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VC Comms Com 2024 Feb 21-23

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VC Comms Con is an invite-only gathering of marketing and comms professionals in the venture capital industry. We have sold out tickets for our 2024 conference. Stay tuned for 2025 dates!  



Why VC Comms Con is “the Met Gala of the VC comms community”

SHARING LAST YEAR'S VC COMMS CON

Our 4th annual VC Comms Con was held in February 2023, see the magic in the film below. 



 

VC Comms Con is officially sponsored in part by our wonderful partner, VC Platform.

8-Aug-23-2023-07-26-30-2272-PM-4-1

Event schedule

Wednesday, Feb 21

Flora

Located at 1040 7th Ave, San Diego, CA 92101
 
3 - 6 pm PT: Play date and tacos
 
Meet in your curated groups (yes, we are hand selecting your recess for optimal connecting!) and join us for a little adventure with our favorite expert of play, Gary Ware. Tacos included, per our tradition! 
 

 

Thursday, Feb 22

The New Children’s Museum

8 am - 6 pm PT 

8:00 am: Registration & breakfast open
Draw your badge, get some delicious coffee, and explore some of our magical venue. 
 
8:45 - 9:35 am: Freestyle+
You don’t need to know anything else other than your brain may tumble out of your head. 
 
9:35 -9:45 am: Welcome from Beck
Overview of the day and “pick your own adventure” format. 
 
10:00 - 10:40 am: Session 1 - Breakouts
See speaker descriptions below.
 
11:00 - 11:40 am: Session 2 - Breakouts
See speaker descriptions below.  
 
12:00 - 1:00 pm: Lunch
Lunch, connecting, and play! 
 
1:00 - 1:45 pm: Pitches that Placed
Our group of media will answer why they responded to pitches from the BAM team (pitches shown as well on the big screen!) AND give live feedback of pitches sent in by attendees.
 
2:00 - 2:40 pm: Session 3 Breakouts
See speaker descriptions below.  
 
2:55 - 3:35 pm: Session 4 Breakouts
See speaker descriptions below.  
 
3:00 - 4:00 pm: Cereal Bar
Sweet treat to keep the energy up for the rest of the day! 
 
3:50 - 4:45 pm: Around the World Learning and Play
We’ll recap our learnings from the day in a fun, interactive “showcase”. 
 
4:45 - 6:00 pm: Happy Hour
We made it! Enjoy connecting with your new colleagues and friends. 

Friday, Feb 23

Yoga Deck + Beck’s condo

9 - 11 am PT
 
We’re back to our favorite yoga studio! Or, head to Beck’s house first for stunning views of Balboa Park and a fantastic breakfast. 
 
Mats will be included for those participating in the yoga class. 
SD Tips for Comms Conn 2024 B

First time in San Diego? Lucky you. Here are some tips:

WHERE TO STAY

This year’s VC Comms Con is in at the New Children’s Museum, just a mile or so from the International Airport (SAN). We recommend staying in Little Italy or downtown. If you want the ocean, La Jolla or Coronado will give you the best views. Not a hotel person? San Diego has a lot of Airbnbs. 
 
Here are some of our recommendations: 

If you want a quick walk to the Children’s Museum and like being close to Petco Park, try the Omni.

If you want a stunning bay view and have some fancy feels about it, try the Intercontinental.

We also love The Guild Hotel. 

Note: we never do hotel blocks for VC Comms Con because we are anti the vibe of stale “conference rooms” and ballrooms.

WHAT TO EAT

Everything! Mexican food and craft beer are San Diego staples, and we’ll be having local flavors at our event, don’t worry. Here’s a great guide to stay up to date on the best bites.

WHAT TO DO

San Diego is super casual and consistently sunny so you can get away with sandals in a restaurant or t-shirts in an office. Consider these tips for dressing even in February which has mild temperatures. 

Meet some of our incredible speakers: 

Session 1 Breakouts

SAM AHMED

VP, Marketing and Communications

 

S Ahmed

 

Lessons from Launching an Award Winning Brand Refresh in 5 Months

In this session you'll learn how to run an effective brand refresh for your VC fund. Gain insights into creating a powerful agency brief, spotting red flags and FOMO, securing internal alignment, and implementing a scalable rollout that shifts perceptions. 

Ju-Djuin Csontos

Head of Marketing & Community

 

4-Oct-12-2023-10-31-24-1748-PM

 

How to Successfully Run 12 Yearly Events With Little to No Budget

Every platform professional is tasked at some point to throw the BEST [fill in your event] in town and to find someone else to foot the bill. Stumped on what to do next? Get the ins and outs on leveraging sponsors as part of your core events programming so you can focus on doing what you do best: hosting kick A$$, all-expenses paid, events.

In this session, Ju-Djuin (JD) Csontos, Head of Marketing & Community at Fika Ventures, will tell you how to source the right sponsor partners and ways to customize your sponsorship agreements. She’ll also share tips and tricks on running a scalable events playbook from her decade-long experience in running events at Kleiner Perkins and Canaan Partners. 

Devin Nash

Head of Marketing

 

5-Oct-12-2023-10-31-25-1533-PM

 

The Correlation Between Play & Performance

It takes something different to make a difference. In this interactive session we'll throw "best practices" out the window and explore the role of play in creating a differentiated brand and truly memorable brand experiences. You'll walk away with tangible examples of how play can drive performance across all aspects of firm building. Come ready to think outside the box, try something new, and PLAY!  

Jenny Bourne & Shayna Zeigen

Account Director & Account Manager 

 

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Behind the Headlines: A deep dive into media relations in the world of venture

As the media landscape continues to evolve, understanding how to strategically manage your firm's public image is crucial. Co-led by, Jenny Bourne and Shayna Zeigen, BAM Account Director and Account Manager, this session will dive into the current state of media relations with a focus on venture capital firms, and what it takes to unlock a successful media strategy in today's dynamic landscape. 

Session 2 Breakouts

Tanya Loh

Chief Marketing Officer

 

6-Oct-12-2023-10-31-25-1800-PM

 

From Leak to Peak: How we salvaged a series C announcement that shouldn't have needed saving in the first place

Picture a thriving, rapid growth cybersecurity startup, doubling revenue annually two years. What should have been a piece of cake announcement ended instead with a leak to two major publications and a fed up CEO.

Forgepoint Capital CMO Tanya Loh shares this juicy turnaround tale, and what it took for all stakeholders to finally come together for a successful announcement. She'll also touch on how to balance portco support against your own firm-focused priorities. 

Katheryn Thayer

Director of Brand and Marketing

 

10-Oct-12-2023-10-31-25-5635-PM
 

How to Make Events Truly Strategic

Selling sponsorships; booking speakers; getting high-profile guests in the door; making your partners happy as hell about it all. You don't need to throw an event as large as NYC Summit to benefit from thelessons Katheryn Thayer has learned from planning this 2,000-guest, million-dollar budget extravaganza.
 
Katheryn Thayer, Director of Brand and Marketing at Primary Ventures will share advice for making events of any size work toward your goals. 

Caroline Caswell

Marketing Partner

 

7-Oct-12-2023-10-31-25-8112-PM

 

Nailing Your Narrative

Messaging only works when everyone uses it. It's not news that VC dollars are commoditized, so how can your firm actually stand out to the audiences that matter most? Learn how to get your stakeholders aligned internally to influence how you show up externally in a way that is compelling, distinct, and consistent.
 
Caroline Caswell, Marketing Partner at Operator Collective, has advised top-tier VC firms for nearly a decade on how to differentiate themselves and recently led a brand refresh at Operator Collective ahead of a new fund announcement. She will offer tactical ways to find your firm's north star, clearly articulate your value propositions, and, critically, get your partners on the same page - no matter how big or small your team.

Cherae Robinson

Head of Community 

 

Cherae_headshot

 

Hugging Your Founders At Scale

As your portfolio grows, getting underneath their needs, forming connections, and executing a platform or community strategy that is actually meaningful can be a challenge. This session shares some tactical solutions and philosophical frameworks on human-led portfolio support that includes everything from email drip campaigns to no-code update Slack hacks and more. You'll leave the session armed with ways to scale yourself and your impact without losing that critical sense of personalization and real-time engagement with the founders in your portfolio. 

Session 3 Breakouts

Elyse Crowston

VP, Operations 

 

12-Oct-12-2023-10-31-25-8842-PM
 
 

Talk Impact to Me: How to win LP's and grow portco's with impact communications that don't suck

The alphabet soup of ESG, B Corp, TCFD etc is not at all sexy ... but using capital to drive innovation and make the world a better place is VERY sexy. Impact communications should be clear, attributable and defensible—they should also create value for your fund's brand and benefit your portfolio companies. 

Elyse will share how Canada's largest climate tech seed fund created an impact strategy that enhances their investment strategy, attracts and engages investors, creates deal flow and helps portfolio companies bring in capital and customers. 

Caleb Bushner

Principal

 

11-Oct-12-2023-10-31-25-6521-PM
 
 

Social Rapid Response: The playbook for maximizing executive thought leadership

Building executive awareness through new media can be a challenge because execs and GPs rarely have time for it. But there's a specific playbook for adapting your executive thought leadership strategy through new media channels like social media and influencers, and this earned media strategy can be a shortcut to boosting your owned audience with minimal extra effort from your spokespeople.

This session will cover the tactics, tools, and even Boolean logic for identifying the most high impact opportunities across new media channels. We will focus on a methodical process for monitoring, engaging, and measuring your Social Rapid Response program with different levels of investment, ranging from advanced social listening tools to simple free products and a spreadsheet.

Bommy Lee

Head of Communications

 

9-Oct-12-2023-10-31-25-4521-PM

 

Strategic PR Synergy: Building a scalable media strategy for your VC firm and portfolio companies

In an ever-expanding media landscape, ensuring your VC firm and portfolio companies—especially early-stage startups with limited to no PR infrastructure—are receiving optimal press coverage can be a daunting task.

Join Bommy Lee, Head of Communications at Sofinnova Partners, as she shares a step-by-step guide on creating, implementing, and scaling a hub/spoke PR model. Gain insight into ensuring strategic and narrative coherence across in-house and external PR representatives. Learn tactics for leveraging both global and localized narratives to maximize media impact across diverse regions. Take away a toolkit of immediately applicable tips and templates, which enables Sofinnova to garner hundreds of media outcomes and support a 30-person investment team and 100+ portfolio companies. 

Session 4 Breakouts

Deb Goldstein

Head of Marketing and Platform

 

2-Oct-23-2023-05-04-26-2138-PM

 

LinkedIn 

 

How to Create a Founder Summit for Optimal Connection

Join this insightful breakout discussion where we'll share strategies for planning a highly engaging founder summit that prioritizes optimal connection among attendees. Discover the power of small details, such as opting for family-style meals instead of plated dinners, and strategically placing participants in breakout sessions to enhance networking and conversations. Explore how to create shared experiences that go beyond traditional content-driven settings and leave a lasting impact. Additionally, gain valuable insights on effectively incorporating sponsors in a way that fosters a sense of collaboration and partnership.

Nina Willdorf

Head of Platform

 

2-Nov-09-2023-06-04-25-7572-PM

 

LinkedIn

 

Define and Amplify Your Firm's Differentiation

You can't sneeze without coming across a venture firm—and most of them describe themselves and their partners using exactly  the same words. So how do you figure out what makes your firm different and compelling to entrepreneurs and LPs? This fundamentally comes down to figuring out your brand, and then telling your your brand story in a way that breaks through the noise and earns trust with the toughest customers.
 
I'll discuss how to get clarity and internal alignment on your firm's differentiation, and a few approaches to establishing a marketing/comms program that delivers on that differentiation.

 

Ali Blake & Kelly Lassing

Platform & Operations Manager and Head of Marketing & Communications

 

1-Nov-09-2023-06-04-25-1854-PM  Untitled design (6)-1

 

LinkedIn & LinkedIn

Maximum Impact With Minimal Resources: Optimizing your Communications strategy when you're wearing many hats

This session is for those who want to learn how to make the most of the time and effort you put into the marketing and comms function of your role while juggling all the other responsibilities you have at your firm! 

We’ll help you identify which stage your firm’s brand is in (emerging, growing or mature) and then which marketing strategies will have the greatest impact in elevating your brand’s awareness this year.

Dina Lyon

Chief Marketing Officer 

 

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LinkedIn 

 

Mastering the Conference Circuit

After attending 30+ conferences in 2023, Dina Lyon, Chief Marketing Officer at Cohen Circle, will share her biggest learnings and mistakes when it comes to crafting a successful conference strategy for your VC.

 

This workshop will explore how to align your conference approach with business objectives and GP priorities, whether you're fundraising or building brand visibility. We'll dive into best practices for pitching speakers and panels, evaluating sponsorships and when they're actually worth it, and how to create magical side events to get your firm noticed.

Media to be updated and announced here in the coming weeks.

Attend VC Comms Con to:

Meet and learn from 100+ comms and marketing pros at funds from around the world. 

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Get in-depth knowledge and know-how from “secret sauce” playbooks and talks that are not recorded or published.

 

Start relationships with top tier media that cover VC and portfolio companies.

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Gain community because this is THE event for VC comms and marketing pros such as yourself. 

Why Attend Comms Conn 2024

 

FAQs

Will all of the content be recorded or captured in some way?
Per our tradition, we won’t be recording the content nor will it be distributed afterward. We want our speakers to be as frank as possible and enjoy the magic of in-person connection. Come hang out with us in person. 
What does my ticket include?
Your ticket includes all the events listed on the schedule above. Your ticket does not include travel and accommodations.
How do I get an invite to VC Comms Con?
We keep our gathering invite-only to make sure everyone attending is a full-time comms and marketing professional at a VC fund. Plus, we know everyone in this community and it’s important to keep our No Assholes rule in place. If you’re a full-time comms and marketing professional at a VC fund who’d like to attend, drop us a line: vccommscon@bamtheagency.com. 

 

 

How will I get in touch with everybody I meet at the event?
Unless you decline when you check in, we will share everyone’s email afterwards so you don’t need to worry about cards. Plus, who has cards? Too 2009 for our taste. 
What about media that will be attending? Will I get their contact information?
This will depend on the individual journalists. We’ll respect them if they don’t wish to share their contact info with everyone in attendance. 
Which airport should I fly into?
San Diego International Airport (SAN) is your best bet. This airport is about a 5 minute drive to all the events we’ll be doing in Balboa Park. 
Are discounts available for the ticket?
Sadly no. Our tickets simply cover the cost of this event and are not a revenue stream for BAM. Given the limit of 100 attendees, full ticket prices are what we have to stick with. 
I’m really excited! How many people are coming to this event?
Our max for this year’s event is 100 attendees like last year. First come, first in is our policy. 
One of my colleagues wants to attend. Can I send that person instead of me?
Send us an email (vccommscon@bamtheagency.com) so we can determine if your colleague is a good substitute. Keep in mind: this conference is just for full-time people in marketing or comms roles at venture capital firms. Thus, an analyst, fellow, or operations head would probably not get value out of our event.
What should I wear for San Diego?
San Diego is a pretty casual place. See the San Diego tips above.
If I have any logistics questions or other needs during my time in San Diego who should I call?
Drop us an email for now, and we’ll have a number to text during the event as a concierges: vccommscon@bamtheagency.com.
 
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