The CX Live‪!‬ The CX Live!

In this episode, Mark Coxon, Director of Business Development and Joe Whitesides, Director of Experience Technology, both of the XTG Division of AVI-SPL, delve deep into the psychology of attracting, educating, entertaining and moving your audience to take action. It’s very clear that their backgrounds in the areas of behavioral psychology drive their passionate approach to creating impactful spaces and experiences. From examining what is 'Wow Factor’ and the need to prepare our audience for messaging, to studying how to create truly immersive experiences, we discuss ways of stacking senses like understanding vision and auditory more deeply, plus exploring techniques like coding memories, the newness of content, contrast of scale and transporting via the narrative just to name a few.  Get ready!

Highlights
Examining “Wow Factor” A World of OverstimulationSensory Resetting Preparing for the Message Interrupt for Attention to Drive ActionProviding Less Choices Using Novelty and Scale Peripheral Vision vs Foveal VisionStacking SensesNewness of Content Contrast of Scale Appeal to the SensesNeuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) - Coding MemoriesAnchoring / Triggering / NostalgiaAuditory  - Contextual Immersive Directional Audio Transporting Guests Educating While EntertainingLeverage Existing Physical DesignLeaving White Space Narrative Transportation Resources
"Thinking Fast & Slow" - Daniel Kahneman, "The Paradox of Choice" - Barry Schwartz, "Stories That Stick" - Kindra Hall, "Free Guy" Movie Guest Thought Leaders

Mark Coxon
Director of Business Development, XTG Division of AVI-SPL
Mark has been in the technology industry for the last 23 years and has a wide variety of experience in the design and implementation of workplace technology. Mark’s current role with XTG involves supporting conversations around the future of work and executive briefing center programs with some of the world’s largest companies. Although Mark has a deep technical background, his real passion is working at the intersection of physical space, behavioral psychology, and technology design to create real impact. Mark writes for several trade publications and is a regular guest on several podcasts and industry panels. He also teaches a workplace technology workshop for AVIXA (Audio Visual and Integrated Experience Association) on Creating the New Connection Center.

Joe Whitesides
Director of Experience Technology, XTG Division of AVI-SPL
Joe has over 25 years of experience in the AV industry serving as systems designer, executive manager, and consultant.  Joe works with clients in a variety of markets, including experiential environments, associations, large law firms, banking, defense contracting, and federal government. As a leader, Joe has worked to develop teams and improve processes from sales to installation, while striving to provide industry-leading customer service.  As Director of Experience Technology, Joe leads a team designing systems for Corporate Experience and Briefing Centers, working on international projects.  Joe maintains certifications from a variety of manufacturers and industry partners (including CTS-D) and has a BS in Psychology from Virginia Tech.

In this episode Brittany Bell, Managing Director at Deeplocal, and James Chester, Managing Director at Gumband, share the unique ways that briefing programs can develop more memorable in person experiences. From initial discovery and ideation sessions to how to engineer spaces that evolve over time, it’s the ability to measure the impact of these spaces by tracking actual utilization that briefing teams need to understand.

Highlights 
A different approach to the Ideation Process - bring Creatives and Engineers together from the start Key principles of “showing, not telling” and the concept of learning through play Keeping experiences focused on a singular message using levels known as “Wading, Swimming, Diving” Future proofing with technology - ensuring spaces can evolve over timeApplying an integrated approach for platform control and measurement Being prepared for Day 2 - the concept of installation as the starting line Strategies for working with partners - collaboration, communication, and transparencyGathering stakeholder voices, and keeping the process on track via roles, not peopleThe importance of playtesting and prototyping in the build phase - why testing design assumptions pays off A 6 step Process - from “concepting” to “install and wrap-up”Gumband design - flexible and modular to integrate numerous technologiesMeasurements including collecting, storing and displaying data on both passive and active engagements helping to determine future content strategies Resources 
Simon Sinek: A Bit of Optimism Podcast “Humanize with Thomas Heatherwick”The Deeplocal / Gumband Process Guest Thought Leaders 
Brittany Bell   
Managing Director, Deeplocal
Brittany Bell is the Managing Director of Deeplocal, an award-winning creative technology and experience design company. She has nearly a decade of experience in project management, interactive exhibit design, integrated marketing strategies, consumer insights, brand communications, customer experience, and events. 

At Deeplocal, she works with brands to create permanent interactive spaces that evoke playfulness, and build emotional connections and loyalty with their customers. As a forward-thinking business leader, she has the ability to distill complex ideas into easily understandable content and project plans. She excels at motivating large, cross-functional groups to align around a single goal and balancing multiple deadlines while maintaining an organized, yet creative, approach. 

James Chester 
Managing Director, Gumband
James Chester is the Managing Director for Gumband, an award-winning SaaS platform that allows brands to control and measure their interactive environments in real time from anywhere. With his expertise spanning architectural design, marketing and tech, he has worked on multi-million dollar building and development projects, and led the digital transformation of Samsung's global media business at Starcom. 

In 2021, he oversaw the launch of Gumband as a product division out of Deeplocal. Since then, Gumband has powered experiential activations and spaces for global tech and retail brands.

Clients: Google, Stripe, Meta, TikTok, Museum of the Future, Activision, Linkedin, Spotify, Netflix, etc

In this episode, Jackie Haywood, former Director of the Aetna Customer Center, shares about her experience developing and managing the briefing program while staying focused on building an environment that prioritizes team and community. She reveals the guiding principles that she implemented to build a strong team while advising how today’s program leads can expand their reach and pay it forward. From Advisory Boards and Speakers Bureaus to the Voice of the Customer, Jackie highlights ways to build both internal and external community partnerships to help programs evolve and grow. 

“Never underestimate opportunities that could come from very unexpected places (i.e. serve on a committee, give an opinion, be part of a project)...It could influence your future career. As managers, we must be willing to do whatever it takes to support your team for success! Never stop supporting each other and always stay in touch with your network.”
Highlights
An overview of Aetna, creating the Aetna Customer Center and teamThe importance of Executive Support and being flexible Expand your program and space to external community initiativesThe Aetna Customer Center program differentiators and best practices  Guiding principles for building a strong and motivated teamAdvice for EBC Program Directors to Pay it ForwardExpanding team member roles to align with interests and strengthsStrategies to build support from the internal Aetna Community: Advisory Boards, Speakers Bureau, Voice of the CustomerImpactful contributions that leave a legacy How to transfer skills learned in briefing programs to our future careersResources
“Learning to Lead” Ron Williams, former Aetna CEO “In The Current” by Virginia Kravitz, Writer & Mentor    This blog contains inspiring posts on a variety of topics, each with universal life lessons that are both relevant and relatable. Guest Thought Leader 
Jackie Haywood
Former Director of the Aetna Customer Center
In her 35 years with Aetna, Jackie held multiple positions including Implementation Manager in National Accounts Sales Support before moving to the Aetna Customer Center first as the Operations Manager and then promoted to the team’s Director. 

Jackie managed the proposal and building process for the new Aetna Corporate Executive Briefing Center.  She was responsible for all aspects of managing the Center and team, including program development, staff, budget, marketing initiatives, internal & external communications, sales, training & experiential display elements. 

Jackie assembled a diverse team representing external suppliers & business partners from various professional disciplines (content writers, exhibit designers, media, construction, audio-visual) as well as company-wide business leaders and subject matter experts. She determined program specifications, design requirements, overall content and business objectives for the Center, which was the first of its kind in the healthcare industry and was LEED Silver-certified upon completion. 

In this episode, Ricken Patel, Senior Leader, Global CXC, with Cisco goes into great detail about expansion of the Cisco Experience Centers, including new models for recently opened centers in Atlanta and Paris.  He also focuses on how Cisco has applied strategies related to each of the ABPM world class characteristics  (Management, Operations, Branding/Experience and Analytics) to create a more globally unified team that moves together, celebrates together and learns together.

“Democratize and evangelize your data - being more open with our data has allowed us to build tighter relationships, get access to the right people, and even get some funding out of it. The more people know about what you’re doing and bringing to the table, the better off you’ll be.”

Highlights 
The Cisco Global CXC Program defined including locations, team member roles, demos and onsite requirementsHow to fast track the build and launch of a new regional center while implementing a new service model The importance of referencing the ABPM World Class CharacteristicsManagementFunctional organizationCommunicationMove Together Celebrate TogetherLearn TogetherEmbracing so called “Rogue Centers” Operations Vision - how to set priorities according to your “North Star”Tools & Resources - driving strategy through consistency Processes - Common vs Local Branding / Experience Consistent branding across locationsDaily communications to provide consistent experiences Analytics The motto of “share all data!” Curating self-service dashboards by personaePartner with “sister teams” for executive insights Lessons Learned including ‘Be extremely curious’, ‘Right-size advice and best practices’ and ‘Democratize and evangelize your data’! Resources
“Good to Great” by Jim Collins“Turning the Flywheel: A Monograph to Accompany Good to Great” by Jim Collins“Hit Refresh” by Satya NadellaGuest Thought Leader

Ricken Patel
Senior Leader, Global CXC, Cisco
Ricken is responsible for the Global Cisco Experience Center program. He and his team are accountable for helping their sellers execute high level engagements across all 11 CXC locations. The team’s purpose is to connect their customers and partners with the best of Cisco. 
Ricken graduated from San Jose State University with a Bachelor's Degree in Industrial and Systems Engineering and immediately began working for CIsco. His entire professional career has been with Cisco including a number of interesting and challenging roles within the Sales organization. 

Having attended ABPM conferences since 2019, Ricken presented his first session at the ABPM Fall Workshops in San Diego this past October.  

In this episode, my daughter, Jaxlyn Werner, and I review the highlights of our 2023 season providing key nuggets and resources from this year’s amazing interviewees.  We introduce our 5th season which will start in January 2024 to include more conversations with global briefing industry leaders who are changing and elevating our profession with their creativity and willingness to think outside the box.  
Highlights: 
A review of all 11 episodes of our 2023 thought leader interviewsKey topics of interest provided in each episodeImportant resources referenced by our interviewees A look ahead to our 5th season of The CXLive! Podcast  Guest Co-Host: 
Jaxlyn Werner
Artist, Entrepreneur, Honor Student, Tinker, Athlete and a leader for our next-generation, Artveva
Jax just turned 12 and is currently in 6th grade at the same middle school I attended!  She loves math and science and is on the Principal’s Honor Roll.  She loves the arts including musical theater. She recently won 1st place in 2 drawing categories in 5th grade and has created a number of painting series including one for Ukraine relief efforts last year. Her creativity is showcased in her pop up Art Booth where she sells her paintings, bracelets, stress balls and more. She plans to start her own Etsy site very soon called Artveva.  

Jax has a mechanical mind like her dad.  She’s so curious, taking things apart and figuring out how to put them back together. Thank goodness she also has a scheduling mind like me.  She is very athletic having been involved in dance, gymnastics, tennis, basketball, and volleyball over the years, now focusing on her latest passion: Karate. 

Jax stays informed about what is going on in the world and is defining her own voice. Needless to say, we are very proud of her and are so excited for the next steps in her journey. 

And her journey to the briefing world was an obvious one. Already a veteran of ABPM events, Jax attended her first ABPM Spring Conference in 2012 in Boston at 6 months old. Many of you may remember meeting her there and seeing her again at Solution Partner Showcase events when held in Santa Clara before we moved home to Redding, CA in 2016. And of course, I couldn’t resist sharing photos of her in opening slides when teaching ABPM sessions.  Thank you to so many of you for your care and interest in her life over the years. 

In this episode, Rebecca Bucher, Senior Director, Global Accounts with HelmsBriscoe, takes us along her journey from her days managing the Xerox Briefing Program to working with the ABPM team and ultimately defining a new career consulting for global events.  She shares key elements that everyone leading event teams, including those briefing programs who have taken on event teams, should know when negotiating contracts for hotels, AV, transportation, and other services.  Rebecca specifically addresses how important it is to look for and uncover hidden costs when negotiating on her clients’ behalf.  
Highlights: 
Rebecca’s career with Xerox where she held many different positions The road to managing the Xerox Briefing Program Her introduction to and ongoing relationship with the ABPM Team How to leverage the power of global players to address clients’ needs Specific event elements Group Business clients should know when looking to secure hotels, AV, transportation and other services How to negotiate for value and avoid hidden costs Guest Thought Leader: 
Rebecca Bucher
Senior Director, Global Accounts, HelmsBriscoe 
Rebecca worked for Xerox Corporation for more than 20 years and held numerous positions including Manager of their Briefing Program. She has been an active member of ABPM since 2000 participating in every conference, hosting Tour Day in their NYC Center, and also served on the ABPM Advisory Board.

Today, Rebecca is an associate with HelmsBriscoe, the global leader in meetings procurement.  In this role, she offers an easy and cost-free alternative to the time-consuming and costly aspects of finding and contracting a hotel for group events. Rebecca has received their President’s Club Award 11 times.  And, the ABPM staff relies on Rebecca to find, negotiate and contract hotel locations for all their conferences.