Hi there! I'm Rachel. 
Since 2001, I've been on an exciting journey in the event industry, starting with advertising and moving into the heart of event marketing. There, I mastered all the ways to create a buzz and get the right people to events.

Before starting Snöball, I ran my own event marketing agency Sensov/. We helped organizers promote their events globally using a mix of marketing strategies. 

Then it hit me – we're always marketing to the same audience again and again. 
Marketing an event needed a chorus, not just an echo. 
That’s when the 'aha' moment happened – 
to amplify events, extend the reach, attract the right people, and increase our attendance goals, we needed to tap into our own audience’s trust and connections. 

Enter Snöball. 
It's my brainchild, a solution that helps event marketers grow their conferences and tradeshows by mobilizing their attendees, speakers and partners to do the talking. 

Snöball helps scale and track word-of-mouth to drive more registrations. 
It's about making each participant a promoter. 
With Snöball, their stories become our megaphone.

My vision for Snöball? It’s pretty clear – to make 'Snöball' the go-to solution for people-led marketing that grows events organically. 

I built Snöball on the belief that great experiences and great content – need to be shared and ‘Snöballed’. 

Ready to Snöball your event?
Happy to chat. It’s only 17-min.

Rachel Stephan, DES, EWD ❄️

I watched a #RainFocusINSIGHT session remotely last week and one slide stuck with me, among many other things, because it quietly said the loud part out loud.

“Which channel has delivered the best event registrations for you?”
The answers were… telling:
 • Email → 26%
 • Organic social / community → 13%
 • Event landing pages → 7%
 • Nominations → 20%
 • Paid social → 0% 😬
 • “A mix of everything (nothing really stands out)” → 35%

That last one is the most honest answer in the room.
Most event teams aren’t winning with a channel.
What’s missing isn’t another channel.
It’s connection between them.
People don’t register because they saw yet another ad.
They register because:
someone they trust is going
they felt personally invited
it showed up in a place that felt natural, not forced
That’s why “organic / community” keeps showing up.

And that’s why paid social sitting at zero doesn’t surprise me at all.
2026 event marketing isn’t about picking the best channel.
 It’s about designing a system where people become the channel.

To be honest, Insight wasn't on my radar until someone or few people I know asked if I am going. Then it hit me, wait a sec, I missed planning for it. Had I know earlier, I would have totally joined. 

I didn't see any ads for it, only my community who pinged me and put it on my radar. It is the same community who gave their unfiltered feedback about the event being worth attending which will now make it to my list of events to be at next year for sure.

#eventprofs #eventmarketing #advocacymarketing #peertopeermarketing #communitymarketing

Rachel Stephan ❄️

Reach the right people, not just more people

We made it ya'll!!

If this week felt heavy, slow, or just a lot, now I know why.

Ending the week proud of the small wins, the quiet progress, and the fact that we’re still standing.

Let's always focus on the bright side :-)
Happy Friday.

#eventprofs

Ok #eventprofs!
Today feels like one of those quietly big moments.
We’re officially SOC 2 Type II certified!!!!
And we achieved it in under a year.

For a small team ours at Snöball ™, this wasn’t a checkbox exercise.
It meant documenting everything. 
Questioning ourselves. 
Tightening processes. 
Rebuilding things the right way instead of the fast way. 

And doing all of that while still shipping, supporting clients, and growing.

What SOC 2 Type II actually means:
- It’s not a snapshot. It’s proof over time.
- Independent auditors verified that our security, privacy, and operational controls aren’t just designed well, they’re consistently followed, day after day.

Why did we push so hard for this?
Because our clients trust us with something incredibly important:
their communities — attendees, speakers, exhibitors, sponsors, members.

Their data. Their reputation. Their growth engine.
Peer-to-peer marketing only works when trust is absolute.

Not just between people, but in the platform powering those connections.

For our clients, this means:
- Enterprise-grade security without enterprise friction
- Processes you can confidently put in front of IT, legal, and procurement
- A partner built to scale globally, responsibly
-  Long-term trust, not short-term shortcuts

I’m incredibly proud of our team. 
Doing this in under a year, with a lean crew, while continuing to deliver results for our customers... that’s not easy. And it says a lot about how seriously we take the responsibility that comes with growth.

This milestone isn’t the finish line.
Turst me :-)

More here: https://lnkd.in/d-UpbsfP

#eventmarketing #peertopeermarketing #referralmarketing #p2pmarketing #soc2 #datasecurity #soc2compliance #soc2type2 #RainFocusINSIGHT #UFICEOSummit #PCMACL

The longer I work in events, 
the more I realize that growth isn’t the hard part.

Trust is.
You can buy reach.
 You can automate workflows.
 You can optimize funnels.

But trust is something you earn slowly,
and can lose quickly.

Most of the work that actually protects trust never shows up in a campaign. 

It lives in decisions no one applauds, 
processes no one markets, 
and standards no one sees until they need them.

Lately, I’ve been spending more time on that side of the business. 
Not because it’s exciting, but because it’s foundational.

Growth is visible.
Trust is at the heart of it all.

Over the past months, we’ve spent time investing in that side of the business. Not because anyone asked us to, but because it’s the kind of foundation you want in place before it’s needed.

It’s not glamorous work.
But it changes the shape of the conversations you can have.

Next week, you'll know what I mean.
Stay tuned for a big announcement (at least for us) :-)


#trust #eventprofs #eventmarketing #pcmacl #RainFocusINSIGHT #peertopeermarketing

CEO of Event Leaders Exchange

ELX is an invitation-only global community that unites senior corporate event leaders across all industry sectors from large corporations. 

Built upon the ethos that ‘it’s lonely at the top’, ELX fosters an environment where senior leaders can exchange ideas and best practices with peers in similar roles (with similar complexity) through in-person and online engagements, a digital resource library, and a community slack channel. 

My role as CEO includes driving ELX’s strategic initiatives, expanding our global footprint, and growing our membership while ensuring that the community remains intimate and collaborative.

Prior to ELX, I held various roles in the consulting, agency, and brand sides of the event industry.  Most notably I was the Global Vice President of Event Marketing Strategy for SAP where I was responsible for designing and optimizing event strategies for events ranging from 25 to 25,000 people.

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