Why This Event Marketing Falls Flat: A Tired Playbook in a Changing World
It’s 2025. And yet, here we are staring at an event promotion that reads like it was lifted straight from a dusty 2012 playbook. While this actual event (name changed to protect the guilty) itself may have merit, its marketing does little to inspire. In a time when personalization, authenticity, and specificity drive decisions, this […]
Are We Going to Meet, Beat, or Miss Our Numbers?
It’s a question that echoes through every event organizer’s boardroom, Slack channel, and strategy session: “Are we going to meet, beat, or miss our numbers?” And with good reason. In the event business—where time, money, and trust are invested in high-stakes, one-off moments, performance is measured in hard metrics: registrations, revenue, renewals. The answer to […]
Stop Selling Events. Start Solving Problems.
Event organizers fall in love with their “solutions” or dream of building industry ‘ecosystems’. The event format. The networking platform. The sexy keynote speaker. The flashy exhibit hall with all the bells and whistles. The team gets jazzed. Marketing spins up a campaign. Sales pushes exhibitor packages. And then… crickets. Why? Because what you’re building is your […]
Why is Event Sales so Hard? 8 Reasons and What to Do About It
Lately, I’ve been getting a lot of questions from sales reps asking why it’s so difficult to get prospects to answer calls or respond to emails. Here’s what I’ve been telling them: 1. Message Saturation & Digital Noise Prospects are overwhelmed by the volume of sales outreach across channels—email, LinkedIn, phone, and more. Event […]
Tariffs? Use Them to Get Closer to Your Customers
Wake Up: Attendees and Exhibitors Hate Being Sold To — And It’s Killing Your Event
Let’s cut the nonsense: attendees and exhibitors don’t want your sales pitch. They don’t want your marketing fluff. They don’t care about your “early bird discounts,” your flashy too expensive booth packages, or your overhyped agenda full of buzzwords and ‘industry experts’. Like this experience. They want results.They want value.And if you keep marketing at […]
Harness The Future: How Marketers Become Event Strategists
For event marketers to be able to take their events and their own careers to the next level, they must move beyond tactical execution to strategic decision-making. I believe that mastering event strategy starts with two foundational pillars: knowing the context of your job and truly understanding your customer. These elements will serve as the foundation […]
The Event Mechanic! Joins The AI Hat Podcast Future-Proof Events: How AI Ensures Your Events Thrive, Not Just Survive
Have you ever felt that sinking feeling of launching an event only to realize competitors already seem to be two steps ahead? Perhaps you’ve noticed others leveraging cutting-edge tech, and you’re worried about falling behind. With technology evolving faster than ever before, event planners face mounting pressure. How can you keep pace? How can you […]
What Will AI Do to Event Professionals’ Jobs in the Next 18 Months?
According to the IAEE, the event industry in the United States employs approximately seven million professionals., from organizers and marketers to sales teams and operations experts. But with AI advancing at breakneck speed, what will happen to those jobs in the next 18 months? Are we looking at a mass displacement, or will AI be the […]
The Core Problems Holding Events Back
I’ve spent over 30 years in the events industry, and since launching The Event Mechanic! in 2005, I’ve had the opportunity to identify the patterns that drive event success and the warning signs that signal their decline. I’ve pinpointed the key reasons events fail and, more importantly, what organizers can do to turn things around. […]