5 Question Friday: Nicole Shoots

This week’s 5 Question Friday is about our marketing and event coordinator, Nicole Shoots. Nicole is the person behind every great event that Infusionsoft puts on – namely, InfusionCon, Revolution Tour and a handful of fun internal company events. She leads many functions of the marketing team and keeps it together for company events. I’m sure you’ll find her perspective unique and interesting.

1. What do you do at Infusionsoft?

Here at Infusionsoft, there are many projects that I dip in and help with, but my main responsibility is coordinating events. InfusionCon is the largest event annually and literally takes a full year to plan. When I’m not focused on InfusionCon, I take care of employee events like our annual holiday party, sales events and other customer-centric events like the Revolution Tour. Along with that, I also oversee product fulfillment and project management for our marketing team … and that keeps me quite busy.

2. So, why did you come to Infusionsoft?

Before coming to Infusionsoft, I worked two years in the marketing department at KB Home in Phoenix. I was in charge of the southeast Phoenix (east valley) communities; it was my job to drive traffic to these subdivisions, arrange opening parties, close outs and keep the models and communities running so that sales came in. Needless to say, I was “running against the wind–” the wind of a massive tornado! As the housing market shifted, I found myself at the East Valley Tribune before I seized an opportunity to work for Infusionsoft.

3. Generally speaking, what kind of planning does it take to pull off events like InfusionCon?

I start by doing research on venues that fit the needs of our event and attendees. The next step is the proposal and negotiating, which usually takes a few months for the large events we pull off. After we ink the contracts, the fun begins. I start to work closely with our marketing team to get the overall theme of the event in place, which leads to the creation of the event website and promotion and follow-up collateral. During this same time, I work with our business development team to provide attractive sponsorship opportunities to keep InfusionCon a free, valuable and exciting event.

The agenda and speakers are the most important part and they take a lot of time to plan. I begin working on this process at least eight months in advance. Once we have the agenda of the conference nailed down, the registrants start to flow in. From there, I coordinate details with the resort and our multimedia partner, Sonoran Studios, order any materials needed for the event (such as signage and giveaways), and work with my entire team at Infusionsoft to make sure we take care of the attendees’ needs and fulfill on our commitments to the sponsors.

Finally, about three weeks prior to the event I lose sleep and can’t think of anything but the event details. LOL!

4. What are the most helpful features in the software that help you?

My favorite feature in the software is Automation Links! You can do some amazing things within the software automatically if someone clicks a link. My other favorite feature is actually an integration one of our partners provide: text messaging. It greatly helped me out at InfusionCon. We did all the Ultimate Marketer voting via text, which meant no one had to collect little pieces of paper and tally them! I also used it to remind attendees of special events during InfusionCon.

5. What can you tell us about your passion for fashion?

“A pair of shoes can change your life. Just ask Cinderella.” -Anonymous

“Give a girl the right shoes, and she can conquer the world.” -Marilyn Monroe

I love shoes and fashion! I always have. I was the little girl rummaging through my mother’s closet playing dress up while my sister and friends were outside riding bikes and getting dirty. I can’t really explain why, I’ve always loved the pretty and shiny things in life. If I have to explain, I’d start by laying some blame on my mother and grandmother. They used to take me to the mall when I was young as a past time just for lunch and to browse. I would literally cry when my mom drove past the mall and told me we couldn’t stop!

Like Madonna says, “I’m a material girl in a material world.” I like to feel pretty and look put together. Trust me it’s not easy. It takes a good eye and imagination to create that “perfect” outfit for every situation. And in the words of Coco Chanel, “A girl should be two things: classy and fabulous!”

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Thanks, Nicole for sharing your take on planning many great events at Infusionsoft. To see one of the latest pieces of work Nicole is in charge of, check out the Revolution Tour that arrives in a city near you.

If you want to be featured on 5 Question Friday, shoot me an email. If you have any additional questions for Nicole on any events we have going on, drop some love in the comments!