Why Customer Education Matters

Submitted by Kerry Summers on 25 January 2024 - 12:00am

event participants

What is a Customer Education Event?

A customer education event is a forum to bring your clients together in one place—either physically or virtually—to learn, connect, and develop. These events may look different depending on your industry, but the principles remain the same:

Bring customers together

Whether it’s your top-tier clients or a curated group of users, the goal is to connect people who share common challenges or aspirations.

Share insights

Go beyond product features. Offer market intelligence, future trends, and broader thought leadership. Help your customers stay ahead of the curve.

Showcase your thought leadership

Establish your business not just as a service provider, but as a strategic partner.

Cement connection

Customers are more likely to remain loyal to companies they feel connected to. Great events create that emotional and intellectual tie-in.

Customer education events aren't about showcasing how great your business is. Instead, they're about showing how great your customer can be when working with you.

What Makes a Good Customer Education Event?

It’s not enough to simply gather people in a room (or Zoom) and present to them. A great customer education event is intentional, well-designed, and customer-centric.

Here’s five things it is crucial to get right:

1. Have a Clear Objective

Every event must start with the question: what do we want attendees to walk away with and why?

Whether it’s product adoption, client retention, upselling, or brand positioning, define your goal early and ensure every element supports it.

2. Get the Timing and Format Right

Consider your customers’ calendars. Don’t host during peak business periods or major holidays. The right venue also matters; choose a location that’s accessible, well-equipped, and conducive to meaningful conversation, not just flashy entertainment.

3. Curate the Right Audience

The magic happens when attendees feel they are in the right room. Peer alignment is crucial. Group senior leaders with senior leaders, hands-on users with other users. People are more likely to share honestly and build lasting relationships when they feel they’re among equals.

4. Make it Interactive

According to the 70:20:10 learning model, around 70% of learning comes from on-the-job experiences, 20% from social interactions, and only 10% from formal learning. Don’t spend the whole day talking at your attendees. Instead, facilitate workshops, breakouts, and discussions where they can:

Learn from each other, not just you
Connect and collaborate on shared challenges
Develop and exchange best practices

iVentiv’s values of ‘learn, connect, develop’ are the building blocks to what we know make great events. The real value of these sessions comes from what your customers learn from one another, not just what they learn from your product team.

5. Listen Actively

Great events don’t just deliver, they gather. Ask your customers about their current pain points, what’s changing in their world, and how you can better support them. Build in time for feedback and reflection and don’t shy away from negative comments; they often point to your biggest opportunities.

Common Pitfalls (and How to Avoid Them)

Even with the best intentions, many customer education events fall short. Here’s how to sidestep the most common hazards:

Not Listening

If the event is a one-way lecture, you’re missing a golden opportunity to learn from your customers. Don’t make it all about you. Instead, make it a two-way conversation.

Inviting the Wrong People

Mismatched levels, roles, or industries lead to awkward conversations and disengagement. Be strategic in who you invite and why.

Being Too Salesy

Nothing turns customers away faster than a hard sell disguised as a workshop. Education events should be value-first. If you deliver real insight and support, the business will follow naturally.

Prioritising Gimmicks Over Substance

Yes, good food and memorable moments matter. But if your event leans more on popcorn machines and celebrity guests than on relevance and insight, you’ll lose credibility fast.

Poor Cross-Department Coordination

Don’t let customer education sit in a silo. Align across marketing, sales, product, and events teams to ensure consistent messaging and strategic focus. When these departments work together, everyone wins.

Not Collecting Feedback

Always follow up with structured feedback surveys. Find out what worked, what didn’t, and what could be better. Ask not only about the event experience but also about your product and services.

Trying to Do It All In-House

If your team doesn’t have the capability to run a seamless, strategic event, outsource to iVentiv. Bringing in experienced partners like iVentiv will elevate the experience from good to exceptional, and infuse conversations with, real, impactful nuggets of insight.

Leaving It Too Late

Rushed planning leads to poor outcomes. A successful event takes 3–6 months to design, build, and execute. Last-minute decisions will cost you, both in impact and reputation.

A Real-World Example: Microsoft

At iVentiv’s recent bespoke event, Microsoft brought together senior leaders from global enterprise clients to explore the evolving role of AI in the modern workplace. Rather than leading with product demos, the session kicked off with a panel discussion featuring customer voices, followed by roundtable workshops facilitated by industry peers.

The result? A powerful two-day event that not only showcased Microsoft’s thought leadership but also surfaced critical feedback on product roadmaps, new feature ideas, and real-world implementation needs. Participants walked away with new connections, actionable insights, and a deeper understanding of Microsoft’s commitment to their success.

Ready to Run a Great Customer Education Event?

A well-run customer education event isn’t just another line in the marketing budget—it’s a strategic lever to drive retention, loyalty, and brand advocacy. When you make your customers feel heard, understood, and supported, they become not just users, but champions.

At iVentiv, we work with organisations around the world to design and deliver peer-led, insight-driven customer events that genuinely engage the C-Suite. If you're planning your next customer education initiative, let’s talk about how we can support you.

To enquire about iVentiv bespoke events, visit our enquiry page.

Related Resources

iVentiv and Microsoft - A Bespoke Event Experience

Thumbnail:

Feature on Homepage:

News category:

iVentiv News

More Insights

AI in Learning & Development Report

The topic of Artificial Intelligence has been impossible to escape in L&D over the past few years. For some, it stands to displace the entire function and render most of its skills and roles obsolete. For others, it represents an opportunity for Learning to reach more employees in more meaningful ways than ever before.

In this blog and report, we look in more detail at what Heads of Learning say they are really doing about AI.

Skill Forward: How Comcast is Redefining Learning in the Age of AI

In a world where the shelf life of skills is shrinking from years to mere months, the question facing every Learning leader is no longer if we move to a skills-based model, but how fast. For Comcast, the answer has been a bold, enterprise-wide journey called Skill Forward.

Spearheaded by Sara Dionne, Chief Learning Officer at Comcast, Skill Forward is a data-driven approach that redefines how the business identifies, develops, and embeds skills. What began with conversations with just over 1,000 business leaders has grown into an integrated system shaped by more than 3,000 voices, weaving skills into hiring, strategy, and day-to-day operations.

But transformation at this scale is never simple. How do you balance enterprise-wide consistency with the needs of individual business units, or even individual learners? How do you make assessment meaningful at volume? And how do you keep pace when skills are being redefined almost quarterly by technologies like AI?

In this blog, we explore Sara’s insights from leading Comcast through this transformation, and what every L&D leader can learn about scaling skills, converging human and digital capabilities, and preparing the workforce for constant change. Read it now.

Delivering ROI: Skills and Learning and Development Strategy at Boehringer Ingelheim

At Boehringer Ingelheim, the “university” concept has been reimagined as a global ecosystem serving every one of the company’s 54,000 employees.

In conversation with iVentiv, Martin Hess, Chief Learning Officer at Boehringer Ingelheim, outlined how his team has created a federated model that unites more than 500 contributors worldwide, built a skills-based approach that directly connects capability to business goals, and implemented a vendor management system that reframes L&D as a value creator rather than a cost centre. The impact, he says, is measurable in both euros saved and credibility gained.

This blog explores Martin’s perspective and Boehringer Ingelheim’s journey, offering insights on skills, ROI, and personalisation that are directly relevant to anyone leading learning at scale. Read it now.

From Experimentation to Transformation: The Future of Learning and AI

In August, iVentiv brought together a group of Chief Learning Officers and senior learning leaders in Foster City, California. Against the backdrop of Silicon Valley—arguably the global epicentre of technological disruption—the group explored a central question:

How can learning enable organisations to move from AI experimentation to enterprise-wide impact?

Over two days of candid dialogue, Collaborative Cafés, and breakout sessions, CLOs reflected on what it really takes to scale AI, reimagine skills strategies, foster learning cultures, and prepare leaders for disruption. What follows is a synthesis of their key insights, designed to help CLOs worldwide think about the opportunities and challenges ahead.

The ROI of a Great Place to Work: How Engagement Drives Performance

For Michelle Agnew, Global Head of Learning, Engagement, and Culture at CNH Industrial, the work of L&D goes far beyond delivering skills training. It’s about creating an environment where “people want to come to work, and they’re excited about that and giving it back.”

With more than 20 years of experience in HR and Talent Development which includes senior roles at the American Red Cross, Michelle has built a career around connecting learning to culture, engagement, and ultimately, business performance.

In this conversation, Michelle shares her views on where L&D is headed, how to link learning to ROI, and why human connection may become the ultimate differentiator in the age of AI. Read it now.

Invest or Lose: the Future of Learning and AI, with Katrin Marx and Charles Jennings

“Every single leader, especially in Germany and Europe, will realise they need to invest in their people — otherwise they will lose this competition.”
- Katrin Marx, Head of Corporate Learning, Bosch

The race for talent is no longer about recruitment alone. For multinationals navigating economic changes, AI disruption, and intensifying competition, the real differentiator is how fast organisations can reskill and transform the capabilities of their existing workforce.

This was the core message from a recent conversation between iVentiv’s Hannah Hoey, Katrin Marx, Head of Corporate Learning, Bosch and Charles Jennings, Co-Founder of the 70:20:10 Institute. Both leaders agree: traditional learning models — designing courses, pushing content, and measuring satisfaction — are obsolete. The new mandate is to create performance-driven ecosystems where skills development is continuous, embedded in work, and tightly linked to business outcomes.

Curious to learn more? Read and watch now.

Leading in the Age of AI: The Future of Learning, Talent, and Leadership

As we cross the halfway mark of 2025, one thing amongst Heads of Learning, Talent, and Leadership is abundantly clear: the pace of change in their organisations is no longer incremental, it’s exponential.

At iVentiv’s recent Executive Knowledge Exchanges, C-suite leaders from global enterprises gathered to explore how Learning, Talent, and Leadership strategies must evolve to remain relevant in an AI-driven, skills-first world. The discussions weren’t just future-focused, they were grounded in urgent, present-day challenges.

From the iVentiv community across the USA and Europe, several recurring themes emerged. This blog unpacks the top insights and imperatives every CLO, and Head of Talent should consider when building a future-fit workforce. Read all about what's top of your mind for your peers here.

The Top Priorities for Chief Learning and Talent Officers So Far in 2025

The role of Global Learning and Talent leaders is changing. Shaped by rapid advances in technology, shifting workforce demands, and wider societal change, L&D in some cases is expected to drive the change. In others its role is being challenged. In many cases it’s both.

Based on iVentiv survey responses from 248 senior L&D and Talent executives, we’ve identified the top five priorities for Global Heads of Learning and Talent so far in 2025, along with two key themes still shaping the conversation: DEIB and change management. If you provide services to this audience, these are the issues your clients care about right now. Read now.

The Future of Skill Development: Balancing AI, Expertise, and Learning

In a world of rapid technological acceleration, generative AI is no longer a distant promise—it is an active force reshaping how people learn, work, and grow. For C-suite executives, particularly Chief Learning Officers and Heads of Talent, this presents both a challenge and a strategic opportunity.

At the heart of this evolution is a reimagining of the role of the Chief Learning Officer (CLO)—from a provider of content to a curator of developmental ecosystems, integrating AI and human expertise to build skills that matter.

In a recent interview with iVentiv, Heather Stefanski, Chief Learning & Talent Officer, McKinsey & Company, outlined how AI is transforming the development ecosystem at McKinsey, and what it means for the future of learning and leadership more broadly. Watch it now.

Building a Purpose-Driven Talent Ecosystem with ASML

In a world where microchips power everything from smartphones to AI supercomputers, ASML is a key partner to chip makers. But behind this technological powerhouse lies a deep investment in people. Caroline Vanovermeire, Global Head of Talent Management, Learning, and Knowledge Management at ASML, is leading a fresh approach to building an adaptive, inclusive, and purpose-led workforce.

In this blog taken from an exclusive interview with Caroline ahead of iventiv Learning Futures Eindhoven at the ASML Academy, She shared her insights into how ASML is preparing its talent strategy for a rapidly changing world, where human curiosity, personal growth, and AI-powered enablement converge to build not just careers, but enduring purpose.

Read now.