Some products are easy to show on a show floor. AI isn’t one of them.

When your product is abstract, powerful, and sometimes intimidating, the challenge isn’t just explaining what it does—it’s helping people feel why it matters. That’s where this conversation goes.

In this episode, Matt sits down with Chelsea Sparrow, Go-To-Market Manager at Microsoft, to unpack how her team brings AI tools like Copilot to life at events where demos alone fall flat and trust has to be earned.

Instead of defaulting to laptops and feature walkthroughs, Chelsea shares how Microsoft designs experiences around audience mindset, cultural context, and emotion.

Learn about:

✅ Designing experiences based on who the audience is and what they care about, not a one-size-fits-all playbook

✅ Why story, trust, and cultural relevance matter more than polished demos—especially for AI

✅ How brand partnerships and community voices help tech brands show up without feeling tone-deaf or salesy

If you’re responsible for marketing complex products in a world where skepticism is high, this episode will change how you think about experience design.

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Connect with Chelsea Sparrow
LinkedIn: [https://www.linkedin.com/in/chelsea-sparrow/](https://www.linkedin.com/in/chelsea-sparrow/)

Connect with Matt Kleinrock
LinkedIn: [https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-kleinrock-9613b22b/](https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-kleinrock-9613b22b/)
Company: [https://rockwayexhibits.com/](https://rockwayexhibits.com/)

🚨 Register for the show: [https://tinyurl.com/EventMarketingRedefined](https://tinyurl.com/EventMarketingRedefined)

2025 was a loud year for event marketers—big wins, tough lessons, shifting expectations, and an industry that moved faster than anyone planned. So before we step into 2026, we’re slowing down to make sense of what actually mattered this year.

In this year-end live show, Matt Kleinrock and Coty Adams look back at the themes, pressure points, and breakthroughs that kept resurfacing in conversations all year long.

You’ll get a mix of reflection, clarity, and forward momentum, including:

🎁 The core lessons 2025 made impossible to ignore (and why they’ll shape every smart event marketer’s 2026 playbook)

🎁 A grounded look at the state of B2B events

🎁 The validation and perspective event pros rarely get

If you want a thoughtful wrap-up to the year—and a strategic head start on 2026—this is the one to show up for.

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Connect With Us:

Matt Kleinrock: [https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-kleinrock-9613b22b/](https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-kleinrock-9613b22b/)

Coty Adams: [https://www.linkedin.com/in/cotykadams/](https://www.linkedin.com/in/cotykadams/)

Our Company: [https://rockwayexhibits.com/](https://rockwayexhibits.com/)

🚨 Register for the show here: [https://tinyurl.com/EventMarketingRedefined](https://tinyurl.com/EventMarketingRedefined)

Event marketers have spent years being asked to execute flawlessly—booths built, shows staffed, leads scanned.

But the conversations Matt Kleinrock and Coty Adams keep having tell a different story: execution alone is no longer enough. Strategy exists… it’s just not being consistently applied.

This special compilation brings together the most defining moments from Matt and Coty’s conversations this year, centered on what actually moves events from a cost of doing business to a business-driving channel.

You’ll hear perspective on:

✅ Why event portfolio design and success metrics matter more than how many shows you attend

✅ How measurement, not attribution perfection, creates credibility with leadership

✅ What real sales alignment and follow-up ownership look like when events are treated as business events

Listen with a pen in hand. This one isn’t about inspiration, it’s about how event marketers level up when execution stops being the end goal.

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Episode Links

EP 153 | Stop Wasting Events: Strategic Takeaways from CEMA Summit 2025
[https://www.buzzsprout.com/2035112/episodes/17614073](https://www.buzzsprout.com/2035112/episodes/17614073)

EP 142 | The Current State of Events: Data, Strategy & Smarter Spend
[https://www.buzzsprout.com/2035112/episodes/17196667](https://www.buzzsprout.com/2035112/episodes/17196667)

EP 155 | Fixing the Sales Handoff: How Event Marketers Can Drive Follow-Through and Results[https://www.buzzsprout.com/2035112/episodes/17703581](https://www.buzzsprout.com/2035112/episodes/17703581)

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Connect With Us

Matt Kleinrock: [https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-kleinrock-9613b22b/](https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-kleinrock-9613b22b/)

Coty Adams: [https://www.linkedin.com/in/cotykadams/](https://www.linkedin.com/in/cotykadams/)

Our Company: [https://rockwayexhibits.com/](https://rockwayexhibits.com/)

🚨 Register for the show here: [https://tinyurl.com/EventMarketingRedefined](https://tinyurl.com/EventMarketingRedefined)