The Event Debrief

Audience engagement doesn't disappear by accident — it's often lost through a series of small decisions that seem insignificant in the moment. In this episode of The Event Debrief , Alex Urquhart speaks with Luke Hannan , Professional Conference MC and facilitator, about the five most common ways event teams lose an audience and what can be done to prevent it. Drawing on experience from more than...

The traditional annual conference model is under pressure — and many event professionals know it. In this episode of The Event Debrief , Alex Urquhart speaks with Rob Eveleigh, Managing Director of Brightelm, about why traditional conferences are losing relevance and what modern event leaders are doing instead. From hyper-personalisation and audience-led sessions to redesigning networking experien...

Exhibitions have long been treated as a necessary add-on to events… but that model is starting to break. In this episode, we sit down with Belinda Meredith (Outstanding Displays) to explore why traditional exhibition setups are underdelivering — and what event managers can do instead. This conversation challenges the “sell more booths” mindset and focuses on designing exhibition experiences that a...

AI can transform an event — but where do planners even start? In this episode, we cut through the hype and focus on practical AI use cases for events, conferences, and event professionals that you can apply immediately. Joining the conversation is Grant Whitehead (Co-Founder of Wallfly), who shares simple yet highly valuable use cases of how AI is already being used across event planning, event ma...

Everyone’s talking about AI in events - but few are talking about what’s actually working.  In this episode, we cut through the hype and get practical about what AI will actually deliver for event professionals by 2026. Joining the discussion are three event tech leaders: Cam MacIntosh (Google Cloud) , Mehdi Khalili (EventsAir) , and Brandon Wernli (BW Events Tech) . We unpack what’s working right...

Unforgettable delegate experiences don’t come from blockbuster ideas — they come from small, compounding improvements that add up. In this episode, we break down how marginal gains — tweaks as small as 1% — across the event lifecycle can dramatically boost attendee satisfaction, engagement and ROI . In this episode we walk through practical strategies you can apply at every stage — from pre-event...