Innovation isn't invention. It's the question you stopped letting yourself ask. That's the reframe Diana Kander brings to this Event About It Aftershow, and it changes the entire game for event marketers, sales leaders, and growth teams chasing the next big idea.

In this deeper-than-the-main conversation, New York Times bestselling author Diana Kander joins host Megan Martin to translate her curiosity methodology into something an event-led growth strategy team can actually implement Monday morning.

If you've felt the lukewarm warning signs in your role, watched your experiment runway stretch to a full fiscal year, or quietly accepted "we've always done it this way" as a strategic direction, this Aftershow is for you.

What You'll Learn

• Why innovation isn't a thing, it's a mindset, and how to spot the difference between real innovation and same-hat-new-box

• Why cameras feel scarier than comedy clubs (and what it reveals about how leaders connect)

• The "7 chapters" theory of career reinvention and how to use it inside an org that won't let you leave

• Diana's $500,000 software failure at 29 and the iteration habit she'd install in every event team today

• How to run event experiments year-round when your conference is twelve months away

• The "closet of old ideas" test that reveals whether your team is actually innovating or just relabeling

• The Calendar Test for curiosity (your meeting calendar reveals exactly how curious your business is)

• The 3 questions to ask attendees who DIDN'T come back, and why nobody on your own team should make the call

• The 10-emotional-moments framework for designing event experiences attendees actually remember

• The Curiosity Muscle (Diana Kander) - the methodology behind asking the people who left, not just the people who showed up

• Curious Like It's Hot - Megan Martin's question-first diagnostic for stagnant industry symptoms

• Reinvention Math - translating Stanford's "Designing Your Life" research into event marketing and sales leadership

About Diana Kander

Diana Kander is a New York Times bestselling author of All In Startup, The Curiosity Muscle, and Get Curious and Grow. A serial entrepreneur and former senior fellow at the Kauffman Foundation, she's spent her career helping organizations turn curiosity from a corporate value into a daily habit. She came to the U.S. as a refugee from the Soviet Union at age eight, is a Georgetown-trained attorney, and is one of the most-booked innovation and curiosity keynote speakers in the country.

Connect with Diana:

• Website: dianakander.com

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dianakander/

• Instagram: @dianakander

Diana and her husband Jason support Veterans Community Project, which builds tiny houses and wraparound services for homeless veterans. Learn more at veteranscommunityproject.org.

About Your Host

Keep Megan Martin is the founder of M Squared Dynamics, a consulting, facilitation, and content strategy firm helping event leaders, marketers, and sales teams turn live experiences into measurable business growth. She's the host and executive producer of Event About It, co-founder of Opportunity Hunters, and a two-time PCMA Visionary Award nominee (2022 winner). With nearly 20 years in the industry, Megan operates at the intersection of event strategy, marketing alignment, and behavioral intent signals, turning events from line items into pipeline drivers.

Connect with Megan and M Squared Dynamics:

• Podcast: EventAboutItPodcast.com

• Newsletter (Step and Repeat): msquareddynamics.com/stepandrepeatsignup

• Consulting and strategy: msquareddynamics.com

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meganmartincmp/

• Instagram: @m2dynamics and @eventaboutit

• TikTok: @eventaboutit

The best conversations start after the show ends, and the best ones keep going in your inbox. Subscribe to Event About It wherever you get your podcasts and sign up for the Step and Repeat newsletter at msquareddynamics.com/stepandrepeatsignup.

Until next time, stay curious.

The events industry has a curiosity problem. Attendees changed. Buyers changed. Metrics changed. And most of us rebooked the same hotel.

This week on Event About It, New York Times bestselling author and innovation keynote speaker Diana Kander joins host Megan Martin to diagnose five stagnant event strategy problems nobody in the industry is naming out loud, and the curiosity question that breaks each one open.

If you're building an event-led growth strategy, leading a marketing team, or running B2B events that need to drive measurable pipeline, this is the diagnostic you didn't know you needed.

What You'll Learn

• Why "the biggest threat to your event isn't failure. It's the success you stopped questioning."

• The one question that turns flat sponsor renewals into new logo growth

• Why an attendee NPS of 72 every single year isn't a win, it's a warning sign

• How to design a day-three draw before you lose the room

• Why a 4.5-out-of-5 session score is the worst feedback you can get

• What Snoop Dogg's business model teaches the events industry about staying relevant decade after decade

About Diana Kander

Diana Kander is a New York Times bestselling author of All In Startup and The Curiosity Muscle, with her new book Get Curious and Grow available now. She came to the U.S. as a refugee from the Soviet Union at age eight, became a Georgetown-trained attorney, founded around ten companies, served as a senior fellow at the Kauffman Foundation, and is one of the most-booked innovation and curiosity keynote speakers in the country.

Connect with Diana:

• Website: dianakander.com

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dianakander/

• Instagram: @dianakander

About Your Host

Megan Martin is the founder of M Squared Dynamics, a consulting, facilitation, and content strategy firm helping event leaders, marketers, and sales teams turn live experiences into measurable business growth. She's the host and executive producer of Event About It, co-founder of Opportunity Hunters, and a two-time PCMA Visionary Award nominee (2022 winner). With nearly 20 years in the industry, Megan operates at the intersection of event strategy, marketing alignment, and behavioral intent signals, turning events from line items into pipeline drivers.

Connect with Megan and M Squared Dynamics:

• Podcast: EventAboutItPodcast.com

• Newsletter (Step and Repeat): msquareddynamics.com/stepandrepeatsignup

• Consulting and strategy: msquareddynamics.com

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meganmartincmp/

• Instagram: @m2dynamics and @eventaboutit

• TikTok: @eventaboutit

Keep the Conversation Going

Subscribe to Event About It so the Aftershow lands in your feed the second it drops. Diana and Megan go deeper on why innovation isn't invention, the curiosity practice every leadership team should install tomorrow, and the three questions to actually ask the people who didn't come to your last event.

Send this episode to the marketer, sales leader, or event strategist who keeps telling you their last event "went great."

Most event teams can't answer the most basic pipeline question. Steph Pennell built the framework. Here's the whole thing.

She googled the domain mid-call. Bought it on the spot. A few months later she quit ZoomInfo, flew first class to the south of France with no plan, and came back ready to build something from scratch.

This is the Aftershow. It goes deeper.

Steph Pennell — The Event Critic — is back for the second half of her conversation with Megan Martin. This time they get into the actual frameworks: how to calculate revenue in the room, how to build a pre-event outreach matrix that segments by audience and relationship stage, how to get BDRs and SDRs to show up for your events, and how to speak the data language that finally makes sales care.

Then they get honest about the stuff that doesn't usually make it into the strategy deck — leaving a toxic environment, building a business with no safety net, ADHD in the events industry, and why the F*ck You Fund is one of the most practical moves you can make whether you go out on your own or not.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN:

→ The revenue in the room metric: how to break down ARR influenced, expansion pipeline, and net new revenue from a single event

→ Why most companies would restructure their entire event portfolio if they actually ran the attribution numbers

→ The outreach matrix: pre-event segmentation by audience type, seniority, and relationship stage — built to run at scale

→ How to work event registration into BDR and SDR quota so the whole go-to-market team shows up for your program

→ How to stop reporting attendance and start reporting pipeline — the switch that gets demand gen and finance off your back

→ What she actually looked at when she told a client to cut five events from their calendar

→ The F*ck You Fund: what it is, why it matters, and why you should be building yours right now

CHAPTERS:

00:00 Welcome to the Aftershow

01:17 The Event Critic: How That Name Actually Happened

04:06 The Biggest Shock Going from B2C to B2B Events

07:28 Why Starting in Sales Made Her a Better Event Leader

11:05 How to Actually Unify Sales and Events (Not Just "Align Earlier")

14:03 Why BDRs and SDRs Are Your Secret Weapon for Event Registration

18:22 Revenue in the Room: The Metric That Changes the Conversation

22:29 The Outreach Matrix: How to Get the Right People in the Room

28:37 Post-Event Follow-Up by Segment

32:30 When You Know It's Time to Leave

34:46 ADHD, Human Design, and Honoring Your Energy

44:54 The F*ck You Fund Is a Business Strategy

46:00 Back of House: A 911 Line for Event Professionals

48:27 Until Next Time

CONNECT WITH STEPH PENNELL:

LinkedIn:⁠ https://www.linkedin.com/in/theeventcritic/⁠

Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/bystephpennell/⁠

Website: ⁠www.byingenue.com⁠

🔗 LINKS & RESOURCES

Subscribe to Event About It:⁠ https://eventaboutitpodcast.com⁠

Submit a story or moment from the field:⁠ https://eventaboutitpodcast.com⁠

Follow Megan on LinkedIn:⁠ https://www.linkedin.com/in/meganmartincmp⁠

Follow Megan on Instagram: ⁠@m2dynamics⁠ and ⁠@eventaboutit

ABOUT EVENT ABOUT IT: Event About It is the podcast for B2B event marketers, demand gen leaders, field marketers, and anyone who needs their events to do more than look good in the recap deck. Hosted by Megan Martin of M Squared Dynamics, each episode connects event strategy to pipeline influence, revenue, and event-led growth — with enough personality to make it worth your Friday commute.

New episodes every Friday.

Submit a story or moment from the field: www.eventaboutitpodcast.com

#EventROI #EventMarketing #B2BEvents #EventStrategy #EventLedGrowth #DemandGeneration #FieldMarketing #GoToMarket #EventMeasurement #B2BMarketing