100 Events, One Strategy: The Page Template Power Move
If building every event page from scratch feels like you're stuck in the movie Groundhog Day, this session is your way out of the time loop. We’ll talk about how reusable, strategic templates can boost brand consistency, cut launch time, and save your event team’s collective sanity. Whether you’re launching 50 events or 500, you can use templates to turn your page-building chaos into a beautifully templated machine. This session will also include a sneak peek of our 2026 roadmap initiatives!
AI Agents and RainFocus Data: A Collaborative Workshop
You're invited to bring real-world event and business challenges to the table, where we’ll collaboratively explore how AI agents and RainFocus data may be applied to solve them. Guided by a facilitator, this interactive, workshop-style conversation will focus on practical use cases, shared learning, and ideas you can take back to your own programs.
An Inside Look Into How RainFocus Thinks About AI
Get a high-level overview of RainFocus' AI strategy. More details on this session to be announced!
APIs Simplified: How the New RainFocus Integrations Suite Connects Your Data
The Integration Suite is the backbone of RainFocus — transforming fragmented event data into a connected system that powers intelligent, cross-platform customer experiences. In this session, you'll learn how this suite solves the fragmented event data problem by enabling a 360-degree customer view in platforms like Salesforce, Marketo, Adobe Experience Platform, or whatever systems you use. In addition, discover how the Integration Suite is paving the way for AI agents to have complete, accurate, and unified data to operate effectively using model context protocol.
Après-Ski Party
Meet us at The Depot in downtown Salt Lake City for live entertainment, dining, activities, and extended networking.
Badges First: The Small Detail That Makes a Big Impact
Badges may seem like a minor component, but they are one of the most visible and impactful parts of the attendee experience. A smooth check-in process and well-designed badges set the tone for the entire event. But too often, badge planning is left until the last minute, leading to stress, errors, and missed opportunities for personalization. In this session, we’ll explore why badge planning should start at the very beginning of the event lifecycle. You’ll learn how to align badge design with event goals and streamline data collection. We’ll cover best practices and practical strategies to ensure badges become a seamless part of your event strategy instead of a logistical fire drill.
Behind the Scenes: How AI Helps Us Help You
What if setting up your event could take a fraction of the time? We’ve been asking the same question — and building AI tools to make it possible. In this session, go behind the scenes to learn how our AI solution helps our teams accelerate event setup. We’ll also share how these advancements will soon empower you directly, making your event setup experience faster and easier than ever.
Behind the Scenes of a VIP Gala: How The ELC Crafts Memorable VIP Experiences
Attendees will gain an inside look at how The ELC strategically designs and executes high-profile VIP experiences such as Gala Week. Discover how to define and deliver “white-glove service” in a way that consistently exceeds expectations for high-value guests. We will discuss best practices in managing the VIP journey, from personalized invitations and pre-event touchpoints to seamless on-site check-in and service delivery. You'll also learn the strategic planning and operational rigor — including staffing, technology, and cross-team coordination — required to flawlessly execute a high-stakes event. You'll leave with actionable insights to elevate service levels, reduce risk, and create memorable experiences for the most important attendees.
Best Practices for Deploying Facial Authentication at Events
Facial authentication is becoming mainstream - from unlocking your phone, to speeding through airports, to frictionless entry to sports stadiums - and event organizers are taking notice. Salesforce, Workday, NVIDIA, Autodesk, and many others have brought facial authentication to their events - speeding up badge pickup, streamlining session access, and securing back-of-house areas. In this interactive roundtable session, we’ve gathered expert practitioners from Salesforce, Workday, GPJ, and Wicket to share their insights and best practices for implementing facial authentication at events. Collectively, they’ve deployed Wicket’s facial authentication platform at dozens of events, with more than 100,000 successful event and session entries. They will share best practices for: Pre-event - when and how to introduce facial authentication to event attendees Communications - key talking points to encourage attendee usage and assuage lingering biometrics concerns On-site - how to optimize badge pick-up layout and signage Event types - which types of events are best suited for facial authentication If you are considering upscaling your events with facial authentication, this is a great time to hear from the experts and ensure you achieve the surprise and delight that other event organizers have with Wicket.
Beyond Networking: Driving Engagement and ROI Through Intentional Human Connection
Workday Rising is a 15,000-person ecosystem of customers, partners, and employees. But with events at this scale, true connection often gets lost. By partnering with Braindate, they transformed networking from a transactional exchange into a culture of curiosity, collaboration, and community. The results were staggering: 10,000-plus new connections, with participants consistently naming Braindates as the highlight of the event. Session attendees will walk away with a concrete understanding of how to scale authentic connections in large ecosystems — and why investing in community-driven experiences yields both immediate and long-term ROI.
Braindate about Braindate: How to Foster Engagement and Create Meaningful Connections
This is an ambassador-led Braindate that will be held in the Braindate Lounge following the morning keynote.
Breaking Boundaries: Creative Implementations of RainFocus
This session demonstrates innovative ways to leverage the RainFocus platform, showcasing how a collaborative and resourceful approach can adapt the technology to meet unique challenges. Join us to explore how we've gone beyond conventional use cases to build more powerful, integrated, and impactful event experiences.
Building With Confidence: Governance Tools for Event Templates
Discover how template builders can streamline event creation while protecting the organization’s standards and security. In this session, we’ll explore how RainFocus governance tools empower template builders to build event templates that simplify the user experience, enforce compliance, safeguard data, and minimize risks. Learn how to equip your Event Strategists with the right guardrails so they can focus on creating impactful events that maximize the attendee experience while simplifying processes for small-event programs.
Component-Driven Branding: A Missing Link Between Design and Consistency
A practical look at how component-driven branding helps teams move from one-off branded experiences to consistent, reusable systems that scale across events. This session explores how a more systematic approach can create clarity, consistency, and longevity within the platform.
Connecting Journeys
Events are an essential part of any go-to-market, sales, or client success strategy. However, events are often siloed. At RainFocus, we are bridging the gaps between customer touchpoints with data and products that are built to streamline event management and boost customer engagement. Discover our latest product developments in this keynote session featuring RainFocus’ CEO and president, alongside leaders from the product and client success teams.
Connecting the Dots: Cisco’s Single Source of Truth for Events, Infinite Possibilities
From kickoff to closing, every Cisco flagship event relies on the power and flexibility of RainFocus. Join us for a case study revealing how Cisco and RainFocus partnered to successfully deliver events across the globe, accommodating audiences ranging from 4,000 to 22,000 attendees. Discover how Cisco harnessed RainFocus APIs to enable integrated wayfinding, AI-powered attendee assistance, and dynamic marketing strategies. Walk away with practical insights and proven approaches for leveraging integrations and APIs to streamline complex event technology deployments at scale.
Connection Is a Journey: How Belonging Starts Before Day One
Connection is not a moment. It's a journey.
What begins before registration shapes whether attendees feel a sense of belonging, show up engaged, and form meaningful relationships onsite. In this session, we’ll explore how event leaders can intentionally design connection journeys that start pre-event and are cemented in person.
We’ll unpack how empathy-driven experience design, peer-to-peer advocacy, and early engagement work together to transform passive registrants into active participants and communities that grow themselves. We'll showcase real data, practical frameworks, and honest conversation about what actually creates belonging at scale.
Crafting the Ideal Session Catalog: Navigating AI-Written Content and Meeting Stakeholders' Expectations
In the last two years, many organizations have used AI to create content, including for event sessions. Meanwhile, event content managers are continuously balancing the priorities of their C-suite and their attendees. This panel will discuss how AI has affected session submissions, what event leaders are doing to ensure session content remains authentic, and and ways to align stakeholders’ expectations with attendees' needs. Discover how others are using the RainFocus platform to streamline session curation and enhance session quality.
Decoding Agentic AI: How Salesforce Elevated Attendee Engagement at Dreamforce 2025
At Dreamforce 2025, Salesforce advanced its agentic AI to deliver smarter, more connected event experiences. Ask Agentforce powered conversations with more than 47,000 attendees, helping them build personalized agendas, discover sessions, and navigate the event seamlessly. Building on its 2024 debut, the team introduced new interactive actions and deeper integrations with RainFocus data and event FAQs. Join Julia Cornish and Scott Allan for an inside look at how Salesforce scaled AI-driven assistance and hear what the team learned about the future of event engagement.
Don't Hate the Player or the Game: A Tiered Approach to Gamification with RainFocus and Eventbase
Event gamification doesn't have to be boring, and your attendees don't always need to receive the same event gifts. We’ll take a deep dive into the "Engage and Earn" game from Sage Future and discuss how to use RainFocus and Eventbase to configure a tiered event game that incentivizes strategic event actions, drives participation, and rewards attendees with a gift of their chose based on their level of participation. They won’t hate playing, and they won't hate the game!
Elevate Your Events: Crafting Unforgettable Attendee Journeys
Discover the latest innovative strategies to captivate your audience at your event and enhance their journey. We will show how to leverage RainFocus' powerful tools to personalize interactions, foster community, and drive meaningful engagement throughout the event lifecycle. Through hands-on demonstrations and real-world scenarios, you'll leave with best practices for using data analytics to inform decisions, optimize event design, and create immersive experiences that resonate with attendees.
Elevating Attendee Engagement Through Experiential Design
This is an ambassador-led Braindate that will be held in the Braindate Lounge following the morning keynote.
Elevating Event Security: Leveraging RainFocus for Safe Events
Learn how to go beyond basic badge pickup and use the RainFocus platform as a powerful security tool with Salesforce's best practices. Drawing on real-world insights from Dreamforce and Salesforce’s World Tour portfolio, this session delivers actionable strategies for enhancing safety across your entire in-person experience. We will demonstrate how to utilize the Content Module for advanced access control, employing dashboards and Live Tables to actively monitor venue capacity and manage security access. Discover the key credential design principles used to enhance security and stopping fraudulent badges. You'll leave with the knowledge to build essential identifiers and access control directly into the badge, ensuring a safe, secure, and seamless event for all attendees.
Engagement Is the New Currency of Events
Attention has become the scarcest resource in events, and engagement, interaction, and participation are now the true drivers of value. In this fireside chat, hosted by Rodney Hart, VP Events at RainFocus, Joel Steel, CEO of Komo, joins Tanya Reid, VP Events at Eventbase, and Doug Muller, VP Experience Technology at George P Johnson, as part of a discussion exploring how the events industry is evolving beyond passive content delivery. Drawing lessons from sports leagues and B2C fan experiences, the conversation will examine how B2B events are beginning to treat engagement as a system.
The panel will discuss how AI-driven engagement enables this level of interaction at scale, helping events stand out in a crowded market, increase return attendance, deliver more relevant content, and create measurable value for sponsors. The discussion will also explore what this shift means for the future economics of B2B conferences and trade shows.
Events and Marketing Industry Forum
Hear what industry thought leaders have to say about the latest trends in events and marketing. Stay tuned for more details!
Evolving With RainFocus: Scaling Smarter Through Change, Partnership, and Platform Adoption
As event programs evolve, so must the strategies and tools behind them. For organizations looking to transition from a large, integration-heavy stack to a more streamlined approach, adaptability is key. Learn how Broadcom and RainFocus are building strong cross-functional alignment to simplify delivery, empower teams, and drive long-term success. Hear how Broadcom scaled their event program to include intimate roadshows while right-sizing their technology, reimagining workflows, and expanding their use of RainFocus modules.
Expanding the Role of Event Technology Experts Into Strategic Advisors
Event technology has become a critical enabler of modern events, placing event technology experts closer than ever to the moments where experience, execution, and outcomes intersect. In many organizations, those building and supporting event technology see friction points, inefficiencies, and opportunities long before they are widely recognized. In this session, speaker Nicola Kastner challenges event technology experts to expand their role beyond execution and explains how to become strategic advisors. The focus is on recognizing advisory moments, surfacing insights earlier, and connecting technology decisions to experience, efficiency, and business outcomes. Attendees will leave with practical guidance on how to bring ideas forward with confidence and elevate their influence through strategic contribution, regardless of title.
Fast-Track Success: Building Complex Events on Compressed Timelines
When the clock is ticking and a complex event build is needed fast, how do you ensure success without sacrificing quality? This session dives into the essential strategies and best practices for delivering robust, intricate events on compressed timelines.
From 18,000 Registrations to Zero Lines: A Case Study in Event Technology Scaling
The biggest challenge in event scaling isn't actual lines — it's laborious administrative processes. This advanced case study details how a flagship event (Workday Rising, 18,000-plus attendees) successfully used a "self-service over manual" philosophy to achieve true "zero line" Status. We eliminated central administrative bottlenecks by transforming internal operational friction into automated guardrails. Attendees will learn how to retire "Time Diminishers" by deploying two essential architectural guardrails: Group Packages, which eliminate registration code chaos and manual reconciliation for complex bulk allocations, and Live Tables, configured as the secure source of truth, enabling instantaneous automation for sales nomination approvals, real-time security indicators, and centralizing the workflow to execute 60-plus ancillary events. You'll leave with a clear plan to identify your own team's manual burdens and build the automated "Time Multipliers" needed to permanently eliminate administrative bottlenecks and buy back strategic hours.
From Data Push to Experience Pull: A Case Study in CRM-Driven Personalization
Most event teams focus on pushing post-event data into CRM systems to measure revenue impact. But what if your CRM could impact the event itself? In this session, we’ll share how we leveraged attendee data from our CRM before and during our event to transform their experience. You’ll hear a firsthand account of applying details to influence every aspect of the attendee journey, from registration forms to session access, and from targeted invitations to lanyard colors. Discover how front-loading personalization reduced guesswork for our attendees, accelerated engagement, and made every interaction feel intentional.
From Friction to Flow: How GitHub and ATWM Re-imagined Possibilities With RainFocus
In this first of two related sessions, join GitHub and ATWM for an engaging discussion that takes you inside the build of a RainFocus program designed to tackle real-life challenges. From automating employee and customer nominations with a self-serve Hubber (employee) Portal to creating new Explore pages for attendees, the team reimagined workflows that cut down on manual, inefficient processes while unlocking new ways to personalize the event experience. Along the way, they pushed RainFocus beyond its out-of-the-box capabilities with creative branding, unexpected animations, and smart configurations that prove just how flexible the platform can be. You’ll walk away with practical lessons in automation, governance, and collaboration, plus a few ideas on how to combine RainFocus’ powerful configurability with creative boundary pushing thinking into a tool that works harder (and smarter) for your attendees and internal teams.
From Sessions to Conversations: Why We Use Braindate at Data + AI Summit
This is an ambassador-led Braindate that will be held in the Braindate Lounge following the morning keynote.
From Templates to Tour Stops: Scaling Microsoft’s Global AI Tour with RainFocus
When an enterprise client leverages the full power of RainFocus, success depends on more than turning on modules. It requires thoughtful design from the start. This case study covers the journey of using the platform's full module for the 2025–2026 Microsoft AI Tour, a global flagship roadshow. Learn how Microsoft’s prior experience with RainFocus on internal events provided the learnings and confidence to architect this external series within the platform. The team will reflect on how their early investments of time and resources to build robust event templates created the foundation for scale required of this event series. From close attention to roles and responsibilities to rigor in documentation, this session demonstrates how upfront planning transforms complexity into efficiency, and how those lessons can guide any enterprise seeking to maximize RainFocus for their events.
How Are You Using Data To Personalize Attendee Journeys in 2026
This is an ambassador-led Braindate that will be held in the Braindate Lounge following the morning keynote.
Informatica Pioneers the RainFocus Sales Module
Discover how Informatica is transforming its sales strategy and maximizing event impact through the innovative RainFocus Sales Module. Join us for an exclusive client spotlight that unveils the game-changing ways this powerful tool is driving sales success and elevating event performance. We will explore the tangible benefits for Informatica’s organization, discuss how it empowers their sales teams with concise capabilities, and reveal the measurable impact on their overall event outcomes. Come learn from the trailblazers themselves!
Innovation Awards
INSIGHT wouldn't be complete without our annual Innovation Awards. Learn how your peers are exceeding their goals and accomplishing new milestones with their event programs and the RainFocus platform.
Innovative Ways to Drive Attendee Engagement
What are other event teams doing to drive engagement? What gamification strategies are working best? This panel will answer these questions and others. Stay tuned for additional session details!
INSIGHT Premiere
Kick off your INSIGHT experience with our emcees, who will provide a preview the conference agenda, a look in to key sessions, and introduce exciting updates to the conference game. Following the introduction, stay for the all-new INSIGHT Premiere Panel, featuring industry heavyweights Nicola Kastner, Brent Turner, and Mike Bushman, moderated by Ashleigh Cook, as they reveal the critical shifts shaping future events. This powerful discussion will equip you with essential, actionable insights on AI adoption, strategic measurement, and innovation, helping you understand how to leverage AI ethically, bridge the data skills gap, and align your events to drive profitable business impact for 2026 and beyond.
INSIGHT Preparation
Prepare to maximize your INSIGHT experience! Preview on-site event experiences, start scheduling meetings, connect with attendees, and learn pro tips for your trip to Salt Lake City.
Introducing Live Browser Studio: A Powerful New Addition to RainFocus Media Suite
Be the first to see the Live Browser Studio: our brand-new, native webinar solution integrated seamlessly into the RainFocus Media Suite. This session will provide a practical, feature-by-feature demonstration, showing you how to simplify production while maximizing engagement. Discover how Browser Studio helps you boost interactivity, streamline production, and scale effortlessly. You'll leave with a clear understanding of how the Live Browser Studio will simplify your production pipeline and turn every session into a high-impact, interactive experience.
Introducing the Sales Module: How To Manage Event-Driven Revenue
Learn how to enable sellers to engage specific buying groups through targeted, invite-only events embedded into your larger events.
Keeping the Conversation Going: Smarter Pre and Post-Event Messaging
This is an ambassador-led Braindate that will be held in the Braindate Lounge following the morning keynote.
Learn How We Implemented the Storycraft Lab Profile Quiz at Our Event
This is an ambassador-led Braindate that will be held in the Braindate Lounge following the morning keynote.
Leave it All on the (Live) Table: Beginner-Friendly Ways to Simplify Content Workflows with Live Tables
Managing hundreds of breakout sessions is no small task, especially when multiple stakeholders are involved in scoring, reviewing, and finalizing content. Splunk started using RainFocus Live Tables to bring clarity, reduce manual work, and inspire new ways of collaborating. This session is designed for beginners looking for approachable, real-world examples rather than deep technical dives. We'll cover centralizing track committee selection, scoring submissions, streamlining title/abstract writing and copy reviews, and capturing session reviewer feedback. You’ll leave with practical ideas you can adapt to your own programs, with no advanced setup required. This session is all about sparking inspiration and showing how Live Tables can make even the most complex content workflows feel manageable.
Lessons From the Frontlines: Producing an AI Hackathon With AI (What Worked, What Didn’t)
What happens when you produce an AI hackathon — and use AI to produce it? In this behind-the-scenes case study, I’ll share how I ran production for a multi-team AI hackathon where we implemented AI agents, prompt libraries, and automation tools not just for show, but for actual operational execution. From building Slackbots and content agents to testing AI for live show support and post-event reporting, this was a full-stack AI experiment in real time.
Let's chat! Mentorship Session for Emerging Leaders in the Events Industry
Let’s talk. Stepping into leadership in the events industry can be exciting, but also a little overwhelming. This mentorship session is an open conversation about what it really takes to grow into a leadership role. We’ll talk candidly about early challenges, building confidence, leading teams under pressure, and making thoughtful choices about your career. Bring your questions, your experiences, and whatever’s on your mind. This is a space to connect, learn from each other, and leave feeling more confident about what’s next. I look forward to meeting you!
Let the RainFocus Platform Do the Heavy Lifting: A Smarter Presentation Review Process
Go beyond the basics of presentation review. This session explores adapting the RainFocus Speaker Portal to match your event’s unique needs. Learn how to manage single- or multi-step presentation review and create flexible review options through a portal or custom live table. We’ll also cover how we have utilized advanced tools, such as custom attributes and system rules, to automate progress tracking while increasing visibility to key stakeholders.
Nurturing Connections: Implementing Parent-Child Session Relationships in RainFocus
This presentation explores Esri’s strategic approach to leveraging the parent-child session relationship feature in RainFocus to efficiently organize themed content and deliver detailed or nested session experiences. We will cover initial content setup and through workflows and reporting configurations to manage and share session content. Esri built workflows to connect targeted presentations under the umbrella of parent sessions while preserving the identities of both. The workflows include collaboration between content teams, stakeholders, topic leads, speakers, and vendors to ensure smooth content curation, facilitated by RainFocus’s flexible architecture. Esri’s team will share lessons learned, including overcoming common challenges such as session duplication, change propagation, and improving the internal/external user experience throughout the event planning cycle.
Own Your Position. Show Your Superpowers.
Your LinkedIn should be doing more than listing jobs and badges. It should signal authority, clarity, and confidence before you ever open your mouth. In this Brain Date, we’ll refresh your LinkedIn profile to clearly position you as the strategic brain in the room. We’ll uncover your real superpowers, tighten your narrative, and make sure your profile attracts the right opportunities instead of random noise. No fluff. No personal brand theater. Just a sharp, modern LinkedIn presence that works for you while you’re busy running events.
Personas: Planning For Your Attendee Journey From Start To Finish
Does your event attendee list include an executive who's coming to the executive meeting but not to the main event? Got a sponsor who will also be a speaker? Event personas can help you make the most of everyone's attendance. We'll discuss how to identify and plan for which personas will be attending your event. Learn how event attributes and/or packages can help you properly identify them, which is key for accommodating their attendee journeys.
