Recap: Experience Maker Awards Community AMA | Advice from Award Winners
Yesterday, we hosted our very first Experience Maker Awards Live Community AMA, and the conversation couldn’t have gone better ✨
Debra Chin, Program Lead for the Experience Maker Awards, was joined by two multi-award-winning Experience Makers, Lokesh Alluri (Senior Manager, Digital and Customer Analytics, Lenovo) and Anish Raul (Founder and Creative Director, BombAI Studio), for a candid look at how to choose a story, build a submission, and what happens after you win.
If you couldn’t join us live, never fear! You can catch up right here:
- Watch the recording: https://video.tv.adobe.com/v/3503957
- Download the PDF of the slides attached to this post
- Download the full Q&A transcript attached to this post
A few key takeaways
Pick the right category first. Both speakers stressed that category fit is everything. Talk to your Customer Success Manager, who knows your work and can help you position it. Then tie your story back to the original business value behind your Adobe investment, and study past submissions and Experience Maker stories on Experience League for inspiration.
Tell a clear story with real proof. Use a problem, action, result (before and after) structure that connects people, process, and technology. “Bring your receipts”: partner with analytics, finance, and other teams to validate your numbers, and consider attaching a simple slide deck of results. And for every KPI, ask Anish’s favorite question: “So what?”
Start early and bring your partners. Submissions take real time. Lokesh spent six-plus weeks, and both speakers submitted at the last hour of the deadline. Collecting wins from across teams strengthens the story and brings those teams together. Debra added that if a project isn’t mature yet, save it for next year, since you can’t apply with the same use case twice.
Don’t sit on the sidelines. Even without a win, you end up with a story worth sharing internally. Lokesh’s first submission felt small to him and still made him a finalist. Company size doesn’t matter; the strength and impact of the story does.
After the win. Both speakers described the personal brand boost, a lifelong network, and the doors it opened, including the Adobe Champions program, internal buy-in for their work, and access to leaders willing to share advice.
Resources
- Awards site: adobeexperienceawards.com (here you’ll find category-specific questions, tips for writing a winning submission, an optimizing-your-submission video, an example application, and a downloadable Excel template)
- FAQ: https://www.adobeexperienceawards.com/faq
- Apply here: https://www.adobeexperienceawards.com/apply
- Questions? Email xmakers@adobe.com
Now we’d love to hear from you: Are you planning to submit this year, and what’s the one project you’re most proud of? Share below, and ask any lingering questions. Our speakers and the wider community are here to help.