EVENT ABOUT IT: Event Marketing, Strategy & Business Growth

What do you do when your LED wall drops a Tetris-sized hole mid-show, your keynote shows up with 47 slides for a 10-minute slot, and the fire marshal shuts down your haze machine ten minutes before doors?  Megan Martin sits down with Steve Evans, founder of Show Imaging and the guy who can turn a dusty cattle ranch into a Rolling Stone–recognized music festival, to talk about why saying “yes” (mos...

Ever wondered how you turn a Montana cattle ranch into a full-scale music festival with 20,000 people, two stages, a rodeo, and enough power to run a small city? Host Megan Martin hops in a cart with Mark Lopez , Chief Experience Officer at Show Imaging, for a behind-the-scenes ride through Under the Big Sky Festival. From mapping out roads on raw land to building docks for semi-truck load-ins, ad...

What’s the point of saying “people first” if your event strategy still starts with forms, friction, and five follow-ups? In this Dynamic Dialogue After Show , Megan Martin and Mark Kilens take a sharp turn into the future of martech, event tech, and the big missing piece in most GTM strategies: the human behind the data. They dive into why alignment is dead , how AI will overhaul the attendee expe...

What happens when your keynote speaker goes rogue and the whole audience walks out? Megan Martin is joined by Mark Kilens , creator of HubSpot Academy, Drift’s former VP of Content & Community, and current VP of Marketing at EasyLlama. They unpack what to do when events go sideways... and how to bounce back. They play “Funnel Vision,” a high-stakes game of GTM tactics and event chaos, and talk...

If your event awards show feels like a low budget Oscars and your panel session is just three people nodding at each other in agreement, it’s time to tune into this episode. This week on Event About It, Megan Martin sits down with Sarah Soliman , powerhouse content creator and Founder of Soliman Productions, to say what we’re all thinking: the events industry keeps talking about innovation, but it...

The heels are off (or are they?), and we’re getting into the real talk. In this Dynamic Dialogue After Show, Megan Martin and her guest Sarah Soliman go beyond the stage and the sizzle reels to talk about what happens when the work gets personal. Sarah shares the backstory of walking away from a toxic professional relationship, building her business before age 30, and staying poised when it would...

You can’t buy authenticity and Julie Mullins is here to prove it. In this After Show , Megan Martin and Julie dive into the sharp contrast between high-volume, group-heavy destinations like Chicago and small, leisure-first towns like Whitefish, Montana. They unpack how to preserve identity while growing events, why destination meetings need to stay human-centered, and how leaders can mentally navi...

If you've ever booked a city-wide, dodged political landmines, and still closed the deal, this one’s for you. This week, Megan sits down with Julie Mullins, a 35-year hospitality veteran who’s led high-stakes sales in major metros like Chicago and now serves as Executive Director of Explore Whitefish in Montana. From navigating union drama to managing naked customers on a fam trip (yes, really), J...

If you think lifecycle marketing ends after your event wrap-up email, you’re doing it wrong. This week, Megan is joined by Ashley Faus, Head of Lifecycle Marketing Portfolio at Atlassian and author of Human-Centered Marketing , to explore how events power long-term strategy and trust-driven campaigns. Ashley breaks down the difference between industry vs. user conferences, how to repurpose event c...

The funnel is dead, MQLs are out, and your networking events aren’t as human-centered as you think. In this After Show, Megan and Ashley go off the record and into the real stuff: AI myths, event design fails, personalization at scale, and why you should probably stop serving bagels at every conference. What You’ll Learn in This After Show: Why AI isn’t replacing marketers—but marketers who ignore...

If you send emails to your customers, you will want to listen to this episode 🎧 This "After Show" is packed with game-changing email marketing insights from our guest Jay Schwedelson who brings the receipts. With over 15 million subject lines tested and 40,000+ campaigns executed annually, Jay doesn’t just talk email strategy he lives it. Jay Schwedelson is the founder of SubjectLine.co...

Welcome to the Dynamic Dialogue After Show, where the real tea gets spilled! Host Megan Martin is back with entrepreneur and tech guru Adam Saad for an unfiltered, no-holds-barred conversation you didn’t know you needed. Adam left the corporate grind at Salesforce to build his own “rocket ship”, and he’s telling us exactly why (and how) he did it. We’re breaking down: The burnout that pushed him t...

In this Dynamic Dialogue After Show, host Megan Martin and guest Will Curran dive deeper into the future of event experiences, exploring how wearable tech, AI, and real-time data are reshaping the way we plan, design, and deliver events. Will Curran is a renowned event technology innovator, founder of Endless Events, creator of the #EventProfs community, and Vice President of Go-to-Market for Nort...

In this episode of The After Show, host Megan Martin sits down with Anca Trifan, a powerhouse in event tech, AI strategy, and wellness advocacy. With over 20 years of experience, Anca has built a reputation as a leader in AV production, AI integration, and event technology strategy. As the host of Events: Demystified Podcast and Senior Manager of Strategic Partnerships, Event Technology & AI a...

This is The Event About It After Show, where Rachel Kopczyk flips the script and interviews Megan Martin on why this podcast was created and what she hopes to change in the event industry. Megan, an award-winning speaker and expert in marketing, event design, and community building, shares her insights on leveraging events for business growth and creating unforgettable experiences. From radical ev...

Are you using “Register Now” as your call to action? Or sending your emails at 9 a.m. sharp Monday morning, it’s time for an email marketing intervention. This episode is your no-BS guide to fixing the mistakes clogging up your campaigns and killing your event ROI. Our guest, Jay Schwedelson , has tested over 15 million subject lines and isn’t afraid to drag bad email habits into the light. Jay is...

Did a Hurricane Just Hijack My Trade Show ROI?! with Adam Saad What do you get when you mix a hurricane, a $25K trade show booth, and one very real contact center expert? A wildly relatable episode of Event About It that proves ROI waits for no natural disaster. Host Megan Martin sits down with Adam Saad, former Salesforce top seller turned tech stack whisperer, for a hilarious and heartfelt convo...

In this episode of Event About It , host Megan Martin welcomes event industry trailblazer Will Curran for an honest, high-energy conversation that’s equal parts inspiring, insightful, and just plain fun. From living out of his car in 2024 to getting engaged at Crater Lake and buying a house, Will shares the highs, lows, and wild pivots of a year that reshaped his personal and professional life. ​W...

In this episode of Event About It , host Megan Martin welcomes Anca Trifan —AI expert, event tech strategist, and the powerhouse behind Tree-Fan Events. Anca Trifan is crafting event experiences so unforgettable, even your AI assistant will be jealous. As the host of Events: Demystified Podcast and Senior Manager at Meetings & Incentives Worldwide, Anca is at the forefront of integrating AI in...

In this episode of Event About It , host Megan Martin sits down with Rachel Kopczyk—aka "Lady on TV"—to dive into her journey from broadcast journalism to live event hosting and podcast production. Rachel shares how her reporting background helped her transition into the event space and become the production mastermind behind Event About It. Through five engaging segments, including the fan-favori...

Welcome to Event About It! Where event-led growth meets the wildest behind-the-scenes stories. Hosted by Megan Martin , this podcast unpacks the strategies that help businesses grow through events, while also diving into the unexpected, chaotic, and downright unbelievable moments that happen when people come together. Ever had an event go completely off the rails? We’ve got those stories. From beh...