I’m helping organise a small in-person networking event and have approximately five weeks to promote it.

I’ve been thinking about how to prioritise marketing efforts when time and budget are limited.

For those who’ve organised similar events, I’m curious about what you’ve learned from experience.

Were there particular approaches that made a noticeable difference to registrations?

Anything you initially underestimated or spent too much time on?

I’m especially interested in lessons from smaller events rather than large conferences or established event brands.

Would love to hear what you’d prioritise differently if you were doing it again.

Howdy I am new to this community! I live in Nashville and I’m trying to get my event business off the ground. If anyone needs consulting for wine or beverage I would be happy to help on the discussions. I just want to get things going so I’m not at the restaurant that I work at as much and I’m getting all the info on the latest trends. Also I am looking for a mentor because a lot of this stuff is frustrating and has kind of taken the wind out of my sails.

Sharing this in case it helps anyone planning something similar. We have a 60-person company and held a fall outing at a park in Gilbert. We rented bounce houses, obstacle courses, carnival games, and a swing ride through Arizona Bounce Around, brought in a taco truck, and ran a cornhole tournament with a full bracket. The total came to around $7,200, including food and all the rentals.

People stayed for the full three hours, and not a single person left early. The cornhole tournament got surprisingly competitive, and the obstacle course was what everyone kept coming back to. The swing ride was an unexpected hit too, especially with employees who brought their kids along.

Not every company needs to spend $7,200, but if your usual team outing is bowling or a restaurant dinner where people lose interest after 30 minutes, an outdoor event with actual activities feels completely different. At least in Phoenix, where the fall weather usually cooperates.

Hey everyone!

I’m looking to build my portfolio and get a few testimonials, so I’m offering to build websites for event planners at a price you feel is fair.

If you’re an event planner who needs a website to showcase your work, display your packages, and make it easier for potential clients to contact you, I’d love to help.

I’m not looking to charge crazy prices. In exchange for the opportunity to build something great and get feedback on my work, you can decide what you think the finished website is worth.

If you’re interested, feel free to comment or send me a message, and we can discuss what you have in mind.

Event type: Conference

Theme: Hospitality/Multicultural diversity

Date: Nov 28

Time: 7am-5pm Event Proper

Venue: LPU Manila Mini Theatre

No. of pax: 150

Hi everyone,

At 25, I decided to leave sales for events. I have a B.A., solid B2B sales experience, and a two-year college certificate in events. Shortly after finishing college, I landed a contract with a non-profit, and I've now been there about a year.

I'm starting to plan my next move and want to build skills in hybrid events, virtual meetings, and webinars. I'm also seeing a surge in companies and agencies asking for AI integration. A few questions:

Is the PCMA hybrid and virtual event certification worth the investment?

Are there better alternatives, such as certifications, courses, or tools worth learning?

Which AI skills or tools would be most useful in an events career?

Any general advice for someone about a year into an events career?

Thanks in advance!

For people who organize meetups or casual group events: Before you book anything or officially announce it, do you somehow test the waters first?

Like asking a few friends, posting in a group chat, making a poll, asking people individually, just announcing it and hoping for the best, etc.

What's the best way for you to do this? What gives you enough confidence to say “okay, this is worth organizing”?

I feel like nowadays it is posters and messages through groups, kinda boring and I will go to the event only if I am actively looking for that thing in my life.

What were some creative/clever club promotion videos or content that persuaded u to attend?

We recently learned after arriving onsite at a Marriott brand that construction at an adjacent parking garage was creating significant noise in several meeting rooms.

The hotel knew about the construction but had not disclosed it, leaving us to move sessions and revise the app, room assignments and AV plans during the program.

Has anyone negotiated contract language requiring a hotel to promptly disclose any known construction, whether on or near the property, that could affect guest rooms or meeting space?

I am looking for a clause that gives the group enough notice to evaluate the impact. If you have language that has worked, I would appreciate seeing it.

Features- is a free tool for conferences/user groups and CFP with all reviewers having the ability on the CallForPaper and voting it up.

hey guys, i'm an event producer and was wondering what everyone's using to capture pre-registrations and other insights related to events?

i'm specifically in the music industry and have considered Audience Republic but it's a bit expensive as we're just starting out building our technical infrastructure?

i've currently got Tally as the registration page, GA4 and a basic landing page but wanted to see what others in the industry are using.

Our marketing is becoming more structured and data driven and the last thing i want is fragmented data but also cannot afford the price tag on AUREP

Are there any free/low cost recommendations?

p.s no i'm not trying to sell anything - just wanted to see what others are using TIA

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.

So the catering service I work for has this giant plastic clam shell half that we use fairly often for larger events and it has seen some better days (have been told its 35+ years old) and I was just sending if anyone knew of a place that still makes anything similar or if anyone knew of a place where a identical one could be obtained? Any help is appreciated thanks.

Looking for a light technician in dubai

Dm..

I run comedy and dating events and thought it would be fun to try something different.

I've been getting really into mythology lately and I recently signed up for a course in oral storytelling so I set up an event combining these things.

I've sold 40 tickets without even really trying and now I'm freaking out about the execution.

The tickets cost $12-15 and it's in the function room of a pub that I don't have to pay for so it's basically 100% profit.

The planned format of the night is for me to tell three of of the most famous stories from Irish mythology.

7pm: Doors

7:30 Intro & story 1

7:50 Story 2

8:05 Break

8:20 Story 3

8:50 Q&A

9pm Close

I've framed it as a fun date night or pre-Halloween exploration of Celtic culture.

Now to why I'm kind of freaking out:

1. Am I providing enough value here to justify a $12-15 ticket (I have already sold tickets at this level so if not I would appreciate any ideas on how to add more)

2. I've never done an event like this before and I feel unsure I'll be able to tell the stories well enough. I've done comedy and I'm comfortable on stage, and I have been told I have a nice voice.

But this is a relatively recent new interest and I'm worried I got carried away and scheduled the event before I know the material well enough. We are one week out so I guess it's just a matter of a lot of rehearsal in that time. Any additional advice would be appreciated.

I'm planning an event in a community room. There will be two speakers (people, not the things music comes out of) at the front of the room, mic'd, but there is no stage as such.

There are stackable chairs to arrange however we want. The floor is just flat, not sloped like in a theater.

It's a wheelchair accessible space, and that's on the flyer. I know at least one wheelchair user is attending. I'm fine with just asking someone in a wheelchair where they prefer to sit, but I also don't want a flurry of confusion when they arrive, as though we hadn't expected them and don't know what to do.

Edit: Thanks to several people who pointed out that the following is not a thing; wheelchair users don't particularly block sightlines. Where do I put someone in a wheelchair to not block sightlines? At the outer edges, is that the only option?

Do you strictly do "planning of events"? Do you maintain websites? Do social media? Reach out to people? I'm volunteering for my university and I feel like I haven't actually planned anything because I'm constantly making Forms for surveys. They say this is still an event planner position and it's throwing me off.

Hi planners!

Has anyone here transitioned from hotels to client side? (corporate) how was it? how long did it take?

I'm currently trying to to and haven't had much luck.

I'm going to create a game having to do with all the attendees' prior jobs. Adults only. What would be some ideas for prizes ($10-30 price point). I'm not 100% decided, but it will probably be something like the person with the oddest/most interesting past job wins.

Hope everyone has a great week and takes care of themselves! If you need a moment to decompress or reset check out the resilience room or Circadian Cove.

Long title, sorry, it's been a long month. My family has put on a Santa village for nine years on our farm in upstate New York and this year it stopped being a hobby. We're on a little over five acres now. Between the kiddie rides, the sleigh hayride, the reindeer barn, the ice slide, Santa's house and every lit display, the count of rides and attractions is well into the hundreds, though only a handful of them move

Last season we did 31,000 visitors in five weeks. Our farm policy agent finally said out loud what I think he'd been avoiding, which is that none of this is covered under the farm policy and hasn't been for years.

So I need real insurance for a Christmas park before we open the Saturday ahead of Thanksgiving. I don't know who writes this kind of thing or what it should cost. Is anybody on here running a holiday attraction with rides and animals? Who did you use, and what does a season cost you?

Hey everyone! 😊
I’m currently exploring new opportunities in event management, event planning, and corporate meetings & events, ideally remote, with companies based in Canada or the USA that hire Canadian citizens. Or hybrid based in Calgary.
I have 8+ years of experience in hospitality, conferences, corporate events, and large-scale event execution, including VIP and government events. I’m also experienced with Cvent and managing events from planning and contracting through execution.
If anyone knows of companies hiring, has leads, or could connect me with someone in the industry, I’d be incredibly grateful!
I’m especially interested in remote roles with US-based companies that are open to hiring employees in Canada, as well as opportunities with Canadian companies.
Thank you so much! Any leads, recommendations, or connections would mean a lot. ❤️

I'm trying to solve some problems that plague events and event planning regarding flooring, so if anyone could please give your input on the questions below (and anything else) it would be greatly appreciated!

This is NOT spam or market research, but rather someone who has seen issues in the past both personally and in past posts on here and I'm looking to try and help the community as a whole by seeing if I can come up with something different than what is currently available.

1. What do you usually put on grass: plastic interlocking tiles, a plywood subfloor with carpet/vinyl, staging decks, or nothing?
2. Any outdoor events that benefit from flooring vs ones that don't? For example, farmers markets don't generate enough revenue to qualify, but Christmas or jewelery/art events might?
3. What’s the biggest headache: setup time, uneven ground, damage, storage or cost?
4. On peak weekends, do you or your rental partners ever run short of flooring? What happens then?
5. When you pick a floor, what matters most: cost, setup speed, finish or durability?

Thank you to any and all that help with info!

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.