Backstage Pass: Ep. 8 - Heather Davis: Behind The Scenes With A Seasoned Event Strategist

Heather davis bio

Heather L. Davis, JD, CLU®, ChFC®, CAP®, has been with New York Life since 1999. She is part of the leadership team at The Nautilus Group where she heads the Marketing, Meetings and Agent Development team. Prior to this role, Heather managed a team of consultants at New York Life’s Advanced Planning Group and was a member of the special cases unit at Nautilus where she created customized business and estate analyses for high-net-worth clients. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa and as a Superior Scholar from the University of Nebraska, where she received both her Bachelor of Arts and Juris Doctor. She is also a member of the Texas State Bar Association.

Show notes

In this episode of Backstage Pass we’re joined by events strategist Heather Davis, Corporate Vice President with New York Life. She drives high-impact outcomes through oversight of three domains: marketing, meetings, and training and development. This conversation has Heather share what makes a speaking event successful, why some speakers are invited back, and the biggest hurdles she faces as an events strategist. She also spills about what a recent speaker did that surprised her—and what she expects to see in the event and speaking space next.

Key topics in this episode include:

• The services Heather provides and the individuals who look for these services.

• The overall objective of the annual meeting that Heather coordinates.

• How having a small event team influences the planning process.

• Signs of a successful annual meeting (and why measuring it matters).

• How many contracts Heather has facilitated.

• What encourages Heather to book a speaker again (or never again).

• Why you should book speakers as far in advance as possible.

• Whether a speaker’s video is actually helpful in decision making or not.

• The biggest challenges Heather has in strategizing events.

• Why speaker customization is so important.

• How she approaches booking speakers and who she trusts with the heavy lifting.

• The type of speaker that Heather needs right now who are also hard to find.

• What a recent speaker did that surprised Heather.

• Heather’s predictions for future events and what’s already changing now.

• Recent speakers that stood out for Heather in a positive way.