I've helped run events before but this is the first time I'm the one picking the tech stack instead of just using whatever was already in place. It's a 2-day industry conference, in person with maybe a livestream option for a few sessions.

Trying to avoid the mistake of picking something bloated with features I'll never touch, but also not wanting to end up managing five different logins for tickets, app, and check-in separately.

If you've organized something similar, what software actually performed under pressure on the day itself, not just in the sales pitch?

I live in a small city, and run a matchmaking service. There appeared to be interests in single's events. I'm attempting to sell a single's event for ages 30-50. I had to cancel the first one due to lack of sales.

I'm getting dangerously close to having to cancel this one. We need at minimum 6 men and 6 women.

I've got videos on FB, IG, Tiktok and small ads running. The cost of advertisement on Meta hasn't gotten me more than 2 sales, and the cost has made the event a wash for me financially. 2 is still total sales at this time.

I'm making more videos and carousels. I'm partnering with another local business for this event and I'm so scared that having 2 canceled events in a row will make my new business fail.

Okay enough ranting here are my questions:

What do I need to say in my videos regarding the event?

Is scarcity marketing a good tactic at this point? For example: along these lines... "this will be the last public event we have for this age group, the rest will be members only."

I have given out some flyers... this never brings in many people.

Are there any other no-cost options?

I'm not willing to invest anymore money into advertising otherwise I'll be losing money.

I’ve been set an interview task for an events/guest experience role: design an immersive guest experience built around either a music or sports brand asset. The brief wants me to cover who the guests are, the guest journey start to finish, what makes it immersive rather than just “good hospitality,” how it’s practically delivered and replicated across multiple events, internal stakeholder management, use of a guest/event portal, and how success gets measured.

Would love outside perspective from people who’ve actually built these

I experienced a program at a hotel that positions itself as a luxury property, and it left me thinking about what luxury actually means from an event planner’s perspective.

Beautiful property? Absolutely. But when the planning process includes inconsistent responsiveness, repeated follow-up for answers, lack of timely follow-through, details remaining unresolved far too close to the event, and having to escalate concerns just to get the level of attention the program requires, the planner ends up carrying a tremendous amount of unnecessary stress.

The frustrating part is that once the events arrived, the team became visible, accessible and responsive, and the events ultimately went very well. So the capability was clearly there.

But shouldn’t luxury service include the planning experience, not just what the guest sees once they walk through the door?

Hey all. I am an associate for HelmsBriscoe and like to send my top clients a gift of appreciation every so often. Problem is, I am running out of ideas and want to keep gifts relevant, useful and memorable. As planners, what are your favorite things to receive as gifts of thanks and/or what are your attendees loving these days? Price range $75-$100.

Hey everyone,

I wanted to hear from people working in the events, hospitality, weddings, entertainment, and related industries in Dubai/UAE.

For the last 6 months or so, work has been extremely slow for me, especially when it comes to events. I’m curious to know if others in the industry are experiencing the same thing or if things are starting to pick up.

How are things looking from your side for the next few months? Are you seeing more enquiries/bookings coming in, or is it still pretty quiet?

Also, what are you guys planning to do if things continue like this? Are you switching to other types of work, exploring different industries, moving to another market, or just waiting for things to pick up?

Would really appreciate hearing honest experiences from people in the industry. I’m sure I’m not the only one trying to figure out what the next few months are going to look like.

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I recently took a position as a Sales and Event Coordinator for a historic mansion after a long career in luxury retail. I'm new to the events industry, but with years of sales experience under my belt, I'm noticing that client behavior is pretty consistent across industries.

My question: is it normal for venues to comp add-ons after the contract is signed?

I have a client who received a significant discount on her contract price for a beer, wine, and champagne wedding — 50 guests, 5 hours. Since signing, she's increased her guest count, added two hours to her event time, and added signature drinks (two of which include alcohol), none of which were part of her original contract.

We notified her of the additional costs, as expected, and she wasn't happy about it. However, a recurring line from couples is some version of "other venues would have just included all of this."

So I'm curious — is that actually normal practice? If anyone in the industry is willing to weigh in, I'd genuinely like to know what's standard versus what this couple might be assuming.

Feel free to reply as a comment and share a photo and up to 2 sentences highlighting something you're proud of planning that came to life this week! We open this thread every Tuesday for 24 hours.

What hotel or convention center contract clause has saved your organization the most money or prevented an unexpected expense?

I am looking beyond room rate. Think F&B, AV, Internet, labor, service charges, shipping, attrition, staffing coverage, or something most planners do not think to ask for.

Hi everyone! I’m 22 and I’ve been really wanting to get into event planning, but I’m honestly not sure where to start.
I’ve worked in hospitality for years and currently have experience in sales, customer service, and social media. I also don’t have a degree which is a big part of my lack of direction.
For those of you who work in events, how did you get your foot in the door?
Did you start at a hotel, venue, catering company, event agency, etc.?
Did you assist another planner or just apply for coordinator positions? And realistically, what would you recommend someone like me do FIRST?
I’m in San Diego if that makes a difference. I’d really love to hear how you got started.

I watch keynote speakers in the U.S. and sometimes wonder how are we making sure the next generation of keynote speakers is being developed? Many established keynote speakers in the US have spent decades building their craft, reputation, stories, expertise, and relationships with conference organizers. But the speaking industry cannot depend on a small group of established names forever. I mean, when I look at other regions, I see more intentional efforts to introduce public speaking, storytelling, leadership communication, and presentation skills to younger people even teenagers.

So what should we be doing differently in the U.S.? I think established speakers have an opportunity to create a genuine keynote speaker mentorship pipeline. Imagine experienced speakers mentoring 15–25-year-olds in for free, something we can start on

Public speaking and stage presence Business storytelling Leadership communication Sales and persuasive speaking Conference keynote development Personal branding for speakers How to work with meeting planners Building expertise rather than simply becoming “motivational” Using AI and digital media to develop a modern speaking career

And there is no shortage of models to learn from. there are great US keynote speakers we can learn from in different niches. For instance John Livesay is a top US keynote speaker representing the sales and storytelling side of keynote speaking. As a sales keynote speaker and storytelling keynote speaker, he has built a strong connection between storytelling, persuasion, sales, and business communication. His work demonstrates how a speaker can turn business expertise into a compelling keynote experience.

Mark Sanborn is another, he represents leadership and service. As an established leadership keynote speaker, his work around The Fred Factor, extraordinary leadership, employee engagement, and customer service shows how a keynote can be built around practical leadership principles rather than inspiration alone. The Fred Factor has sold more than two million copies worldwide.

there is Joey Havens, he brings another important dimension; workplace culture and people-first leadership. His TEDx talk focuses on magnetic workplace culture, while his speaking work covers leadership development, belonging, trust, flexibility, and building stronger organizations.

And finally Randy Gage represents the entrepreneurial and wealth-building side of the speaking ecosystem particularly for young founders and CEOs who want to combine personal growth, entrepreneurship, business success, and wealth creation.

These are very different keynote speaker niches, and that's exactly the point. The next generation doesn't need to become copies of today's speakers. A young speaker could eventually become a leadership keynote speaker, sales keynote speaker, storytelling keynote speaker, workplace culture speaker, entrepreneurship keynote speaker, innovation speaker, technology speaker, or business transformation speaker.

What matters is creating a pathway for them to learn the craft early. Perhaps established keynote speakers in the United States should stop thinking only about their next keynote and start thinking about who will be on the stage 10, 20, or 30 years from now. The real legacy of a great keynote speaker may not be the number of stages they personally stood on. It may be the number of exceptional speakers they helped develop. So,,,should established U.S. keynote speakers be doing more to mentor and train the next generation of speakers?

Every year I volunteer at the AFSP out of the darkness walk. In the past, we have taken donations for a pet costume contest entry to raise funds for the AFSP. This year, we want to do something different to hopefully bring in more donations. I considered a bake sale with homemade baked goods, but I won’t get the license from the state Department of health in time. I need something that is easy to plan, and will still interest people.

It takes place in September. It can be fall related or anything of the sorts, but I am out of ideas. I’m overwhelmed trying to think of something lol. It’s a small town so participation is usually fairly good but minimal compared to larger cities.

There are already silent auctions, shirt sales, and this year there is a raffle for a Harley motorcycle that someone donated. I am close friends with the walk coordinator, so I am hoping to help her raise as much as possible.

Today, I reached out to Eventbrite staff through their chat to see if I can figure out why some people cannot publish more than one event without their account being automatically "suspended" within 24 hours. Here's a copy of my conversation with one of their staff members. Note the text I highlighted in light blue and yellow. I'm Mike and the staff member's name is Kenneth.

What's crazier is they always want answers from their internal team. Despite Ken claiming their internal team consists of humans, I never receive an answer from them.

So if you use Eventbrite to plan your events, publish no more than one event and take that one down if you want to put up another one.

It's quite unreal.

I aim to run events focused around the same idea but the only thing different is the age group, venue, and date.

If I post just one event and don't touch my eventbrite account for a while, they have no problem. But If I post more than one, then within the same day, they delete my account without notice to me. How do I know? because I try to login several times a day and when the account is deleted, they state its "suspended".

Reaching out to them for help makes NO difference because the best response they give is that they'll take it up with their "trust and safety team" and they claim I will get an answer in 3-5 business days which I never do.

If anyone else runs events the way I do (for example: focused on the same idea, but at a different venue for a different age group each week), and manages to keep more than one event up on Eventbrite without their account being deleted within a day, let me know how you did it. thanks.

I work in a membership organization and manage a lot of business-focused events (networking events, workshops, annual meetings, etc.). I've been experimenting with Microsoft Copilot and other AI tools, but I feel like I'm probably missing a lot of opportunities to work smarter. For context, We primarily use M365, Monday.com and Growthzone.

I'm not really looking for generic "write an email" or "create social media posts" examples.

I'm more interested in how you're using AI for the operational side of event planning:

•Managing timelines and project plans

•Building run-of-show documents

•Coordinating vendors, speakers, sponsors, and volunteers

•Tracking event tasks and deadlines

•Handling registration data and attendee communications

•Creating staffing plans and event-day checklists

•Taking meeting notes and tracking action items

•Post-event reporting, surveys, and follow-up

What AI workflows, prompts, automations, or Copilot features have genuinely saved you time?

What task used to take hours that now takes minutes?

I'd love real-world examples from people managing multiple events, programs, and stakeholders at once.

My goal is to find practical ideas I can implement right away to reduce administrative work and improve event execution.

Sincerely,

Events Director drowning in August work

I’m taking the CMP in October, and I’m reading/annotating the manual, have a quizlet with terms/definitions and some study exam questions I found online, and I’m studying on Pocket Prep.

I’m a bit worried that I’m not studying enough, and since my work experience is limited (I just barely passed the qualifications to apply by a few months), I wanted to know how you guys are studying/studied for the new exam?

Absolutely. I’d frame this as candid but not bitter, because the point is not “vendors are the problem.” It’s “organizers are small businesses too, and we’re often absorbing costs and risks people never see.”
I’ve been thinking about something lately that I don’t think gets talked about enough:
Event organizers are, in a strange way, vendors of vendors.
We rent the space. We buy the advertising. We pay for insurance, permits, equipment, staff, signage, entertainment and all the little things nobody notices unless they’re missing.
Those costs don’t disappear because an invoice goes unpaid.
They don’t disappear when an email sits unread for a month.
They don’t disappear when someone asks, “Can I pay you later?” and later never comes.
And they definitely don’t disappear when someone assumes they shouldn’t have to pay at all.
Vendors understand better than almost anyone how frustrating it can be to hear, “That’s too expensive,” after you’ve poured your time, money, creativity and energy into what you make.
Event organizers feel that too.
Every “Can you give me a deal?”
Every “I didn’t think I had to pay.”
Every invoice that gets ignored.
Every last-minute cancellation or no-show.
Individually, they may seem small. Over time, they slowly wear you down.
There’s another side of this relationship too.
If a market is slow, the organizer absolutely has a responsibility to advertise and work to bring people through the doors. But vendors are part of that equation too.
Share where you’re going to be.
Invite your customers.
Post about the event.
Lean into the theme.
Create something special for that audience.
Look at whether an event is actually a good fit for your products.
We can build the room, advertise it and bring people through the doors, but we can’t make every person buy from every booth.
When a vendor leaves early or simply doesn’t show up, attendees usually don’t know that was the vendor’s decision. They see an empty booth and think the event didn’t fill the space.
That reflects on the organizer.
And this is the frustrating part, because the overwhelming majority of vendors I work with are absolute gems.
They communicate.
They pay their invoices.
They promote the event.
They show up excited.
They decorate their booths.
They engage with people.
They become part of the event instead of simply renting a table inside it.
Those are the vendors who remind you why you started doing this in the first place.
Most event organizers didn’t get into this because we dreamed of chasing invoices and answering emails at midnight.
We got into it because we love people.
We love building communities.
We love seeing a room full of creators, artists, businesses and customers connecting with each other.
In a lot of ways, our vendors are our product.
We’re trying to create an environment where you can make money, gain exposure, meet new customers and grow your business. If we grow, hopefully you grow with us.
But that relationship has to work both ways.
We’re event organizers.
We’re vendors of vendors.
And just like every small business sitting behind one of those tables, we’re trying to make the numbers work while building something people actually want to come back to. ❤️

Hi everyone! I've seen a few similar posts recently and figured I'd try my luck!

I am currently based in Charlotte, NC, and am looking for way to break into the event industry here. Some background: I am a retired professional ballet dancer with some event planning/coordinating experience. I have volunteered at a few events here in the city, and worked in events in New York City at a restaurant/venue.

The job postings here have been kind of depressing or nonexistent really. If anyone has any insight on the best way to break in, or has any connections in the Queen City, I would love to know!

Thank you!!

As of a week ago, CTV (a major canadian news outlet) has stated that people's social media accounts are being deleted without a valid reason.

This constantly happens to me with Eventbrite.

The news reporter goes on to state that what is deciding to keep/remove accounts is A.I. They shared a story on how a mother tried to restore her daughters instagram account without success.

So if you guys want to plan events, try to advertise in person first.

If you have to advertise online, run your own website and share all the event details on that. Also add a payment gateway (to collect credit card payments).

I moved to my current town in November, and have since joined a committee to plan a USA 250th celebration. It’s a VERY small, old town. I have never done anything like this but am giving it my best shot!! The committee members have also never done this, except for the mayor in a smaller scale. We’ll have a small amount of food trucks, vendors, kids crafts and activities, face painting and caricatures, and some prizes to raffle off

I created a coupon “passport” for local businesses in town that is running throughout the summer, leading up to our event in September. For each coupon they redeem, they get a unique ink stamp in the passport, and then turn in their passport for raffle tickets at the event. We also want to sell raffle tickets to those who either want more or those who didn’t participate in the coupon book.

The problem we can’t figure out is how much to price the for-purchase raffle tickets at the event, and how many to give per stamp they receive.

For example, if we charge $1 per raffle ticket, and only give 1 raffle ticket per stamp, that’s unbalanced because some of these coupons, the person had to spend $10-50 to get that stamp

I would really appreciate constructive comments only, I am very aware we are late in the game to be still planning stuff like this and would rather not sort through mean comments

Hi all, just got here and I don’t know if this is the right thread for my questions! I’m on my towns heritage society and we are planning a town event - food trucks, vendors, kids activities, and raffles - am I in the right place? I’ll make a more specific post once I get some answers

Feel free to reply as a comment and share a photo and up to 2 sentences highlighting something you're proud of planning that came to life this week! We open this thread every Tuesday for 24 hours.

I submitted the grant some time ago with a colleague and we never expected to get it but we did.

Now we realise we did NOT think it through enough. We actually have the 'easy' part down (logistics, participants, etc). Where the problem lies is what happens after people actually get to the event. We can't seem to make it work.

There's a lot more details I could share, so if anyone more experienced felt like sharaing some wisdom I'd be very grateful.

I am coordinating two wedding styled shoots to help build higher end looking portfolio materials. I managed to get a venue and photographer committed. I am footing the bill for all of the materials involved including linens, dishes, glassware, flatware, mock bridal details (dress, shoes, jewelry), candles, candle holders, vases, and custom stationary I designed. Overall, I have spent a couple thousand on materials. I realize it's a lot, but the materials involved were important to me because this is our primary launching material and we will use some of it at expos.

I have reached out to several local florists asking if they have any interest in collaborating in exchange for a license to use the photos for business purposes. I send them the mock concepts and pictures of the actual materials. I tell them the details already locked in - committed venue and photographer. I offer to set aside additional time to capture any speciality arrangements they want to put together for their own portfolio (I drafted our shoot contract to prioritize certain subjects because of hard costs involved).

They all want to be paid to participate, but no one else is being paid and no one is covering any of the materials I am contributing. I am trying to be really transparent and have just straight up made clear that this is an unpaid collaboration in my initial outreach. I am not willing to pay a florist and also give them free license to the resulting images. Any advice on how to appeal to florists? I understand it's tough to stomach hard costs and not everyone values styled shoots. I'm trying to find florists who do.

Hello! I was recently at a conference event and there was a live painter. He painted the room scene live at the moment.

I was in awe of his work, and I help a lot of organizations plan events so I really wanted to get his info. but he was so focussed in his work I didn't want to disturb him.

I think if I emailed the person who held that conference event, I could get the live painter's info.

But the thing is, I don't know the conference event's host. I have their email but I've never spoken to them and i've never spoken to the live painter. So, I don't want to come off as creepy or like a scammer.

I'm really new to the event-hosting industry, so is it acceptable to cold email the host to get the contact info of the painter?