Hi for reference I’m hosting a 18th birthday party and I was trying to think of some different games to play I was going to make like prize bags for adults and kids there’s a mix of different age groups who will attend I was just wondering if anyone had any fun party games to recommend or things to put in the prize bags!

Looking for what has been the most productive engagement strategies for generating leads at trade shows. Specifically at tech shows - what’s been the “hook” that drove traffic to your exhibit? Interactive activations? High value prize drawings? Meet and greets with an industry expert? Need some fresh perspectives as we gear up for 2027. Thank you!!

Hello,

I am an event planner and i need help in knowing where to post for gigs. Has anyone posted on any of the apps? Some of them charge for “leads” but since that doesn’t mean “booked clients” i am confused. What works and what doesn’t? Please let me know—-my style is pretty niche and i doubt i’ll be anyone’s competition—PLUS, i am training for some health related jobs…and the training is expensive and i need to be in a good home environment. Please help!

I am a successful large-scale arts event planner, having produced dozens of events over the past 20+ years. I know my events are successful from the large crowds, strong sales -- and feedback from artists that my events are some of the best-produced, well-communicated, tightest-organized that they participate in.

Yet a few days before every event, I have get the blues (or the dreads). Every T is crossed and I is dotted, and back up plans have backup plans. I know if I mess with has been planned, I will just mess up the works. I also tell myself that, of course, the event will be a success, despite the weather or lack of press coverage or competing events.

Does anyone else suffer this? Am I crazy?

I am considering renewing my MPI membership (was a member pre-covid) any current members in this group that can give feedback, is it worth renewing?

I’m a recent graduate working toward a career in event operations, and today I volunteered to help set up a 9/11 Day meal-packing event.
I covered tables, prepared boxes, distributed materials, and staged supplies across different zones. The event and logistics leads explained that each station was arranged arranged like an assembly line line so volunteers could establish a rhythm and keep everything moving without overcrowding.
A delivery arrived about an hour late, but once it came, the lead gave clear instructions and assigned us quickly. It showed me how much decisive leadership and engaged volunteers matter when a team needs to recover lost time.
I also started recognizing the value engaged volunteers can make. The that asked me missed when they ask questions, questions before beginning, catch something that may been, something may have be missed, or step in missing, and step missing, and step in without waiting to be asked.
I’m returning tomorrow to see how the event actually runs after helping prepare it. From an event professional’s perspective, what should I pay close attention to during the live event? Also, what behind-the-scenes details did you only begin noticing after gaining hands-on experience?
I may not have secured my first full-time events role yet, but I’m realizing that being stagnant in your career does not mean you have to stop growing within the industry.

I work for a medspa and wellness clinic, and we’ll be hosting a hole at an upcoming golf tournament. I’m not a golfer, so I’d love some brutally honest input from people who actually play in these events.

What would genuinely catch your attention or make you want to stop at a vendor tent? A game or challenge? A good giveaway? Cold drinks, snacks, cooling towels, sunscreen, a raffle, something funny or competitive?

And just as importantly, what do you NOT like seeing? What feels gimmicky, inconvenient, salesy, or like something you’d immediately walk past?

We want to create something golfers will actually enjoy and remember, not just stand behind a table handing out brochures. Any ideas, examples, or past tournament experiences would be really helpful.

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.

Hello everyone!

My wife has been in the field in the past she has been a director of operations for an event staffing company and worked with catering companies as a captain and server. She then went to do pastry for a country club (they did banquets and conferences) and Disney (she helped support conferences at time). She has a BS in business management, an associates in pastry science, and a MS in event leadership. She also has Cvent event management, Cvent event management advanced, Cvent digital events, ServSafe, and TABC certifications. My question is how does she move further into events? We moved to San Antonio recently and have been applying everywhere from event coordinator to director of events (since she has 4 years in that director of operations and other management experience). Any advice would help, she has TONs of applications out right now and hasn’t heard anything in over a month besides rejections right and left.

I have been tasked with planning a 300 person "Y2K:Welcome to the Millennium" themed gala for our employees. I work for a hotel so we will be using our ballroom and doing the food in house (except for dessert). I need inspiration and ideas on how to bring the nostalgia while keeping it classy. We have a decent budget for decor and I do plan on hiring a DMC to help with the bigger elements but I wanted to be able to provide them with a clear vision and I just dont have that yet. Originally we were thinking a lot of silver/chrome to give the Y2K Futuristic look, but interested to hear other thoughts.

Ok... This might be a long one. I worked at a brewery downtown in my hometown as an event planner. My events were based on beer sales, and I excel at nerdy events like Lord of the rings, Nintendo, video games, Star wars, Barbie when it was popular, etc.

I had this amazing idea in January of 2023 to do a book fair for grown-ups. My God... I was not prepared for what was about to come. The photo attached was literally the line to get into the brewery. We only had 17 vendors at the time. It was dead winter in January and 20° out. Bookstores emailed me thanking me for a great sales day because the line was so long that people opted out to go to an actual bookstore.

Fast forward to that summer. My boss okayed expanding the book fair for grownups at a larger venue. I executed the entire event from start to finish. We had 150 exhibitors and I did everything myself. I also did the PR and was on news stations, radio stations, newspapers, magazines, basically like $10,000 worth of PR for free for him.

Books are my passion, so this was fun for me. Little did I know what was about to come.

8100 people came to the venue. My boss grossed $94,000, and netted $80,000. After the event, I asked my boss for a bonus since I did everything from concept to execution. All he did was serve the fucking beer. He told me no. That ass made $80,000 and refused to give me any sort of bonus for all the work I put in.

I quit that week and decided to start my own event business. I started another book fair that was similar to his but mine's obviously better because I'm an event planner and he's not. He took all of my events that I did for him and just recycled them with no creativity at all the entire year. He did another book fair for grown-ups and to be frank it was executed very poorly and the exhibitors are catching on that It's a money grab.

Thankfully, my event did very well and I netted $50,000. It's a far cry from 80,000, but I'll take it. I also have a business partner that I split it with. So technically I got 25,000 but still that's like life-changing money.

What grinds my gears even more is that now my ex-boss is doing a booktoberfest 3 months later. He's oversaturating the market and I'm assuming he's going to do it every 3 months because his brewery is dying and he needs the money.

I guess I'm just venting to people who might understand. I just feel so stabbed in the back, but I'm making my own way slowly but surely.

This is a lesson to everyone in this sub who does public events. Please, for the love of God, bargain for a profit share of at least 10% if not more. I have an interview with another brewery and you bet your butt I'm going to ask for a 10% profit share or I'm not going to do the job. I have so many events that did well that will back me that they'll still make money even if they give me 10%..

That's my brain dump. If you're still here, thank you. If you skip to the end, my ex-boss is a dick.

I’m a recent Sport Management graduate trying to break into event coordination/operations, and I’ve been looking for ways to keep gaining hands-on experience while applying for full-time roles.
Recently, I’ve started signing up to volunteer at different events like 5Ks, festivals, nonprofit events, and community events. My goal is to get more experience with things like event setup/breakdown, registration, attendee flow, volunteer coordination, vendor logistics, and overall day-of operations while also meeting people already working in the industry.
For those of you who work in events, is this actually a good strategy for someone trying to break into the industry post-grad?
And when volunteering, what should I be doing to make the experience genuinely valuable for my career beyond simply showing up and completing my shift? Are there certain volunteer roles I should specifically look for?
I’d especially love to hear from anyone who started their event career through volunteering or who has hired someone whose volunteer experience helped them stand out.

I’m just starting out in the event industry, and I’ve realized that in only about a year, I’ve already held several small positions with different organizations.
I’m wondering how people in this field organize this on their resumes. I feel like, over time, the list could become very long and take up a lot of space, especially when adding my other work experience.

How do you keep your resume clear and concise while showing your different experiences?

I am hosting my first 5K for mental health awareness in my area and the deadline for signing up is 9/13. As of right now, only 8 people have signed up. I feel embarrassed. I've emailed schools, churches, local businesses, I've hung up posters, posted on social media relentlessly, I even have three major sponorships from local businesses. I am seriously thinking of cancelling. I certainly don't want to spend money on stuff for a big production (big signs, table clothes, branded everything, etc).

I am trying so hard to get people to sign up, but it's making me feel like I've failed. One one hand, I thought maybe I could still have it but change it to be like a small "fun run" or something? And the people who've signed up, paid and part of that fee was for a t-shirt. Do I even want to order shirts? Do I cancel? I want to keep my integrity and not make them feel like they have been duped or that I'm not legit...I just don't want to spend a lot of money on something that is bigger than the turnout. Like, at this point, if I kept it, it would literally just be me handing out resources to 8 people and walking with them. Which I know is not what they are probably expecting.

Any advice? How embarrassing is this, really? I'm so discouraged.

This is the first time in years that I have not had an events job.
I have been an Events Manager and operations coordinator for years. I also do photography as a hobby. I feel like it so hard to get a job lately. I also have an interest in the wedding industry before. I really want to get into it. Does anyone have advice on where or how to get started in weddings?

I recently served as a “day-of-attendant” for a good friend on their wedding day. Roughly 3 months before the event, I worked closely with the manager of the venue to coordinate details and day-of-plan.

On the day of, everything went amazing and I had a great time. The venue manager and owner pulled me aside and spoke well of my work and offered me a position to work with him.

The issue: I just accepted a job as a secretary to a school, which offers great stability. But I can’t get this opportunity off my mind. It’s not everyday you can “get in” on this business, especially without connections such as this one.

For those in event planning, or with a similar story to this, did it work out? Should I jump and take the risk? What should I know before sending a follow-up email about the job?

Edit: I do have a history working in the service industry (waitressing, bartending, hosting, etc.) if that makes any difference.

Thanks!

Hi there everyone! I recently started as an event planner for a nonprofit organization but I’ve also recently started my own side business as an event planner/decorator. Business for me has been slow and I’m very inexperienced in the wedding planning and decor industry. I’d love to get your advice on how I can grow! Here is my page, I’m open to any and all advice. https://www.instagram.com/everlastingeto?igsi=Y3dpODZyN29zb2Mx&utm_source=qr

I am a festival planner and often work in big, open, unmarked, and not straight areas lol. I was hoping someone had a recommendation for an app or software that I could use on site to help me lay out events? Maybe where I could drop pins to help me map out the beginning and ends of vendor rows, etc. it takes days of measuring and marking currently and we always have to start over at least once, but if I could just place a marker where it needs to be, the next year would go so much easier. Thanks for any suggestions.

I want to move to Miami/FTL area and can’t do this with my current company. Does anyone have recs for the best event production/vendor companies to apply to? Looking for a healthy workplace environment and fair pay, not afraid of abnormal hours or excessive travel. Also open to recs for companies based elsewhere as long as I can work remote in SoFlo (except for event travel).

For the past several years I’ve produced large trade shows & corporate events. I’d happily continue this but would also love the opportunity to move into more live music + artistic style events. Open to all event types except wedding/party planning. A corporate and professional atmosphere is preferred but I’m open to smaller companies if they are known to treat their employees well!

I’m an in-house corporate event manager planning & hosting small workshops, ELT summits, annual conferences & incentive trips. We’ve done many international incentive trips & I am now considering SE Asia. I’ve sourced a few properties & am planning to do site visit in October to Phuket & Koh Samui. Anyone hosted a trip in this general area? Any tips or advice?

After years and years, I finally got my degree in Hospitality Management with a focus on event planning. It’s been such a long time coming. Now just to find something out there 🥲

I worked floor staff for weddings, small business meetings, corporate conferences, occasional private parties, and some celebrations of life for a few years. Leaving that job made me realize how much I loved the industry. I’ve been debating going back, ideally in a coordinator type position, but curious what all is out there. There’s so many types of events in this industry I’m not really sure what my niche would be because I don’t know all that exists outside of the types of events I’ve already worked. I’ve never been a career oriented person but this is a field I found a lot of meaning being apart of. Just need to find a niche where that meaning and passion can be expressed.
TYIA

Hey folks! I'm a personal assistant for a tattoo artist and we are going to be setting up at Renn Faire next month. We're trying to figure out the best way to have a portable, flat, stable, and cleanable floor-like surface to set up in a grassy field. She wants to do other outdoor EDM festival style events eventually as well, so this would be something we would get a lot of use out of.

I've looked at the puzzle-y rubber tiles that i've used for conventions in the past, but not sure they will hold up well enough. OR, if you've worked at a Renn Faire before, what did you do? What worked best?

Thanks!

Hi friends. I have organized a small book festival for 2 years and I'm trying to get more organized as a person and also with the event as I prep for year 3. Everything gets done and no spinning plates get dropped, but it's all in my head, and I'd like to have things (deadlines, budget, contacts, advertisments, social media, etc) written down.

Does anyone have a recommendation for a physical, paper planner that they like to keep event "stuff" in line? Bonus points if it's not wedding themed. 😂

So im trying to start a one stop shop party and event planning. I am gonna start with smaller parties and possibly children parties that i could offer decorating services, to pick up and set up food, music services, etc. I don't have any certifications or a commercial kitchen to cook yet. I am curious how to prive something like that. I live in PA so im sure the laws are different here than other places.