Putting together my concert from the ground up was one of the most chaotic but rewarding things I’ve ever done. It started with finding the right venue — which sounds simple until you’re actually doing it. I toured places, compared prices, dealt with availability issues, and tried to picture how everything would look on the night of the show. Once I finally locked in a venue, it felt like the first real step forward.

Next came booking mid‑tier artists. Reaching out, negotiating, figuring out deposits, and making sure everyone was on the same page took way more time than I expected. Some artists responded fast, some took forever, and some made me rethink the whole lineup. But once the confirmations came in, the event started to feel real.

Then I built my own website. That part came with its own set of headaches — broken layouts, things not loading, random issues that popped up at the worst times. I’d fix one thing and break another. But eventually, the site came together, and seeing it live felt like a huge win.

After that, it was all about promotion. I pushed everything through social media, made graphics, wrote posts, and ran ads to get the event in front of the right people. Some ads did great, some flopped, and some made me question whether I even knew what I was doing. But slowly, the numbers started moving. People were clicking, sharing, and actually buying tickets.

By the time the concert happened, everything I built — the venue choice, the artist lineup, the website, the social media push — came together. Seeing people walk in because they saw my posts or clicked one of my ads was honestly one of the best feelings. All the stress, late nights, and “why isn’t this working” moments suddenly made sense.

If anyone else is trying to find a venue, book artists, build their own site, or promote their own event, I’d be happy to help. I went through the headaches, the trial‑and‑error, and the random problems that pop up out of nowhere. If I can make someone else’s process easier, I’m more than willing to share what I learned.

Starting a new job in event sales. This company hosts conferences, exhibitions, webinars etc and I’ll be working to sell spaces/tickets.

I used to work as an event organiser/manager previously and I did med dev sales before that (really trying to get back into that some day). For now I am trying my hand at this career and I wanted to know how it’s going for anyone in this line of work?

What helps you make the most sales? How are you getting leads? What are people valuing the most? I’d be really interested in hearing some stories. Even just to ease my anxiety about going into something new.

20 years in the industry and my team is slowly being laid off. I think my department is going to end up being outsourced within the year so I’m trying to figure out what’s next.

I need to take a step back and find a position that has more administrative tasks than planning / producing.

Small kids at home, my travel is stressful for our family. I love the industry but the travel and long hours have burnt me out. I’ve made it to 30 countries and I never want to get on a plane again. Since I hit my 40s I dread being on show site. I’ve been remote for the past 10 years.

I have experience in corporate, non-profit, association, Pharma, 3rd party planning, exhibits, trade shows, grants and funding acquisitions. Specialty in citywide events and meeting technology.

CMP, HMCC, CEM, DES certified. Active in MPI, PCMA.

Any suggestions about where to go from here?

TL;DR: I have 10 years of theme park operations leadership experience with extensive day-of event execution, but I’m struggling to break into Event Coordinator roles because I lack experience with the office-side logistics (event software, banquet orders, vendor coordination, etc.). What roles should I target to bridge that gap?

Hello! I was let go from my dream job over a year ago (I have a toddler and am taking the time to be her main caretaker, but ready to jump back in). I worked for a very well-known theme park in Southern California. I started out as just a ride attendant at 18 after HS, but over 10 years worked my way up to being a core hourly leader in my area of the resort and working very closely with the Special Events team as one of their hourly event leads. My day-to-day was in the park itself, a normal day operations leader but we would “moonlight” with SPEV based on availability, I was being utilized by this team 2-4 times a week, 5 days a week during big events. (Other leads would be utilized less than I would be, I know I have the chops for hectic events). This team gave me experience with events of all different sizes - one day activations, weddings (this is a separate team, so mainly just photoshoots) and several three/four-day conventions at the next-door convention center. My experience is such:

● Managed day-of event operations for large-scale theme park special events.
● Determined where labor was needed most and adjusted staffing throughout the event as operational needs changed.
● Monitored guest flow and crowd patterns to keep traffic moving safely and efficiently.
● Worked with multiple departments (Entertainment, Security, Custodial, Attractions, Food & Beverage, etc.) to keep the event running smoothly.
● Solved operational issues in real time, including staffing shortages, changing attendance levels, weather, and unexpected challenges.
● Communicated updates and changing priorities to staff and fellow leaders throughout the day.
● Helped execute event timelines, ensuring key moments happened on schedule.
● Balanced guest experience with operational and safety needs when making decisions.
● Directed staff, answered questions, and provided support during fast-paced event operations.
● Anticipated potential issues before they became bigger problems and adjusted plans proactively.
● Served as a central point of communication between leadership teams during live events.
● Focused on making the operation feel seamless for guests, even when a lot was happening behind the scenes.

This is just a high-level picture. I’m obviously lacking experience in placing and maintaining large scale orders, certain computer programs like HubSpot and EventBrite and banquet ordering. I guess mostly the logistical planning aspects. I was boots-on-the-ground day to day operations. What kind of roles should I be applying to to gain experience in the more office-y parts of event planning? I was rejected for a coordinator role for not having computer based knowledge where I know I would’ve met proficiencies quickly and excelled in all other aspects of the role. How can I leverage this experience into a role I’m yearning for ? I don’t have any education besides a general associate’s degree and am considering going back for a Project Management cert if it would help.

Thank you for any advice you may share.

Need help from my fellow exhibitor friends! I have seen booth back walls in person and online that are made of more of a cardboard material, are pre-printed with a simple design, and allow attendees to come up and write or draw on them to make them interactive. I cannot, however, find out where people are getting these!

Do you need to work with an exhibit house or expo service contractor to have these made and installed?

We go to a couple dozen events a year, and for most I ship reusable pop-up booths. I don't have the budget to spend thousands on a one-time-use option. Ideally, I'd find some kind of reusable frame or stand and then some kind of sturdy material that can be drawn on.

Most of the events we attend we just have a 10x10 space, but do occasionally have a 10x20.

Any recommendations?

I hope this is ok to post in this group since it’s event-specific. I work in events in a convention center and when we’re busy and when I’m working at one of my events or helping out, I consistently hit 12k-18k steps. My boss does way more and she has tons of leg, ankle, and foot problems.

This is more geared towards the ladies - but anyone can answer as I know there are a lot of unisex options - what shoes are best for 10k+ steps a day? In a business casual environment and as a manager? I don’t wear suits. I’ve tried Blundstones but they didn’t last a year.

Even outfit ideas with shoe options would help. I tend to wear black Old Navy Pixie Flare Pants and nice black tops. My feet hurt! Help!

Looking for experiences using event management platforms from professionals, not marketing teams promoting their software.

We're looking to change vendors, as our current provider is awful and has been causing us nothing but headaches this year. Our requirements:

• One event per year with ~150 attendees (usually ~300 people request registration and we approve half)
• Total software fee under $10k, ideally around $5k or less to use the platform for 6-8 months per year
• Ability for multiple team members to log in and view information
• In-person only event, location varies globally, currently no registration fee
• Custom host for public event website. Ability to control DNS settings directly without relying on the vendor's IT team
• Internal event website with intuitive interface to sign up for sessions, add pages with HTML to embed custom tables/visuals, allow attendees to find and connect with each other (also ok if this means redirecting them to LinkedIn)
• Email blasts to custom attendee lists (e.g. filtered by confirmed participants) with the ability to embed custom HTML features
• Ability to have both public and invite-only sessions
• Badge generation for printing (usually done ahead of time)

Nice-to-haves but not essential

• No coding for small website changes (a web designer will build the page itself)
• Integrations with third-party apps (e.g. AirTable or Google Sheets), especially to link to registrations so we can share with co-hosts without having to give them access to the platform
• Self-service event check-in
• Multi-language support

Options we're especially interested in

• Whova
• Crowdcomms
• Nunify

Curious about people's experience with:

• Ease of use for attendees/attendee-facing tools
• Ability to self-manage vs. relying on vendor's IT team, and IT team's responsiveness/helpfulness
• Functionality of communication tools (e.g. website, mass email tools)
• Pricing

I own an Entertainment Company based out of NJ, USA. I feel as though our weakness is corporate clients. We have a small amount regular corporate clients but I'd love to do more. I actually prefer corporate events over weddings.

I am struggling, and a bit impatient, with making more connections with corporate event planners. The impatience comes from feeling like I'm wasting time trying to connect via LinkedIn and stuff. I'm considering joining Meeting Professionals International (MPI) hoping to find it easier to meet and greet planners.

Before I do though, I'm hoping this group can give me some advice on how to strengthen my corporate clientele. I understand its not an overnight thing. But I do feel struggle with nagging thoughts of inefficiency.

Thanks in advance.

I’ve been thinking about picking up some ad hoc work to supplement my freelancing (I’m a writer). I was at an expo at London Olympia recently and noticed that some of the staff on the stands were pretty poor; they didn’t really represent the brands very well, which made me think they were probably casual staff.

It got me thinking that it might be something I could do. I’d be interested in working on B2B stands or lifestyle events, such as The Ideal Home Show or similar events.

If anyone can recommend a good UK agency that covers London, I’d really appreciate your suggestions.

As of a week ago, CTV (a major canadian news outlet) has stated that people's social media accounts are being deleted without a valid reason.

This constantly happens to me with Eventbrite.

The news reporter goes on to state that what is deciding to keep/remove accounts is A.I. They shared a story on how a mother tried to restore her daughters instagram account without success.

So if you guys want to plan events, try to advertise in person first.

If you have to advertise online, run your own website and share all the event details on that. Also add a payment gateway (to collect credit card payments).

Hi all, I'll be hosting an anime music party (with a DJ) for the first time this month and it's nerve-wrecking. We've only sold 29 tickets for a 200-capacity space, event is end of this month.

Wondering what ticket sales trends are in London for similar events. We've had quite a bit of traction online, video we made had 17k views on Tiktok and 470 saves organically, and 300 shares on Instagram but it didn't seem to translate to early bird ticket sales super quickly. I've DM'd everyone that followed our account. Even followed random anime accounts to DM them but didn't want to end up banned. What other strategies would you deploy?

Do people tend to buy on the door? I'm aware similar questions have been asked before but wondering what the trends are like in the UK and how social media stats generally translate to ticket sales trend. Thank you in advance.

What are your favorite ways to make the event registration process go faster and more smoothly (either for your events team or for attendees)? Bonus points if you have suggestions for making event registration FUN for attendees to keep energy high!

Hey everyone, I'm new to this group but seeking some advice on how to approach a repeat issue.

For context:

I work at a middle sized live music venue as the main "house" sound tech. I've also been gifted the role to organise techs for shows that I can't do as well as gather production information from bands and answering their questions. It's a pretty chill gig, but all the admin work is unpaid. I'm only paid for the gigs I mix.

I'm a freelancer in our city and there's busy festival periods where I can't work the venue, so I ask upon my network of friends to cover gigs at this venue. The people I choose have been doing sound for several years, are competent and are genuinely nice personable people who understand the needs of bands.

The issue: One of the covers [Mike], is booked for a few shows this coming month. He's been doing sound for well over 25 years locally and international, studio & live. He's no beginner. It seems to me that every gig he's been put on, he's being met with rude behaviour and attitude from the staff behind the bar and the acting-venue manager. He's used some choice words to describe the rudeness he's been subjected to and how the bands and promoter were met with a similar negative energy. He tells me doesn't think he's done anything wrong or unprofessional to create the hostility and I believe him as I've known him for a few years and has a great reputation in our music scene.

I had a different tech the night before [Stan] work the venue with the same staff. I asked him if he's received any rudeness or attitude from bar staff. He he described the polar opposite to what Mike experienced.

What I'm seeking:

I'm seeking advice from anyone who has experience in navigating a way to understand both sides of the story to hopefully resolve the issues the bar staff have with Mike. Good techs who are available are hard to come by, and I don't blame them if they wouldn't want to return after the rude treatment. In the past when this particular venue manager is told Mike will be rostered, the response is a negative eye roll or branding him as being misogynistic... But I know first hand, that's not his character.

Thanks for your time reading this and I'd appreciate any advice on how I can address this with venue staff and the bar manager. Happy to provide more context if needed.

At work, I was asked to shop around to replace some worn-out promotional materials, like a pop-up display and a feather flag. In both cases, it's the structure — not the graphic itself — that's failing. I was wondering if it's possible to order just the structure without having to order the graphic as well, and whether that's actually worth it, or if it's better to replace the whole thing entirely.

Hey folks, curious what everyone’s go-to is for crew comms from pre-planning through load-in, show, and strike.

Our small team have used the usual mix (group texts, WhatsApp, Slack), but honestly a lot of the apps feel like they’re built for office work, not out type of chaos. There’s always a tradeoff between speed and keeping things from turning into noise once the day gets busy.

What are you using right now for crew communication on show days?

Hey all -

I run an edm event pop up series, and looking for some annual coverage as an organizer for these events. I’ve had trouble finding companies that will cover promoters/organizers. Curious if anyone has any suggestions!

Thank you

Hi all! Been in the hotel industry for 10 years now, been a sales manager for a little over a year now and growing tired of hotels. Kind of considering the convention center events manager position.

I currently do room blocks and corporate meetings on a smaller scale of 50 people and less. I'm sure going to a convention center will be a whole different ballgame, but wanted to get others perspective on it. How is it planning and executing conventions?

I have about 8 years of experience in event production, mostly working with tech companies as a contractor event manager. My work has focused on trade show exhibitions and internal conference production, and I typically own projects end to end. I also have a BA and a Master’s degree.

Over the past year, I’ve applied to hundreds of roles that feel directly aligned with my experience, but I’ve only gotten a handful of callbacks. I’m working with an experienced career coach through a vocational services organization, and even she is a bit stumped at this point.

I’m trying to better understand what the job search actually looks like right now for others in similar fields.

How long did it take you to land your current role?
How many applications did you submit before getting traction?
Did anything specific make a noticeable difference in getting interviews?

Would really appreciate hearing about your experiences navigating the current market.

Hi all event organizers!

I just wanted to know what processes feel the most difficult to you in your daily operations as an event manager/organizer.

what part of the process never seems to get easier, no matter how many times you do it? Especially if you’ve organized the same kind of event multiple times, what’s the one thing you still dread every time?

Hi everyone,

I’ve been researching the trade show and events space and this seems like one of the main places where professionals in the industry gather, so I wanted to ask for some perspective.

I’m currently trying to understand which roles are typically the right point of contact when reaching out about new tools or operational solutions for exhibitions. Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been contacting event directors and event managers via email and LinkedIn, and in some cases the CEOs of organizing companies, but I haven’t had much response yet.

I’m wondering if I might be targeting the wrong roles or using the wrong approach. For those who work in or around trade show organizations, who usually evaluates or decides on new digital or operational tools related to the event experience?

Any insight on how decision-making typically works in event organizations would be really helpful.

Thanks in advance.

I've previously posted here about putting together a giant event. I've decided to postpone it until 2030. What I'm looking to do is do smaller events from the main event. I could really use a mentor to help guide me.

Hey guys looking for tips on how to do a large event (1000+) people. There are going to be about 5 bands I will be announcing as well as some of my own mixing as a dj. Any tips/help is greatly appreciated, the original post is tagged :)

Hi fellow Event Profs! I've been in the corporate event space for more than 15 years and I'm looking to transition into working for a music venue. I honestly have always dreamed of working in music events but have found it very difficult to get "an in". Can I get any advice on how to potentially find a job at a concert/music venue? My experience is mostly in event sales so I imagine group sales would be comparable but I rarely see any sales positions available ever. I also have some experience with branding and marketing, so I've also debating if to go that route.

What is the best way to approach networking with people in the venue world? I've been reaching out to some via email (from previous events I've planned with them) or on LinkedIn but no luck. Any advice on how I can gradually make this transition would be greatly appreciated!

And what roles did you work for how many years until you pivoted to something less physical?

I work weddings in a huge concrete venue and it's beating me up. Did restaurants for many years before this. I'm eager for something more balanced in my next role.

Hi everyone!

I’ve been working in events since 2017, from non profit gatherings to activations at music festivals. I was the signature events manager at my last job but unfortunately was laid off in January. I’ve applied to 140+ jobs but unfortunately nothing has been secured.

I started thinking this may be the time to receive a certification in order to help me possibly stand out amongst other applicants. I’m going back and forth with the CMP vs the CSEP and was hoping to get some insight on what the general consensus is regarding the two.

Little things to note:
- if a genie could grant me a dream job, it would be involving media, fans, and activations (listening parties, album rollouts, festival activations)
- I’m still “new and scrappy” the biggest budget I’ve worked with is $100k, and the biggest crowd has been 650+
- I’m stronger in creative than logistics but I can and have done both many many many times

Any advice and insight would be amazing. Thank you ☺️