there is one, would be a fantastic move, because they truly understand how events work, how promotion, planning, and process work, because that's essentially the secret sauce of marketing, the three Ps. Giving that to someone who can own and execute on it. I see this a lot, not just with events, but with nurturing and follow-up too, that's where owners really struggle, because again, they should be working on the business, not in the business. Giving ownership to someone within the business who has the capacity to complete nurture follow-up, bring someone through the funnel, make sure those touch points are intentional, have those one-to-one conversations, that's where someone can really own that within the business. But I don't believe it should be the owner, from my perspective.
Ron:
That's very helpful, hopefully that took a little weight off some of the owners listening who are thinking, "This sounds great." The key would be to find the person or persons on their team to delegate these responsibilities to, but give them clear stated goals and outcomes for the event.
Kayla:
Absolutely, early and clear alignment is key here, because if you're working on a railroad going in the same direction but you don't have the same end goal, it's not going to work out the way you want. So give it to someone who you feel can really own it, understand the goals, and be clear about expectations upfront. The other thing that should come from the owner, if they don't already have an operator in the business who owns budget, is a budget, because a lot of times marketers, including myself, love an event, we can blow through a budget in a minute. So keeping it strategic, helping to understand the budget, and helping that person understand how to net neutral or net positive the budget, is going to be really important when talking about goals. I like to think of operators and executors.
Ron:
I'll riff on that for a minute, if you'll allow, Kayla. We're recording this, and it'll go live in Q3 '26. Shortly, businesses should start thinking about their planning and budgeting for '27.
Kayla:
Yes.
Ron:
As you're looking forward into '27, there's a concept where you model out or cash flow forecast your fiscal year ahead, your forecasted revenue and expenses, and in that would be a line item for marketing.
Kayla:
Yes.
Ron:
And inside your marketing budget, you'd break that down, and there should be, or could be, a bucket for events.
Kayla:
Absolutely.
Ron:
In an ideal world, someone would be looking at their year ahead and saying, "Of our total investment into marketing, so much should go into digital strategy, so much into print and vehicle wraps or shirts, and so much into my event budget." Is that how you'd think about it, or coach people, based on your past experience?
Kayla:
Yes, exactly, because you do want to make sure — I firmly agree you should have a line item for events, and I think a lot of times people are resistant to that because events don't always have a clear outcome. We've talked about goal-setting, but sometimes an event is merely a touch point that will later become that end goal or outcome. So it's sometimes hard to measure, did you truly get that lead or that sale from an event, because the lead time is typically a little longer, since someone coming to an event isn't always ready right then to make a purchase, they're coming to be informed, to make themselves aware of what you have to offer. I like to think of that as one of the touch points, but I've found in my experience, when thinking about their marketing strategy, separating what I call their marketing split, where they say "this much goes to digital, this much goes to grassroots," and then within grassroots you break that down further, as you do for digital, I find people are really resistant to having an event budget at all. That's how they get themselves into trouble, because then they find they need to host an event and there's no budget for it, and they end up pulling spend from areas they shouldn't be. So I think looking at the bigger picture, and giving whoever's owning the event strategy that budget goal, so they can make sure they're staying within budget and that the goals are accurate, because a lot of times budget doesn't always match goal setting. That's another challenge I'd think critically about: yes, you have your budget, but your goal isn't just to funnel a ton of money into an event and get nothing out of it. Making sure your goals are actually aligned to that budget, and again, coming from the owner, is the goal to be net neutral or net positive? If we're okay with net neutral because our goals will help us get net positive in the long run, great. If we're okay with net positive, which we always should be, awesome, what does net positive look like to us? A goal should never be net negative, we don't ever want to go into the hole to host an event. That's typically how you know there was some process breakdown, misunderstanding, or misalignment in the goal-setting to begin with.
Ron:
Love it. All right, I'm going to keep us moving here. Of your three Ps, you have promotion. What does successful promotion of an event look like?
Kayla:
Yeah, so that goes back to the omni-channel approach, which ironically dips into planning and process too, because it's a process you have to plan for, but then you actually have to go and accurately promote your event. That's leaning into: what's the cadence of communication we want to the end target audience, who is the end target audience, what should we be saying to them, what are the key messages, and what's the action we want them to take? What are we looking to get out of the communication we're putting forth? For social media you might say, "Click our link in bio to RSVP now." You want them to see the social media post and go to your link in bio to RSVP. If you're sending an email, you'd want them to click a button that says "Secure your spot today." Making sure you're thinking through your approach so the audience matches the platform, because you wouldn't say "click my link in bio" in an email, that would be kind of silly. I say this because there are a lot of people out there who don't really understand the difference in platforms, but each platform has its own goal. I like to think of social media as that first date, it's how we educate, entertain, and talk to everyone, that creates a funnel. That could even start, Ron, from a digital advertisement, right, they're not even looking at your social media, they're scrolling by, get targeted by an ad, it intrigues them, they click on the ad, that funnels them to your social media, that tells them a bit more about your brand and story, then they go and RSVP, then we start to nurture them with emails, which is how we keep them informed and engaged in what we're offering. But if they don't start at the top of the funnel, maybe you're talking to your existing customers or trade partners, you're likely sending them emails. How are we keeping them informed, keeping them excited, making this feel like a personal one-to-one touch point, and not just a robotic email that says "we're having an event and you should come"? So thinking through a true omni-channel approach, being everywhere all at once. Look at your sales team, how can you task them to send out personal invitations via phone calls or text messages? Print mail is not dead, it's making a big comeback. How can you think strategically about targeting an audience within a specific range of folks you're looking to target, and working, I'd recommend, with a third-party agency, because not many people have experience in print mailing, to send out a personal invitation to targeted audiences within, say, 15 miles of your event or showroom space? It's sending emails to existing customers, new customers, trade partners. It's posting on social media, talking about it. I think the biggest thing with an omni-channel approach is thinking about how those activities feed into your ultimate goal, making sure the audience is clear, making sure the key messages are highlighted to the audience, and truly doing it all. I hear so many people say, "Well, only three people showed up to my event," and I say, "Tell me what you did to get people there," and they say, "I sent two emails and made one social media post." That is not enough. I want to pause for a minute, I'm a busy mom of three, I need a lot of reminders to show up somewhere. I need you to tell me in an email, I need you to send me reminders as we get closer. Maybe I signed up six weeks ago, as we get closer I'm feeling really tired, thinking maybe I won't go. I need you to keep me engaged, to tell me why I should actually come. So it's not just about getting the invitation and RSVP, it's about keeping someone engaged to make sure they actually walk through your doors. Promotion isn't just getting the RSVP, it's continuing to tell the story and nurture that lead until they actually walk through your doors.
Ron:
I'm going to share something personal here, Kayla, and it's maybe bittersweet, but it ties into your theme. Last year we worked with you and the ADI team around promoting, or offering, some of the showroom event, the C4 Yourself event participants, a handful of marketing packages. One was an email package, maybe a sequence of three emails, another was a social media Facebook promotion. We had a couple of people who did this, and I'll be frank with dollars, they invested maybe $1,000 or $2,000, and then post-event I got an email and a phone call from someone saying they didn't have the success at their event that they wanted. I engaged them, and I know you engaged them too, and we had conversations like, "Well, what did you do to promote the event?" And the answer was, "I bought the email package." And I said, "Okay, what else did you do?" And the answer was, "What do you mean, what else did we do, we sent three emails out." So I just want to reinforce that even if they engage One Firefly, and we give ideas and best practices on what they can and could do to promote an event, it requires active, focused energy and consistent outreach, not a couple minutes of time or a couple hundred or a couple thousand dollars, and an expectation of success. You get out of it what you put into it, is that fair?
Kayla:
Oh, yes.
Ron:
You could say, "Ron, you're wrong," or "Ron, I agree." What's your position on that?
Kayla:
I completely agree. Your investment in anything you do is what you get out of it, just like when you invest in a customer and they refer you to someone else, it's because you made an investment in them. I like to think of this for anyone on the call who engages a marketing agency: they are partners, they are not you, they're not going to do all the work for you, they're not going to act as you, they're merely there to supplement in areas you need support, and bring in their expertise to help continue to grow your business. It's fully on you to continue to own your marketing strategy from top to bottom, to be completely informed in how it's working for you, and understand where the marketing agency comes in versus where you need to fill the gaps. I've worked with many marketing agencies in my day, and my thought has always been that they're my partner, my expertise, they help me understand what I could and should be doing, or what I could and should change based on my metrics and what's worked for us. That's why they're a partner, they don't act as you in your voice. So when we think about how you're telling your brand story, that goes with everything you do in marketing, and it really is on you and your business to own that fully, and bring in your marketing agency to supplement where you need support. Ron, do you agree with that?
Ron:
I fully agree. I think if a business, and the people listening who are this far into this conversation are engaged, they care about their business, their customers, their brand partners like Control4, that means they're vested. They're an hour into this conversation, they're vested, and if they're vested, it's a colloquial phrase, but if you plan for success, you can plan to succeed. What's the adage, you said it earlier —
Kayla:
Fail to plan, plan to fail.
Ron:
There you go, thank you. So I think if you truly want your event to be a success, whether you really want to convert somebody or you're just looking to fill your funnel with relationships and new opportunities, I'll say personally at One Firefly, and I know the same is true for Control4, when you go to a big event, right around the corner we have CEDIA, these are big events where we've been planning for many months, and we've invested very big dollars into these events for our mutual businesses. I'll speak personally for One Firefly, we're not planning, air quotes, to go and convert people at the show, that's not the game plan. We're looking to meet people, meet our existing customers, spend quality time, and potentially meet new people, whether it's in the classroom or the booth. Then we're confident that if we fulfill our promise to be interesting and helpful to them, we have the opportunity to earn their business at some point in the coming quarters or years.
Kayla:
Yes.
Ron:
That's our approach, and that's how we've designed it into our strategy. Do you agree with that approach or positioning?
Kayla:
I completely agree. I like to think of both marketing and sales like an ATM, but I think of it as starting with a trust bucket. Every deposit we put in, giving good service, being friendly, taking them through the experience, having good social media, good touch points, clear communication, all those things you add as a business, a marketer, a salesperson, fill that bucket up. Once that bucket is full, your customer says, "I believe in you, I trust you, you've got me." Then you can ask for a withdrawal, which can look like a sale, an upgrade, a referral, more leads. Anything you do in sales and marketing is relationship-based and about building trust. So it makes a lot of sense what you're saying, going into CEDIA, the goal isn't to get a bunch of money out of it right away or convert a bunch of customers, it's to add to that trust bucket, to continue depositing into it with people who could become your customers, so that when you establish that relationship, you can get that withdrawal from them, whether it looks like becoming a client or giving you information. There are a lot of different ways, which comes back to your goals and whatever you're thinking about there.
Ron:
I love it, I'm looking at the clock here, Kayla. So what I want to mention is, we're heading into CEDIA, and right after CEDIA, we at One Firefly are going to be holding some events, some webinar time slots for dealers who are planning for their C4 Yourself event in the month of October.
Kayla:
Yes.
Ron:
And you're going to be joining us for some of those time slots.
Kayla:
Yes.
Ron:
It's going to be an open forum where we'll do a little programming, zero in on a particular topic, do a bit of teaching, and then take questions from the audience. This will be for the global audience of C4 Yourself dealers looking for a little coaching and guidance around those events. Who should plan on attending those webinar slots?
Kayla:
I'm going to be honest, I think everybody should. We're going to be zooming in on C4 Yourself, so anyone who's opted in as a certified showroom dealer for Control4 should absolutely attend, all of our CSDs should attend, because what we're trying to do is help you understand the event process, taking what we've gone through today and zooming in further on what makes a successful event and thinking through those activities, because a lot of times people get lost in the small details, or the big details, and forget the small details. We're really coming alongside you to help you create more effective events, and to allow for networking amongst anyone who'd like to join, because we can all learn something from each other. A lot of you are so creative and innovative, and maybe you've done something that created so much success that someone else would like to learn from and replicate in their own space or event. Our goal is to create dialogue that allows us all to raise each other up and have a successful event, whether it's C4 Yourself or any other type of event you might be hosting.
Ron:
I love it. I'm going to drop, just on the recording, the initial date, and then we'll drop the additional dates and times in the show notes. It's going to be September 8th, and we're going to do two time slots, one for our North American time zone and one for the rest of the world's time zones, to help them also participate live. We're going to do it 1:30 PM Eastern on Tuesday the 8th, and also at 5:00 PM Eastern on the 8th, since Monday is Labor Day. Then the following dates, we're generally going to try to do them on Mondays: Monday the 14th, Monday the 21st, and Monday the 28th. Then we're into October, and you'll be out running your successful C4 Yourself events. So Kayla, thank you again for joining me on the show. For those who want to get in touch with you directly, or with Control4, where can we send them?
Kayla:
Yeah, I'd love to connect on LinkedIn, that's a really great place to find me, I try to be pretty active there, and from there we can continue a conversation. I'm always happy to jump on a call as a peer or a mentor to support with events, always wanting to be a voice and a support, because we've got a lot of experience we're happy to share, and we want you all to be successful.
Ron:
Kayla, on LinkedIn, I'm just going to read this off for our folks who are out on their truck roll between job sites and listening, not necessarily watching. I have it scrolling across the bottom of the screen, but they can find you on LinkedIn at Kayla, K-A-Y-L-A, hyphen, Steinberg, S-T-E-I-N-B-E-R-G, and then lucky number seven. And is it okay if I also share your email, Kayla, is that appropriate?
Kayla:
Yeah, of course.
Ron:
All right, so that's
Kayla:
Yeah, thanks for having me, Ron, it's always a pleasure to chat with you guys. I really appreciate how you continue to try to support all of our integrators out there and equip them with more knowledge on how to be successful.
Ron:
Love it, thank you, Kayla, talk soon.
Kayla:
Thank you.
Ron Callis is the CEO of One Firefly, LLC, a digital marketing agency based out of South Florida and creator of Automation Unplugged. Founded in 2007, One Firefly has quickly became the leading marketing firm specializing in the integrated technology and security space. The One Firefly team work hard to create innovative solutions to help Integrators boost their online presence, such as the elite website solution, Mercury Pro.
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