Brittany Saylor, 33, is the manager of events and campaigns at SpotOn, a cloud-based, point-of-sale solution. She’s based in Gilbert, Ariz.
My career journey:
I fell into this career—it definitely wasn’t “my plan.” I started an internship in college with a publicist who focused on nonprofit events and celebrity partners. I ended up loving the events side of things and changed my plan from PR to events. After college, I went into nonprofit events, planning fundraisers, galas, 5Ks, and much more. I then transitioned to be a third-party planner, which gave me the opportunity to work with some incredible clients. Fast forward and I now work in corporate events, meetings, and trade shows.
What my day-to-day looks like:
That’s one of the best parts of this job—no two days look the same! In general, I'm in constant planning mode; I’m always working on multiple projects at once so it keeps me on my toes.
My leadership style:
I'd say I'm direct and focus on leading by example. I want everyone to put their best foot forward, and that starts with me.
My greatest career accomplishment:
I'm incredibly proud of the path I've carved for myself and the relationships I've developed along the way.
Some impressive stats I’m responsible for:
I managed the planning of an event for 10,000 people in a 2.5-month planning period
And I built the event program at my current company where, in 2022 alone, I managed the planning and execution of close to 30 trade shows and two sales conferences.
My most memorable event:
The one that will always hold a very special place for me is the last event I managed for the nonprofit I worked for. We did a one-time extravaganza for the company’s 50th anniversary, and I was lucky enough to plan it. Seeing all the vendors, volunteers, and donors come together to transform a soccer field into a culinary experience for thousands was an incredible moment—and one that I will never forget.
Saylor said that she doesn't see herself leaving corporate events and hopes that her next role will be director of events.Photo: Courtesy of Brittany Saylor
A time I averted a complete event disaster:
I think this falls into the “memorable events you want to forget” category. One of these instances was for a large annual sales conference. This particular conference was quite the undertaking, with 50-plus concurrent breakouts, so we had to get very creative with our rooms and sets.
One room had an air wall that we needed set up for one breakout, but immediately following that session, the air wall needed to be pulled out to accommodate a larger group. We had a 10-minute transition to accomplish this. After months of planning and multiple assurances from the venue, we proceeded with the plan. Needless to say, the day of the event, things didn't go as planned. The air wall key was nowhere to be found, so the air wall was stuck and could not be moved. It was not a great situation to be in. We had no choice but to make it work with what we had and ended up with a standing-room-only setting.
The advice I would give my younger self:
I would tell entry-level me that there will always be things out of your control and that it’s ok to let some things go. While hard to hear, you can’t control everything. You can plan for just about everything, but some things are uncontrollable.
What’s next for me:
I don’t see myself leaving the corporate side of things. In my next role, I’d love to be a director of events for a company, drive the overall strategy, and oversee a team for all meetings and trade shows.
My ideal day OOO:
My ideal day out of the office is a ski trip to a mountain resort.
BizBash's 2023 40 Under 40 list is sponsored by VDA, a Massachusetts-based experiential marketing and event design agency that specializes in custom live, hybrid, and virtual experiences designed to drive business growth through client collaboration and creative thinking.
