Over the last year Sessionboard has been adding loads of new talent from across the entire event industry. We subscribe to the belief that your company is only as good as it’s people, so we’ve been searching far and wide for the best of the best.

Andrew Asaro has officially taken on our Account Executive role in the wild world of conferences and trade shows. We decided to sit down with him and pick his brain about everything, from his previous experiences to what he sees as the future state of the industry.

Take a minute and get to know our new addition, Mr. Andrew Asaro!

Here are some of my favorite takeaways from our conversation:

• Andrew has traveled the globe working behind the scenes on trade shows and conferences
• He spent the early days of the pandemic on a digital team at Freeman as they rapidly built out a new virtual offering
• His perspective on how the pandemic fast forwarded tech adoption for events
• As an athlete, Andrew finds enjoyment under pressure while rising to the occasion
• He's Louisiana diehard when it comes to sports

                                                                                                Melbourne, AU

Taking it Back to Where it All Began...

Q. What's you origin story in the conference world?

"About 10 years ago, I started with a registration, lead retrieval and session tracking company called American Tradeshow Services. It was a really cool experience because I started in operations as a tech, and what that did was it sent me onsite to all these different conventions."

"I was traveling 30 plus weeks out of the year going show to show, I went all around the country. I did shows in Spain, The Netherlands, Australia, really all over the world and had the opportunity to sit at registration desks, work in session rooms and work in exhibit halls with lead retrieval. It gave me a really cool look at where show managers experience pain, you know, across all different areas for education, commerce, registration, all of that."

"It was a smaller company, so I got to wear a lot of hats and got to continue my travels from show to show."

Q. Where did your career grow from there?

"From there I took a job at Freeman. When I got there as part of the digital team, I was only there for about three or four months before the pandemic hit. Most of the business at Freeman is centered around the in-person event so it led to cancellations and the workforce being decreased. Our Digital team worked to provide a virtual platform to clients who could not meet in person."

"We got to see a lot of different areas where a lot of the show managers, associations, corporations were in pain trying to get their message out, show their meeting and needed a place to host it. So in essence the last two and a half years of my life were focused on selling a virtual platform."

Q. What made you keep coming back for more in this industry?

"So what I really like about it is for a lot of these companies that we're working with, whether they are associations or corporations, this is their one thing per year, so it's a bit of a pressure cooker. You have one chance to really do a great job."

"I enjoy that intensity. In addition to that I was able to create a lot of great relationships across the industry. Honestly it's just a great industry with a lot of great people in it. That’s the part that sunk it’s hooks into me."

Adapting through Adversity

Q. Let’s talk career highlights, like, is there any moment in particular that comes to mind?

"Selling a virtual platform while we were building it and bridging the gap between events going back to in-person. For these folks in the industry, this is their baby and we just had to pivot them into a virtual type of show. So I took a lot of pride in the success we had during my time at Freeman."

Q. How was the experience entering uncharted waters like that?

"I think really what was cool about it is that it took our industry, which, you know, is not known for tech, and put everybody in that situation to start learning it. Of course we're always going to have the in-person events because we still need in-person human interaction."

"Certain events need that ability to connect and network for some that means visiting exhibitors.  With trade shows centered around physical products, folks need to put their hands on things to decide if it’s right for them. But what virtual and hybrid has done is it gave them a lot of great opportunities to also expand their message out to clients."

"The pandemic fast forwarded our industry ten years in two years from a technology standpoint. Everything sped up. So, it was good in that way."

Q. Where you see the conference world heading in 2022 and beyond?

"Thankfully we are going back to in-person events. But we'll also always have the hybrid model. What's cool about that is that you expand your reach, like I said, but what makes that difficult on show managers is it's basically having to manage two events at once."

"Hybrid is here to stay, as everyone has said ad nauseam, but it’s true.  As I mentioned, it gives a great opportunity to expand their message, but it also takes up a lot of time."

"What got me really excited about coming to Sessionboard is offering a product that gives us the opportunity to really save show managers a lot of time and be able to set up and communicate with their speakers and exhibitors in a great way. Everyone in the industry is still talking about hybrid, but there is so much missing on the speaker and exhibitor management side that Sessionboard’s platform can address."

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Why Andrew Chose Sessionboard

Q. What excites you about the future with Sessionboard?

"During the whole time at Freeman, it made me realize that I really liked working in tech selling a virtual platform. I also love the startup environment because it really plays into that pressure cooker situation we spoke of earlier. You have this team all pulling in the same direction."

"When Josh and Chris went through and showed me the product demo, I saw a real need in our market for it. So it got me very excited because I think it's that perfect niche that the conference industry is desperately in need of. With these hybrid meetings, event managers are going to need to save time where they can since they’re basically running two events at once."

"I think what we're going to do is not only provide them great user experience, but save them that time spent juggling multiple apps and email chains and excel sheets. Instead, with Sessionboard, they can focus on managing the actual event. It's a real pain reliever."

Q. How do you see Sessionboard solving the speaker management and exhibitor management dilemma?

"Instead of having to constantly, you know, go through different Google sheets, you have one concise area where you're able to communicate with your speakers."

"A lot of companies have tried to do speaker management, but it's not really their focus. So it's glitchy and it's not focused on client needs."

"Sessionboard’s speaker management tool directly addresses education directors and UCA education heads at associations, and it cures a lot of the pain they deal with on a constant basis."

Life Beyond Sessionboard

Q: Outside of work, what do you enjoy doing?

I am a diehard sports fan, LSU and the Saints, those are my main teams being here in southern Louisiana. I have a fiancé and we’re getting married in March of next year. Her name's Lauren, and we also have two dogs, a golden retriever named scout and a German shorthaired pointer named Presley. Outside of that, I ran my first marathon last year and I’m big into running."
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Final Words from the Editor

If you’re a conference or trade show manager looking to simplify and optimize your speaker management or exhibitor management workflow, maybe it’s time you had a chat with Andrew yourself. Just, whatever you do, don’t mention the Alabama Crimson Tide 😉.

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Sessionboard, INC
Sessionboard is a next generation event management platform that simplifies speaker & content management so event teams can work smarter, move faster, and improve their ROI.

To learn why some of the most respected event teams trust Sessionboard to power their operations, schedule a demo today.

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