When Mandy Glenwright joined Prologis as a corporate events and sponsorships manager a few months ago, she thought that along with her deep expertise she was also bringing along a toolbox full of event technology.
After years working in high-tech with companies including Seagate and Lenovo, Glenwright had seen event measurement evolve from simple badge scans to sophisticated systems with granular attribution and pipeline impact. From heatmapping to universal lead capture, she knew all about data-driven decision-making.
But in a commercial real estate industry, where long-term personal relationships are the backbone of success, building and implementing a measurement practice that would set the foundation of the events program and would help unlock new opportunities turned out to present a unique challenge.
“I realized quickly that it wasn’t my role to tell them how to apply my measurement tools to their process,” Glenwright says. “I have to now figure out how to tailor a process to capture their successes.”
For 2027, Glenwright has determined that her main areas for focus will be thought leadership, scheduled meetings and hospitality, with the idea of scaling over time. Here’s how she’s approaching building the measurement framework.
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Determine what success looks like for leadership.
It can be a difficult but necessary conversation to have, Glenwright says. “I’ve certainly been guilty of not understanding what success looks like to leadership, and just shooting in the dark and thinking that I’m reporting on success when they thought something else was more valuable.”
Understanding exactly what needs to be reported on sets the foundation for the measurement framework and determines the event strategy. Glenwright suggests cutting the list of KPIs down to five at the most, and ranking them before determining the tools and processes available to gather and analyze this information.
Be prepared to do the legwork.
Event data might sit across several teams that may not have a unified system of tracking or reporting it. Maybe, what you get is a simple Word document with post-event interview notes or a list of companies contacted at scheduled meetings. Understanding what information is being collected and where it lives is essential to translating it into a more unified program and identifying the tools needed.
Build around the business, not the tool.
Glenwright is building a process around the existing sales culture, finding ways to capture meaningful interactions without inhibiting them. She tackles this by making the new steps as accessible as possible.
“Start small. No one wants to feel like they have to take a test in order to be successful in attending an event,” she says. “If I’m not getting engagement from my internal team, I’m certainly not going to be successful at measuring anything outside of that team.”
Go manual if needed.
With the proliferation of measurement technology, it’s easy to feel like you don’t have the budget, but early steps don’t require a major investment. Glenwright says: “If you’re doing something manually, that’s not a failure because you’re not utilizing some fancy AI enrichment event stack. I feel like event measurement is very accessible. Yes, there’s more legwork on the manual side, and yes, there’s more time, but that’s how you learn.”
Find your champions.
Building a measurement-based event practice is a long game, and you can’t go it alone. Glenwright suggests identifying people willing to participate, giving them tools that make their jobs easier, and using the resulting data to demonstrate the process’s value.
“Tracking, measuring, and reporting on the success of these tools with the people who are more than willing to engage and be a part of it is basically how I gain buy-in from those who are hesitant right now. It’s OK if it’s a slow process. The opportunity to build a long-term strategy is actually very exciting.”
Have a measurement story idea? Reach out to EM’s editor-at-large Anna Huddleston.
