Producing my first keynote was nothing like any session I’d done before.

Our recent Impact film, produced in partnership with an Academy Award–winning filmmaker, was set to be screened in the keynote theater. Following the film, our CMO would sit down with Salesforce leadership for a fireside chat on technology’s impact for the greater good, moderated by the filmmaker himself. Very quickly, this went from being a cool opportunity to being a very big deal.

From there, it was all the things you’d expect and then some. Scripting, prep, rewrites, more prep, dry runs, reworking the flow, tightening transitions. And then the parts you don’t expect, like giving a last-minute briefing to your moderator on why there are trees everywhere. (Does anyone actually have a good answer?)

It was my first time operating at that level of production, and there’s a different kind of pressure that comes with it. Not just making sure it runs smoothly, but making sure the people on stage feel ready, confident, and not caught off guard by anything happening around them.

By the time we got backstage, it shifted. Watching the production team move, watching everything come together in real time, it clicked. All the prep, all the details, all the unknowns you try to plan for… this is where it pays off.

And once you’ve done one, you’re already thinking about how you’d do the next one even better.