This week, we're diving into one of our favorite topics: event planning and more specifically, how we’re leveling up our annual sales rally. There’s a lot more to events than just packing the room; we’re talking gamification, increased connection, creative engagement, and lessons learned from years of experience. Whether you’re part of a massive organization or running smaller regional events, we have plenty of tangible ideas and honest reflections for you to take back to your own teams.

In this episode, we’re sharing real-world stories, practical event tips, and even a few event mishaps along the way. We believe in learning, laughing, and always leveling up, and this episode is packed with ways to make your next event more meaningful for everyone involved.

What we discuss:

• Why it’s essential to build connection and momentum before the event even begins
• The challenges of running engaging events for a geographically diverse team
• How technology (like event apps and gamification tools) can support both attendees and sponsors
• The art and science of event flow, and mistakes we've made (hello, slow-motion bingo!)
• Simple tools to boost participation, like inclusive activities and even throwable microphones
• Why downtime matters as much as structured time at high-energy sales events
• The big-picture goal: creating culture, not just content

Key takeaways:

1. Gamification Drives Connection: By incorporating app-based games and contests, we’re encouraging attendees to interact meaningfully not only with each other but with sponsors as well. For example, loan officers earn points by visiting sponsor tables, leading to lively competition and new conversations (04:44).
2. Tech Makes Events More Inclusive: Using an event app (like EventMobi) allows us to share schedules, speaker bios, and connect participants in advance, especially important when our loan officers span 35 states (02:24; 02:48). This creates community before guests even arrive.
3. Intentional Event Flow Matters: We talk through the importance of agenda-setting being deliberate about who speaks when, balancing high-energy with quieter moments, and pacing the content so the energy stays high throughout the day (06:46; 07:04).
4. Embrace Lessons (and Mistakes): Not every idea is a home run, sometimes a game flops, sometimes there aren’t enough bingos, but every event is a chance to improve. We share a few of our learning moments and why it’s critical to plan for flexibility (10:11; 10:23).
5. Small Touches Boost Engagement: From throwable microphones (yes, you read that right!) to intentional downtime, we look for ways to break the ice, encourage laughter, and give attendees space to build relationships organically (12:03; 13:12).

Whether you’re a seasoned event planner or putting on your first conference, our hope is you’ll walk away inspired to try something new, avoid a few common pitfalls, and most importantly create deeper connections at every opportunity.

As always, drop your questions below or reach out if there’s anything you want us to dig into further. Until next time here’s to stronger events and even stronger communities!

Rach & Rin

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The biggest thing about events is that you're going to learn from them. There's always going to be an improvement, two improvements, three that need to be made. So then you kind of realize and you get. You get stronger as you go on, and you learn from your mistakes. And that is all part of the lovely process of event planning.

Hey, everybody. Welcome back to Lending Leadership, the creative brief. I'm Rach.

And I'm Rin.

And today we're getting into the sales rally. We are so excited because we have our sales rally coming up, and a lot of people do events and sales rallies, but this year we're really stepping it up. And it's not just about an event. It's about gamification. It's about connection. It's about really making sure that you're creating an experience and making sure that you're creating connection and leveling up every year, making sure that you are creating engagement. Before the conference even starts, Corinne and I are getting into it today on how we are so excited about some of these really key things that we've implemented this year. We are inviting you to pull up a seat to the table and sharing some really cool things that hopefully you can implement to some of your events this year.

We're getting into it. Corinne, let's go. Welcome to Lending Leadership, everybody.

Welcome, everybody. Thanks, Rach. What a great opener. And I think that it's really important, especially this time of year in early spring, because so many of you are running spring events, you know, reconnecting with your real estate partners in different ways as the market might start to pick up, and thinking ahead to summertime as well. So what a great time to come up with some inspirational ideas on how you can connect more deeply with your partners in the field and locally.

One of the really cool things that we implemented this year, which we're so excited about, and this might not be for everybody, but for us, this. This was kind of a big step. We are. We're a big company, but a smaller company. But career had gone to a pretty cool event this year with Total Expert, and you had this really cool thing you came back from, and you were like, we have to have this app. We have to have an app at our event and just share a little bit about, you know, this app that you experienced and you've had to have at our sales rally. At first I was like, we don't need an app. We're not big enough.

We don't need an app. And then I was like, okay, we need an app.

Well, again, Any app in our event, of course, yeah. And you know, recognizing that every, every IMB or mortgage group or mortgage team are at different sizes, phases, development. Right. So some of you might be sitting there saying, oh, our company already does this. It's not new for us. Where a smaller or growing size company might not have something like this yet for their larger, more staple or events throughout the year. So the app is just that experience in which, you know, you're kind of getting away from sharing the information of the event, you know, through possibly a little micro site or a way that you're getting that information out to your loan officers and having them download an app where they can literally see every session, every speaker, a bio, contact information for those individuals if they want to follow up or engage or interact more, more closely before or after the event and then also to see who else is attending. Our loan officers, for example, are in 35 states.

So they're spread out. Some of them know each other and have already met and some of them do not know each other and have not met. So it's a way for them to connect through the app and online, you know, on their phones before getting, you know, to the experience and getting in the room. And then in addition, there's other things we're doing in there, kind of running some internal contest during the event to get everybody's competitive spirit going. And that's really gonna drive, you know, that engagement and that culture and moment while we're, you know, speakers are running, we're taking breaks, we're having meals together. So, you know, all around, I just think that it's going to be a really great time and this is going to be such an impactful, useful tool that our attendees can use while on site.

One of the things that I actually sold me on this event was from the sponsorship side of things. Because a lot of times, you know, from the sponsors, if they're not right in the room. And for our sales rally, it's just not possible. You know, we are at capacity, we with our attendees in the room. The sponsors just don't fit in the room. And you know, like, yes, we want our loan officers to be walking around and to hit every sponsor and be talking to them. But sometimes, you know, the engagement just isn't there. Whether the sponsors just maybe they are not engaging enough and at their booth, they just don't know what to talk about or whatever it may be.

But so a really cool thing. And I think this is great. Number one, it's a great selling point for us for our sponsors to say, hey, this is an extra level that we are making sure to create that connection for you, to make sure that the loan officer see you. But it's this gamification side of things where on the app, the loan officer will get points for every sponsor that they go and visit. They visit their table, they talk to the sponsor, they will get a little code that they'll have to. They'll fill in on the app. And for every sponsor they visit, they'll get points. And at the end of the rally, whoever has the most points at the end of the rally, they get a little prize.

And of course, loan officers or any salespeople, they're very competitive. But yes, it's for a prize, but at the end of the day, it's again, to create connection. And I think this is really going to help people to create relationship, create connection, create conversation. And I think that's, I'm really excited to see this in real time to see how our sponsors really react to this. I think they're going to love this and I think it's going to really help just create that connection and create the conversations.

Right? Yeah. It's an additional tool that you can use at a larger event to get your partners more jazzed and energized to be there and interact and also help you with the costs of the event. If you're a branch manager, if you're on the executive team or connected close closely with larger loan officer events in certain locations, all these same concepts can be applied at any level, at any scale. So you know what, what you get from it is just a tip on how to engage further with your sponsorships. Yep.

Yep. So the one that we used was EventMobi, but there's a ton of different apps out there. If you have any questions, drop it down below. We're happy to answer any questions, but we'll have to report back and let everybody know how it went. But we're really excited about this. We haven't used an event app, but we're very excited, so that's something new. Another thing that we're really playing with and we're always, we're always aware of this for different events, but this is something that you always want to be aware of for events is just the event flow and energy. You know, there is a real art to preparing the event agenda, ladies and gentlemen.

You always want to be very, very cognizant of who you put after lunch, who you put at the end of the day, how you st your speakers, how you stack, you know, your, your sponsors, when your sponsors speak, whether you, when you have your panels, you know, just your ebb and flow of your events. I mean, Corinne, I know we, we've both been to a million events that have started great and then kind of fizzled out or maybe started and then ended really well. I mean, what's, what's your experience been with different events?

Yeah, I agree, Rach. It is important to really take a look and kind of visualize. I use the word visualize a lot because it is such a powerful tool, whether it's used often or not, in how the flow of the day is going to go. And it's a craft in and of itself. So, you know, if you have questions about it, ask us, let us know. But it is something that you might want to discuss with trusted partners of yours when you're trying to work a full day event, even a half day event, and there is some transition of speakers or transition of talks that will go on within the full schedule. And I agree with everything you've said, Rach. It's really a matter of knowing when a break is happening, how individuals react after that, how much time it takes them to get back into their seats and anticipating.

I always say this and I say it on repeat, anticipating ahead of time, any single challenge, pushback situation you could encounter because that allows you to then plan ahead. Another thing I want to address specifically is thinking about the warmup to the event. So if it is a one day, let's use an example. We have a two day event coming up for our rally. Maybe you're planning a one day event. Maybe you're planning a morning. Are people getting in the night before? You know, are you thinking about a dinner or some type of a warmup activity for everybody to get together and kind of start interacting ahead of time so that they're really ready to go on day one. That's something to think about.

We're doing that as well. And I think it's going to be a really fun moment for our attendees.

Yeah, I think so too. And you know what's really, it's kind of interesting to think about, you know. Well, and, and we'll, I'll share this too. You know, I think sometimes planning too much and trying to be too cutesy. In years past, we've tried different things that have kind of, I don't want to say flopped, but planning too much is not always a good thing. You know, we wanted to have games and fireworks and hoopla. You don't always need to do that bingo.

I'm not, I'm not ashamed. Rage. Give them, give them a little bingo. We tried a little bingo game one time and nobody was getting their card filled quick enough. And that's what you got to realize about bingo, man. Like, people got to be hitting bingo to keep their attention span. It's a great game, by the way. Not downing bingo at all.

I love it. But it was, it was the situation and scenario where we didn't have enough time to really give out enough awards with it. We weren't hitting enough bingos within the period of time that we had. And again, it goes back to kind of anticipating and playing out a situation, a game, an interaction, a scenario ahead of time. And it was something that we thought would move more quickly than it did. So lesson learned. The biggest thing about events is that you're going to learn from them. There's always going to be an improvement, two improvements, three that need to be made.

So then you kind of realize and you get, you get stronger as you go on and you learn from your mistakes. And that is all part of the lovely process of event planning.

It is. And you know, it's a fun and interesting process. Absolutely. But I think you need to remember that downtime and quiet is not a bad thing. Having some moments of downtime or even, you know, every second doesn't need to be planned, especially for loan officers and any sales oriented position. People do need a couple of extra minutes to check their phones, to check email. You know, we, we sometimes want to plan every single second, but having a few minutes of downtime is not a bad idea. But you know, just going back quickly, just a couple of key moments and then we'll move to the next thing.

Designing a schedule with intentional ebb and flow. Placing the most dynamic speakers after breaks, after lunch, and at the end of the day, those are key things that you definitely want to do. And then avoiding common conference mistakes like stacking heavy content back to back. That's just like, you know, sensory overload. You want to give people time to breathe and just take things in. So store those away. Gamification. We got into that a little bit.

Let's see, what other things do we want to hit on? Oh, this is kind of fun that we added this last year and this was a really big hit. The throwable mics. This is something so fun where we had gotten this idea from another event that we had gone to there A lot of times during an event, you know, if people in a conference, people have a question, there's Usually microphones in the middle of the room. Or somebody will run up and say, hold on, wait. To ask your question. Let me bring you the microphone. Because not everyone can hear, and that's a pet peeve of mine. When somebody just stands up and starts talking and the whole room can't hear.

I don't know why. That really irks me. So we got these throwable microphones. I don't know if anyone has ever seen those before. Comment down below if you've. If you've ever experienced that, where you take this little. Little styrofoam, like, square mic, and people will chuck it across the room, and hopefully the person catches it. Or maybe it'll hit seven people in the head, and then they catch it, and then it has a microphone built into it, and they can ask their question.

Greatest little invention. I'm so happy we're doing this. We have two of these this year, Corinne.

Yeah, and it's more than just that. It's not like I expect anybody to think really deeply about that moment, but there are little takeaways within that decision moment. Right? It gets people laughing. It gets people making jokes and comments at each other, like, you know, somebody misses catching it, or somebody throws it and goes for it. And as Rachel pointed out, it hits somebody else. And, you know, psychology actually does prove when people are smiling, when they're laughing, they're in a warmer space. They're more open to engagement. And that's really important during a moment or an event where you're trying to get people to engage.

People are sitting there serious, and everyone's just walking up in line to a microphone. It is a different feel than an event where we're tossing around a styrofoam mic and having laughs while we're doing it. So, yeah, it's a cool little up moment. Little tip for anybody that's got a larger event in the works, or maybe you're working together with multiple loan officers or real estate partners of yours to put on a larger show. It can definitely be an effective tool to use, and we'll let you know. We'll take some pictures, and we'll provide some feedback in the future on how it went.

Definitely keeps people on their toes to know where this. This foam microphone is coming at. You don't get to the head with it. You do. You do. You do get to know the people who, you know, have the good. The good softball arm and those who. Who lightly.

Even even though you can throw it, people will get up out of their seat and Walk it over. You're like, no, chuck it. Come on, let's see what you got.

I love it. It's going to be fun, you know,

and you know, we can, we can just end on this. And the goal of our creative brief is to be short and sweet and give you some, some good, tangible ideas in, in a short, just bite size, tangible, easy takeaway here. But the goal of events, it's not just learning, it's connection, it's momentum, it's culture that crave now and especially in a world where people are working remotely, they want engagement, they want, they want to connect with people. So really give them the opportunity to do that and you know, really, really to create relationship. I think people are craving that more than ever. And isn't that ironic? In a culture where people are more connected than ever, we're feeling more alone than ever.

Yeah, it's because of the smartphones. But don't get me started. This is a great opportunity with the exception of the app which we're promoting, to set down your phone and have conversations with people, we're going to be doing all of the eating and drinking and experiencing all of the education together with our speakers. So we wanted to put together this little bite sized tidbit. If you're listening or watching in your morning, having your coffee or lunch, hey, I hope it inspires you to get out, work on your event, add something new to your event, you know, chatgpt additional ideas of how you can get further engagement and get more out of your realtor partners or, you know, something different or creative that you want to do with a fellow loan officer to get the room and the attendance up. So please comment, like subscribe. Please ask us questions in chat. We're always here for you.

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