In this episode of RPI Tech Connect, RPI’s Michaela Fallon and Infor’s Devin Sheppard break down the 2025 event landscape, from Infor’s marquee events—Connect, focused on the services industry, to Velocity, which spans all of Infor’s respective industries, including manufacturing, fashion, and distribution.
They also highlight RPI-hosted events, including hands-on Bootcamps and interactive Lunch & Learns, designed to deliver real value. Whether you’re seeking industry-specific insights, networking opportunities, or expert-led training, this episode will help you find the right events to learn, grow, and connect in 2025.
Interested in listening to this episode on another streaming platform? Check out our directories or watch the YouTube video below.
Meet Today’s Guest, Michaela Fallon
Michaela Fallon is a marketing leader with nearly a decade of experience in marketing strategy and operations. In her role as the Director of Marketing at RPI Consultants, she leads the marketing team, overseeing events, content, operations, and design.
Before joining RPI, Michaela held several marketing leadership roles in B2B startups across many industries, showcasing her versatility and allowing her to evolve into a full-stack marketer.
Michaela’s expertise spans branding, team leadership, and growth marketing. She has consistently led impactful marketing initiatives, steering efforts in brand identity, content strategy, CRM management, and demand generation.
Meet Today’s Guest, Devin Sheppard
With over 10 years of experience in Partner Marketing, Devin Sheppard has built a successful career driving growth through strategic co-marketing initiatives for global brands. As a Senior Partner Marketing Manager, he has worked for industry leaders such as IBM, Silverpop, Brightcove, and most recently Infor.
Devin specializes in developing and managing efficient co-marketing programs that drive results. His expertise lies in creating cohesive, cobranded marketing campaigns that highlight the “better together” value proposition, empowering partners and driving mutual growth.
Throughout his career, Devin has supported over 100 partners, utilizing Marketing Development Funds (MDF) programs to generate leads, build pipelines, and deliver measurable impact across diverse global regions. He has worked with partners to successfully increase pipeline through events, digital campaigns, and other key marketing programs
Meet Your Host, Chris Arey
Chris Arey is a B2B marketing professional with nearly a decade of experience working in content creation, copywriting, SEO, website architecture, corporate branding, and social media. Beginning his career as an analyst before making a lateral move into marketing, he combines analytical thinking with creative flair—two fundamental qualities required in marketing.
With a Bachelor’s degree in English and certifications from the Digital Marketing Institute and HubSpot, Chris has spearheaded impactful content marketing initiatives, participated in corporate re-branding efforts, and collaborated with celebrity influencers. He has also worked with award-winning PR professionals to create unique, compelling campaigns that drove brand recognition and revenue growth for his previous employers.
Chris’ versatility is highlighted by his experience working across different industries, including HR, Tech, SaaS, and Consulting.
About RPI Tech Connect
RPI Tech Connect is the go-to podcast for catching up on the dynamic world of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP). Join us as we discuss the future of ERPs, covering everything from best practices and organizational change to seamless cloud migration and optimizing applications. Plus, we’ll share predictions and insights of what to expect in the future world of ERPs.
RPI Tech Connect delivers relevant, valuable information in a digestible format. Through candid, genuine conversations and stories from the world of consulting, we aim to provide actionable steps to help you elevate your organization’s ERP. Whether you’re a seasoned professional or new to the ERP scene, our podcast ensures you’re well-equipped for success.
Tune in as we explore tips and tricks in the field of ERP consulting each week and subscribe to RPI Tech Connect below.
Transcript
Chris Arey
New Year means new events and there are many to choose from. In this episode, we’ll talk about where to find value and what to expect from this year’s lineup.
Welcome back to RPI Tech Connect, the go-to podcast for ERP insights and best practices. I’m your host Chris Arey, and for today’s episode, we’re talking about events in 2025. There’s no “one-size fits all” approach when it comes to events, and that’s why RPI and Infor embrace a variety of formats to meet customers, prospects, and partners where they are; whether that’s virtual, in person, or somewhere in between.
Today we’ll talk about how to find value at these different types of events. I’m pleased to welcome Michaela Fallon, RPI’s Marketing Director, and Devin Shepherd, Infor’s Senior Enterprise Partner Marketing Manager. Michaela, Devin, happy to have you here today.
Michaela Fallon
Thanks so much, excited to be here.
Devin Sheppard
Yeah, nice to be here. Thank you, Chris.
Chris Arey
Welcome back, Michaela, actually. Yes, this is your recurring episode, right? It’s an annual tradition now.
Michaela Fallon
Thank you. Yeah. The people were demanding it, so here I am. I’m very excited to be back.
Devin Sheppard
I didn’t know I was joining a star. Look at that.
Michaela Fallon
Yeah, no pressure. No pressure.
Chris Arey
Well, I appreciate both of you taking time out of your days to hop on the program here. I thought a great place to start our discussion today would be to talk about the importance of events and the role they play within the Infor community.
So Michaela, the first question here is for you. Why are events such a critical part of the Infor ecosystem for both customers and prospects?
Michaela Fallon
Totally. I guess we’ll start with the elephant in the room here, which is that we’re all marketing people who have a vested interest in getting you all to events, but that doesn’t mean I don’t actually believe that events have a ton of value.
As someone who has hosted events and as an event attendee, I think they are incredibly valuable across the Infor ecosystem.
A couple of main areas that I see people and that we hear feedback from folks getting a ton of value from events. First and foremost is networking. There is just nothing that replaces meeting your peers, partners, or vendors at an in-person event.
You create a whole different level of relationship than you do just chatting online.
In fact, I had the pleasure of being on a call recently where customers were talking about their experience at Infor Connect, which I’m sure we’ll talk a lot about. One of the customers highlighted that his biggest takeaway was forging those connections with folks at Infor; he felt like he had his go-to people.
So that’s kind of the first thing I look at with events. The second is learning and
dreaming for lack of a better word. I think events provide a dedicated space to get training or learn about industry topics.
It also gives you space to do the big thinking to say: what’s going on in my industry, what’s new? What should I be excited about and what should I bring back to my team? That’s really what I look for at these type of events.
Chris Arey
I love to hear those things Michaela, especially about learning and dreaming- those are the things that inspires folks, right? They go back to their jobs, like: man, I’m happy I went to that event, I learned these things, now I can put that into practice.
Devin Sheppard
I was going to say, you’ve got to go back and tell your boss, hey, I got value out of this. Look at all the things I learned. That 1,200-2,000 we spent, it was worth it.
Michaela Fallon
Amen. Yeah. And it takes you out of your day-to-day workspace and puts you in a new environment with new people. And it creates the space for you to have those “aha” moments.
Chris Arey
Awesome. Question for you now, Devin. What does Infor hope to achieve by hosting such a wide variety of events?
Devin Sheppard
That’s a great question. I kind of want to piggyback off of some of the things that Michaela mentioned. First and foremost, greater visibility. As was mentioned earlier, with events, you’re able to reach both customers and prospects.
It allows you to get face-to-face time with partners and jumpstart that back and forth, that collaboration, that networking experience. I mean, you really get to see what’s happening within the industry.
We use that to grow as a company, but at the same time, to grow for our customers as well.
I touched on the idea of gaining industry insights while continuing to enhance the Infor brand; obviously, we know Infor, I work for them and you guys are partners. But as we go out to market, it’s important to make sure that people know who Infor is, what we do, and about our awesome partners like RPI?
Finally, having more opportunities to collaborate with ecosystem partners. As Michaela brought up earlier, I too really appreciate the value of networking.
I had just started at Infor at the time of last year’s Velocity summit, and it was great being able to get that face-to-face time with our various partners. Being able to match a face to the name and speaking with them showed me just how many partners, including RPI, know both the Infor brand and the Infor product.
And it’s interesting to hear people say that they’ve been an Infor partner for five years, ten years, even 15 or 30. That’s impressive. I really can’t understate the value of events and what we’d like to do.
Chris Arey
Awesome, thanks for that. So, Michaela, we’re going to pivot here and talk a little bit about what RPI focuses on from an event standpoint. So, what are the key offerings we have and what do they provide participants?
Michaela Fallon
Totally. Sometimes we joke around here on the marketing team at RPI that we’re partially an events company, because we do love to host events at RPI. We think it’s a great way to connect with customers, prospects, partners, and for folks. It really is something we really believe in as an organization.
From a hosted events standpoint, in 2025, we will be doing more of our famous boot camps. These are two-to-three-day trainings that we do in person, on site, that are very exciting. We’re hosting our first one in the Infor office this April, which we are jazzed about. We will have more of those rolling out this year.
Additionally, we do remote trainings called Lunch and Learns, which are another great way to get these bite-sized training sessions. We did a survey of the Infor Community recently that is coming out in a couple weeks, and saw that over 60 % of respondents said that they were looking for training events, something we are very happy to host and promote as RPI.
In addition to that, we are very big believers and supporters of user groups. We will be at all the user groups, come find us this year! We get a ton of value out of those and love to see our customers getting value out of those as well. It keeps us busy and we hope to see a lot of you at those sessions this year.
Chris Arey
Awesome.
Devin Sheppard
I was going to say, are you going to have any time in the office, Michaela?
Michaela Fallon
You know, I like to be out on the road, meeting people.
Devin Sheppard
Nothing wrong with that.
Chris Arey
So, Devon, we’re going to switch gears here and talk a little bit about Infor’s different types of events. Maybe you can make the distinction clear here, but obviously you host a lot of different events.
How do each of those serve your different customer needs? Maybe we could start with Velocity and Connect. Do those differ?
Devin Sheppard
Yeah. When we look at Connect, you know, that’s targeted towards a different audience; those involved with healthcare distribution and things of that nature, whereas Velocity has the full product suite.
Where Connect is a little more targeted, Velocity was a little more open this past year, including all of the different Infor products within it.
I think as we look at this year in terms of events, Michaela mentioned a few different types of events, different events meet different customer needs because different audiences have different needs for different reasons.
For example, when we look at product users, they’ll benefit from enablement sessions or trainings, like Michaela mentioned, while decision makers may benefit from hearing some of the customer wins or use cases like we highlighted at Velocity or at Connect.
We’re going to be strategic with the type of events that we’re opening because it opens the door to larger audiences. We offer trainings and virtual round tables. We also have third party events that we’re attending for presence, but also for taking in those industry insights that I mentioned.
There’s essentially constant beneficial learning that’s available at these different events. As you know, you don’t want to coordinate or attend an event just for the sake of doing it.
Instead, you want to know: what an attendee’s goals are, what they are trying to get out of it? And on the marketing side, you know, how’s this going to make me a better marketer for my customers?
How’s this going to make me a better salesperson? How’s this going to make me a better product, a better product owner?
You know, again, all that comes from choosing, picking and choosing the right types of conferences. So, as we look at our event schedule this year, there is no doubt we’re going to ramp up the number of events while seeing where we can best leverage those opportunities.
Chris Arey
Yeah. I really like how you talked about events having something for everybody: the end users, the decision makers, and so on. There really is value for lots of different folks.
That actually segues nicely into this next question I have for you. With all these different options from user groups & trainings to mega conferences along with smaller scale offerings such as RPI’S bootcamps, how can customers and prospects who might feel overwhelmed by all these options go about deciding what’s right for them?
That question is open and that’s for both of you. How should they approach it?
Devin Sheppard
To start, I’ll give a shout out to our account executives on the Infor team who help to build a really good relationship with their customers.
When you have that individual that you’ve built that relationship with, you then want to ask them which events will Infor be attending, which events will help you to build industry insights and just learn about the product.
So I’d say definitely having that open communication. We have our events posted on our website, and we provide our partner managers with an events calendar that they can share with their respective partner contacts.
That way, again, they can see where we’re going to be. If you’ve built that relationship, you can just ask: “hey, why are you guys attending this event? Is this one that I should put on my radar?”
Because of course, if we all had the time and money and budget, we would love to attend all of the events. Unfortunately, finance is there to keep us in check. So that’s where we, keep that kind of open communication and maybe just deciding to your point.
Chris Arey
Yeah. Go to all of them.
Michaela Fallon
Right.
Devin Sheppard
Does it make more sense for the product owner to attend Velocity versus, the decision maker going to Connect or vice versa. Again, that’s just one of those open-ended questions. But again, it really helps you to decide which event to go to.
Chris Arey
Yeah, I love having that open dialogue, right? Just have a conversation and you’ll find out, but you’ve got to initiate.
Devin Sheppard
Yeah. Yeah. For sure.
Chris Arey
Michaela, anything to add?
Michaela Fallon
Totally. Yeah, I’ll piggyback on what Devin said there. I think there are really two questions to ask yourself when you’re deciding about an event.
The first is what are you trying to get out of it? If it is how to do a specific function, that sounds like a training event to me. On the other hand, if you’re excited about what’s going on in the healthcare industry, that’s more of an industry event as opposed to “I want to meet folks from Infor” at an Infor-specific event.
I think the other thing is thinking about your role in your organization. For example, if you’re running a team and trying to figure out who to send where- finding the fit for a specific event.
And I’m going to do a bit of speculation because Devin is now here to keep us honest, which is good.
Devin Sheppard
Sometimes, I don’t know. We’ll see.
Michaela
That’s a good addition this year to this pod. My sense, at least from the RPI side, is that the two major Infor events that we look at are different in their scope. Something like a Connect is a little bit more technical and focused on those service industries, whereas something like Velocity is more focused on larger industry trends.
Both of those events have slightly different audiences. Maybe Connect is a little bit more someone who’s maybe not an everyday user, but someone who’s more technical in the product, whereas Velocity is a little bit more strategic vision focused.
Is that fair? Is that kind of how you all look at those two? Again, I’m glad to have Devin here to keep me honest with these things.
Devin Sheppard
I think that was a perfect summation, honestly. I think you’re spot on there. And as we look at both conferences, that’s the great thing about events; just like businesses do, they continue to grow and evolve.
So yeah, absolutely. That’s what they were last year and both will be still happening this year. We’re looking forward to more and will see what happens.
Chris Arey
Thank you for confirming. My next question was going to be: what do we have to look forward to this year in 2025? What are the marquee events, both RPI and Infor’s?
From what you said, it sounds like Velocity and Connect are both tentatively a thumbs up, is that right?
Devin Sheppard
Yes, so both Connect and Velocity will be happening. Like I said, we continue to grow as a company, which means evolving our events. We’re working on the agenda and the material, but just know that both events are going to be, as always, geared towards our customers, our prospects, and great partners like you guys.
So TBD, more information to come. And yeah, hopefully we will get to see everyone in person.
Chris Arey
Awesome. Michaela?
Michaela Fallon
Yeah, so as I mentioned, we have bootcamps rolling out this year. We will continue to do lunch and learns. Those are the RPI hosted ones we’re focused on.
And then again, find us all the user groups, all the Infor hosted events and some industry events as well, particularly in healthcare and public sector. That’s where we generally focus our attendance. So yeah, lots of fun stuff.
Chris Arey
For those of you listening in, I hope you’ve been taking note. There are a lot of options and events to meet both Infor and RPI at, and we would love to chat and find out what it is you’re looking for.
Before we wrap up here, I got two more questions. And this is kind of a bigger, dreaming one here. No right or wrong answer.
Events have obviously changed since COVID and things are continuing to change every year. Any thoughts on how things might evolve going forward within the Infor community?
Devin Sheppard
All right, I don’t mind taking a stab at it.
Chris Arey
You want to take that one, Devin?
Devin Sheppard
I think that’s definitely a great question. As we look at the digital or hybrid era, I think that’s true. When we weren’t able to meet in person, we couldn’t do these things.
Yeah, obviously virtual was the only way to go. And now as we shift back to more in-person events, I think, as Michaela said, people want to collaborate and get that face to face time with one another.
That is great. However, I do think that there will still be a virtual component. Think about how in the pre-COVID era, we might have had webinars that were, you know, an hour long,. Well, I don’t know about everyone else, but my attention span has shrunk immensely since then.
So for now, a lot of the webinars and virtual things that we do, they’re around 15 to 20 minutes long. They feature snippets that people can actually take in and can maintain their attention while still getting things done.
I think there will still be a hybrid component as well, because to that point people want to do events in person, but a lot of company budgets aren’t quite where they were pre-COVID.
So I believe that having events that contain both in-person and virtual elements is something that we’ll continue to see.
And yeah, I’m curious to see how events will evolve and shift over time. I would definitely say events aren’t going anywhere, and I don’t think virtual ones will go anywhere either.
Chris Arey
Thanks for that.
Michaela Fallon
I think that’s a great point that it’s not either or, it’s both, and that it’s not worth sitting here and saying, no more virtual or no more in person. I think we’ve proven at this point that it’s both.
And I think talking about the different types of virtual and in-person events, certain things lend themselves better to the virtual space, while certain things lend themselves better to in-person. And you’re going to get a different sort of value out of each.
For a virtual event, the cost is much lower to attend. You certainly want benefit out of it, but you’re looking for a different type of value as opposed to you know, spending the money to fly out, stay and do all of that.
I think it’s okay that virtual does not have all of the same benefits as in-person because there is a much lower barrier to entry for those.
Chris Arey
Definitely, yeah.
Michaela Fallon
So, I totally agree there’s room for both and I think we have to continue to offer the best versions of both types of events.
Chris Arey
That’s awesome. I really like how you explained that there too. It isn’t one or the other, it’s both. And depending on what it is you’re trying to do; one environment might be better than the other. They’re both good in their own way, right?
Michaela Fallon
Totally, totally.
Chris Arey
Okay, awesome. So we’re getting close to time. One last question for each of you. If you could offer one piece of advice for today’s audience, what would it be? Devin, we can start with you.
Devin Sheppard
Okay, so I would say definitely check out our website as we post all of our events there, but again, have that open communication with your account and partner manager.
Ask your Infor representative: where are you guys going to be this year? On our end, we are finalizing what that looks like, and it’s going to continue to evolve even throughout the year, but yeah, definitely get those conversations started.
That way you can start to plan which potential events you could meet us at in person. Again, we’d love to see everyone in person, but if not, there are going to be multiple opportunities where people can get face-to-face with Infor and our partners this year. So definitely excited for things to come in 2025.
Chris Arey
If you’re listening, don’t be shy. Reach out and say hello.
Devin Sheppard
Yeah.
Chris Arey
Michaela, what do you have for us?
Michaela Fallon
Yeah, and I just want to say that Devin, I love what you were saying about your AE being a resource even for non-Infor events. It’s not something I had ever thought of to say, hey, where are you going to be? Could this be a good industry, non-Infor specific event?
So that’s a great call. I love that. In terms of my one takeaway for folks listening, I would say don’t be afraid to talk to people if you go to an event in person.
It might sound a little basic, but if you are putting the time and effort and energy into being there, sometimes the best things that can come out of these are the organic conversations and connections that you can make.
If you meet me at an event, you may end up on a podcast as Devin can attest, since he and I met up last year.
Devin Sheppard
Pretty great though, I’m live.
Chris Arey
The benefit of attending events is that you might end up on podcasts you didn’t know about.
Michaela Fallon
There we go. We did it. But yeah, really do feel like that is those intangibles are a lot of what people get out of out of attending these things. And I would encourage people to go.
Chris Arey
Awesome. I love both of those takeaways you both shared there. Communication is the foundation for so many things. Thank you both again. For those of you listening in, appreciate you hanging out and stopping by. It’s been a lovely episode.
If you have any questions about our discussion or want to learn more about upcoming events, we encourage you to reach out to us. You can email us at podcast@rpic.com. Again, that’s podcast@rpic.com.
This is RPI Tech Connect and until next time, we’ll take care.
Michaela Fallon
Bye!
Devin Sheppard
Bye.
