SaaStr Insider Webinar: AI Day is Coming to SaaStr!

All right. Hello, everyone. We are recording and we are live. So welcome to another Saster Insider webinar. There's three of us today. Maybe we should do interest a few of us. Waylon, do you want to go first?

Sure, yeah. Waylon McGill, work on the sponsorship side of the business.

I'm Brian Elcessor. I've done things at Saster for lots of years. No, I'm, I'm.

I've been.

I've been. I'm on the sponsorship side of the business. I've been head of sale, head of sales. And I'm now just a. A wonderful member of this team and excited to be here today. So thanks, Millie. Good to see you.

Yeah. Well, cool. I thought we would spend a day just briefly going through our upcoming schedule of events because we have a lot of things going on at Zaster which you may or may not know. And so we can share context on some of these, more or less. But yeah, I wanted to share what's. I don't know. I almost said what's new? But really, what's going on? It's asked for a little bit of what's new, but let me start here. So hopefully this is loading. It's. The screen share is loading. Here it is. First and foremost, we've been promoting this a little bit, but yeah, we are doing a somewhat impromptu Miami meetup in just two weeks. It's two weeks. Yeah, it's like two weeks from yesterday. So we did this in 20, I want to say. So it's been a couple years now since we did and then we did one before that in like 2019. So we have done Miami actually a handful of times. We haven't done it in a while. Timing worked out. If you guys, as you guys may or may not know, Sam Blond, who hosts the CRO Confidential, spends a fair amount of time in Miami. That's usually where he's recording. And so it worked out with his schedule and Jason's to host a meetup. It's going to be fairly informal, but really a lot of fun. So if you guys are on the east coast and you want to come to Sasser Miami, it's going to be sass on and surf. I saw that tagline from our sdr, Mona. It's going to be a good time. It's going to be in Wynwoods. If you don't know Miami as well, that's like the trendy, arty area. I'm going to give you some logistics and then I'll let the guys add some Color here on Miami. But yeah, we're coming back for an epic evening of networking. If you haven't seen the video that Sam did last time back when he before he was host of CRO Confidential, back when he, he was CRO Frax. That's there. You guys should watch it. It's a really good one. This time we're going to do a combined session between Jason, Sam and Adam Gross who's the CEO of Vimeo, who's also in town. I'm sure other people will pop up on stage too because there's so many people coming already. But yeah, gonna be a ton of fun in Miami and they'll do some content and then they'll do Q and A. So gonna be a lot of fun. We'll doing it at Beza Sur Brewery. So out in Wynwood. If you've never been here before, it's a great brewery. It is where we did it the last time. It's a ton of fun. This venue. You know, it's indoor, outdoor, open air, really great. I know the weather's supposed to be looking good on the 6th. Yeah. Beer bites content zester. What's not to love? So, yeah, Brian, you've been to Miami. Maybe I'll kick it to you first. Yep. Thoughts on on Miami and maybe why folks should come to this edition.

It's, it's a really fun open air type atmosphere. Plus the beer's really good. I mean if you like beer, that's a good way to start. But it is, it is a brewery. But that said, it's a, it's an open air venue which is really fun. It's in a really great part of Miami. So that district down there is very artsy. It's very, it's got, it's got a great vibe going on. So I think, great vibe. Plus we always do a really good job of the content side obviously. So there's that. You're going to have a, a really great way to just sort of naturally engage with the community in a very non forced and non threatening way. I think last time we had, we had a bigger, it was a bigger, a little bit bigger last time. This one will be a little bit less, like I said, a little more like Amelia said, a little more casual. But we had like 500 people there last time and it was, it was, it's still, it still was super, super engaging and fun. So yeah, I don't know, I think it's really meant for a great way to go and like casually meet up and network with our community and also get some really great content. Sam does a great job.

Yeah, I'll double down on all that. I'm excited to get to Miami, coming from Toronto, obviously in March, but also just networking's always been such a core part of what Saster is all about. Networking with people who might be a couple steps ahead of you in that journey. And I just look personally at my career, the power of networking. I think it's the highest ROI activity you can probably do. I look at career moves I made, they've mostly been a result of introductions that I've made and many of those came through networking events similar to what we'll be doing here. So just a lot of reasons, I think, to come out.

Yeah, it's going to be a lot of fun. Hope to see everyone there. I know invites have been going out like crazy. So yeah, I expect, you know, a good crowd here of maybe 300 or so folks to come in. Lots of really good names already on the list. You know, I think I saw ServiceNow, Brax, Ramp, User Gems. Lots of, lots of good ones already, guys. So you'll be in good company. And if you want to escape some of the chillier weather that's on the east coast, coming to Miami. Again, it's fairly casual, but still a lot of fun. So that's the, that's the pitch for Miami. What's not to like? And also, you know, you can probably combine it with one or two meetings with investors while you're in Miami or go to New York after. So. Yeah, or a good place to, you know, mutually meet a customer in the middle in the sun. So yeah, should be fine. I know Rome's coming to IBM. Yeah, lots of really great people actually already registered. So will be a great time. Okay. Also in March because we like to torture ourselves. We are AI AI Day. So we talked about this more formally last week, but yeah, we did decide to do an in person event, an impromptu in person event and then a fully blown digital mega event at the end of March. Not without purpose. Right. We know it's the end of Q1 for a lot of folks or otherwise, you know, approaching the end of. Of Q1 and into H1. And a lot of our partners when we were doing the run up to demo day were asking us how they can talk more about AI and so we swapped themes. May or we're making it even bigger than demo day was going to be. So Saster, AI Day is coming on Wednesday. It's also a Wednesday, March 27th. So at the end of the month last, we're bookending the Wednesdays in March. So first Wednesday in March, Miami, last Wednesday in March, AI Day. It is where SAS meets AI Whalen. Maybe I'll let you take this one a little bit because I know you've got a few sponsors who are sponsoring AI Day. I'll set it up and then I'll flip it to you so you can maybe share with folks why AI Day is so important, how they can utilize it. But yeah, sort of the context for this is we had a track at the SASTER annual this last year. That was AI Day. Super well attended, super popular, lots of really great companies there. OpenAI was there as well as many others. IBM was there as well. So lots of really great folks talking about AI. Google people have done AI for many years and also up and comers. And we had both up and comers and incumbents. But yeah, so for AI Day, this is going to be what's real in AI, what's not, what should folks be thinking about? What's top of mind? As with any of our digital mega events, we expect this audience to be still at that CEO, VP level and above. So a lot of founders and revenue leaders, I imagine a lot of investors as well. Just through the nature of AI day. We're going to do about 10 to 12 tactical sessions throughout the day digitally, all from leading AI and SaaS companies coming together on how to incorporate AI or how you are already using AI so that, you know, other folks can learn from that. So, Waylon, I'll flip it to you next. Like, I know you've chatted a lot about AI Day with your partners and some of our sponsors. So yeah, what. What have you learned and what should folks maybe expect?

Yeah, so I think it's going to be a great mix of both thought leadership, but also getting, you know, sort of a look of seeing founders and heads of product show their AI solutions. I think right now there's an interesting thing in the marketplace where everybody's talking about AI, but a lot of people don't know what to implement, what tools to buy. There's so much noise and there's a lot of tools out there that aren't necessarily super differentiated. So I think that there's a huge impetus on companies who have great AI solutions to break through that noise and actually get in front of people with those solutions because it's just so hard to find you. Otherwise everybody's doing it. The keyword AI is going to lead you to a million different pages. So I think it's a great opportunity, opportunity for people to stand out and show that they have real differentiated AI solutions. They're not just doing some API call to ChatGPT to enter data in Salesforce for you. So I think that's a big part of why people are choosing a sponsor is they've got something unique and they want to make sure that the marketplace is aware and that they stand out. And then that thought leadership piece as well, that's always like a big thing in Sastor that there's going to be some incredible speakers. IBM is going to be speaking. I mean they've been doing AI longer than anyone and have been doing some pretty exciting stuff, including recently a big partnership with sales loss. So I'm excited for that session in particular.

I'd just add one thing and that is like with, I mean even, even externally from Saster and Integrator market, right. Like we just saw what yesterday Nvidia posted their earnings report and everything's like taking off the, the AI stuff is just, it's exploding. So it's a really important and timely asset. I think that this will be really a great set, a great bunch of sessions and actually we, we're like, I think we only have like, if you're interested being part of this, I think we only have like two slots left. So it's, it's going to be a really great day. So by all means, if this is something you're interested to learn more about, you should reach out.

Awesome. Okay, flipping to our next major event on the calendar, coming through to the year. So yeah, Sastri Ropa. Let's talk about talk Europa. This is an exciting year for us because both Europa and annual have what I call affectionately milestone years. So this will be the fifth at Saster Europa. We did two in Paris, one in Barcelona, one last year in London and now we're going back to London for the fifth one. So super fun time to be a part of SAS Europa. This year it is in London. It will be at the Tobacco docks if you weren't there last year. It is June 4th through the 5th. Last year we were blessed with great weather during the show. It is indoor, you'll notice the theme. It's indoor, outdoor. So lots of space in London to both enjoy the sun and enjoy some content. What I love just overall about our Europa event and then I'll let the guys share is, you know, Europa is really our, our event where it is, I think the biggest, you know, UK SaaS only event of the year that is Vendor agnostic. So that's, you know, a great reason to come already. A lot of our speakers I think are quite different from the lineup that are typically at these kinds of shows. Right. Like I think I was just saying this morning the, the lineup for London Tech Week obviously a lot of you know, UK based founders, which is great. That is their like thing that they do. That's how a lot of folks do events in Europe. We're different in that we bring people from the States and from all over to come and speak at these events. Right. So it's, it is really, you know we, we do pride ourselves on having folks come out and speak at Europa who actually. Let me flip to that real quick who are maybe not your typical only in Europe speakers just come down to our speakers. So yeah, you know, like OpenAI. I mean obviously Harry lives in London but you know, box sneak again folks that are not typically right in London that are coming out for the event. So super fun to see some really great logos here already. I do know we just also confirmed the CEO of Gong so he's going to get added to this nice mix of faces. But a lot of really great folks that are already signed up to speak at Europa. Again that is our differentiator just on the attending. But that's important to know if you're thinking about sponsoring because it's why people come to Europa. They come for the content and they do a lot of networking in Europe, maybe even more so than they do at annual. So we do a ton, a ton of brand aids, a lot of me to VC meetings. Sasha. Europa is always very meetings and like content focused. We really design it all around the content and the meetings and doing a mix of the two. So you know, you still have a little bit more than 100 days to get involved in Europa if you would like to. That's actually the perfect time to do it because we are about to kick off things like booth selections with our partners, booth graphics, custom activations, things like that. All that starts to ramp in March. So actually now's a good time to get in because you'd be getting in right when everyone is getting all that lovely information. So timing is good again, weather is good. The speaker lineup is already fairly killer for it being, you know, still not the full gambit that we will release for the full agenda. So fairly good. I'll just, I'll leave it here on the vibe and then I'll let the guys more talk about how to partner with us in London. But yeah, it's indoor Outdoor again, this is like Joe from Loom, but you know, we do bring speakers from the States, as you can see, and internationally. Right. To Europa. I think one, one, one thing I'll call out that I think sponsors in particular ask us about SAS Europa is like what does that breakdown look like? So I think about 40% right now are tracking from the UK and that includes, you know, your, the EU if you will. I, I still count the EU and the UK as one into two when I do my stats Brexited, but for audience demographics purposes, you're back together. So the EU and the UK is like 40% of our mix. Actually the next most popular, I just looked at this yesterday is the us so there are people who come from all around the globe to Sasha Roba. Don't think this is just a local conference. Like literally the next share voice of delegates is the us Then I think it's something like the Netherlands and then Canada and a bunch of other ones. Right. So yeah, that's Sasha Europa. Really great international mix. Obviously again, 40% is from the EU and UK but you do get that other 60% that are from Aperture. So good mix there, good vibe. Again, I like the size of this. Right. You know, we're expecting between 3,000 to 4,000 attendees this year with how we do tobacco docs again, really great. You'll feel the vibe once you come in of, you know, that split of content and networking. A lot of people spend extra time, I would say networking at Europa even more so than they do at Annual. It is also two days, right. So they got to jam, pack it in. But it is a lot of the focus there. And again, I think, you know, tying back to Miami and AI Day, lots of folks already, you know, thinking about talking about AI at SAS Europa. I know, I'll let Wayla talk about it, but I know you know Rome and like IBM are both doing like different kind of lounges that I'm sure will tie into those themes. So yeah, again if you're, if you're wanting to, to be on the cutting edge and get in front and like have your brand affiliated with that leadership track. London and Europa specifically are a great place to do it. So Waylon, I know I mentioned some of the lounges, so I'll let you share more about that so I don't steal your thunder.

Oh no. So yeah, Rome, we partnered with Rome on a, on a Founders Lounge at Annual last year. It was a huge success. So they'll be joining us in Europa to do the Founders Lounge as well, so that's an amazing spot for founders to come and just meet other founders. So it is restricted access. If you're a founder, you want to talk about people who are on the same journey as you. Obviously that's such a unique journey to be on. To be able to go to a space, you know, there's food and beverage, all that's in there. Just a place where you can hang out and make connections with other founders I think is huge. And then you might find me at the pub. IBM will be sponsoring the pub this year. So. Super.

The pub is on site people. Yeah, it's not like, yeah, not down at the pub, like you know, around the block. Literally on an on site. We did last year was a frickin hit. Like people love the on site pub.

Yeah, yeah, you got to have a pub in the uk. I think another thing to mention is there will be lots of side events and lots of side parties too. So if you are traveling from the US or you're traveling from elsewhere in Europe and you're wondering like what am I going to do? Outside of the actual Daisy event, there'll be events to go to every night hosted by so many of our partners. So that's another exciting thing to come. It's not just, you know, the event itself, there's all this ancillary events going on that really adds the experience.

I'll also add that I think just the general vibe of Europa, it's like a casual vibe of people that just like wanted to get stuff done right. Like it's casual in that it's, you know, it's how it's got outside elements and it's got open concept elements and you can kind of see that through the pictures down here. I actually love the pictures that we have on the site because it really depicts the vibe well. But additionally like our European audience, like they don't waste time, you know. So this is, this is a really great opportunity to just be really focused and come and engage with some driven people.

So yeah, and I'll flip to our sponsor page. So if you do want to get in front of, you know, three to 4,000 people in two days, Europa is a great way to do it. How we design the booth specifically at Europa is they are in what the venue considers the walkways. So you can think about that as the most highly trafficked area at SASA Europa. They are literally in between the two biggest stages and the brand aid. So like literally like people are going back and forth between those two things all day and that's how you get a lot of traffic. We've seen last year, folks had really great experiences with activations to help bring even more traffic to their booth. We're going to do that again this year. We've already got some options if you want to see some. But yeah. So Saster Europe, a great way to do that. Get in front of folks, get leads, right? Not only just brands, but really great way to get leads. I mean, most of our sponsors these days are sponsoring for leads and roi and we manufacture the. And the floor plan and the event in a way where, you know, again, the sponsors are constantly having that foot traffic. It is a busy two days but. And you'll be on your feet a lot, but you will talk to a lot of founders that and revenue leaders who would, you know, should be in your icp. So really great way to connect with folks if you're doing, you know, international business or if you want to target London specifically. Again, you know, 40% are London, 6% or not. So again, international audience here. Great way to get in front of them is at Europa. So it's just a call out there on Europa and then coming to our biggest event of the year and not to say that we won't add events in between. So, you know, Miami kind of popped up. We also popped up AI Day. You know, we have anchored this year around the fifth anniversary for Europa and then the. This will be the 10th anniversary for the annual. But you know, we do sprinkle things in the middle. We also have workshop Wednesdays, if you've never been to those that we do every Wednesday and also these every Thursday. So, you know, we, we like to keep busy and so there are ways to get involved in the workshop Wednesdays and like the ongoing media as well. But we really just want to talk about our events today. So our flagship event, if you didn't know, is the Sass Re annual. So it is the 10th anniversary of it, which is crazy to think about because that is such a huge milestone of doing 10 of these. They have always been in the Bay Area and will remain there. So, you know, this is not just another Vegas conference where you're in forced air for a few days and having to deal with all the things in Vegas. This is really a business focus event, right? Listen, I love Vegas. I visit my family out there and friends frequently. I go to other events out there. But I would say Saster is way more focused on getting business done, getting more tactical because you are laser focused when you come to the campus, right? One thing we've done in recent years, if you haven't come lately, is this is now a full blown campus. So if you came pre2020, right. We were more, still a little bit more in convention centers. Now this is a full blown festival on campus. And the reason I called that out is not only is that exciting to be celebrating the 10th one in this style, it is why people come to Sasser. Right? They are focused on being there to scale their companies. They're there to do business. The sponsors there to do business. The people are coming there to learn, scale their companies, you know, also do business. And they are, they are coming more with their buying committees. So more and more we have seen even in our current ticket trends for 2024 and in last September for 2023, lots of folks are now bringing, you know, their CROs, their CTOs, their CFOs, the CEOs, they're coming as a group, they're coming as a buying committee. Again, they're coming to do business. So that is one thing I want to call out. I know it's not always super clear from the website or even sometimes our perspectives until we get on the phone with folks. But you know, I hear Brian and Waylon say it quite frequently to people on calls. And so I just wanted to say in this webinar too that it is, you know, for all those reasons, this is a more focused event on people are coming. Yes, they will still have fun. And this is, you know, a festival and we have done things in the past like, like zip lines and art cars and big parties with Du Dumont. And like it is still a fun, not to say it's a snooze, but it is a conference that people take seriously. Right? They're, they're coming here. They mean business. They are CEOs, founders and revenue leaders. More than half of our audience is actually VP level and above at Saster Annual, which is so crazy. Like basically anything you do will have positive roi. Whether you sit next to somebody, whether you go to content, you do brain dates, you do networking, meet a vc, you go to the parties, you go to the happy hours, you chat with the sponsors. Maybe one of them is a great fit to help your business. Like anything you do there will basically propel you and help you scale into the next year and beyond. And so I'll get off my soapbox now, but this is why SAS re Annual is so important. Yeah. Brian, any quick thoughts on annual and then we'll go.

It's, it's, it's a SaaS party, right? Like, honestly, it is. It's a huge festival, but it's meant for SaaS nerds like myself and all of us probably listening. But it's meant to be the place. It's fun. It's not a convention. I think Amelia really knocked that one out of the park. But, like, you know, we've been to the Vegas one that doesn't have windows and, like, the stale air. And this is.

And they're fine. But.

Yeah, but this is. But this is.

But this is not that.

Yeah, I mean, like, I mean, last year, just to give, like, set the. Set the scene on Vibe. Last year there was a zip line. The year before that, there were people on stilts. Like, like, there's just. It's a different vibe, but at the same time super fun, very engaging. And I have yet to be to an annual. And this would be. This one will be my. My. My fourth right. With the company. But I've yet to be with an. At an annual where people didn't leave going. I learned a punch and man, was that fun. So I think that's really kind of the vibe. It's. It's meant to be the place where you're going to go make an impactful couple days, three days, you know, for your business. But as Amelia said, like, you can't do anything there without actually having some sort of positive roi. And I'll ask what. I'll add one other thing is that on the sponsorship side, everything we do here is turnkey. So we have really great, really, like, already really great production value coming into this already. So you don't have to worry about if you're thinking, oh, man, Like. Like, I know it's later in the year, you know, building the plan. I don't know if I have a big team. Things of that nature, you just. They go out the door because we do the hard work for you. Your job's to come and. And, you know, set up and engage. Yeah. What did I miss, Waylon?

I mean, I think you guys covered most of it. I will say that the vibe, that sort of festival vibe, the celebration of SaaS, I think it's. Eric, the CEO from Zoom, calls it the Super bowl moment for SaaS. And I think that Vibe really does make it more engaging. People want to engage in conversations in a way that you just don't when you're at a conference at some hotel somewhere. It's just that environment, that celebration feel means you're going to have a lot more conversations. We do have Structured networking programs as well. You're going to see cool tools, you're going to meet amazing people, you're going to be able to network with people on topics that you pre select in advance. The relationships built at Saster, you see it all over LinkedIn like after the event. Like LinkedIn is basically a Saster takeover for a few days of people just posting about all the amazing things they learned and the people they met and the relationships they built. So whether you're coming as a sponsor or as an attendee, I think there's huge value there.

Yeah. And I'll just wrap on a few things, right, because again we're trying to keep these to 20 or so minutes and then you know, if you, Sorry, I say obviously too much. But if you have any deep dive questions, you know, we'll give you our emails at the end here to get in contact directly with us. I do like Waylon's tagline and I may steal it that it is a celebration of. So welcome to the marketing team Waylon. But yeah, I think it's, it's very important to like much like our other events like Europa and how we've met, you know how we have an emphasis on AI day and like signups, there is a clear value of ROI here at the annual. We do the. Actually you can see it here. So I'm going to stay on the homepage for a second. In these two hangers is where our sponsor halls are. There are multiples, they are huge. Right. So like these, even this on the drone doesn't give it quite the scale that it is in person. These are massive. Like I think this one's like a hundred thousand square foot. That one's like 300. Like massive, massive hangars of sponsors and of stages. You can see, you know we connect them through the middle, that connector, middle area was like so high traffic last year. I think it was like the most high trafficked place. People are going back and forth to content, to networkings in those hangers. Right? Networking. They're doing those things. They're coming outside, they're going to stages, they're enjoying the full again, full campus feel. Lots of folks stay on campus. Sometimes I'm like, why are people here so early? Like I have to, I have to be here early. But a lot of folks are there early and I'm like, wow, they're already here. It's like, but it's fun to see, right? And then they say late. I'm like, literally people treat that as a campus. So I think if you go into it with that mindset. It's helpful for both attendees and sponsors to know that again, you know, folks really do come all three days, I think. Waylon, you've got a good story, right, of folks closing deals on the last day.

Yeah, I mean, to be honest, like, I had sponsors like closing deals every single day. I had sponsors closing deals before it even started, like with offering customer passes, so.

Oh yeah, that's true.

Yeah. There's lots of business done on site. The nice thing is, like, you know, when you've got that C level audience, there are people who have the ability to say yes. There's people who, who know who you are before you get there. They didn't necessarily want to engage with a salesperson, but they're there, they want to go to the booth and they want to talk to an exec. So a good reminder, there's bring your execs out.

Great reminder. I'm so glad you said it because I've been trying to say it every week. Bring your executives to do. I don't know, I've got to coin a better term for this. For the next, you know, whatever, 30 weeks remaining of the year. I don't want to call it booth duty, but bring your C suite to exhibit. If it's going to pay off anywhere, it will be a disaster. Again, more than half of our audience is at VP level and above. So the more to Waylon's point, the more you can put your vp, CEO, Head of product, product in front of them, the closer you can get deals done. Right. That's how deals happen on site versus having to send a follow up and book a time on your calendar. Like, just get done there. As everyone knows, you know, time can sometimes kill all deals. So the more you can bring your execs, the better we'll think of a good term for it. That's not booth duty, but so glad you said that.

Yeah. Goddard for G2 is perfect example. He's there, he's working the floor. And the number of photos of Goddard on LinkedIn after of all the founders getting their pictures.

Yeah, there's a reason. Yeah, yeah, yeah, he is. He is a shining example of that. I do. That's a great example. All right, guys, anything else on any of our events you want to touch on before we wrap for this Thursday's edition?

I. I think just if you'd like to get in touch with us, please do. Right, like the team's ready to rock. You can do it directly. I'm Brian at Sasterco Waylon is Waylonaster Inc. Dot com. You could also just reach out generally to sponsors@sastorink.com whichever. They all come to us, we'll get them. But reach out, we'd love to chat through any of these. You have questions you'd like to hear. See you have an idea for something that you, like, think would be outlandish. Probably isn't outlandish. We've probably heard it before. So reach out. We're here to talk.

Yeah. And I will end on, you know, just a reminder of our upcoming event, as always, you know. So Miami is next. Hope to see you guys there. We will be there. So hope to see you on the sixth in Miami in the sun and the sand and the surf and Sass. Come to AI Day. If maybe you can't get to Miami, it's digital, so everyone can come. We're expecting a huge crowd for AI Day. We live stream these usually. They do fairly well. I imagine with AI Day, we'll do even better. So come to that at the end of the month, March 26, for AI Day on Wednesday. Our next big in person festival will be SAS Europa in June in London, celebrating five years. And then we'll close out the year, if you will, with the SAS for annual. This September 10th through 12th, 10th SAS for annual. We're coining it now. A celebration of Sass as for Wayland. So it'll be a fun time, we hope, you know, to get you guys involved, get you in front of the community as best we can. So let us know and we will see you guys again next Thursday. Thanks guys for joining us. Thing. Bye, everyone.