Epic Events by vFairs

Kit will share what 25 years of turning around Forrester, Gartner, HIMSS, and IBM conferences has taught her about why events really fail - and it's rarely the content. We'll dig into her "first ten conversations before the strategy deck" approach, and why the difference between an event plan and an event strategy is the difference between negotiating your budget down and getting it fully funded. 

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Shanondoah will share what in-house event planning taught her before she bet on yourself and went independent, why most booths and branding actually push attendees away rather than pull them in, and why she thinks the industry is obsessed with new-attendee acquisition when the real ROI is in loyalty and repeat attendees.

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Evan will make the case that most event professionals don't actually have an events problem - they have a business problem. He'll break down why intentionality beats budget, how sponsorship and vendor conversations should tie directly back to revenue and retention, and how he builds and defends the business case for PointClickCare's 2,300-person Summit to leadership every other year. Expect some pointed opinions on what the industry celebrates versus what it should.

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Lee Ali will share why the metrics most exhibitors obsess over - footfall, badge scans, activity counts - often mask whether an exhibition actually delivered business value. Drawing on 18+ years and 4,000+ events across 53 countries with Expo Stars, Lee breaks down his People-Process-Performance framework, explains why AI-powered matchmaking fails without "intent data," and makes the case for training booth teams as seriously as sales teams.

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Eric Rozenberg has done what most event business owners only dream about - built, scaled, and successfully exited multiple event companies across 50+ countries. Now, through Event Business Formula and his AI-powered mentor tool "Eric AI," he helps event entrepreneurs escape the chaos of doing everything themselves and build businesses that actually work without them. In this conversation, Eric will share the honest truth about why so many talented event professionals stay stuck, what it actually takes to build a sellable company, and how the next generation of AI tools is reshaping the path from overwhelmed operator to strategic CEO.

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Sasha Frieze has spent 25+ years watching talented event professionals get overlooked, not because their work isn’t good, but because no one taught them how to think and communicate like a strategic leader. 

In this episode, she’ll share the mindset shifts, frameworks, and career moves that separate planners who earn a seat at the table from those who stay stuck in the execution lane. 

Expect honest talk about why busyness is the enemy of influence, how to make the business case for events in the boardroom, and what it actually takes to become a Chief Event Officer.

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Your event ran smoothly. But nobody left changed. Sound familiar?

Andrew Roby has spent 21 years turning overwhelmed teams and underperforming venues into high-impact environments, helping charities raise over $25 million along the way. Featured by Forbes, CNN, and the New York Times, he's one of the most recognized voices in events for a reason.

In this episode, he gets into: 

-Why flawless logistics are the floor, not the ceiling, and what actually separates a good event from a great one 

-How to stop thinking like a coordinator and start thinking like a community architect

-The real reason most events fail to create lasting impact even when everything technically goes right

-How to close the gap between client KPIs, sponsor goals, and attendee needs when all three are pulling in different directions

-What most planners cut when budgets get tight that they absolutely shouldn't

If you've ever delivered a technically perfect event and still felt like something was missing, this one's for you.

Hit Attend and catch the upcoming episode.

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Peep Laja has done what most conference organizers only hope for, built events that people actually want to attend, pay for, and come back to, year after year, across nearly two decades.

As CEO of Wynter and a three-time founder, Peep has run conferences from the ground up, made every expensive mistake in the book, and built a framework for events that work as a genuine marketing channel,  not just a line item that's hard to justify.

In this conversation, Peep will share the unfiltered truth about why ticket sales never get easier no matter how established you are, what most organizers get completely wrong about venue, format, and attendee experience, and how to design a conference that builds real community instead of just filling a room.

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Eddie Reynolds has spent 20+ years in B2B SaaS revenue, at Salesforce, in consulting, and now running Union Square Consulting, and he's seen this story play out hundreds of times. The problem usually isn't the event itself. It's everything around it.

In this episode, Muhammad Younas goes bottom-up through six event formats with Eddie:

→ Attending a conference
→ Speaking at one
→ Hosting an intimate dinner
→ Running a happy hour
→ Sponsoring a booth
→ Putting on your own conference

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Your event went well. The coverage didn't follow. Sounds familiar?

Matt Kovacs, President of Blaze PR, has spent 20+ years turning live moments into stories that travel, working with brands like Monster Energy.

In this episode, he covers:

-How to engineer media hooks into your event from day one
-Why keeping PR and event teams separate costs you more than you think
-What journalists actually want from a brand activation
-How to work with influencers without burning the bridge
-What metrics actually tell you whether an event worked

If you're leaving amplification on the table, this one's for you. Hit attend and catch the upcoming episode.

Subscribe to the Podcast for more Event Industry Chats!