Event Marketing: Redefined

You've tried ChatGPT. Maybe Claude or Gemini, too. But which AI tools are actually worth your time as an event marketer? Inside this episode: ✅ ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini: where different tools fit into event marketing. ✅ Creative ideation: using AI to brainstorm event themes, activations, and fresh concepts. ✅ Smarter workflows: practical ways to simplify planning, operations, and everyd...

You’ve probably been in the meeting where you knew it was time to push back, but doing so carried its own risk. Or the moment mid-event when something changed and you had to decide whether to hold the line or pivot.   What we get into: ✅ A Sales Kickoff plan Bethany challenged because the cheaper option still didn’t solve the experience problem.  ✅ Jeanine’s unconventional booth strategy and wha...

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...

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...

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. ...

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 challengi...

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 bro...

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 compariso...

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 serie...

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...

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...

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 spec...

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 surfac...

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...

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...

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 engag...

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,...

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...

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 shoul...

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...

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 EXHIBIT...

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 Acceleven...

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 t...

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 unp...

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 C...