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Getting to ROI with Experiences
June 26, 2026 Creative Strategy Design Leadership Event Marketing Experiential Design Leadership ROI
Featuring
Jennifer Gardner, Creative Director of Event Experiences, ServiceNow

Jennifer Gardner is the creative director of event experiences at ServiceNow, where she leads cross-functional teams in building immersive brand moments for global audiences. With a background in performance and sociology, she brings a human-behavior lens to experiential design — creating events that connect storytelling, strategy, and ROI. Her work includes major industry activations such as Cisco Live and ServiceNow’s Knowledge Conference.

Getting to ROI with Experiences

Every brand wants a “wow moment,” but few teams know how to turn that moment into measurable impact. In this episode, ServiceNow Creative Director Jennifer Gardner shares how to craft events that balance art and ROI — by designing for humans first, not just for hype. She and Adam Morgan discuss how to craft immersive experiences, align stakeholders early, and translate brand goals into sensory stories that move people to act.

Takeaways:

  • How to build purpose-driven events that connect creativity to ROI
  • Why designing for humans, not headlines, creates lasting impact
  • How to plan a year ahead and align executives around key moments
  • Ways to use storytelling, spatial design, and multisensory details to immerse audiences
  • Why collaboration and early co-creation are the real creative superpowers
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mentioned in this show:
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Adam Morgan
Creative Leader and RCL Host
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The Stoke Group
Digital Marketing and Full-Service Content Agency
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REAL CREATIVE LEADERSHIP

Season: 7

Episode: 2

Episode Title: Getting to ROI with Experiences

Guest Title:
Jennifer Gardner, Creative Director of Event Experiences, ServiceNow

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Adam Morgan

Welcome back to Real Creative Leadership. In today’s episode, we’re joined by Jennifer Gardner, the creative Director of Event Experiences at ServiceNow.

That’s the hint of what we’re gonna be talking about. Now, this is such a great episode because in 2025 we see brands and marketers shaking things up. We have to. And experiential marketing has become a pivotal strategy for brands aiming to forge deeper connections with their audiences. People want immersive, personalized experiences that resonate on a human level, and Jennifer knows how to do that. In fact, if I were to say it, it like event experiences are probably one of the best ways that.

The front door of a brand, like the best ways for us to experience what a brand is like. So, in this episode, we’re gonna talk about event experiences and dig deep into a few things. We’re gonna talk about the strategic role of events in achieving ROI and brand engagement. We’re gonna talk about the mindset required to conceptualize and execute a big impactful event. And Jennifer will share some real insights and tips on crafting events that align with your brand’s vision and objectives. So with all that ado, welcome Jennifer. I’m so excited to have you here and thanks for joining the show.

Jennifer Gardner

Thank you, Adam. It’s wonderful to be here.

Adam Morgan

All right, so clearly we’re gonna be talking about events and this is really raw for me ’cause I just got back from our big annual event for Twilio. And I don’t know when this last time you’ve been at one, but I’m sure there’s some coming up very, very soon.

Jennifer Gardner

I just got back from mine, at the beginning of this month, first weekend of May, so I am quite right there with you as far as just coming back off the high and kind of experiencing all the post-event rush to bring that all together, everything that we just accomplished, which is a lot.

Adam Morgan

It is a lot, and it’s draining. And I know if any of you have ever done those big corporate events, like it is just so funny ’cause people will say, oh, you’re in this wonderful location. Yeah. Right. No, we’re in a dark room with the lights out for like a week going through all of the, you know, pre-set up and practices and all the, coordination and making sure things are printed right.

Like, it’s a lot. So maybe let’s start with that. Give the audience an, a sense of what it’s like to work on a big event, a sneak peek into your world of what you go through when you’re trying to set something up.

Jennifer Gardner

Yeah, I mean, when you’re working on a big event, we start planning pretty much right after, we’ll. Sometimes during the event itself, we have to step back and say like, okay, what worked, what didn’t work? And you’re already thinking about how you could do things differently, but you start pretty much a year ahead of time.

And it is, bringing in lots of, cross collaboration with a bunch of other teams and then dreaming up what you want to be the moment of people, for people to experience what is in your mind, in person. And that’s what I think is like the draw for creatives is you can think up something, have it back strategically and then be able to implement on it and see it come to life in real life, and see others experience it. And it’s something that draws you into the event experience world — at least it did for me, for many, many years to really kind of see that, come to fruition. And, you know, it’s it, it takes a lot of, collaboration and attention to detail, to pull one of these big events off, but it’s so, so worth it in the end

Adam Morgan

Maybe give us more details of what specific elements you have to create at events.

Jennifer Gardner

From everything from the very beginning as far as like that first moment that you’re gonna push the event live, like what is that experience of seeing the pre-marketing materials, like what are we trying to say? We gotta understand what our theme is. And the one big thing is to make sure that we have a roadmap pulled together that has executive leadership approval from the very beginning, and that becomes our strategic goals and mapping.

So every creative idea that we come up with, it needs to map back to that — those key, business objectives. Otherwise, you know, we don’t wanna pull together an event that’s just trendy and cool and just like a cool vibe. We wanna actually have it be meaningful, impactful, and memorable for someone to actually move forward and continue their journey, within whatever company that I might be working for, whatever their business objectives and goals are. ‘Cause in the end, it is about moving people to action, not just experiencing. Something we do wanna drive, some sort of reaction. Otherwise, you know, corporations wouldn’t pay for events. You know, we wouldn’t get to do the cool. So we need to make sure it has purpose. So it has to be purpose driven in order to kinda keep things moving and get it funded.

Adam Morgan

So we’re not just putting fun posters on the wall and sending funny emails and putting together just a lot of smoke and mirrors on a, on a big keynote stage. Like we wanna make sure all of those parts and pieces are telling a story.

Jennifer Gardner

Yeah. And there’s so many people that have opinions. Rightfully so. Rightfully so. But there’s just a lot that, you know, when you’re going through all of those phases, whether it’s the pre-event. Right when people get on site. ‘Cause that’s a lot of what I do is that user experience. What is that journey that people are going on as they’re, experiencing the event? And what are all those key touch points that move them along and keep them inspired and activated to wanna pursue learning more, networking more, and, just learning more about, the product or the company that they might be there for.

But yeah, there’s signage, there’s videos, there’s motion graphics, there’s performance, there’s huge scenic builds that are set up for these bespoke experiences. We pulled together different types of games. I got to, the last couple of years, through my company, we sponsor, like NHL and AMF One, I get to design like, cool, like uniforms and co I call ’em costumes — I come from dance.

Adam Morgan

Yeah, they are.

Jennifer Gardner

They are uniforms for, for these events. So it’s like you get to touch a whole bunch of different creative elements in order to pull something together for the people that you are building these experiences for. So it definitely runs the gamut, and I think that’s why designing for event experiences, you never know what you’re gonna be doing next.

And that’s what kind of keeps it fresh and new. Yes, I work at a tech company, but like I design NHL costumes. So, you know, you get to have a lot of fun as well.

Adam Morgan

And that’s why I say like it’s like the front door of a brand because you think.

Jennifer Gardner

Yes.

Adam Morgan

About it, normally a brand like you show up on a webpage or in an email, or maybe it’s a video, which is really, emotional and and engaging. But at an event, it’s all of those things. You’re getting not just video, you’re sitting in a dark room with the most amazing sound and the largest screen on the planet seeing a video, right?

Like it’s even bigger than a movie theater sometimes some of those screens, and it’s just so immersive. And then you step out and there’s all these walls and mazes and games, all those things you’re talking about. It’s just like a very sensory experience being at an event.

Jennifer Gardner

And that’s like our goal is to try to make it as immersive, as, as we can, as budget allows. But really thinking through how can we make this moment a key moment for someone to, for it to resonate with them. So it’s, it’s looking at the space, not just as a functional space, but like looking at it more as how can we create this moment that propels people to really engage with our product and also learn and have a good time while doing it? And you know, there’s different types of people who attend the events, and so you have to think through all the different personas that are out there to make sure you’re, making sure that there’s space, there’s quiet space for someone who might learn a different way or there’s a hands-on way for someone to learn and something where they need to be more hands-on. So you, you gotta think through all the different ways that people learn and provide that environment for them, so that you’re successful, for the whole group, not just like, c-level executives or something. You know, you, you have to move it all around.

And, I think that’s what helped, makes it fun because there’s just like, so much engagement and excitement at many different levels to pull people in and talk about content in a way that attracts them.

Adam Morgan

Hmm. Yeah, it’s so true. Unless you’ve put one of these events on, you don’t know there’s an event within an event, within an event. Like you, your whole VIP exec experience is a completely different journey versus those who are just staying in the community zone versus, you know, behind the scenes with the keynotes.

Like there’s just. So many different moments going on, and you’re trying to orchestrate all these things to get, have it be awesome for every single part of the audience.

Jennifer Gardner

And I think what helps drive it, and at least how I like to look at it, is, is like you’re designing for the people first. So, so you’re really looking at the human and you’re trying to look at their like ways of communicating, like the way that we try to use our brand and how we’re evolving our brand right now is to really be more approachable.

Big tech can get a little bit siloed with talking about AI. So like you need to be a little bit more conversational and really grab people in, through that sort of conversation. And I think that, that designing for the human and the emotional experience is what really helps make it become more memorable and approachable.

And then you’re able to communicate the content that is necessary. But like, designing first of alright — someone’s gonna walk into this room. What is that first moment you wanna touch upon? What is that person gonna think? What do they want? What do you want them to feel? What do you want them to do afterwards? And how do we make that experience seamless so that it can move forward and move their journey forward and what they came to the event for? So I think a lot of that and, and having it be a huge experience and being able to touch into audio and like the big screens and the lighting and the screens and like bringing in talent and performance. Like it just is, pretty captivating, to work in that sort of space. and think through that.

Adam Morgan

Well, now that we’ve set the stage of the big picture, I’m ready to dig into some of these small elements and, and parts of this get your perspective and tips on some of these areas such as like you just kind of hit, set it up with, you gotta design for that little journey. So I wanna talk two things.

First, what are the skills that someone need, like the creative skills, if someone were trying to get into experiential or event in a creative. What should they focus on? And then second, I want to really talk about these. You talked about like the first moment they enter this big portal experience.

I, I wanna dig into that one a little bit more. So let’s first start with essential skills, like how do you get into this space?

Jennifer Gardner

I think, really wanting to be a storyteller, not just looking at the one activation that you may be working on, and delivering that. It’s really thinking about what’s the full story, what’s the full journey? Being intrigued to be a storyteller. I think that’s something like a creative skill that I see a lot of young, artists focus on that specific deliverable versus asking the bigger question, well, “how does this experience, actually move them along in the journey and how do we like look at that?”

So I think storytelling is a big one. And I think it just kind of leads in naturally to the user experience as well. So like, that’s the attendee journey, that’s just looking at it, from one moment to the next. And then, just at the same time thinking about spatial design, like opening it up to the entire space, the entire room.

And it doesn’t mean just the Expo hall. If you’re focusing on something, it’s like, oh, they’re just gonna come from the keynote. What was that last keynote message? How do we translate that as they’re walking into the expo? What does that mean? And then, now they’re moving into sessions. How do we contribute that and make sure like the walk-in slides for the sessions can, like, has that same message. So it’s like, it’s just looking beyond your current focus and scope and just being,present and, you know, looking through all of the different areas of the event. And I think that’s a creative skill that you don’t necessarily, at least I didn’t see that necessarily in schooling. It was more through actually doing it, experiencing it and seeing, oh wow, this is a huge event. But I think also like the skills of paying attention to thematic development, and how that plays a huge proponent of why you’re even in this space, why you’re even doing this. Like always asking why, and it kind of goes back to that storytelling moment is just to make sure that there’s a thematic element that ties your bit and piece into the larger story.

And then you need to look at technical skills and production skills of just looking, being able to. Reference like lighting and sound and AV and make sure you, you don’t have to be experts in all those, but you bring in the right people to help you have the conversations. And also thinking through the different types of meeting mediums for visuals. So you’ve got print signage, you’ve got motion signage, you’ve got video, like you have so many tools at your fingertips is to not forget about all of those tools. And I think the last, and I think this is the most important one, really is collaboration. Really just around, cross-functional teams because so much, like I said earlier, there’s so many voices in these big events.

There’s just so many. It’s to really pay attention and listen. To all the people who have, who are a stakeholder, and like our job is to pull out the creativity and bring what they wanna say to life, in a very strategic, creative way. But you gotta collaborate, you gotta talk, you gotta open up those communication doors and be willing to, you know, be flexible and have them co-create with you. And again, that’s something that you, that I’ve learned, throughout all my years, is just being able to not be precious with ideas, but, let it, let it be a co-creation because then you will have a cheerleader. You have a champion behind you to help move these ideas forward. So yeah, that’s, that’s some of the skills I think.

Adam Morgan

Well, and now that we’ve kind of set the primer for those who are getting into it now, I’d love to just focus more on those who’ve already put on tons of events and things like some of our tips and tricks. So yeah, let’s talk about those big epic portal moments. Like for me, it’s like that one moment when you first walk in and you want them to journey from what their world was before into this new new world.

So talk to me about how you create that transition into a new space. What, what are some of the things that you add or do or make sure are present to, to create that transition?

Jennifer Gardner

It. I really want, like, obviously to try to make it as immersive as possible. And every year it seems like you have different levers to pull, but it’s, it’s really trying to tie back to what is the main, theme message of the event and how can we, um, and how can we actually get to that space? And what sort of elements help. Now sometimes, we use, we’ve been using, video and motion to sync, stuff all around you, and then we’ve incorporated lighting as well. What I’ve always liked to do is also incorporate audio, to the experience and

Adam Morgan

Ooh, let’s talk about that. That’s been so hard. I’ve been trying to get audio into that moment. Like there’s this one where you walk through this little tunnel and came out and I wanted to have this, ah, you know, music or something. Then you come out. So how have you done audio?

Jennifer Gardner

So audio is tricky because in order to make it work, you have to have the different, sound little curtains as to where you want that audio to live. But if you have it the way that I incorporated it, and this was not necessarily for the, the big entrance moment, but this was for some interactive games that we were doing. We incorporated audio into the game that, was broadcast out live everywhere, so people heard it as you were walking by. But the audio for the, the entrance moment, what we tried to do with that is we synced it with certain motion, had it synced with the audio track. And so, in addition to that big move, the motion movement, we also created these sparkles on winches that had a motion and design to that. So it was all coordinated together with the lighting, the subtle audio was super subtle. Maybe I only noticed it, but it was there. And then you’ve got all of our motion design, which our motion design team is like fantastic. And they’re able to take a lot of the vision and make it come into reality.

But yeah, it, it changes every year as far as what gets approved and how we can reinvent that entrance moment every year. ‘Cause there’s always gonna be an entrance moment and it’s just like, how do we one up it from last year and one up it? So, yeah.

Adam Morgan

Well, and something I learned in writing novels, there was this one workshop that I thought was pretty fascinating, where he said, as you’re describing scenes in the novel, think of all the five senses. So it’s like what was, what did they smell? What did they see? What did they hear? What did they feel? And I think that’s such a good lesson when you’re talking about that entrance moment. And I love how we’re like, of course lights, like uplight, like lighting makes a big part of it. And then we talked about audio, so it’s like, what are you hearing? I haven’t even messed around with like scent. Like that could be an interesting thing too. Or just like how do you get all of those scents, all of those senses present so that as people experience it in different ways in that entrance moment.

Jennifer Gardner

Yeah.

Adam Morgan

Just kind of an interesting thing to think about

Jennifer Gardner

 I’ve pitched scent a lot of times. I’ve pitched it a lot and have not yet had it, make it through budget cuts. It was like, oh.

Adam Morgan

Yeah, that’s true. It’s always cut questions.

Jennifer Gardner

The budget comes in, so there’s always like, yeah, the, the what ifs. But like, it is, it is also about building trust with your stakeholders and executives, because I know I wanted, like I said, that it was like a murmuration the way that the sparkles moved and it took quite a bit to keep that in. Like I tried my hardest and it stayed. And they now are like, yeah, let’s bring more motion and movement into this moment. It’s not just about motion on screens, but we can build things that have a little bit more interest. And it’s those little key wins, which makes me think, well maybe next year when I pitch sound more like they’ll get it or you know, scent, maybe scent will stay on the table.

Adam Morgan

Hmm. It’s so true, isn’t it? It’s like the trade-offs always happen and you just have to pick where’s the experience that you want to happen. If it’s the entrance moment, then you gotta give up on carpet later on. It’s just gonna be black carpet, no questions, you know? Right. So it’s always a a good trade-off.

So how do you, you just mentioned executives and getting them on board, and it’s more than just budget, but I wanted to go back to where you talked about the theme, because when you start this process the day after the it ends for the next year, I feel like that is one of the hardest things to wrangle, is how do you, what are your tips and tricks to getting senior leadership on board with theme and then on board with timing and getting the story together, rather than waiting till the last second? ‘Cause that seems like the natural path is just like they wait till the last second and then they get serious about it.

Jennifer Gardner

Yeah, and I think what’s really helpful for us is our CMO is really involved. And invested in events. So he knows the importance of planning early. And what we’ve done, last year, is we meet together as a smaller, creative team that includes our head of brand and VPs to talk about what what do we wanna do differently? What worked? It’s, it’s bigger than just a debrief. It’s like, let’s really put our stakes in the ground as far as what what do we wanna do as a creative, brand organization. And then we bring that to our other collaborators, like the strategic events team. And then we sit down and we all kind of hash out and get CMO approval on what are our key moments, what are our like top five things that we wanna transform.

What are we gonna put in our focus and effort? Is it gonna be on customer experiences, like really nail down where they want to spend the dollars and put the focus in so that us as creatives know where to put our energy really into? And then when it comes to the theme, that sort of is, I mean, it is deliberate as far as trying to get, aligning with all the campaigns that are going on at the moment and get input from those teams and making sure that we are all saying the same thing.

But that all gets wrapped up, you know, probably three months after this event. So three months after we end, we should be in a good place that we know the general directive. Now obviously themes change all the time, but if you have a general understanding you, you’re clear on the business objectives. It’s not even if the word changes or it slightly shifts it, our experiences are still gonna be in going in the correct direction. And I just think bringing in stakeholders and executives early on is just so key to help co-create, like I mentioned before. But just really let everyone have a, a part of the experience to champion it, to move it forward. And you’ll get better ideas. You’ll just, your ideas will become not only cool and attractive, but they’ll also be like, they’ll tell the right story. Like you’ll learn more about the product, talking with the product team, and having them explain more the intricacies of why we’re saying this versus that. Like you don’t always know that. And the more you learn more about it, it like the creative just gets better and stronger, on how we deliver it. So, I’m just a big proponent in collaboration.

Adam Morgan

Well, that’s sound advice. Instead of going off and trying to create some big, huge reveal and thing on your own. It’s like what you’re saying is get the team together, build an army, get everyone on the same page early and often, and then together, that momentum will get you through it all.

Jennifer Gardner

Yeah, and it will, like, they’ll champion it to other people. You don’t always have to be on the call and hearing it from other voices is always, a nice thing as well. So it’s not just coming from one voice, it’s coming from multiple voices.

Adam Morgan

Yeah, that’s great. Okay, so events aren’t just about big ideas, they’re about big outcomes. Let’s talk about how creativity connects to ROI, and how and why that’s the real opportunity behind brand experiences. So talk to me a little bit about balancing creativity and ROI.

Jennifer Gardner

Yeah, I think that like I mentioned, it is really all about that original creative brief and like the alignment up to executives on what our goals are. And what creativity does is we are attracting, we’re engaging people and then as long as it’s strategic, it ensures it delivers impact, which will then deliver on the ROI. And I think as we’re coming up with creative ideas, we have to think about how can this be measured? And so putting key moments of in order to start this experience, they need to be badged, they need to get scanned so we know how many people participate. And then when you talk through any of the engagement interactive games is make sure that your partner who’s building them is also considering measurement so we know dwell time. How many people stayed there, when did they drop off? What option did they choose the most often? Just so that, again, we learn more about our people that are experiencing it so that we can deliver better impact.

But I think having those ROI measurement, ability, in the planning phase, not a like, “oh wow, we should figure out how many people enjoyed this,” is key to make sure that everyone’s on board. It’s not like, oh, well you guys didn’t mention you want this, so we didn’t track how many people dropped off, we just have badge scans. So it’s like, okay, well that doesn’t tell the whole story. But I also think, surveys, one other thing that we do, is we hold in person, focus sessions at the event, so we get real time feedback during the event. And then just your own visual like perception, walk around, experience it and ask people. That’s what I do a lot at the events.

Adam Morgan

Is there a specific metric that you use to prove success for your creative efforts?

Jennifer Gardner

I think for me, and this might not be necessarily executives, but for me is watching people go through the experience and seeing engagement and joy and seeing them really, dive deep into a conversation with someone as they’re going through it. So it’s more, and I think that’s why I always love going to the events, and seeing that. ‘Cause you miss that if you don’t attend your event and see it. For me personally, I just wanna see someone go through the experience that like in the middle of the night I was thinking about and crafted in my head. Like that, seeing if it has the right emotional response to what I was trying to get is my metric that I do.

Adam Morgan

That’s fair. One that I got recently at our last event, and this is not something that I yeah, plan on measuring. But our Chief Revenue Officer sent me a a Slack and just said, “just to let you know, a lot of our customers that have come to this event and seeing your rebranding and, and all the branding efforts and all the energy and the emotion and that what they’re feeling,” he said “it’s coming up in all of our sales meetings, that they’re just like, holy cow, the brand is just alive and we’re just so excited for it. We wanna be a part of it.” It’s increasing sales deals. So the, that, that’s like a, the down the road impact that do events matter. And it was just so nice to get a note saying, yeah, our deal sizes are increasing because of, of, of how we, they show up in this event and what they’re feeling.

Jennifer Gardner

Yeah, and I guess, we’ve been getting our, our Head of Brand was recently just asked to attend like our Winner Circle. So for all the sales team, it’s for the sales leaders and, marketing’s never been invited to this event, and he was invited this year. So when the brand team is being recognized by the CEO, we’re on a good path and that’s always, like a nice thing going on.

But yeah, the, having the long-term return on that emotional investment that people take their time out to to be there is just phenomenal. And then it is helping business and sales is what will keep us able to still do these events.

Adam Morgan

Hmm. All right, so we’ve talked about why events matter. Now let’s get into how creative leaders can make them matter more. So as you’re working with your team and you’re helping shape the strategy. I’m curious, as a creative director, how do you ensure that your team is not just designing for aesthetics or for fun, but with intent and following that story that you’re talking about?

Jennifer Gardner

I think like I mentioned, it’s. Bringing them in early, so that they understand the story that we’re trying to tell. Too often, I think sometimes junior creatives are being brought in to just execute on, “Hey, this is what I need. Can you just give me this?” And I’d like to usually give way more context. And sometimes I’m like, I’m sorry, you probably didn’t need to know all of that, but I think it will help you understand why I am asking you to, to think through this experience. And I find that that usually helps bridge more conversation and more collaboration and the creativity. Just, they feel like there’s a safety net that they can collaborate and talk with me, versus present to me all the time, it’s more of a let’s have a conversation about this. Are you stuck? Let’s, let’s figure it out together. So that’s how I think, working with creatives helps keep people on the same page is by just bringing them in early, give them the background to the ask, and then let them do what they do best and deliver on their creative journey, that I’ve asked them to do.

And I think also just to reinforce and ask better questions is something that I try to do is like when we are having the conversation is, well, why are we doing this? What’s the reason for this, why you chose this color? And it’s not to get too granular and to like the mechanics, but to really make sure that they’re realizing that it’s, it’s. Yes, it’s green versus blue, but why choose the green? Because that like elicits some sort of emotional response in this area and just, talk through it a little bit more and, make sure that they’re, like you had just said, they’re designing with purpose and intent and that like details really do matter.

But the more that I can be better at asking the right questions and pushing my own work, like I love that from other people when I’m working with the team and they ask me, well, why did you do this? Because I have an answer. I totally have an answer, but I don’t always, sometimes, it’s not communicated that way. I thought I communicated it, but obviously I didn’t. And so it’s good to get that pressure testing, from others as well. ‘Cause some, sometimes I, back in the day for like pitches, you find out that, feedback from the client is they didn’t like such and such or something. You’re like, well if they would’ve just asked me, I could’ve totally explained why I went that way and see why that made sense aligned with their business goals and objectives and within their brand story. But just it’s like a reminder that you really need to make sure other people can see your thinking. ‘Cause it’s not always, you think people can see it, but you don’t always, are successful at that.

Adam Morgan

As a creative leader, how do you get not just your team, but also cross-functional teams to embrace risk taking. Like when we’re talking about these big key moments or trying something new or you know, it’s not just getting attention. It’s how, how do you make that shift to get them to buy into these big immersive moments?

Jennifer Gardner

I think that’s where you have to be really strategic, and know what like you think about. What their concerns are, like come from their perspective, what is driving their hesitancy, and figure out how can you solve it. And again, communicate to them why this risk, this creative approach is the right thing to do because it will answer and solve something that is of interest to them. And as long as you can push it back to strategy, I think that’s where you are allowed to be able to take that risk. The moment it becomes well, it’s just really cool.

Adam Morgan

Yep, you’re

Jennifer Gardner

Like it loses a little bit of, of, authority. Like, it, it, it can’t just be what’s trendy and what’s hip in the moment. It needs to be right for the business, right for them and, bring them along for the journey. And again, it’s really about that, that collaboration. And so, I think that talking, having that conversation with them, and allowing them to see more of the strategy behind the creative ask will inevitably allow you to build the trust to do more risky things that they may seem as think as risky. So, yeah, like with my sparkles and the movement, like I said, I was just like, no, this works. This is how we’re showcasing AI right now. It’s a murmuration, it all works together. It, it makes sense. It’s visually, and so it was just really championing that idea and reinforcing it and pointing it out in different ways to different stakeholders. And we were able to accomplish it.

Adam Morgan

So the last big question, and we alluded to this earlier, but I’d love to come back to it. Give us an example of whatever the biggest wow moment that you’ve ever experienced at an event. What’s the thing that has burned a memory into your brain that you can’t forget is like that’s the ultimate example.

Jennifer Gardner

The ultimate example, I think would have to be, when I was able to incorporate my passion for performance and dance with music, light, motion, and was able to really take over an entire space, for two consecutive days where there was a continuous storyline. From one to the next and

Adam Morgan

Two days? You had a performance going for two days?

Jennifer Gardner

Well not two days consecutively, like one keynote for one day and one keynote for the second day. And, but like the same performer that started in one was the performer and the other, but in a different format. And so I think that was pretty epic for me to be able to build that experience, and really, embrace all of the different learnings that I have had and create that moment for everyone to experience. But yeah, that was, that was pretty epic for me.

Adam Morgan

Alright. Well, before we wrap, I just wanna leave our audience, especially the creative leaders out there with some tangible takeaways. Alright. Number one, what’s one principle or mindset you always bring to the creative process when designing an experience from scratch?

Jennifer Gardner

It’s the emotional response, like really looking at what is that emotion that I want to, bring out in people. That’s like a key principle.

Adam Morgan

I love it. Next, what’s a key move you make to ensure your events always deliver on business value, not just a great vibe.

Jennifer Gardner

To make sure it’s strategically driven, make sure there’s it’s strategy back.

Adam Morgan

Perfect. Start from the beginning

Jennifer Gardner

Yes.

Adam Morgan

And what’s one piece of advice you’d give to another creative leader looking to inspire teams and align with stakeholders on a big, bold moment?

Jennifer Gardner

I think it’s to really, it, it’s the cross collaboration is to bring in your stakeholders early and co-create it together. And you’ll have the champions you need to, help bring that risk to life.

Adam Morgan

Well, that’s awesome. Thank you, Jennifer. This is just for as a summary for everyone listening. Events are so much more than just. a little moment in time. Like they are just these big opportunities to really have your brand shine and be immersive with so many different ways and experiences. Like you’d said earlier, it’s like this 3D experience of a journey traveling through space with scale and everything else. So there are huge opportunities for brands to make a bigger impact with events. And we’re so glad that you are here to talk to us about your experience in events. Thank you so much, Jennifer, for joining us on real creative leadership.

Jennifer Gardner

Thank you, Adam. I really appreciate it.