How Wounded Warrior Project Pulls Off 400 Events a Year

[00:00:00] Sarah Lutz: Event planners are either seen by their leadership as just, “We’re assigning you a task. Go do your task,” versus as a subject matter expert.

Thankfully, I think with some of the reporting that Cvent has offered, we’re seen as subject matter experts. They see the value of our team because of the reporting that Cvent is able to offer us.

[00:00:21] Alyssa Peltier: Great events create great brands, but pulling off an event that engages, excites, and connects audiences? Well, that takes a village, and we’re that village. My name is Alyssa.

[00:00:32] Rachel Andrews: I’m Rachel.

[00:00:33] Kelly Cheng: I’m Kelly.

[00:00:34] Felicia Asiedu: And I’m Felicia.

[00:00:36] Alyssa Peltier: And you are listening to Great Events, the podcast for all event enthusiasts, creators, and innovators in the world of events and marketing.

[00:00:44] Felicia Asiedu: Hi, everyone, and welcome to the wide, wide world of events. My name is Felicia, and I am your host for this week. I am so glad to be joined by two wonderful people who sound like they’ve done an amazing job of transforming their event program from something that was maybe a little bit disparate into a unified system where everybody is working together.

Paige and Sarah, thank you so much for joining me. I’m glad to have you. I hate to do that thing where I’m guessing what you do and putting it together for the people, so why don’t you just tell us who you are, what you do, and then we’ll get into our conversation? How’s that, Paige?

[00:01:18] Paige Marg: We are both with Wounded Warrior Project. We’re both on the Travel and Events team. Our team has 13 planners and two travel specialists, and we plan 400 multiday events a year for wounded warriors, their caregivers, and family support members. I’m one of the Travel and Events managers, we have two, and Sarah is one of our senior event planners.

[00:01:39] Felicia Asiedu: Awesome. Sarah?

[00:01:40] Sarah Lutz: Thanks for having us. Hi. Like Paige said, I’m Sarah. I’m a senior event planning specialist for Wounded Warrior Project. I’ve been with the organization for about five years now. I love the organization and love our team. Our leadership is amazing, and I’m just super excited to talk about what we’ve had going on for the last couple of years.

[00:01:57] Felicia Asiedu: Awesome. Well, as I said, thank you so much. Before we get into it, tell us a little bit about Wounded Warrior Project so that our audience understands your audience and why you’d be running these events for them.

[00:02:08] Paige Marg: Wounded Warrior Project is a nonprofit organization, and we support over 300,000 wounded warriors and their caregivers. All of our programs and services are completely free to all of our warriors, their caregivers, and family support members who utilize them.

Wounded Warrior Project delivers its programs and services on an event-based model, really focusing on seeking to empower warriors’ physical, mental, social, and financial wellness.

[00:02:34] Felicia Asiedu: What do they hope to achieve from these events? Are they educational for them, or are they ways to bring them together as a membership or community? What are your objectives for these events?

[00:02:45] Sarah Lutz: Our events range. What we would actually have the outcome, hopefully, be for a lot of the warriors and family caregivers, I would say, most of the time, is a lot of camaraderie. We’re hoping to reconnect service members with fellow service members.

Obviously, as service members are coming out and getting out of the service, they’re thinking, “Where do we go next? What do we do from here?” They’ve had a path that they had designed in their minds for so long, and now they’re out, and there’s not necessarily always a path for them. We really hope to engage them with fellow service members and get them into a community.

We do that in a lot of different ways, as Paige said, through physical health and wellness. Even though the focus of that event might be physical health and wellness, we really hope the camaraderie is behind them the whole time and that they have a community of folks to walk away with and continue that camaraderie outside of service.

[00:03:33] Felicia Asiedu: Oh, I love that. The way you talk about it is so passionate as well.

[00:03:37] Sarah Lutz: Yeah.

[00:03:38] Felicia Asiedu: I think sometimes when we use the word “events,” we’re all in the events industry, they just sound a little bit throwaway, as in, “Oh, it’s just an event, and there’s another event.” But actually, the reason behind these things existing, especially for an organization like yours, is a must.

It has to happen. Otherwise, what would happen to these people? They would have to struggle to find each other and come together. I love hearing that. We often talk about these moments that matter, and that’s right on the money. Thank you for that.

Thinking about how you work to facilitate these events, I know we’re talking about systems coming together and tools coming together, but can either of you paint a picture for me of what it was like before, when they were a bit disparate?

[00:04:20] Paige Marg: I would say the Wild, Wild West is probably the best way to describe it.

[00:04:24] Felicia Asiedu: Nice.

[00:04:25] Paige Marg: We didn’t have a very clear path for how our team received events. We didn’t have a clear understanding of the types of events our team should handle. We were doing all the things all the time and maybe not doing it in the most efficient way possible. We have worked very hard to really streamline that process, define the events that we support, and then help create a system and a process for the organization to bring those events to our team.

Our organization has about 20 offices and about 1,000 teammates, so we are a very large organization with a very large footprint. And so, really working to make sure that our processes are defined so we can support our internal stakeholders is going to help benefit the warrior at the end. And that’s really the goal. Supporting them and their families.

[00:05:14] Felicia Asiedu: Absolutely. I chuckled a little bit when you said, “The events we should handle versus what we shouldn’t,” because, oh my gosh, the amount of time it’s, “Oh, you can plan that. Oh, you can plan that. Oh, you can plan that.” It’s, “Hold on. I’m a little bit more strategic than you might have had in your mind.”

[00:05:29] Paige Marg: Yeah. Because our programs and services are delivered on an event-based model, the organization hosts about 5,000 events a year. And so, really honing in and defining what the travel and events team should be handling, and what our expertise can be utilized in was a game changer for our team in making sure that our focus area, and our time was really focused on the things that we should be focused on for the organization.

[00:05:59] Felicia Asiedu: Before you started finding tools and systems, did you go through that process of defining exactly what you said first and saying, “Okay, here’s what we’re going to do, and therefore, this is the tool that we need, or these are the tools that we need”? Was that a very rigid process?

[00:06:13] Paige Marg: We actually came up with that idea at CONNECT about 10 years ago.

[00:06:18] Felicia Asiedu: Oh, amazing. Wow.

[00:06:19] Paige Marg: When we really started looking at implementing a strategic meetings planning program into the organization. That was really kind of step one of defining out what we should be working on. And we had really great leadership support that helped us in the beginning make changes.

Change is hard. I’m sure we’ve all seen change in our organizations or programs. Implementing that change, we needed support. We needed leadership support to have that buy-in.

[00:06:48] Felicia Asiedu: Yeah. Well, it’s really great that you got it because I know that I asked our CMO, “How did you get support to entirely change our brand?”

[00:06:56] Paige Marg: Yeah.

[00:06:58] Felicia Asiedu: It’s really great when they buy in because it gives you that freedom to do the right thing for the business rather than struggling against it.

[00:07:04] Paige Marg: Definitely.

[00:07:04] Felicia Asiedu: Awesome. You work within the team of 13?

[00:07:07] Sarah Lutz: I do.

[00:07:08] Felicia Asiedu: How is that? Do you feel like you have enough of those tools and guardrails in place for your team to be able to efficiently execute what you do?

[00:07:17] Sarah Lutz: Absolutely. I think we’ve done a really great job of building a lot of processes and procedures to hone in on the details of the event. We have all of these guardrails up for us that lead us to the path of completing an event successfully, and it really gives us time to focus on the details of our events, whether that’s dietary restrictions or accessible sleeping rooms.

We have a lot of different requests that come through, and there are 13 of us, so we’re always chatting and asking questions of each other: “How would you address this situation? How would you accommodate this kosher dietary restriction at this site?” So it's a really great team that we have, that is very supportive of each other, and is always willing to help each other.

Our leadership has done a great job of cultivating that culture within our team. It’s really great. I feel like some of the folks on our team are going to be friends for life just because we’ve built so much trust, we have so much buy-in, and we all get along really well. Sorry, that wasn’t your question, but—

[00:08:19] Felicia Asiedu: I don’t even care. I just like the answer.

[00:08:22] Sarah Lutz: But yeah, we’ve really gone and built a lot of processes and procedures. We have so many SOPs. Cvent, honestly, has helped us in the guiding of getting those procedures in place. Our budgets are so much better than they used to be, just because of how we’re tracking cost savings and how we’re tracking the properties we stay in.

It gives leadership, at least from what I assume, a much better picture of what we’re doing and the ROI that they are investing in us, so we can take our subject matter experts, put us to good use, and help make the right business decisions.

[00:08:56] Felicia Asiedu: Yeah. So great. And so out of that, are your events one by one? So one and done, one and done, or does one lead to another? Or is there a reason why that exists 'cause then there's another event down the line?

[00:09:08] Sarah Lutz: We follow a similar pattern to hotel properties, where we have two planners on each event. There’s a destination expert who does most of our hotel contracting and then a logistics expert who handles all of the details and logistics, so BEOs, transportation, flights, and activities. We split up into two different roles.

From there, both planners are touching between, I would say, seven to 15 events at a time. They’re all flowing in and out, but we break it up so both planners stay within the same timeline.

There’s not a ton of back and forth like, “I’m planning an event that’s a year out,” or, “I’m planning an event that starts in two weeks.” The destination experts are definitely farther out in the planning process. The logistics are, obviously, as you get closer to the event. So, there's always two event planners on each event.

[00:09:57] Paige Marg: Yeah. We found that with having two event planners on each event, really giving our stakeholders two points of contact, allows for, within our team, a really great work-life balance, that if you're on leave, you have another backup person that knows your event. You’re not trying to hand off all of your work for all 12 events that you’re touching at one point.

It really allows for that. If you’re at a conference for a week or you’re out, you’ve got a backup person to make sure that things are covered down. And so, things aren't slipping through the cracks or you're not returning back from PTO with just thousands of emails and everything's on fire. That's not an effective system at all.

[00:10:34] Felicia Asiedu: Yeah. It makes you scared to take time off, actually.

[00:10:36] Paige Marg: It does.

[00:10:37] Felicia Asiedu: Yeah.

[00:10:39] Paige Marg: I want to take time off. I want to be with my family. We want our team to take their time off, too, and encourage them to go do the things they want to do so they’re recharged and ready to come back.

[00:10:50] Felicia Asiedu: You guys sound like a dream. I’m not going to lie. It sounds like you’ve come in and you're, “This is how we’re going to do things. These are the systems and tools that we need.” It sounds like it really works, which helps you, Sarah, to say, “This is the bond we’ve got together, the camaraderie of how we work together,” because you’re not fighting against each other to try to get things done.

Within that sort of leadership, how do you do that reporting up, like you were talking about, to say, “This is what you’re getting out of this amazing team that’s working together and the tools we’ve invested in”? Do they have access to look in, or are you preparing things and showing them every period?

[00:11:24] Paige Marg: I’ve been with Wounded Warrior Project for 13 years. My counter manager, Danielle, she's been with the organization for 15 years. We both were planners for a long time within the team before we became managers within the team. And so, I think really understanding what the team does has given us a really good insight of just, "This is what they're working on. This is really how much time it's taking."

With that time that they’re spending, we’re able to either pull reports out of Cvent and pass that information up. But for us, we have regular team check-ins, our director is very involved, and we report to the CFO. He is equally very invested into what our team is doing, what's going on big picture within the organization.

I think having senior leadership that has a constant pulse on what our team is working on and really understanding what our team does helps us when we have something that needs to be raised. It's not trying to explain, "Here's the 30 steps before we got to this point." They're well invested. And so they're understanding, as we're leading into this situation, "Hey, we really could use some senior leader support."

[00:12:38] Felicia Asiedu: Yeah. We heard in our keynote at Cvent CONNECT that speaking to the CFO in a language they can understand is very important for showing value, for having that trust within your business as well.

Do you think it’s because of you and your team that your CFO is saying, “Yes, I’m bought in,” or do you think your CFO was already saying, “This is a good thing. This is what we should be doing and what we’re here for”?

[00:13:01] Paige Marg: I really think working for a nonprofit, you’re with like-minded people.

[00:13:07] Felicia Asiedu: Right. Yeah.

[00:13:08] Paige Marg: I think you’re generally not working for a nonprofit if you’re not completely invested in the mission. I think our CFO is very, very invested into Wounded Warrior Project and the why behind the things we’re doing.

It’s really not a hard sell to him, if you will, to make a case or that kind of thing. He’s very attuned to what the organization is doing. With our team having that support, it's definitely made a complete difference in how our team is operating.

[00:13:34] Felicia Asiedu: Yeah. Yeah.

[00:13:35] Sarah Lutz: I think also having the reporting that Cvent offers has given us a lot of leverage in showing our numbers. For example, how much cost savings we have, and for them to really see as us... I think there was an example in one of the sessions I was in that a lot of event planners are either seen from their leadership as just task doers like, "We're assigning you a task, go do your task," versus as a subject matter expert.

Thankfully, I think with some of the reporting that Cvent has offered our leadership to continue to rise up through leadership, we’re seen as subject matter experts, not just task doers. I think that’s been really helpful as well. They see the value of our team because of the reporting that Cvent is able to offer us. I think that’s made it a lot easier.

It also feels great as a senior specialist on the team when our CFO came to our huddle, actually listening to us and what we’re struggling with, and actually going back to headquarters and making things happen for us. There’s nothing better than knowing that your senior leadership has your back.

[00:14:42] Felicia Asiedu: And I now fully understand why you all won an Excellence Award.

[00:14:45] Sarah Lutz: Right.

[00:14:45] Paige Marg: Yeah.

[00:14:47] Felicia Asiedu: Please write all this down. This is a model of how people should behave .

[00:14:50] Paige Marg: Yeah. We do have a lot of longevity on our team, for sure.

[00:14:54] Felicia Asiedu: Wonderful. Okay. What are you looking forward to next? What’s the next thing that makes you say, “Yes, this is what we’re doing”? What is that for you?

[00:15:00] Sarah Lutz: I think just continue to have our team grow. I think that our team, even though we're still fairly small for the amount of events we do, I think that we're all still really excited to continue to grow the event count that we do.

And with Cvent, hopefully, we can continue to do higher quality events and more events at the same time, and just continue to serve the population of Wounded Warriors that are so near and dear to both of our hearts.

So I think we just want to keep rolling. I think we've got really good processes in place and I think just more events. Is that okay to say?

[00:15:34] Felicia Asiedu: That’s perfect.

[00:15:34] Sarah Lutz: Don’t tell my boss that.

[00:15:37] Felicia Asiedu: She needs [inaudible] .

[00:15:37] Sarah Lutz: Because she’s going to assign—

[00:15:38] Paige Marg: “She wants more work? I’ve got it.”

[00:15:39] Sarah Lutz: —more events to me.

[00:15:43] Paige Marg: “No problem. I’ve got you.”

[00:15:44] Felicia Asiedu: Perfect. And then for you, Paige, thinking about what you’ve done so far, what’s one thing you’re really proud of?

[00:15:53] Paige Marg: I’m incredibly proud of the processes we have put in place and how our team operates. I’m really proud of the team we have built. Every single one of our planners and travel specialists is just a wonderful human, and they really care about their job and the mission. Wounded Warrior Project is personal for me, too. My husband is a wounded warrior, so I have seen directly how this organization can impact a family.

I really appreciate the passion they bring to work every day. And I know myself and Danielle, the counter manager, we really can look at our team and just trust that there is such a solid team and so much trust within the team, that we're going to know if something's going on. If there's an issue, they're going to come and tell us on the front end, "Hey."

[00:16:44] Felicia Asiedu: I love it. There are stories in here.

[00:16:47] Paige Marg: “Everything’s fine, but this is slightly on fire. It’s okay. We’re handling it.”

[00:16:50] Felicia Asiedu: I’m always saying, “Just one thing.”

[00:16:52] Paige Marg: Yeah. When she starts like that, I’m like, “Oh, what’s happening?” But no, I’m just really proud of the team we have built, for sure.

[00:17:03] Felicia Asiedu: Well, I love that. I love that you ended with the word “trust.” I can hear it oozing through what you’re doing, so you have all the right systems and people in place.

You all trust each other. You trust your tools. Therefore, you’re trusted, you’re respected in your organization, and you’re doing amazing work.

Thank you so much for what you’re doing. I respect it a hell of a lot. In one little conversation, I’ve learned so much. Thank you so much for joining us. Where can people find you? Is there a website?

[00:17:31] Paige Marg: We both have LinkedIn, but if you want to learn more about the organization, visit woundedwarriorproject.org. You can see all of the impact that the organization has across the board.

[00:17:40] Felicia Asiedu: Oh, brilliant. Well, thank you so much. I appreciate your time.

[00:17:43] Paige Marg: Thank you for having us.

[00:17:44] Sarah Lutz: Yeah, thank you so much for the opportunity.

[00:17:48] Alyssa Peltier: Thanks for hanging out with us on Great Events, a podcast by Cvent. If you’ve been enjoying our podcast, make sure to hit that subscribe button so you never miss an episode.

[00:17:58] Rachel Andrews: And you can help fellow event professionals and marketers just like you discover Great Events by leaving us a rating on Apple, Spotify, or your preferred podcast platform.

[00:18:07] Felicia Asiedu: Stay connected with us on social media for behind-the-scenes content, updates, and some extra doses of inspiration.

[00:18:15] Rachel Andrews: Got a great story or an event to share? We want to hear from you. Find us on LinkedIn, send us a DM, or drop us a note at greatevents@cvent.com.

[00:18:25] Felicia Asiedu: Big thanks to our amazing listeners, our guest speakers, and the incredible team behind the scenes. Remember, every great event begins with great people.

[00:18:35] Alyssa Peltier: And that’s a wrap. Keep creating, keep innovating, and keep joining us as we redefine how to make events great.