Humans on Video - Amelia Holmsen

Hi, I'm Cecilia Boechat, and this is Humans on Video, the series where you meet the developers, visionaries, designers and commercial minds shaping a video-first world at TwentyThree. Hello! Hi! How are you doing? I'm doing well. How are you? I'm great. Do you want to introduce yourself? Definitely. My name is Amelia Holmsen. I am the Head of Community Marketing here at TwentyThree and I'm very happy to be here. Could you explain exactly what does it mean to be a Head of Community Marketing? In a lot of traditional marketing you've looked at the market as either a sea of consumers, you know, in B2C, or in account-based marketing you speak to, you know, one account, one company that you're targeting. But with community marketing you're focusing a little bit more on a set group of people that share the same passion and they have something in common that, you know, makes them all relevant to each other relevant to each other and how can you make sure that these people also know each other. So it's not just about knowing us as a company, but get them to know each other, get them to understand who their peers are, who are sharing the same passions, the same challenges. Learning from each other is really powerful in kind of moving an industry and moving that knowledge base in the market and in the space. I love that. And you touched upon the value that community marketing can bring and you have a very strong background in business. So I wanted to understand how do you see that the community marketing can contribute to a company's overall growth and success? Great question. I think I can sum it up in one word, which is retention. Customers, retention of partners, but also keeping people interested in your industry. And that's what makes the video marketing field especially interesting. It's so dynamic. It's so fast changing. So there's always a status quo to challenge. There's always a new trend, a new best practice, different methods of working and team structure, having one safe place to come back to and building that trust to your market so that your community really trusts you as a brand. You know, I think that retention is just going to be priceless long term for businesses. It's really going to pay off. And we have such a nice community around 23. What do you think that makes it so special? The people are truly amazing. I think my favorite moments at events and when I see our community interact is the magical moments and the little sparks, you know, in between people. And I think that comes from our community truly having something in common with each other. Whether you're a video producer or a marketer or have an agency background or working in an enterprise, we're all trying to figure out how video can help our businesses, help our clients, What's new on video What are the trends Like, this is such a dynamic industry There's so much to really be on top of And there's always new information. Having that common factor really gives people an incentive to interact with each other. You're the face of most of our events and you always look so sharp. What is the secret for showing this confidence to our audience? I think my secret, it's a little unfair because I genuinely love it. I think I am living out my childhood dream. But a tip I would love to give for people who maybe feel like they don't have that confidence is that you have to find strength in why you've been put on stage. Either you're, you know, an expert in a given topic, maybe someone else in your team thinks that you're the right presenter and that you actually are a really good presenter, even though you might not think so yourself Some people are also just really passionate about, you know, their own topics and their own field. So if you've been put on stage because you are the biggest geek when it comes to data and analytics and you hate talking in front of people, that's fine. Address the room, express to them, hi, I am not a professional keynote speaker. I'm a data nerd and this is what I care about and this is why I'm here to present these numbers to you. People respect that honesty so much. And there are so many people in the audience that are going to have sympathy with the fact that you're not confident on stage. So be yourself and don't be afraid to, you know, trust the position that you were given because someone else trusted you. This is amazing. I'll take that for life, honestly. I think I was a little bit in the same position that I didn't necessarily see myself as qualified, you know, to be on a stage. But then my wonderful team here at 23, they saw, potential in me and they trusted me with the responsibility. So I think that meant a lot. And you must have very interesting or funny moments from the backstage. Can you share anything? Definitely a few. I think my favorite one has to be from the TwentyThree Summit last year in 2024. We had Puk Sjabau, who is an actress, getting ready for her keynote behind stage. But we were me, the host, and then two other keynote presenters And these are professional speakers You know, they've done this before. But what Puk does really well is she teaches people how to have stage presence, how to be on camera. All of these were elements in her keynote. But when we were really building up to going on stage, we all got a little nervous. So we asked Puk, like, could you maybe give us a couple of pointers just before we go on? And so we forced her to do just like a quick run through of like, you know, okay, but posture and, you know, speak outward. And then, and it was just, it was cute. And we all laughed. And we were kind of whispering and trying to get the last inputs, you know, the last seconds before going live. And did it work? It worked really well. I think, if anything, it also lightened the mood, you know, and we're all just people trying to deliver our story and, you know, do it in an engaging and fun way. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. My last question for you. You've played such a key role in developing the 23 Summit from the scratch. What have you learned along the way? I think the question is almost opposite. What have I not learned? I mean, putting on an event of this magnitude, you know, one side is, of course, everything that has to do with event management, which is a lot, a lot. And such a complex field, so many details. You really learn how to zoom out and get the overview and try to assess, you know, what is truly important. And then I think it's the other hand, which is more the content part of the event, like the knowledge, what is it we're conveying? What is the handful of things that people are going to walk away from, from this event, that they will not be able to get? Anywhere else. I'm taking time out of people's lives. And I want to guarantee that they get something in return, whether it is connections that will last in a lifetime, whether it is knowledge that will fundamentally change the way they work in their own teams. or simply just a truly amazing event experience that they'll remember. I think that's what we we work our very hardest to deliver at all points. You make me so excited for the third edition. Can we expect anything? Do you have anything to share? You can expect it to be what you know and love from the TwentyThree Summit. And it will be bigger. And it will be better. And I'm going to leave it at that for now. Oh my god. Okay, now we can just wait! And Amelia, thank you so much. Thank you so much for having me. This has been so much fun. I feel like we should do this. Yeah, as like a monthly episode to check in and see what's new. I love it. Thank you so much. It was great. Thank you so much for having me.