From Champagne to Strategy: 7 Lessons from Purple Cork’s VIP Marketer Roundtable

Marketing VIPs share their best practices over vintage champagne

Purple Cork recently brought together a group of seasoned marketers for a candid conversation on what’s working—and what’s changing—in virtual and hybrid events. Over champagne and shared stories, we compared approaches to driving attendance, boosting engagement, and ensuring events deliver on business objectives.

1. Shifting from Networking to Pipeline Acceleration

Amy Clausing, VP of Events at Qualified, described how their Taste of Qualified series has evolved since 2021. What began as a networking platform for marketers is now a targeted pipeline acceleration tool. The key change: adding a customer speaker to every event.

“When we started bringing in a customer to share their story and best practices, we saw less attrition,” Amy explained. “Attendees came not just for the tasting, but to hear firsthand insights from someone facing similar challenges.”

Qualified also ensures their host reflects the audience. Their CMO leads events for fellow CMOs, creating instant rapport.

2. Offering Choice to Widen Appeal

When Mindy Johnson moved from marketing to marketers at Terminus to engaging CFOs at BILL, she questioned whether wine would resonate. The solution was “Pick Your Pour”—letting attendees choose between wine and whiskey. The result was an even split and with two different tastings, she had the opportunity to try something different. To engage the audience, they had smaller breakout tastings, by drink, before reconvening for a joint customer panel. Mindy also noted that the relaxed, peer-led format encouraged candid questions and built trust.

3. The Impact of Personal Invitations

Brooke Bartos of InvoiceCloud tackled a familiar challenge: lagging registrations. Her team replaced HTML marketing emails with simple, plain-text messages sent “from” a senior leader.

“They felt personal,” Brooke said. “An invite from a VP to join them and peers for a tasting—not from a generic marketing address.”

The change produced an immediate increase in sign-ups, helped bypass spam filters, and reinforced the sense of exclusivity that gets people interested in an event.

4. Customers as the Most Effective Advocates

Several participants agreed: some of the most persuasive event moments happen when customers speak directly to prospects.

Brooke described a session where customer stories took over the conversation.

“Prospects were repeating our own sales points back to us, based on what they heard from peers. We just let it happen.”

5. Timing Experiments Worth Testing

Scheduling was another area of experimentation. Brooke floated the idea of “Sunday Sips,” targeting weekend mornings when executives may have more bandwidth. Becky Holmes of Rippling had success pairing events with NFL games for certain audiences. Think about your audience and when they might be free versus the standard 9-5. You might be surprised what people are open to.

6. Fostering Participation

Ideas for encouraging interaction included:

• Making the chat a central participation channel.

• Involving AEs not just in invites but in sparking questions during the event.

• Keeping the tone conversational rather than scripted.

• Building formats that allow for peer-to-peer discussion.

Some events ran long when conversations flowed; others offered lessons for refining engagement strategies next time.

7. The Common Thread: Connection Over Pitch

While the topics ranged from beverage selection to invitation strategy, the underlying theme was clear: events succeed when they feel like meaningful exchanges, not scripted presentations.

When attendees connect with each other, hear relevant customer stories, and feel personally invited, they’re more likely to show up, engage, and leave with a positive impression.

Questions to Ask Before Your Next Event:

• Could a customer voice strengthen credibility and engagement?

• Would giving attendees a choice of experience make your event more appealing?

• Can a more personal invitation approach lift your registration numbers?

Thanks to all who joined and shared their ideas. These practical insights show that even in a crowded digital landscape, thoughtful, well-designed experiences can cut through and create lasting impact. Ready to plan our own event? Let’s talk.