Laura Czajkowski/ Pauline Kwasniak: Building communities & brands through events

This month we will be joined by Laura Czajkowski, Developer Community Manager, and Pauline Kwasniak, Founder of Hotel4meetings.com and TurnedSee, who will share with us their experiences building communities and brand identity through events. Two unmissable talks!

The meetup will be held at Huckletree D2 (thanks for hosting us guys). As usual, there will be some drinks and nibbles at the venue (sponsored by voxgig) and afterwards we can go to a local pub for more drinks and networking.

Please come along to gain new insights and ideas for your own events, make new connections and meet other event professionals.

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Laura Czajkowski - Cultivating Community Through Events; from Evaluation through execution

Abstract: Have you ever wondered what it takes to to successfully run your company’s booth at an event? Most people don’t, but a few of you have at least done booth duty a time or three.

It takes a lot of behind the scenes preparation to go from finding out about a cool conference to signing on as a sponsor and then actually running things on the show floor.. In this talk, I’m going to explain what an experienced community manager does, step by step, to take part in an event. I’ll explain the criteria I’ve used to evaluate the ever increasing number of conferences out there, how to organize your sponsorship, what it takes to ensure successful execution on-site, and everything in between!

About Laura:
Laura Czajkowski currently works for Couchbase as their Snr. Developer Community Manager overseeing their community, incentive programs, Experts and Champions group, meetups, and defining their presence at corporate events. She is also responsible for their monthly developer newsletter and engaging with the community in various forms.

Laura has been active in Open Source communities since 2000 and has been involved in various activities, including leading and organising conferences on software testing, documentation, and advocacy. She has also served 4 years on the Ubuntu LoCo Council, 9 years on the Community Council, and remains active in the Ubuntu community online and through their LoCo teams.

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Pauline Kwasniak - Building your brand's identity through event venues.

Abstract: ​Every event has a different purpose: Some aim to educate, some to connect, some to sell, others to celebrate. They all have one thing in common, though: a perfectly matched venue is essential.

The venue is a reflection of your brand identity. As such, it can strengthen the perception you want to create and delight your attendees. The contrary is also true. Choosing the wrong venue can damage the reputations of your organization, your team and yours as an event planner.

With plenty of real-life examples (including pitfalls such as the final dinner at Web Summit Lisbon last year), Pauline illustrates the importance of a well-chosen venue in order to achieve your marketing purposes and enhance your brand.

About Pauline:
Pauline has been involved in the events industry since she was a child. Her career started in the charity sector and moved towards modeling. Later, she became a professional organizer of conferences and events. In 2015, she launched her own venue sourcing and groups hosting agency, Hotel4meetings.com, where she has provided advice and support to many well-known brands. However, it was not until the launch of her latest venture, TurnedSee, in 2018 that she fulfilled her ultimate dream: to offer event planners a bespoke platform of special venues, where they can easily find their perfect venue match.

A social media enthusiast and Guy Kawasaki fan, Pauline combines her love of traveling with her passion for the events industry. Her career affords her the chance to visit countless destinations, invited by the biggest hotels chains and international show organizers.