To help you get ready for your best Pendomonium ever, we spoke to the experts: Long-time Pendo customers and Pendozers (Pendo employees) who have been attending Pendomonium for many years.
Hear their helpful advice for first-time attendees, take in their words of wisdom to make the most of your time in-person with the community, and get excited for what’s to come by reliving some of their personal favorite memories from past Pendomoniums.
1. What’s your favorite Pendomonium memory, out of all the years you’ve attended Pendomonium so far?
Allison Caldrone | Senior Adoption Marketing Manager, ShareFile
I got to present all the great things my team has done with Pendo on the same stage that Ben Folds later performed on! That made me feel like a Pendo rockstar. [The] other thing I remember is all the pink, including pink dinosaurs randomly running around, and pink beer (#bigpank)!
Beth Greenberg | Strategic CS Program Lead, Pendo
My favorite Pendomonium memory is untraditional.
Last year, during my 6th Pendomonium, I had prepared my husband and nanny that this is the biggest conference of the year for Pendo, and [that] I will be out for the count when it comes to hanging out with our favorite 2-year-old. My husband planned his work schedule accordingly as well. However, in an unfortunate turn of events, our nanny called in sick on day one of the conference. With no other immediate childcare options available, our 2-year-old son joined me for a short time at Pendomonium.
This is my absolute favorite memory because I was so proud to show my son what an incredible event I have been fortunate to be part of for years. He was amazed by all the pink, the music, the energy, and the people. The extremely inclusive atmosphere embraced us. It was an unexpected opportunity to introduce him to co-workers and customers that I had built deep relationships with, and considered close colleagues and friends. It made me proud that he got to see it, and I hope in his little mind he remembers this when I tell him that “mom has to go to work.”
2. Tell us about something specific you learned at a past Pendomonium, that you were then able to take home and apply in your own work for your organization. How did that learning impact you, your team, and your company?
Liz Feller | Manager, Design Systems & Analytics, Nelnet
There was a talk last year [Pendomonium 2022]—and I had to frantically write notes on my phone because I was so excited—the speaker introduced me to some new concepts around account health. Customers want to see progress, your operations / support want to feel empowered, developers want to feel aligned, and leadership wants to see and know impact. Those four elements have helped us stay focused on bigger pictures within and across our products and find opportunities to use data to tell those stories.
Allison Caldrone | Senior Adoption Marketing Manager, ShareFile
Personalization is always key to us in terms of messaging. The goal of getting the right message, to the right person, at the right time, is always key. There were a lot of sessions on personalization last year [Pendomonium 2022], but I probably took the most notes at the iRobot session. They showed how they use the data in segments to really narrow down the audience to only those that would find the update, change, or feature relevant to their vacuum. Although I’m in a completely different industry, it was still really helpful and brought a lot of ideas on how we can better segment the messages we post.
3. What’s something that you learned at Pendomonium that surprised you?
Liz Feller | Manager, Design Systems & Analytics, Nelnet
That not everyone has published their Resource Center!?
Allison Caldrone | Senior Adoption Marketing Manager, ShareFile
There was a session on analytics and the new features that were being added to Pendo to help with analytics. This is an area where I struggle. There’s just so much data in our Pendo subscription that it is difficult to make sense of it, and actually build campaigns based on the data. We always want our campaigns to be data driven, so learning about how Pendo is helping visualize and make this data more manageable was very interesting. Pendo employees ran this session and it was mind blowing the way they use Pendo at Pendo!
Erica Akroyd | Sr. Manager, Customer Education, Pendo
Dan Olsen’s keynote about “moments that matter” really resonated with me. Even as a CS professional (not product), I was able to take that mindset of connecting with customers and create personalized experiences in-product that made our customers feel special. If you’re a customer and have seen our “one year anniversary” guides (complete with confetti), that was a direct result of that keynote!
4. Have you made any new friends or built deeper connections with the product community, thanks to Pendomonium? What has the value of those relationships been to you and your career?
Beth Greenberg | Strategic CS Program Lead, Pendo
Being in customer success for nearly seven years at Pendo, it’s tough to articulate how significant Pendomonium is for building and deepening relationships. An asset of someone in CS is in their ability to facilitate connections between people that will benefit from one another. Not only do I get to have face-time with customers that I’ve worked with through a screen for years, it’s also an opportunity for me to introduce customers to each other. I’ve seen these connections turn into learning, business, networking, and job opportunities. For me personally, it’s been a pleasure to watch my network grow and for those that I’m close with be successful in whatever they’ve set out to do.
Allison Caldrone | Senior Adoption Marketing Manager, ShareFile
That’s probably the best part. I work in marketing, so that’s a little different than a lot of the other attendees, but us customer and adoption marketing people seem to find each other and discuss projects, KPIs, and other tactics. [At] the most recent Pendomonium, we had a lot of marketing representation, and it’s good to see other departments finding the value of Pendo.
Erica Akroyd | Sr. Manager, Customer Education, Pendo
I made incredibly deep connections with my customers at Pendomonium. It’s one thing to have regular cadence calls with them, but being in person and being able to connect outside of the normal day-to-day was so special. Shout out to Michael Vasquez who will always be my go-to karaoke partner!
Liz Feller | Manager, Design Systems & Analytics, Nelnet
Yes, I have a deeper appreciation for everyone I meet and network with at Pendomonium. We all come from such different backgrounds and experiences, and it helps me challenge my own thinking about how to use Pendo within my organization.
5. What advice would you give to someone who’s attending Pendomonium for the first time?
Liz Feller | Manager, Design Systems & Analytics, Nelnet
Get ready to be inspired, share ideas and challenges, and don’t worry about writing every single thing down. Only go for the super-rich inspiring thoughts and ideas, and speakers are always super excited to talk with you later! Also, don’t worry about taking pictures of slides—you can get them after Pendomonium is over!
Erica Akroyd | Sr. Manager, Customer Education, Pendo
If you’re going with a group, talk to people outside of your team. Take advantage of the Pendozers at the conference—they’re a wealth of knowledge and some of the most genuine and smart people you’ll meet! If you’re coming alone, visit the Community area. It’ll be packed with other Pendo users and you may find yourself talking to a group of people in your area of the world or with similar use cases you can learn from and make long-lasting connections.
Beth Greenberg | Strategic CS Program Lead, Pendo
Be open and ask questions! The relationships you build during these events can be life-changing. Come in with a clear idea of what you’re curious about and lean on Pendozers to facilitate introductions. Give back, if you have a skill or knowledge about something that others are interested in, share what you know and most importantly, what you’ve learned.
6. What are you most excited about for Pendomonium 2023?
Allison Caldrone | Senior Adoption Marketing Manager, ShareFile
I love the breakout sessions. I plan to attend as many as possible to learn from people like me. Lots of good industry secrets are shared in those sessions. I also love to see all of the little touches in the conference. The swag, the designs, and decorations are always above and beyond. I applaud the creative people that are behind the scenes.
Emily Dunn | Director, Sales Engineering, Pendo
We have so many new releases, and I’m really excited to talk to customers about them.
Liz Feller | Manager, Design Systems & Analytics, Nelnet
All of the AI topics and seeing what Pendo is bringing to us next!
Beth Greenberg | Strategic CS Program Lead, Pendo
Connecting with and meeting new people who are passionate about what they are doing. The parties and events are always a ton of fun so I’m excited for what’s in store this year!
Erica Akroyd | Sr. Manager, Customer Education, Pendo
Not going to lie, as a Georgia-native I’m extremely excited to see Big Boi perform!
7. In five words or less, how would you describe Pendomonium?
Liz Feller | Manager, Design Systems & Analytics, Nelnet
Connecting learning, innovation, and data.
Allison Caldrone | Senior Adoption Marketing Manager, ShareFile
Customer nerds wearing pink 🩷
Emily Dunn | Director, Sales Engineering, Pendo
Pink, product, innovation, informal, energy.
Erica Akroyd | Sr. Manager, Customer Education, Pendo
Cutting-edge tech, innovation, and networking!
Beth Greenberg | Strategic CS Program Lead, Pendo
Inclusive, fun, and exciting atmosphere.
8. Any top tips to help attendees make the most of their Pendomonium experience?
Erica Akroyd | Sr. Manager, Customer Education, Pendo
Plan your sessions: Review the conference schedule in advance and select sessions that align with your interests and goals. This will ensure you make the most of your time and attend sessions that are most relevant to you. Network actively: Pendomonium is a great opportunity to connect with like-minded users and Pendozers. Be proactive in networking, attend social events, and engage in conversations with fellow attendees to build meaningful connections. Take notes and reflect: During sessions, take notes on key insights and ideas. After the conference, set aside time to reflect on what you’ve learned and how you can apply it in your work or projects. This will help you maximize the long-term value of your Pendomonium experience.
Allison Caldrone | Senior Adoption Marketing Manager, ShareFile
Talk to others and find out what you can bring back to your organization to WOW your leadership teams. There’s a lot to learn from others that have already made the mistakes and everyone is very open and willing to talk to anyone.
Emily Dunn | Director, Sales Engineering, Pendo
Make sure to set up time to visit the Pendo Product Village and book some time with our customer experience managers. There are so many Pendozers present to talk to you about how you can get more value out of Pendo—use that time to your advantage! We want to talk to you!
Liz Feller | Manager, Design Systems & Analytics, Nelnet
Introduce yourself to folks and build a network to take home with you. And come with a short list of things you’d love to see from Pendo or another attendee—is it how they did their onboarding guides, a dashboard for a specific use case, or a tricky segment? Be ready to log in and try stuff in your own Pendo subscription or show someone else what you’re thinking about. And enjoy seeing all the cool things!
Click here to learn more about Pendomonium and get registered today!
