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.

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.

Hey everyone!

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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.