Dive fork-first into a world where event registration precision meets the whimsical twirls of cake icing with our guest, Leanne Velke. She's the aficionado who will transform your approach to orchestrating events and your perspective on cake decoration. This episode is a smorgasbord of savory advice and sweet stories, as Leanne draws from her vast repertoire of event technology and decorating delights to enhance your next gathering or baking adventure. Whether you're a professional planner or an amateur baker, Leanne's tips will ensure that your guests are both efficiently checked in and dazzled by dessert.
Whisked away by the narrative of Leanne's 'Leanne Bakes Cakes' project, we uncover the warmth of community and the joy of crafting for those close to our hearts. Her journey from tech-savvy event planner to beloved local baker in Vermont is a testament to the magic that happens when we embrace new challenges with open arms. Through anecdotes of meticulous event tech exploration and tales of fondant finesse, we're reminded of the power of preparation and passion. So, tune in and treat yourself to a serving of insights that are as beneficial as they are delightful—your next event or cake may just be the talk of the town.
Dive fork-first into a world where event registration precision meets the whimsical twirls of cake icing with our guest, Leanne Velke. She's the aficionado who will transform your approach to orchestrating events and your perspective on cake decoration. This episode is a smorgasbord of savory advice and sweet stories, as Leanne draws from her vast repertoire of event technology and decorating delights to enhance your next gathering or baking adventure. Whether you're a professional planner or an amateur baker, Leanne's tips will ensure that your guests are both efficiently checked in and dazzled by dessert.
Whisked away by the narrative of Leanne's 'Leanne Bakes Cakes' project, we uncover the warmth of community and the joy of crafting for those close to our hearts. Her journey from tech-savvy event planner to beloved local baker in Vermont is a testament to the magic that happens when we embrace new challenges with open arms. Through anecdotes of meticulous event tech exploration and tales of fondant finesse, we're reminded of the power of preparation and passion. So, tune in and treat yourself to a serving of insights that are as beneficial as they are delightful—your next event or cake may just be the talk of the town.
Speaker 1:
Oh, tracey, now we're all hungry and I hope that you all grabbed a snack, because our next segment is gonna really make you want a sweet treat. Leanne Velke, I am so excited to have you here. My registration expert registration is not just icing on the cake is the conversation that we had, and did you know that? Leanne is an actual cake decorator? So we are so excited to take this tiktok style and have an amazing conversation about event registration while we get to witness this decoration. Leanne, welcome aboard. What have you got in front of you? Thank?
Speaker 2:
you. I am, can you hear me, okay, by the way? Yeah, you're great, okay, awesome, okay. I'm so nervous, liz, that we're doing this, but you look amazing.
Speaker 1:
You sound amazing, let's do it.
Speaker 2:
Yep, we. I'm rocking my Leanne baked cake sweatshirt, which is not the most flattering, but had to come with it, so happy to be here. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1:
So when I first met you which was probably 2019 or so, you had a registration specialty on one particular platform. Now you kind of branched out a little bit and you're learning more about all the other platforms. Are you feeling like a registration expert in all of them yet?
Speaker 2:
I am not expert in all of them. There is so much information out there, liz, it is crazy. And there are so many platforms. There is just there's a lot to learn and I'm on a tear right now, as many of you may know, to get on demos with as many platforms as I possibly can, but they're exhausting. There is so much information to take in and you know, the best way to learn really is by doing, and so I'm trying to get my hands on more platforms. Sorry, multi-tasking, no, you're good you heard it here first.
Speaker 1:
If you have a vent tech that has registration in it, reach out to Leanne Velke to offer her a demo, because she is taking up all the demos. But here's my challenge. After about the seven minute mark, my eyes start to droop. How far can you take a demo before you fall?
Speaker 2:
off. Okay. So I've been really generous in my demos, liz, because I love information and I have such a hard time getting through anything in seven minutes or 15 minutes as we have here. So I've been. They've been really long demos, but I think I can do a good 20-30 minutes. I can do two hours if I'm really loving your product.
Speaker 1:
Oh, two hour demo, good Lord, I know it's so bad, okay. Well, how can everyone begin to think and act like a registration expert? It's not just a platform, right? It's a, it's a lifestyle. What does it mean to be a registration expert?
Speaker 2:
Well, yeah, it takes some of us to be extremely passionate about this topic. It's something I'm extremely passionate about and it's a personal mission of mine to to really sort of bring registration to the forefront a little bit more and get people thinking more strategically. I really am hating, like I hate when it's like just can't registration live, like there's a lot that goes into registration, and so my number one tip is I really would love for everybody to start listening in all those planning meetings like listen for the little things that come up that might affect your registration process. The way this comes out is like you're in a meeting and they're like how are we doing on the t-shirt designs? If my brain will click and be like okay, maybe we're going to need to ask for a t-shirt size, oh yeah.
Speaker 2:
In registration and it comes up in oh, don't forget to order those little badge, sticker things Like oh okay, we're going to want to work the badge design into what we're having building out in our registration process. So really be acutely aware and listen for those little things that come up in all those meetings where people don't think that this is a big deal, but this might actually affect your registration process.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, that makes sense. Ok so you have been on a registration demo. I was going to call it an apocalypse, but I'll say it's free. What are some of?
Speaker 2:
the tech tools you've discovered. It's free of the only good word. What are some of the new?
Speaker 1:
ones that you've discovered. That have you really excited?
Speaker 2:
OK, I admit I did a little. I did a LinkedIn article. Actually, I feel so bad that I have slept on G2 Planet for so long. This is like such an incredible platform.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, Mark Grinowski, good work over there.
Speaker 2:
Mark.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, mark is amazing. The platform is so good. I am just so excited about what he's built out and what he's created. It is very cool from a management side, but also obviously they're building out the registration side, which is my favorite part. But it's amazing for planners as well.
Speaker 2:
I have recently re-fallen in love with SluGo. They're not new to me, they have been in my world for a while but I recently got to get my hands back on it and I'm really loving it. And new to my world, I'm psyched to get on some demos with both EventMovie and Sessionboard. And EventMovie I've known for a while but I've never actually gotten the demo. So I'm excited. Bob seems like such an amazing human, such a down-to-earth guy. He actually has really made me excited about their product. And Sessionboard I'm really excited about because I didn't even know. But one day I woke up and I was like no one would make planning easier if there was a drag and drop calendar-ing sort of function for sessions. So we're not in the back end of registration trying to manually figure out oh, did I change this time from 4.15 to 4.20 or whatever? And I was on a call actually with John from Excel Events and I said this to him and he was like I think Sessionboard does that and I was like what?
Speaker 2:
That would be amazing. So I am yet to do the demo with Sessionboard, but those are a couple of products I'm super excited about and excited to dive into and hopefully get my hands on.
Speaker 1:
So I want your opinion. There are two camps. This is Camp Vampire, camp Werewolf. Do you have to have your entire agenda ready when you launch registration so people will pick their sessions, or can you launch registration and then have people go back in closer to the event to pick their sessions? What are your thoughts?
Speaker 2:
I hardly ever, have ever launched registration with all the sessions. Who?
Speaker 1:
is that organized. That's what I want to know. I think the association world is more organized than the corporate world, so maybe in their world they actually have it together.
Speaker 2:
I give props to the association world then, because I have hardly ever seen registration launched with a full agenda. We do need to get registration up and it needs to get going. No-transcript People I don't especially corporate, I don't think people are thinking that far in advance to pick their agenda that suit. You know, I think like a few weeks before maybe people are starting to put their hats on and get into the mode of what am I gonna do at this event, what sessions do I wanna go to? But I don't think we need it for registration. I think we need to give attendees enough information to make an informed decision about whether they wanna come and sort of what they're gonna get out of this event, what the content is probably gonna be. But we do not need to have every single line item lifted out at that point. I'm usually putting agendas in a few weeks before as we're getting ready to actually launch our meeting app.
Speaker 1:
So tell us a little bit about what you do. You consult and come in and build out registration sites for clients. Is that the main role?
Speaker 2:
I do. Yes, I have sort of been known as the Stevens girl, so I have been building Stevens registration sites for too long. I've built way too many of them. I come in, I build out the site and get it all set up. I dive into all the nitty gritty details of what you need to collect from your attendees and the thing I love the most is untangling all of those wires to make it into a, you know, carefully curated, thoughtfully planned out process so that all of those attendees are being asked the right questions and we're getting the right information. I absolutely love the more complex the better. For me, Like, bring on all the crazy stuff. Sometimes I make things more complex than they need to be because I can and because I really believe in curating that attendee journey and making sure that you know we're not asking things of our speakers that we need to ask of our attendees. Those people don't need to have the same experience and it's my job to make sure I'm building that out correctly for you.
Speaker 1:
Oh, my goodness, I'm glad there are people like you in this world, because people like me do not wanna spend all of that detail oriented brain power doing these things, and you are a magician, as we can see in front of you. Can we go into a one box? Is that possible to zoom in on this cake? Look at this.
Speaker 2:
I'm like I don't know if I can like zoom it in. Oh, they're gonna bring it in for us.
Speaker 1:
Look at this. Oh, okay, here we go.
Speaker 2:
What have you done. Here's our little Christmas tree, little border on the top and you can't see the magnificent glitter. But that is for you guys. There is always glitter on all of my cakes and I'm gonna cut into this bad boy for us, let's do it. We're gonna cut it because my kids and I are gonna eat this thing this weekend. Because what else does someone do, like a whole entire cake that they do just for a club? Itchy telephone, give it to your kids, make them eat it.
Speaker 1:
What kind of cake did you make? Hold on? You're gonna love it. You're gonna love this, is it just for me? Oh, look at that Like fun, fatty layers. What's inside are those M&Ms.
Speaker 2:
I didn't have time to get M&Ms, but I stuffed it with sprinkles for you guys. The frosting is green and red. On the inside there's lots of sparkles.
Speaker 1:
This is mind blowing. Oh yeah, let the kids at it. Take a fork, little one, just one, I only have one kid today, but we're gonna eat this Becca.
Speaker 2:
also wanted to tell you, to share with all of us, that when you're signing in for a call, make sure you're all set up with your whole setup before you go for your sign in. That's what he taught me today.
Speaker 1:
Ah, very, very good. Thank you, Leanne. This was so much fun. You have taught us so much today and I am blown away by your cake. It's Leanne Bakes Cakes. Right, and you're in the Northeast. Remind me where you are.
Speaker 2:
I'm in Vermont. I honestly don't make cakes for public consumption.
Speaker 1:
This was really my COVID project, only for a very special club Ichi community members who live in Vermont, so we'll be very special, very, very special.
Speaker 2:
Thank you so much for having me. This has been so much fun today. Props to you guys. I love you guys and I can't wait to keep watching.
Speaker 1:
Oh, thank you so much. We appreciate it. All right, folks, you heard it here first Registration is not just the icing on the cake. We're gonna take a quick break and we'll be right back.