Event Marketing: Redefined

Vendoroo went into its biggest industry event this year needing to reverse a real downward trend in momentum. Pablo Gonzalez breaks down the “lightning strike” strategy they built around it. What we get into: ✅ The “lightning strike” framework: one narrative, one attendee realization, and every touchpoint built around it ✅ How a unified event narrative can shape messaging, booth design, and the attendee experience ✅ Why performing well on the show floor isn’t the same as earning real cred...

Event ROI keeps getting blamed on the event team, but the real breakdown often starts once leads land in sales' hands. This episode traces exactly where that handoff falls apart, and who should actually own it. What we get into: ✅ The sales handoff moment where most event pipeline quietly dies ✅ Burnout as a structural failure, not a personal one ✅ A one-line test for whether your team is actually ready to exhibit Event marketers are asked to prove revenue impact from programs they...

Your CMO wants strategy. Your trade show is in three weeks. Your team just lost a headcount. Sound familiar? Ashley Keating runs the entire events and field marketing function at CallMiner: trade shows across the US, Canada, UK, and now Central Europe after a 2025 acquisition, plus webinars, field accelerators, and a newly expanded multi-city customer conference. All of it with a team of three. In this episode, she gets specific about the tension most senior event markete...

Most event marketers know when a stakeholder's direction is off. Few have the line that turns that instinct into influence. In this episode: ✅ The strategy session Felicia interrupted to ask one question, and how it reshaped the entire agenda ✅ A hard number versus a changed conversation, and why she'll defend the second one to a room full of CFOs ✅ Her exact sentence for challenging stakeholder direction without starting a fight Felicia Kaban, Director of Event E...

Your event wasn't the problem. Ask any event marketer to be honest, and they'll tell you exactly how they'd build a stronger show if they had the budget, the runway, and the right people in the room saying yes at the right time. But shrinking resources, last minute executive pivots, and stakeholders who show up late with big opinions are quietly wrecking programs that were never broken to begin with. This conversation echoes what senior leaders spent two days saying out loud at Event Marke...

Customer events are not prospecting campaigns, so measuring them by leads alone misses their real business impact. The better questions are whether customers become more loyal, engage more deeply, and strengthen their relationship with your brand. Inside this episode: ✅ The customer-event metrics that reveal more than attendance and satisfaction scores ✅ How attendee-versus-nonattendee comparisons can uncover revenue, retention, and participation trends ✅ Why host books, peer interaction,...

Your VP asks why events deserve more budget next year. You could defend every line item. Or ask for something else entirely. Matt says fighting for more money is usually the wrong fight. Alignment first, results second, budget third. That reframe is what separates event marketers who get taken seriously from the ones stuck justifying their existence every cycle. Part 2 of our summer Q&A series covers what event marketers actually lose sleep over: booth psychology, credibility with...

What's the point of a stunning trade show booth if nobody inside it knows why they're there? Casey Smalley, Director of Global Events at Avetta, joins Matt Kleinrock to make the case that the smartest line in your event budget isn't the build. It's the briefing. In this episode: ✅ Why treating booth staffing as a "scheduling exercise" quietly costs you pipeline, not just optics ✅ The one trait that separates a floor-ready team member from a liability (it has nothing to do with produ...

Too many events still rely on the same booths, the same activations, and the same “safe” playbook. The result: experiences people walk past, forget, or never meaningfully engage with in the first place. Ashley Nuske, Director of Field & Event Marketing at Goldcast (now Cvent), joins Matt Kleinrock for a candid conversation about what’s broken in event marketing today and why safe strategies rarely produce standout results. Ashley shares how she approaches audience-firs...

Are you heading into fall events the same way you did last year? Same booth, same playbook, same hope that something sticks? Most event marketers aren't lazy. They're just busy. And busy has a way of turning strategy into autopilot. That gap between teams who show up and teams who show up READY starts forming right now, in summer. As part of The Summer Circuit, we're dropping a special compilation episode where host Matt Kleinrock shares the unfiltered advice he'd give any event marketer pr...

Your booth traffic looked good. Badge scans were high. Leadership wants ROI numbers. But none of that fully explains whether your event actually moved deals forward. In this episode, Matt talks with Cynthia Montalvo (Regional Field Marketing Manager at Steno) about the growing gap between event metrics and actual event influence. Cynthia, an event strategist known for pushing teams beyond surface-level reporting, explains why signals like stakeholder expansion, deeper conversati...

Most event teams are still measuring trade shows by booth traffic, badge scans, and “good vibes.” But when budgets tighten and leadership wants answers, those metrics stop meaning much. Bethany Gustafson leads events at ACTIVE Network, where her team manages everything from small pop-up trade shows to large-scale flagship exhibits across multiple markets and products. In this episode, she joins Matt Kleinrock to break down what it actually takes to run a high-volume event progr...

Most trade show booths are still being designed for the render. Not the person walking a crowded aisle deciding in seconds whether your booth is worth their attention. Recorded live from EXHIBITORLIVE 2026, Matt Kleinrock and Coty Adams break down what they’re noticing on the show floor right now: bigger structures, tighter aisles, shorter attention spans, and event teams trying to balance nonstop execution with pressure to deliver better ROI. ✅ Why some of the “best-looking” booths still f...

Everyone wants better event ROI, but most event marketers are navigating a frustrating reality: they are expected to think strategically while being buried in execution. In this episode, Matt and Coty break down their EXHIBITORLIVE experience as a live case study in what it looks like when an event is planned more intentionally from end to end. From pre-show planning and alignment to on-site engagement and post-event momentum, they walk through how thinking about events as a full campaign—n...

A great dinner or VIP experience means nothing if it doesn’t lead to a meaningful conversation. In this episode, Stephanie Hunicke (Director of Global Marketing Events at Aderant) breaks down how to design bespoke events that prioritize relationships and real business outcomes from the start. You’ll learn: ✅ Why depth beats scale when it comes to executive events ✅ How to align purpose, people, and experience to drive real outcomes ✅ What most teams get wrong about VIP dinners, roa...

Most trade show booths fail for one simple reason: they’re built to be seen, not experienced. In this conversation, Matt breaks down why the old playbook no longer works and what actually drives pipeline today. Learn: ✅ Why “show up and pitch” is killing engagement and what to replace it with ✅ How pre-show and post-show strategy often matter more than the booth itself ✅ What it really takes to turn events from a cost center into a revenue driver In this guest appearance on the Behind th...

How do you know if the event agency you hired is actually a strategic partner? Or just a middleman? Choosing the right agency partner can shape the success of an entire event program, yet many teams still rely on RFP processes that miss what truly matters. In this episode, Matt Kleinrock sits down with event strategist and fractional Head of Events Gianna Gaudini to unpack how organizations should rethink agency selection from the start. Together, they explore how event leaders can ru...

Most event programs are built around visibility: booths, sponsorships, brand presence For years, that approach was considered the safest way to drive pipeline. But what if the deals you care about aren’t won on crowded show floors? And your highest-value buyers respond to something far more intentional? In this episode, Matt sits down with Bronwen Gregg, who leads event strategy from inside sales enablement, not marketing. After seeing diminishing returns from large trade shows, her team sh...

Most event teams are doing everything they’re supposed to do: booking the booth, training staff, showing up with the right materials. And yet, the results rarely match the effort. The issue usually isn’t poor execution. It’s that the event was never designed to drive revenue in the first place. In this episode, Matt and Coty break down the thinking behind the session they’ll be bringing to EXHIBITORLIVE 2026… and why so many event strategies stall long before pipeline is even possible. In...

The event didn’t start on the show floor. By the time Accelevents showed up with a 10×10 booth, much of the pre-show groundwork was already in motion—accounts targeted, meetings scheduled, and conversations planned. The result? 116 meetings driven by intentional strategy, not booth size or blind hope for foot traffic. In this live conversation, Matt is joined by Jonathan Kazarian, CEO of Accelevents, and Michael Burns, CRO, to walk through a real case study. They’ll break down the pr...

Have you ever looked at a big brand’s event partnerships and wondered what actually makes them work... beyond the logos and budgets? In this episode, Matt is joined again by Jon Wolff and Mandy Glenwright to take you inside how Lenovo thinks about event strategy through the lenses of partnerships, scale, and standing out in crowded environments. Hear them unpack: ✅ Why most partnerships default to logo placement and what differentiates the ones that feel genuinely collaborative ✅ How Leno...

Events are one of the few channels where sales and marketing can show up together, face-to-face, and create real trust. And yet, many event programs are still planned and measured like isolated moments. So it’s no surprise they struggle to earn long-term credibility. In our first live episode of 2026, Matt sits down with MacKenzie Grant (Senior Director of Marketing, Experiences at Enverus) to unpack what changes when events are designed as part of a broader go-to-market strategy—one that s...

Some products are easy to show on a show floor. AI isn’t one of them. When your product is abstract, powerful, and sometimes intimidating, the challenge isn’t just explaining what it does—it’s helping people feel why it matters. That’s where this conversation goes. In this episode, Matt sits down with Chelsea Sparrow, Go-To-Market Manager at Microsoft, to unpack how her team brings AI tools like Copilot to life at events where demos alone fall flat and trust has to be earned. Instead of de...

2025 was a loud year for event marketers—big wins, tough lessons, shifting expectations, and an industry that moved faster than anyone planned. So before we step into 2026, we’re slowing down to make sense of what actually mattered this year. In this year-end live show, Matt Kleinrock and Coty Adams look back at the themes, pressure points, and breakthroughs that kept resurfacing in conversations all year long. You’ll get a mix of reflection, clarity, and forward momentum, including: 🎁 The...

Event marketers have spent years being asked to execute flawlessly—booths built, shows staffed, leads scanned. But the conversations Matt Kleinrock and Coty Adams keep having tell a different story: execution alone is no longer enough. Strategy exists… it’s just not being consistently applied. This special compilation brings together the most defining moments from Matt and Coty’s conversations this year, centered on what actually moves events from a cost of doing business to a business-driv...

Last year’s “best of” episode became the most downloaded in the history of the show for one reason: it gave event marketers a framework that actually changed how they worked. 2025 took that conversation further. This special compilation pulls together the ideas Matt and Pablo hammered on all year—the ones that challenged how events are positioned inside organizations, how experiences are executed on the show floor, and why so many teams feel boxed in by budgets that don’t leave room for str...

Event marketers spent 2025 juggling pressure from every angle—proving impact, planning smarter, and building experiences grounded in what audiences actually want. With time shrinking, expectations rising, and noise everywhere, it became harder to know which strategies genuinely mattered and which ones were just… loud. This special Best-Of 2025 compilation brings together the episode moments that delivered clarity, direction, and results. These are the insights that resonated the most with e...

If you’ve ever been handed a booth brief with zero strategy … or chased down sales to follow up on hundreds of “leads” … or been asked to “do more shows next year” with the same budget, you know the pain. That old model? It’s broken. But the fix isn’t a bigger booth or a cooler activation. It’s a shift — away from chasing attention and toward driving revenue. In this episode, Justin Keys (Sr. Manager, Brand Marketing at Georgia-Pacific) joins Matt to break down how event marketers take bac...

The future of event marketing feels noisy—AI headlines, shifting attendee behavior, sustainability pressure, and a role that keeps expanding faster than the job description. Most event pros are expected to keep up, even as expectations rise and clarity doesn’t. Is AI a threat or a tool? Are hybrid experiences still relevant? What skills matter now? And how do marketers prepare when the answers keep changing? In another EXHIBITORLIVE 2025 compilation, Coty Adams and Mollie Stahl ask industry...

Every event marketer has a moment they’d go back and redo — a decision, a mindset, a chance to think bigger. At EXHIBITORLIVE 2025, Coty Adams and Mollie Stahl hit the floor to ask one powerful question: “What advice would you give your younger event-marketing self?” The answers were raw, funny, and surprisingly universal. From learning to breathe through chaos to embracing bold ideas, every story captured what it really takes to build a career in this industry and a life that thrives beyon...

Every brand wants the next big experiential idea. But too often, what gets delivered is safe, predictable, and easy to forget. Audiences are craving creativity. They want experiences that surprise them, move them, make them pause. And behind every “cool idea” that actually worked is a deeper story—why it mattered, how it connected, and what made it resonate long after the lights went down. But what if you’ve never walked through SXSW or experienced Cannes in person? What if you don’t have e...

Venue sourcing takes an enormous amount of time and most event marketers have even less of it than ever before. Between skyrocketing pricing, surprise fees, and increased pressure to deliver inclusive and sustainable experiences, venue sourcing is more complex than it’s ever been. Yet event pros are still expected to “just figure it out” on their own. In this episode, Michael Hudson shares 30+ years of sourcing expertise—debunking the biggest myths in venue sourcing and showing what to watch ...

Event marketers are some of the most capable professionals out there. They juggle strategy, logistics, leadership expectations, and ROI goals all at once. But the truth is, there’s only so much they can control. Leadership decisions, last-minute changes, and competing metrics often leave them reacting instead of leading. And that constant pressure? It’s what pushes even the best to the edge of burnout. In this episode, Princess Castleberry, CEO of Castleberry Global and creator of the Live,...

Every year at EXHIBITORLIVE, the conversations go deeper than booth design and swag trends. This year, the question that stopped people in their tracks was simple: “What’s the biggest challenge event marketers are facing right now?” And the answers said a lot. Event pros from every corner of the industry opened up about the real pressures behind the scenes. From proving ROI and fighting for executive buy-in, to balancing endless stakeholder opinions, to adapting to a new generation of atten...

Most exhibitors spend nearly half their budget just getting to the show floor—booth space, travel, shipping, services. By the time the event starts, there’s almost nothing left for strategy or measurement. That’s how event marketing gets stuck in the “cost of doing business” trap. The result? Overbooked schedules, flat ROI, and event teams that feel more like order takers than growth drivers. In this conversation, Matt Kleinrock and Pablo Gonzalez break down the numbers, the hidden ineffici...

Events don’t work like they used to. Back then, great speakers and flashy venues were enough. Today? Audiences expect connection, conversation, and clarity of purpose. But most event strategies still haven’t caught up. That’s why in this episode, Matt Kleinrock and Pablo Gonzalez go rapid-fire through the “new laws of events”—from connection over content, to why five-week registration windows change everything, to how matchmaking, negotiation, and follow-up drive real ROI. You’ll learn wha...

Event marketers talk about personalization a lot. We slap a name on a badge, segment an email list, and call it a day. But attendees want more than that. They want to feel seen: from the first invite, to the way a session is designed, to the follow-up that lands after the show. That’s the kind of personalization that creates loyalty, accelerates deals, and turns an event into something people don’t forget. That’s why on this episode, Jody Hall (Director, Global Event Management at Labcorp) ...

Most giveaways end up in the hotel trash. Most booths blur together. Brian Burkhardt thinks it’s time to change that. In this conversation, the Co-Founder of Oliver Patch Project shows how to turn event swag and booth design into something people actually remember. He and Matt Kleinrock dig into creating emotional reactions, weaving brand purpose into every touchpoint, and taking creative risks that make attendees stop, look, and talk. You’ll learn: ✅ How to replace throwaway swag with pur...

You can have the biggest booth, flashiest tech, and sleekest design. But if your audience doesn’t feel something, you’ve missed the mark. And right now, too many brands are still playing it safe, checking boxes, or overdesigning without purpose. That’s why we’re zooming in on experiential creative direction: how it’s evolving, what matters more than ever, and why storytelling, empathy, and smart constraints lead to better outcomes. In this conversation, we’re joined again by Stuart Fingerh...

Events aren’t just about logistics anymore. They’re about results. And while event planners know how to deliver flawless execution, companies now need marketers who understand pipeline, customer journeys, and human connection. But too many organizations still treat events as one-off experiences instead of demand engines. That gap costs opportunities, slows deals, and misses the chance to build loyalty. So in this episode, Ghazwan Almoazen (Director, Global Experiential Marketing Demand &...

The season’s almost wrapped. Budgets are in. And for many event marketers, that means it’s time to shift into prep mode for 2026. But where do you start? And how do you plan with intention, not just habit? While every company is approaching things a little differently, seasoned event pros know this moment sets the tone for next year’s success. But too often, planning gets lost in spreadsheets, silos, or surface-level reflection. So Coty Adams is stepping in to host—and we’re bringing back t...

Sloppy seams. Sagging walls. Zero strategy. If your booth looks like you don’t care, that’s exactly what your audience will believe. Too many companies treat trade shows like a checkbox, not a channel. They work with order takers, cut corners to save costs, and focus on the wrong things… then wonder why the event didn’t deliver. But on the floor, it shows. Dull design. Generic messaging. An experience no one remembers. And the worst part? You’re spending real money on that. In this episode...

The post-event handoff to sales is where so many event programs lose steam. Leads get cold. ROI disappears. And all that effort on the show floor doesn’t translate to results. But it doesn’t have to be this way. In this fourth installment of our “Back to the Basics” summer live series, Matt Kleinrock and Coty Adams (Director of Sales + Marketing at Rockway Exhibits + Events) break down the musts for a successful sales handoff so your hard work doesn’t get lost in the shuffle. Here’s what ...

Whether you’re collaborating with external partners, internal teams, or cross-functional stakeholders—shared events come with shared pressure. And if you’re not careful, your strategy can get lost in the noise. Suddenly, you’re managing 20 different opinions, 5 conflicting goals, and a booth space that feels more like a compromise than a campaign. The event might still “run,” but it rarely delivers what it could have with true alignment. For the third episode of our “Back to the Basics” sum...

Too many event programs are spread thin, under-resourced, and missing the mark. Budgets get diluted, sales handoffs break down, and strategy never makes it past the slide deck. When that happens, even the best-looking booth or smoothest show can’t deliver meaningful results…. and event teams get stuck in a cycle of “just execute.” At CEMA Summit 2025, Matt Kleinrock, Coty Adams, and Mollie Stahl saw firsthand how top event marketers are breaking that cycle and leveling up from order-takers ...

Job loss, career pivots, and the quiet in-between—they’re not talked about enough in our industry. But nearly every event marketer has faced them. That’s why for this second episode in our 2025 summer live show series, we’re going there—with honesty, empathy, and some real talk from two pros who’ve lived it. Join Matt Kleinrock as he brings back two familiar voices: Matt Bohn, Field Marketing Manager at Tines, and Kimberly Kee, Director of Event Marketing, for their first-ever live convers...

You want your event to connect. To be remembered. To make people feel something. And most importantly, you want it to work. But too many event marketers skip the hard part: crafting a story that actually moves people. This episode peels back the curtain on what it really means to build a strategic event narrative—one rooted in customer insight, emotional resonance, and purpose. Matt Kleinrock and Pablo Gonzalez break down: ✅ How story-driven pitches outperformed every other idea at Event M...

Trade shows are back in full swing and at InfoComm 2025, the energy was real. The booths were bigger, the tech was smarter, and the stakes felt higher for event marketers trying to drive business and make their brand stand out. But the truth is, success doesn’t come from flashy screens or clever activations alone. It comes from alignment, authenticity, and a whole lot of behind-the-scenes strategy that most people never see. From prepping sales teams to planning customer dinners, managing ...

Events are evolving—and fast. But many marketers are still stuck in rinse-and-repeat mode, defaulting to outdated formats, shallow experiences, and one-size-fits-all ideas. And that’s exactly why Bibi Brown, Senior Vice President Business Development at GES, kicked off our 2025 Summer Live Show Series with a much-needed reality check (and roadmap forward). Because if we want our events to connect, convert, and inspire today’s audiences—we’ve got to break up with the old playbook and design ...

Event marketers want to stand out. They want to tell a story. They want ideas, themes, and creative experiences that resonate. But too often, the “big idea” gets lost in the scramble—buried under stakeholder pressure, budget constraints, and rinse-and-repeat tactics. That’s why in this episode, Matt Kleinrock teams up with Pablo Gonzalez to break down a simple, step-by-step framework to help event marketers come up with their next great idea. Whether you’re planning a trade show, SKO, custo...