808: Revisiting the Catalyst LA Experience W/ Kelly Barner and Philip Ideson

Art of Procurement

“I was humbled by the buy-in from the AOP community because, ultimately, people came on trust. They came on the trust that we would deliver what we said we would for our first in-person event.” - Philip Ideson, Co-Founder and Managing Director, Art of Procurement

Now that Art of Procurement's first-ever in-person event, Catalyst LA, is in the rear-view mirror, co-hosts Philip Ideson and Kelly Barner sit down for a candid debrief about what it took to launch a new kind of procurement event and how it may impact procurement’s approach to learning, community, and collaboration going forward.

From their initial vision of creating something different in the procurement event space to the unexpected challenges on the May 6th conference day itself, Philip and Kelly share the behind-the-scenes story of how they transformed their digital-first community into a world-class experience focused on procurement operating model transformation. In this episode, Philip and Kelly reflect on:

• Why they chose to focus on experience for AOP’s first in-person event in the company’s 10-year history
• What the response from procurement executives reveals about the evolution of today's CPOs
• How pairing attendees based on procurement maturity, organization size, and roles maximized event-based learning
• Unexpected moments that tested the team’s stress levels (but ultimately enhanced the attendee experience!)

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