Episode 53: Event Maven Allison Gerlach

Episode 53 of the Mavens Do It Better Podcast features Allison Gerlach, Senior Event Producer and Experiential Marketing Production Manager, and Producer of Chicago’s Halloween event, Arts in the Dark. She is also a leader in the Burning Man Community, producing many Regional events in both Illinois and Michigan.  

Allison  and Heather caught up virtually from Chicago, IL and Marina del Rey, CA.  

Listen in as  they talk about:  

  • Allison’s years of experience working as an event producer for Microsoft, Columbia College, and The City of Chicago and how the industry has changed over the years.   

  • This year's theme of ‘Chicago Theatre’ for the Arts in the Dark Parade, one of a few evening parades in the world that is exclusively artists, highlighting all the wonderful organizations in the city of Chicago. Coming to you Saturday, October 19th.  

  • What it is like to produce an experiential event and a rundown of the numerous arts and cultural organizations that are part of and have been a part of the parade for years.  

  • Her volunteer work with the Burning Man HQ space on the playa called Everywhere Pavilion that provides information about Regional Communities and events, Burners Without Borders, Black Rock Solar and how people can be involved year-round with the organization as well as her volunteer work with her regional community.  

To connect with Allison:   Instagram |  LinkedIn   

For more information and to attend: Arts in the Dark, Chicago, Illinois 

Saturday October 19, 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm, produced by Luma8 

State Street and Lake Street to Van Buren. 

Allison Gerlach 

Allison is a senior event producer and connector that excels at creative collaboration and executing interactive and spectacle events for 100 to 100,000 attendees. She has international experience producing conferences, meetings, live events, and trade shows for Fortune 500 clients including Microsoft and Sony. Allison is an accomplished and nimble onsite event coordinator, project manager, event host, emcee, and on-camera interviewer. Her technical skills include recruitment of artistic organizations and volunteers, leading and integrating multiple teams, video production, and talent procurement. Allison is a Kentuckian turned Chicagoan. 

Cook

Heather Cook is an award-winning marketing maven, technology entrepreneur and an epic connector that brings many worlds together. She has extensive experience marketing products and services for Enterprise businesses, startups and emerging markets. Heather builds plans and processes that are nimble, human and different. She is an adept storyteller and is passionate about growth for both employees and the corporate bottom-line. Heather hails from the arts and the bulk of her career has been working with the largest technology companies in the world (Microsoft, Google, Amazon, NetApp, Hewlett Packard, and Dell). Her nineteen years of experience working at technology companies and building global high-tech marketing strategy has driven millions of dollars of revenue and multiple award-winning campaigns. She has led global marketing teams for many technology companies including AvePoint, IT Unity & KnowledgeLake. Heather was a part of the original Microsoft SharePoint Marketing team. During her tenure, she helped launch multiple versions of the product, build the SharePoint Partner Ecosystem and conceived of and produced the first three Microsoft SharePoint Conferences. Creative Maven has produced thousands of global marketing campaigns and events. Currently CM is focusing on go to market strategies for Microsoft and its partners as well as a new site sister site launching in 2015 called Marketingfixer.com. Heather also serves as Co-Founder and Chief Marketing Officer of Content Panda, an innovative technology startup looking to actively disrupt how content is delivered inside software.

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