Curated Not Crowded - How to Win with Community-driven Events

If you're a B2B healthcare marketer wondering whether your trade show budget is actually buying you anything real, this episode is for you.

I sit down with Megan Antonelli, Founder and CEO of HealthIMPACT, to kick off a two-part series I'm calling The Intimacy Shift, a look at why healthcare technology marketers are pulling money out of massive trade shows and putting it into smaller, curated, community-driven events instead.

Megan has spent over a decade building the kind of room that CIOs, CMIOs, and CFOs will actually fly across the country for, and in this conversation she breaks down exactly how she does it. We also get into a question a lot of marketers are asking right now: as AI makes it easier for buyers to research quietly and stay invisible longer in the funnel, does that make in-person events more important, not less? Megan's answer, and her closing advice on where to start if you're rethinking your own event strategy, is worth the listen on its own.

If your team is questioning whether to keep writing checks for booth space at the next big trade show, start here.

Key Topics Covered

• “(00:00)” Introduction
• “(03:15)” Pivoting to virtual during the pandemic
• “(04:00)” Defining "operators" in healthcare
• “(04:45)” Megan's path through Informa and IIR
• “(05:15)” The shift from conferences to trade shows
• “(06:45)” Making the leap from corporate security to founding her own business
• “(09:00)” The real mechanism for curating the right room
• “(11:00)” Sponsor break: Health Launchpad
• “(12:00)” Why getting executives to show up is harder than it looks
• “(13:45)” Why Megan is proud to be "pay to play" 
• “(16:00)” How marketing, sales, and healthcare leads each measure event success differently
• “(18:15)” Why content has to earn six hours of a C-suite executive's time
• “(21:45)” The shift from CIOs chasing "innovator" status to prioritizing being "responsible"
• “(23:00)” AI adoption, the growing dark funnel, and why events matter more for validation
• “(24:15)” Peer validation and word of mouth as the real decision driver
• “(26:00)” Why executives give up three or four days to travel
• “(27:15)” Megan's closing advice
• “(28:15)” Adam's five takeaways

If you are interested in discussing this or any other topic, let's have a chat.  Reach out to me directly to schedule a no-obligation discussion. This isn't a sales call, but rather an opportunity to talk through your questions and challenges.

Follow me on LinkedIn.

Subscribe to The Healthtech Marketing Show on Spotify or watch us on YouTube for more insights into marketing, AI, ABM, buyer journeys, and beyond!

Thank you to our presenting sponsor, HealthcareNOW, 24/7 expert shows, interviews, and podcasts, powering healthcare leaders with innovation, policy, and strategy insights.