After the RainFocus INSIGHT program concludes each year, one of our favorite traditions is speaking with Rodney Hart, head of events at RainFocus. As an event for event leaders, INSIGHT is uniquely positioned as a rich laboratory for innovation.
Plus, the RainFocus platform provides Hart and his team with volumes of instantly accessible data on what’s working, what can be better, and what he might want to try next year. Our candid reflections on INSIGHT covered everything from major trends to tiny logistical tweaks. You’ll find plenty of actionable takeaways for event leaders in any industry.
This year’s INSIGHT theme was “Connecting Journeys” — what are some of the ways you saw that theme expressed during the conference?
One main way of connecting journeys was bringing in data from past events to make the experience more personalized, such as through session recommendations.
Connecting journeys also means understanding who our attendees are and making sure we have people from the right accounts present. It’s important to tie your systems together and be able to identify people associated with each company and the buying group members.
A key INSIGHT metric is how much of the annual pipeline target is in the audience, and which deals they are associated with. This year, we had 85% of these people in the room, compared to 70% last year.
We’ve heard a lot about how the rise of AI has increased the importance of in-person relationships. INSIGHT seemed to be even more about connecting people this year. Was this an intentional strategy?
The schedule was designed for connection. After the morning keynotes, breakouts didn’t start until 2 p.m. or later. We positioned meetings as opportunities for deep-dive conversations. People can reflect aloud about how they get things done at their job.
We designed the layout to bring everyone together, with one main campus and the keynote area flowing into it.
What were the results? Any specific metrics or attendee feedback to share?
We increased the time spent in meetings per attendee by 32% year-over-year. That figure doesn’t even reflect things like impromptu hallways meetings, which also add to the experience.
Our overall Net Promoter Score® also increased from 55 last year to 67 this year. INSIGHT has an audience that truly knows events, so it’s especially impressive.
Big Braindate boost
Last year, the AI-generated session summaries from Voxo were one of INSIGHT’s big hits. What stood out this year as especially popular or successful?
The Experience Profiles, which we offer through our partnership with Storycraft Lab, were a big success again. This year, we integrated the profiles more fully within the RainFocus platform. We mapped filters in the session catalog and the attendee list.
There was an 11% jump in the number of Experience Profile quizzes taken. Attendees could add their results to their conference badges, and 72% of people took the quiz before the event. This way, we could dial in the session recommendations even more.
Usage of the Voxo session summaries also saw a jump — around a 70% increase in downloads. Also, we once again offered facial scanning for check-in instead of a QR code, and there was an incremental increase in that choice, from 51% last year to 62% this year. People are getting more comfortable with that authentication technology.
Going back to the major theme of connecting journeys and the increase in meetings, how about Braindates? We saw the Braindates listed in the session catalog reach capacity early on.
Braindates were very big again. We intentionally included a selection in the session catalog to make them more visible because attendees typically orient themselves around the catalog.
Seeing those sessions already filled supported interest in other Braindates. We saw a 300% jump in Braindates held vs. last year, and twice as many attendees participated. The catalog inclusion doesn’t account for the entire massive jump in participation, but it did increase the visibility of the offering.
Many clients have already told us they want to try something similar. Braindates also serve as a secondary offering for speakers you couldn’t fit on the session schedule. And because of the small group size, people could really get to know each other.
Virtual event metrics
As a hybrid event program, INSIGHT has also always had a strong virtual component. What trends and metrics did you see this year on the virtual side?
The number of people dialing in was second only to what we saw in 2023. There was a slight drop in the number of sessions offered virtually, but we gave virtual attendees the ability to participate alongside those in the room, such as by submitting questions to panelists.
Our virtual audience had a lot of early-stage prospects. We want them to learn more about who we are and tune into the keynote. Our “mega keynote” approach this year, anchoring the usual executive address to our major announcement of RainFocus Nexus, worked well.
It’s important to have virtual touchpoints that anyone can engage with for free. We want to develop a relationship with a low barrier to entry. Those virtual attendees may be future in-person attendees.
Within our in-person audience, 56% of them were first timers. Ten percent of those had attended virtually in the past. That is a number I pay attention to — that is significant.
On the content and schedule side, what major changes were made this year? How did they work out?
We intentionally reduced the number of concurrent breakout sessions. Last year, we ran more sessions, including in the mainstage area during times when there was no mainstage session.
Eight concurrent sessions last year proved to be too much for the size of the conference, and it spread audiences thin. This year, the number of breakout sessions and their locations worked much better.
We’ve continued to iterate on our deep-dive content. This year, it took the form of “Share and Compare” sessions. We created 75-minute session blocks guided by an expert and invited attendees to come prepared to also share how they are using the RainFocus platform. I think we found a format that really resonated with our audience.
Working around a holiday in the schedule was tough, but avoiding ending on a half-day helped with engagement and prevented attendee dropoff. Last year, we were forced to end on a half-day, and it is something to avoid — engagement ending on a half day is definitely poorer than when you start on a half day.
Measurement lessons
Finally, given all the new learnings on connecting journeys from INSIGHT 2026, any additional advice you would give other event leaders?
Always continue to experiment and measure. Sometimes you have theories about how things might work better. Sometimes you’re forced to shift, and even if it doesn’t work out, it provides an opportunity to measure the impact.
Plus, there are always new technologies to measure in new ways. For example, this year we used Zenus scanners to evaluate the “energy” in the room during each session and map it to session transcripts to gauge content success and patterns of engagement. We’ll continue to experiment.
Attendee surveys are important, but they only capture a small percentage of information, so it’s always important to see what other data sources you can find. I am a big believer in the adage: ‘You can’t improve what you don’t measure.’
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