Pioneering online events in Germany, Daniel, talque’s Chief Sales Officer, has been steering the event industry towards digital transformation. We had the opportunity to sit down with Daniel and discuss his path to the event industry, his favorite workspace – the kitchen – and his passion for all things IT-related.
A Day in the Life at talque
Daniel works remotely for talque while living in Dusseldorf. His favorite place to work is in his kitchen, right by the coffee machine. Here, he has a spacious workspace, large windows, and a view of the sky.
A typical day starts off with checking emails and reviewing his schedule, followed by a team standup meeting. This meeting brings together the sales and business development teams, giving everyone an overview of the tasks for the day ahead, Daniel explains. He also meets daily with talque CEO, Tassilo, to coordinate projects. About half of Daniel’s day is dedicated to meetings, where he supports his colleagues and works on sales initiatives. He balances his time between active sales work and providing assistance to his team, making his job a versatile role.
An IT-Nerd in the Event Business
Daniel’s professional journey began with a degree in business administration and an apprenticeship as an event manager. Over the past two decades, he has honed his skills as an event organizer. He’s worked to bring events to life by developing business strategies, researching markets, and building sales teams. His work as an event organizer exposed him to a wide variety of topics and helped him keep a broad perspective.
In addition to his interest in hosting events, Daniel is fascinated by everything tech-related. “I’ve always been very IT-nerdy,” he says. When he was growing up, the internet was just becoming widely accessible. When he first started using the internet, his modem would still hum and creak. Daniel continued to embrace tech in his professional life. He led IT projects at his previous firms, building the entire CRM system for one company and setting up a cloud-based telephone system at another.
Partnership with talque: Embracing Digital Transformation
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Daniel began leading digital events. He was one of the first to host online events in Germany, starting with a conference of over 400 attendees, entirely over Zoom. Then, Daniel came into contact with talque and was impressed by the company’s tech offerings. After several conversations with Tassilo, talque’s founder and CEO, Daniel realized that they could make a great team. “We ended up saying, okay, let’s do this together,” Daniel said.
When he began working at talque, he realized that the company needed to strengthen its networks, build a marketing strategy, and increase visibility. Daniel worked to bring these topics to the foreground. “It was clear that I couldn’t do that alone. Instead, it would be all about building a team and starting these processes together,” he explains.
A Client-Focused Approach
Daniel appreciates the creative and client-focused approach to his work at talque. “What I value most is our ability to truly think outside the box,” he says. Additionally, the company reacts individually to the wishes of individual clients. The most exciting part is being able to respond to these customer requests to improve the event experience for all those that take part, he added.
His strength lies in his ability to explain complex technical topics, drawing from his experience and knowledge as an events manager. This allows him to break down tech topics and explain them to clients. In this role, he can support clients in taking their events to a new level by listening to them and developing new products to meet their needs. “Working on project management together with our clients is a lot of fun,” he adds.
Digitalization: A Vision for the Future of Events
Daniel believes that digitalization allows people to make most of their in-person experiences. Digital events are not meant to replace in-person experiences, he says. Instead, the use of digital event platforms allows people to save time and be well prepared. These online tools let you do background research, book tickets in advance, and so much more, Daniel says. “This allows us to truly focus on the individuals we meet in-person,” he adds.
With the help of digital tools, attendees can actively co-create the event, Daniel explains. For example, people can reach out and say, hey, let’s meet for a running group or for a round table discussion. For Daniel, digital tools are a way for people to engage, and most importantly, have fun.
Stay tuned for more insights from the talque team on our blog as we continue to create the world’s most interactive events.
