Photo: Courtesy of Monique Ruff-Bell
How she got her start: Ruff-Bell currently manages TED's flagship global conferences and sits as a member of TED’s executive leadership team, a role she took on earlier this year. Before that, she worked as vice president of events for financial B2B conference Money20/20 USA.
"My entire 20-plus years of experience has been in events and promotions—from working for Feld Entertainment (owners of Ringling Brothers Circus and Disney on Ice) leading their event promotions for the Northeast, to working for associations, media, and publishing companies," she explains. "I have always enjoyed creating unique, fun, and influential experiences for people. I've also done almost every position that exists within events, including marketing, sales, and sponsorship support, operations and logistics, meeting planning, and content programming. So I definitely know the ins and outs of successful event programs."
What innovation means to her: "Innovation, to me, is about evolving the attendee experience and giving yourself permission to reimagine and create something new and doing stuff you’ve never done before—even when the tried and true works," Ruff-Bell says. "You should always try to stay ahead of the curve and push for new and unique things that wow your attendees, taking risks and elevating everything that you do time and time again."
She adds, "Your attendees should always be looking forward to what you have next that will surprise and delight them. The more emotive connection your programs make with them, the more loyal they will become."
How she stays inspired: Ruff-Bell is most inspired by good storytelling. "Whether it's in movies, print, a good pitch, or even a created journey through an events program—if someone can craft something that pulls at my curiosity, I am all in," she says. "And as event professionals, we should look at our event programs as crafting a good story through the event journeys we present so that people walk away inspired, entertained, and also challenged."
Career highlights: Ruff-Bell remembers producing a large-scale conference, Money20/20 USA, in October 2021 when a lot of companies were still apprehensive about hosting in-person gatherings. 
For the Money20/20 conference, "we created a multithousand-person event that included six stages, 400-plus sponsors, a robust exhibit hall, and numerous networking events," she says. "We created an environment that fostered connections and elevated pipelines while also providing attendees a fun and entertaining experience—including a Journey concert!"Photo: Courtesy of Monique Ruff-Bell
Another highlight, she says, was being part of TED's flagship conference in Vancouver in April 2022. "To see not only these mind-blowing TED talks in person but to uncover an event that goes beyond the stage—in which a bubble of excitement, connections, and unique experiences all gets unveiled in such an impactful way—simply blew my mind," she says. "People come to TED Conferences not because they have to or are looking for a transactional experience, but because they want to be challenged, changed, and inspired. It was so cool. I'm looking forward to leading so many more of those experiences with my phenomenal team at TED."
Her favorite thing about the event industry: To Ruff-Bell, it's all about uncovering new and exciting ways to engage with people. "Experiential programs usually create an emotive experience with an audience, which in turn creates great memories and a bond between them and your program," she points out. "The foundation of experiential is an authentic experience—and as a person who appreciates authenticity, this is and has been the industry for me because of that authenticity."
This feature is sponsored by Hubilo, a leading virtual and hybrid event platform built to drive engagement, with clients including Deloitte, Coca-Cola, Amazon Web Services, and more.
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