Event Season Survival Kit: What No One Tells Marketers | E94 with Laura Dazon, Phoebe Dunsmore, Sarah Tully

Think events are all free prosecco and LinkedIn photos? 🤔 Behind every smooth show is a sleep-deprived team juggling power sockets, panic emails, and a thousand tiny fires—often at the same time.

In this episode, we’re joined by Sarah Tully (Group Event Director, eCommerce Expo & Technology for Marketing), Laura Dazon (Marketing Manager), and Phoebe Dunsmore (Marketing Executive) from CloserStill Media to pull back the curtain on event season—what really breaks, what actually matters, and how marketers can survive (and even enjoy) the madness.

We get into:
 ✅ The biggest misconceptions about events marketing (and why the show is the middle of the campaign, not the end)
✅ How to balance sponsors, exhibitors & attendees with a clear “value story” (Laura’s “chair with four legs” framework)
✅ Real on-site war stories: raining ceilings, no-show speakers, surprise venue drills, and the eternal Wi-Fi scam
✅ Ops gotchas marketers miss (power, internet, signage, space for photo areas… and why people never read the emails)
✅ Inbox triage during peak season: empathy, boundaries, and why “please unsubscribe me” isn’t a personal attack
✅ Neurodiversity on the show floor—headphones, quiet resets, and planning for the post-event crash
✅ Exhibitor & visitor playbooks: keep activations simple, plan before/during/after, train booth teams, and download the app
✅ Self-care that actually helps on-site: snacks + water, pacing, buddy up, and don’t schedule your whole life the week after

If event season has you clutching your lanyard and whispering “I need a nap,” this one’s for you.

We’re Ruta and Emma, the marketing consultants behind Blame it on Marketing. 

If you’re in B2B SaaS or professional services and looking to do marketing that actually drives revenue and profit, we’re here for it.

Visit blameitonmarketing.com and let’s get this show on the road.

Transcript

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hi everybody and welcome back to Blame It On Marketing with Emma Ruta. And this is kind of part two of an event special, if you like. So last year we had a chat with Laura and some of her colleagues from Closer Still Media, but we are joined by Sarah and Phoebe who we will let introduce themselves in just a second. But the reason we wanted to... to sort of air this special episode is because event season is upon us. Our event professional friends are working very, very hard. So we wanted to talk about that. And also as an event, an ex event person myself, I'm deeply traumatized and I'd like some free therapy. So without further ado, ladies, would you like to introduce yourself? Sarah, do you want to start first? Tell us about yourself. Sure. My name is Sarah Tully. I'm the Group Event Director on Ecommerce Expo and Technology for Marketing, also working alongside IMRG. I work at Close & Still Media, the wider organisation. I've just passed the eight-year mark, so I'm surviving the event whirlwind. Awesome. Phoebe. Hi, I'm Phoebe Dunsmore. I'm a marketing executive working on eCommerce expo Technology for Marketing and I joined in May. So I'm very new, very fresh, but enjoying it also. Yeah. got fresh perspective. Laura? Yeah, hello, I'm Laura. I'm the marketing manager for Ecommerce Expo Technology for marketing. Last time we spoke, I was the senior content marketing executive. So yay, evolution. And lots along the way. So this is going to be a fun conversation. amazing. My key memory of Laura last year at Tech for Marketing is her telling us, I'm going to go nonverbal after this for a good week. And we were like, yeah, I get it. That's the perfect explanation of what happens after this. so before we dive into the subject, shall we talk about your deepest, darkest marketing fuck up? I think I can go first. I don't think it's the most extreme thing ever and also I wanted a different anecdote than last year's Podcast but it's a personal fuck-up. Basically last year we wanted to have a photo booth on the show floor and I wanted to do something a little bit fun, something different than just plastered logos on a plain background. And so I had this idea to make like sort of like an interactive booth that would resemble a zoom call because I thought what do e-commerce teams and marketing teams have in common? It's that whole collaboration aspect and they're constantly on calls together. So I thought it would be fun to have a virtual call as a photo booth kind of thing. Except I had never done this before just to preface this. So it was brand new. And I realized on the day, it looked lovely, we worked with a designer, but I realized on the day that there were a few elements that were just not going to work for this project. First being that there was not enough space at all to like take a step back and actually take the picture because there was another stand right behind. So that was already the first fuck up where I should probably have checked that there was gonna be enough space but again I'm not an ops person so I just came in with my marketing idea and then yeah should have had more of a perspective angle for that and also I think a lot of people I realized throughout the day were not sure what this was whether or not it was a booth or something they could actually interact with so in a rush I went to print a that just said take a selfie this is a selfie spot because I just realized lots of people were passing by not knowing what this was so yeah learning in action but this is my fuck up kinda it was cute it came on a whim, of, was like, Laura's got a great idea, she got it designed. It was better than our whole show, Creative. Like, it looked great. It was just really unfortunate that it was on the edge of the aisle and there was a solid wall two meters away, which was very annoying, but it looked good. like camera and how much it crops you like that is hard to figure out unless you know exactly what camera you're working with so I could yeah I don't think you're the only person who would have totally missed that because it's just one of those things. Are you is currently in em development. It's being designed. this but functional? So more functional this year, I am planning enough space behind for some people to actually take the picture. But I might actually go with the plain logo background this year, kind of thing, because I also realize people might just want something a bit easy, just to know and say, tell people online after that that they went to this show and yeah. So just a different perspective this year, let's say. love it love it who wants to go next next? I've not been here that long, but I've already fucked up, so that's good. It doesn't have to be here, by the way. could be at any other job. Like, yeah, yeah. oh the one that I did at Closer Still, was, so email marketing is, I did do it in my previous role, but not to the extent that we do it here. So this is like every day this email is going out. And it's a lot of like, making sure the UTM tracking and stuff like that is really unique. And in one of the emails that I'd sent out, and like, these are like the biggest sending lists that I've ever sent emails out to. So this is going to like 40,000 people, which in itself is like quite nerve wracking. So, and I think like it was either the first or second email that I'd sent out and I'd tried to do the UTM tracking and I'd made a really rookie error in not having sent myself a test send and checking the links. So the email went out and None of the links worked. So it was quite pointless. So I had to do a resend with the working links, but that was my, that's probably my biggest fuck up. You know what? You're not a marketer. You haven't earned your stripes unless you fucked up an email. One of my favourite ones that we've had on this is somebody added the link to a zoo, didn't they? Do remember? was like, yeah, they accidentally added like a link to Whipsonade or something in their email and everyone was like, nice. You It is my turn. was just thinking there's some very rogue things that have happened in marketing teams that I've worked in in the past. I worked with someone previously at a different, we're to say it's a different company, who left under somewhat of a cloud and attempted to lock out of all socials and change the passwords. So... That was an interesting fuck up on, well, I don't know if it was a fuck up, it was quite a target attack really. I was however logged in and I don't know, the rules must have changed now because I shouldn't have been able to, you know when you are an admin user and you just click like show me password, well they'd set up a new password that was a four letter word that you probably can't say. So that was fun. Not really a fuck up, but a drama. incredible. Also, it's like, that's great, but also like you do that and then you think, well, everybody knows that you did that. also like too small for that kind of behavior, I think. But broadly speaking, think most of the fuck ups that happen, Phoebe's point about the volume of emails that we send, it's always emails. There's always something on emails. I'm working in the sector that we work in, technology for marketing and e-commerce. The audience really lets you know when you mess it up. They have feedback. They come back to you. So let's start off with some misconceptions and things that people get wrong about events marketing. I think that's always a fun place to start. So from your guys' perspective, what are some of the biggest misconceptions or challenges that events marketers have, especially during this like super busy, stressful event season? Actually, I think this might be a really interesting question for Phoebe to answer as well because she has such fresh eyes on events marketing. So if you wanted to start with that. Yeah, I guess I didn't realize quite how intense it was gonna be in that, in this period. like previously in my last one, it was a bit more of like a general thing and campaigns were coming up and going out as and when we came up with the ideas. Whereas this is something you obviously prepare for all year round. And then you've got this three month, four month window of like this sort of like intense period. I definitely didn't realize quite how intense that was gonna be. But still, obviously I am new so I... novelty of it hasn't worn off yet and I'm really enjoying it so but yeah it's just and obviously on top of all of that you get the little problems that arise and things like that so there's just always a lot going on. see what you're definitely joined at a very interesting time I will say. If you can make it through this period, you'll be fine. You know? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. being an events marketer will make you like the most resilient person ever. Is so, cause you're just like, what's that? All this shit going on. I can handle this. So good. no, But to get back on the topic of misconceptions, I think at least that's sort of what I was imagining before joining events marketing, but I had this really glamorous image of it for some reason, because obviously I'd been told like, you go to these events and these awards and you travel and like, sure, that part like is glamorous when you actually go to the awards, but there's so much logistical work behind that that's really not glamorous at all and it's like yeah I think that was my biggest hold up this is not what I thought it was kind of thing Also, you realize that all of the glamorous stuff is on top of your normal job. So it's not actually like, it's your job to be glamorous. It's your job to do all the, all the shit stuff and then show up to events and be really happy and really like out there and all of those things. So yeah, I, yeah, exactly. I feel like it's a double edged thing. Yeah, you're like, you're enjoying the event, the award, but you're still kind of like looking around like, is this going well? Is everything like in the right place? Like, yeah. Yep. Yeah. I think there's two things for me. Working with teams who don't really know how events work, especially we work on an annual show for the most part, there's a misconception that we don't do anything for the rest of the year, which drives me absolutely crazy. It takes a hell of a lot to get this beast off the ground. And I think the other thing is... You have to get stuck into everything. You cannot stay in your lane. You end up getting involved in lots of different stuff. So Laura's touched on kind of getting involved in ops stuff and you you do all of these various things that aren't in the job description per se, but you know, everyone pitches in and has to get the work done. And to a degree, you become a yes woman for a lot of people. know, their priorities are kind of more important often than yours. I was like, who's the different stakeholders involved? You've to balance all of them. So yeah, it winds me up and people are like, oh, your event happens in September and then you don't, you what are you doing? Oh, now the event's over, you know, you got some downtime. Do I heck? That's when the The event is very much the middle, not the destination. What about you, Ruta Is there anything over it? Because we used to do some in-house events. Is there anything you think is a misconception? Gosh, I always thought it'd be like fun organizing events before I had to do them. But like, I think when you think of fun events to organize, you're thinking of like parties and they are fun to organize. And when it's a corporate event, it is not the same thing. Like I remember the first time I had to like book electricity at a stand. I was like, what do mean we have to book electricity? Of course we need electricity at the stand. Why is this a thing? And just things like that. So then you're like, wait, what else do I not know that I haven't booked and haven't done for the event? say it's the bit that scares me the most. Like every time someone's like, oh do they need electrical like walls? And I'm like, I guess they do. I don't know. everyone. I think internet is a scam. It's like, it's insane. Like, people ask me all the time, oh, you know, they also ask me what their internet requirements are. And I go, what are you doing? I don't know. What do you need? Figure it out. And then, and then I can suggest. I honestly say, unless you really need it, don't bother. Like it's an absolute fortune. Yeah, agreed. I think they on purpose make the phone signal worse so you have to have to buy it. do something. They build those walls thick. I honestly think one of the biggest ones is that like, think, I mean, it's, I've always thought that events is kind of a bit of a thankless task. Like if people kind of take for granted when an event is running smoothly, cause it's almost like they're like, of course it's running smoothly. Like it just happens. And it's like, no, no, it does not just happen. And for every Everything that looks smooth underneath the surface is just all this crap bubbling away that you're having to firefight on the day. And that is exhausting. so yeah, think, yeah, that's one of the biggest misconceptions. It's like a... complain about little things and you're like, you have no fucking clue, like leave please. Yeah, nope. um You've got to give them the FaceTime and you've got to answer for it. I think that's one of the things for me that I've really... is intense. So like I said earlier, my face tends to be all over our emails and stuff, my name and all that kind of stuff. immediately, there's a problem, they come to me. You know, very rarely do people come up. It does happen occasionally. I mean, I'm actually really grateful. Some people do come up and say, you know, thank you. Well done, blah, blah, blah. That's great. But that is a few of the fault between in comparison to people going, this is you and your fault. And you think I'm just the face of a big team that make all the magic happen, but also take a lot of the crap. I'm sending out every single email myself? Like really? So exactly, exactly. Yeah, we almost did that actually. Last year Shannon floated the idea, our senior marketing manager, about creating a persona who can kind of take some of the grief. But the person she created was this very generic white man. I was like, I don't think we need another generic white man. The world doesn't need any more of them. But it is nice to have another one to hate. You know, anyway. definitely. won't be like as inclined to complain to them because they're like, you know, yeah. So speaking about things going wrong at events, can you each share with us a particularly like stressful moment and how you resolved it or how you resolved it with your team? one? oh resolve. So before they started doing up Olympia, so Olympia was getting redeveloped and whatnot at the minute, we used to run the events there. really great story we kind of ran out of room there and we moved up to the Excel but on our final year at Olympia it was a really warm September and they've got that gorgeous Victorian ceiling in Olympia and with heat it shrinks and then it started to drizzle the morning of show open so there were gaps in the roof and it started to rain indoors on top of our biggest stands and where they hide the electrics is on top of the stands so it's raining directly onto my biggest spenders and the solution was came from the venue but it was tarpaulin and sawdust It did stop raining at kind of midday and it all calmed down but I just didn't anticipate raining indoors was gonna be a problem that I'd have to face and you kind of just go what the hell am I supposed to do? Great thoughts that people could quite understanding and like I can't control that thank god it's not all of me yeah it's literal weather and also insurance god send insurance. I don't think I can top that story ever. I hope I have that. I never have to top that story because god damn. I guess like one of my most stressful moments actually happened last year. I was hosting a couple of sessions moderating, which I don't know why I did that to myself as well as running the event because truthfully after that, that's why I went nonverbal for a whole week because I was just like dead inside. But it was still fun, except for when my second panel was supposed to be me moderating three people. And one of the people just didn't show up. we, because we were all so busy on the show floor, et cetera, they had sent an email, but no one had seen it. And so I'm just there at the session being like, where is that person? I am waiting. freaked out but then it was like okay well it's time to go they're not there let's just go it was just like that peak of stress right before going on stage I did not exactly need but thank God the other two speakers were lovely they did so well and the session ended up being really really good and if anything maybe easier in a way because it was two people to manage rather than three but yeah that was the most like peak stress because it's like on the day you don't want anything to go wrong so that was it for me I'd say But yeah, I'm not topping that raining indoors story. There's no way. Mine are also, mine, some of them are quite horrifying, unfortunately, because I used to do international events. So there was one that some of my colleagues were organizing where, the hotel, I can't remember what floor it was. was like the 11th floor of the hotel collapsed into the 10th floor. And there was literally like rubble falling from the... was boring. into the courtyard where people were having cocktails and people obviously thought it was a terror attack. But the thing that's so crazy is the hotel were just, according to my colleagues, the hotel were just like, it's fine. And then, and then, and then they had to evacuate everybody. But my colleagues, they really like to, had to take charge of the situation. And I think that's one of the things that. Even though that is a horror story and that does very, that sort of stuff very rarely happens like the raining indoors. It is the, it's the events people that take the hit. have, they're the ones they're like, you know, these, my colleagues are just leading people out of this hotel to safety. And I think that again is something that's taken for granted. There were some other things that happened, like we have, we have actually had to change venues at the last minute because of terror attacks. overseas, things like that. And that is just the most... What? Say again? Wasn't there like a coup at one hotel as well where you... was, yeah, that was back in the day when I used to organize these, you guys like what? This was for a, this was for more like a charity fundraising event. And we, we used go overseas and do like crazy mad stuff. And yeah, there was a coup and everyone had to, we all had to be evacuated. Yeah. We were like locked down in hotel. I know like, who did you work for? What were you doing? Do know what was the time as well? Is that I was like in my, like early. No, mid twenties. And I just thought this was normal. I was like, this is fine. no! You're have to cut my story about the speaker out because between the roof and the attacks and all, like... are extreme. yeah. terrorism thing, it was not at our show, but it during autumn event season last year whilst we were on site. I think it was in the Midlands. The venue ran a terrorism drill, but they didn't inform the organizers. we had, and delegates hadn't left our hall yet. And this is a drill, but... Yeah, they all panicked and we had a load of- they did their jobs, they were great, perfect. But we had a load of traumatised ops people who genuinely thought they were under attack. It was just crazy. I know it's got to be done, but like... Communication guys, Communication, I think that's the thing that people don't realize is there was this whole other level of stuff that is going on for you as the organizer that they just think we're just there organizing the fun stuff. It's like, no, there's so many. Yeah. Not even to mention, I mean, we talked about this on another episode where, like, just even the fact that we'd have to have like safeguarding stuff for women at our events because men can't behave themselves, things like that, you know. And that's all on the organisers, isn't it? Because it's like, if there is a problem, you are the ones they're coming to. Hmm, yeah. There's some odd things that have sort of come up at events recently. You see it on social media quite lot. There was a big hoo-ha at a London tech event earlier in the summer about, and this is around like women at events and women who become mothers and then entering back into the workplace and things like that. There was a woman refused from a technology event because she had her baby in a push chair. And obviously, you know, she... you know, explained on social media that she was really upset about it and, and, you know, all of these really valid things. And you just think, why, why, why get involved as an organizer? You know, someone's doing their job too. Like, what is the purpose of getting, getting your, or in that situation to really blow up in your face? I don't know. I think people being jobs worth going too far and stuff, but it, it then becomes, okay, what's the industry gonna do about it? And you think, why is that now on us to kind of have these conversations that for some of us, it's a no brainer. And all of a sudden, we're all in the same boat and we all have to have these sort of elaborate pantomime conversations when it's like obvious to me that that's fine. It's Yeah, yeah. And things have changed. Things are so polarised, aren't they? So it's like, it just makes it so much harder, especially because we are now like, someone's just going to get their phone out and start filming if they, and it blows up in this way. And it is, it just adds another level of stress that's not needed. Whereas I feel like back in the day, organising events, it was very much like, you're here on your company, you represent the company, you need to behave. Shouldn't be on us. Yeah. enforce that kind of thing. So on the other side, how do you guys find the balance between the demands of like sponsors and exhibitors and attendees and like, do you, yeah, how do you juggle all of that and still stay sane yourselves? They don't. There's no answer. Done. Yeah. Got any views Phoebe? Kick us off. I guess, I guess that's another thing that I really wasn't prepared for when I joined was like the different hats that you really have to wear and how frequently you're having to switch between them and like provide solutions to different people and making sure you're striking the right tone depending on who you're talking to and, also like not getting walked over yourself. And so if it's a media partner and you have a contract in place and there's something that you both should be you know, you both have to do to meet this agreement and maybe one side's not holding up the bargain and like, but then having an attendee come and saying the registration is still pending and that kind of thing sounding very stressful because it's very stressful. But I guess it's just like being quite, I found like, cause I'm quite new to it, it's quite easy to be empathetic and sort of being like, okay, well how would I want to be responded to if I was that person? Like if I was an attendee and I still had a pending thing against my registration. Like you obviously understandably would be a bit like, like it's coming up, it's around the corner. So I guess the way I try and reduce the stress and sort of maintain like a level head is just by literally putting myself in their shoes and sort of taking myself out of my own job role and trying to see how I would want to be responded to in that situation. And to putting myself also just dedicating that time when you've got some those like multiple things like that that have come up just being like, right, I'm going to put half an hour aside and tackle all of that. And then I'll jump back into another task so that my brain isn't literally being like, you know, I've got to do all these things. It's like, you're giving that time to it. Does that, does that make sense? Yeah. know what I will say that reminded me of what you were saying Phoebe is that it's only working in events that I have ever seen people send an email with like a list of 20 things to do in it. Because in general marketing that doesn't happen does it Roots? I don't know if you feel like this. Someone will send you one email about maybe one or two things max, but for some reason in events it's like... You oh person that's got to respond to all that, you actually, you have to, like you say, dedicate the time to like, okay, this is this thing. So yeah, I think that's very wise Phoebe. Very wise attitude. think I'm a big fan of telling a story. Obviously my hat that I wear is more commercial than anything else. I think knowing where your value comes from at an event and having a story about that value that you are delivering, but also for different stakeholders or whoever, what are their valuable points? Broadly speaking for most events, it's the visitors that are the valuable piece. you know, they're providing value to the sponsors and that kind of makes the whole thing tick over. So having a cohesive story on what you're doing for them and who is an important visitor and what are they looking for and those kind of things. So you can tell that story obviously from a visitor perspective, you're telling, you know, you're valuing them, which is great. But also I think we have a tendency to follow the money and there's a degree that that's how the world works. you, if in managing exhibitors and sponsors in a way that yes, you are engaging with us and parting with your, you know, hard earned budget or whatever. you I am then obligated to provide you value with this audience, but actually take them out of their own head for a moment and go, okay, think about the audience you're trying to attract. You know, how are you going to be interacting with it? Focusing everything you do around that sort of value story makes it lot easier. But in terms of practical elements, as Phoebe says, I mean, there's just, you get it from so many angles constantly. Taking the time. to respond to people and things like that can be really challenging. And we all pitch in at different levels, know, some at this point in time, obviously, we're getting an absolute avalanche of queries all the time. And we kind of go, guys, can you help me with this? And, you know, I get slung some stuff and, whatever, and we try, we divide and conquer. But taking that time to respond to someone and going from this amorphous big, you know, the brand of the event and how being personable and stuff, those are the people who come up to you and say thank you and things, you I think that's really worth doing. It's cheesy as hell, but ultimately it's people. It's about people coming together and doing, I'm making myself feel a bit sick there, but that is the fundamental of it, right? So remembering that, particularly, it's my eighth year, you can sort of become a bit hardened to it, but just stepping out of yourself for a minute and being like, as Phoebe says, how would you want to be spoken to or dealt with? I live and breathe the thing all year. So what's obvious to me isn't necessarily obvious to a marketer who's never run an event before for a company or a marketer who's used to running very different events or organizing different types of things. Taking the time and effort to kind of talk them through things and whatnot. Usually it stops a lot more follow up questions if you do that job right the first time. And people never read anything, ever. Don't read a thing, don't bother. Almost. Waste of time. Laura? Yeah, I was gonna say actually I really like Sarah's point about building a story and understanding that story. I think that's the bit that I'm really more confident in this year because at the end of the day it's like everyone... it's like a chair, okay? And everyone is a leg of the chair and if one of the chairs steps out then the chair falls off, right? So it's like... like sponsors, they're going to want visibilities, exhibitors, they're going to want people, then traffic, attendees, they're going to want the value, like a real reason to be there. And what I find is that my job as a marketer is to really be able to find overlap where they all win, basically. So being able to understand that story and make and put it out in the world in a way that is digestible by all of these different people. So that's the bit about balancing for me, like sponsors, exhibitors, attendees that I found challenging originally, really understanding what everyone wanted out of this and how I could best provide it to them. And like Sarah's saying, it is a challenge because people don't read, not all the time. So we need to put out the information in many different ways, different formats. That's why we have FAQs, chatbots, pages. just different formats that people are gonna be able to digest in different ways and yet we still obviously get so many inquiries especially at that time. um So yeah. Yeah. And it's like, well, some people say we don't send enough. I know. Listen, you can be the juiciest peach in the world, but not everyone likes peaches. You can't, you can't please everyone. exactly. It's like that question about keeping your sanity around it, I think on a personal level, it's something I'm learning a lot more but not taking anything personally. Because sometimes you get an email that's quite frankly rude and you just like take it personally, especially if it's an email you sent and they're like, why are you sending me these emails? I'm like, well, I'm so sorry, I'm just doing my job. Like, I'm just learning to not take it personally if Richard, 55 years old, does not want an email from me. And I'm just like, well, sorry. Like, you can a list if you want. Exactly. I know. And you know what they love to do is email to ask to be unsubscribed. Yeah. Yeah. If they find the link, exactly. But yeah, it's at the end of the day, like they still deserve that good service or just take a step back. And so... very corporately and then usually solve the issue. Yeah, I think it's part of also continuing to enjoy the job, right? And actually doing the event and go into the event because if you're building up all of this anxiety in the run up to the event, oh my God, like what's going to happen on the day, right? Every time someone like comes up to you, you're going to be like, like what's happening, right? So you have to find a way to like both vent that and then not get like worked up going to the event, even though obviously stressful things are going to happen and you expect that it's just minimizing that kind of internal pressure as much as you can. Yeah. It's hard on event day as well, because you do gear yourself up, don't you? You feel like you've got this massive adrenaline rush and you probably didn't sleep well the night before, or if not the week before, or just any time before. And then afterwards, you know, it's just that massive crash, isn't it? Of like, I'm so drained. And like you say, Sarah, it's not done. You're basically going into the office on Monday morning and starting again. Hopefully people are going to listen to this when they see you at the event this time around, they're going to be like, go on, it's fine, you're doing a great job. Snacks of water please, boys, snacks of water. You never eat enough at a show. Air conditioning messes with your skin and your lips and just ugh. So on that note, what are your top three pieces of advice for any marketers either coming to your event or for you guys, for each other, to get us all through event season and survive, not just survive, sorry, to thrive. We don't want to just survive. We want to do better than that. What should we do? I think for me as well I'm kind of coming at it from a neurodiversity perspective where events are possibly the most stimulating thing in the world ever. For me it's a lot of noise, it's a lot of people, it's a lot of overstimulation so I really need to prepare myself mentally as well to go in these environments so that's why the few days before I... well the few weeks before to be honest my social life is at a minimum because I'm first of all so focused on work but also I just know I need that downtime to really rebalance everything and that's why after the event as well. I need that time, like I make space for it, I book annually usually just to plan ahead and know that I'm gonna have possibly like that crash after where I just need to like rest. So there's that whole aspect of managing that. and putting coping mechanisms in place that are going to help me rest afterwards. I would say that's my main... For anyone that's coming at the show as well, if they're not too much... I think there's a big worry as well for people to come at the show and it's going to be a lot of talking. Obviously, you're there to network. But it doesn't have to be your thing if you don't want it to be if you just want to come to a session or two and just hop out like that's perfectly fine if you want to wear like headphones between sessions just to kind of like isolate from the noise as well that's perfectly fine like There's no right way to do an event. Just do it in your way basically would be my main advice I have nothing to say after events. Like I'm naturally more of an introverted person, which I don't think always comes across at work because you put on a performance, right? So you kind of play the character and it's very intense on site. you know, like I said earlier about being a yes woman on site, it's worse. And I, I'm really lucky I've got a great partner and he, they've got into a bit of a tradition. When I come back from, from the show late on the Thursday, you know, after staying at Excel since the Monday, because I'm there for build and everything, he has like a lasagna made for me and like there's a bunch of flowers and he's already eating because it's like nine o'clock by the time I get back, but I eat my lasagna. And he just like, he doesn't ask me about how it went. He goes, I know you just want to be quiet and whatever and I'm totally here for it. And I'm like, I appreciate you. Thank you so much. don't have a word to say that whole weekend. Don't talk to me. I've got nothing to say or do. But I think broadly advice wise Laura's point about having like from an organizer perspective, whether you're organizing as an organizer or from a... from a company who's exhibiting, having a holiday somewhere in your future to think about is always good. Kind of like at the end of the tunnel and actually taking some time to recoup and stuff like that, that's really, really important. I mean, I love travel and stuff, so it keeps my sanity and ticking places off the list is just my idea of downtime. But I think in terms of making the most out of being part of events, whether you're exhibiting or visiting. there's a tendency, especially with kind of how full on and how many things are going on, to overdo it and do too much or attempt to do too many things. So from an exhibiting perspective, you can like... you know, have an activation on your stand and run a load of campaigns and then you're going to do a happy hour and then you're to do partnership activities and then you do this and that and you spread yourself really thin in terms of resource. And in my experience, you don't, it doesn't do as well. So we have this thing, you know, keep it simple and do it well. It doesn't have to be super duper expensive or super highly thought through concept. Just make, get in, get what you need to do and get out. And I think that's part of the bigger picture of the event. It isn't the destination, it's the middle part of a campaign. Don't get carried away with all of that stuff. You need a before, at the event, and an after, and then you'll maximize the most out of it. And that's the same for a visitor as well. So you see it quite a lot that we get feedback on. There's so much going on, like don't know how to make the most of it. And it would be so good if we had ways to organise ourselves and go, well, did you download our event app? Oh, I didn't know you had it until we got to the show. And you think we marketed the bloody thing for four weeks before, but okay. Did you engage with this? Did you do that? Plan, just a little bit of time, plan, and then you'll get more out of it. You will, it's worth doing. We had a really good advisory board meeting in January. really, really senior retailers sat around telling us what their dream event would be. And the amount of things we're already doing that they just don't know about, it's frustrating. We also go, okay, we're getting things right, we just need to communicate it better or whatever it is. But huge thing for them is, they genuinely turn around and I'm looking at what sessions I might go to on the train down. There's a degree of that, sure. You're never gonna get completely away from it, but you think. market the thing for three months, like engage earlier, you will make, you know, you make more headway for sure. Definitely. Phoebe, is there anything you're planning on doing in the approach to the event? Not necessarily, but I suppose the only thing that I would add, I think Sarah kind of covered it, like as a visitor. and I've been to a couple of expedition events before and just like from being at like maybe smaller, more intimate networking events that sometimes once you get into like the hustle and bussle so it does get overwhelming and you can sometimes forget like the reason maybe that you went there in the first place and then sometimes feeling like you've come away, not necessarily getting out of it what you wanted to. so like something that I've done. couple of times in the last few events that I've gone to is just like, whether it's on a post-it note or on your notes app or something, just writing down like one to three reasons for why you're going or like what you want to get out of it so that if you get two minutes to yourself or you're, feeling a bit like, my God, like what's happening right now, you can like go back, look at your notes and be like, okay, this is why I'm here. Take a deep breath and then go back into it all. So I just feel like, yeah, that's definitely how I've approached it. and that's my advice, I guess, if you're a visitor. That's a really great tip. Yeah. I think my advice for visitors is be open because I think sometimes as well we've seen it because obviously we were last year, we were there at Tech for Marketing with our confessions wall and we will be back to get more confessions. But people aren't necessarily always completely like open to to conversation or to like try new stuff or to learn new things. And I think the beauty of going to a big event like Tech for Marketing is that you have all this opportunity to learn and meet people. And obviously that in itself can be overwhelming, but when that stuff is happening, know, the opportunity to meet. You don't know who you might meet. don't know, like Ruta and I have met so many amazing people just from being at that event. it's been awesome. yeah, just be open. Even if you're a bit of an introvert, Ruta and I, probably maybe in the same way that you do Sarah, categorize ourselves as extroverted introvert, introverted extroverts. Don't know which way around it is. It's a performance. And so while we're there, we're obviously doing the thing to try and make people feel super, super welcome. But if you're feeling a little bit, yeah, shy or not into it, if there are nice people being like, hello. Thank you. And you know, that you're in a safe space, talk to them, bring someone with you. Yeah. it's a real challenge in times of being introverted, I feel like that's the best bet. Yeah, that's always a nice one. What about you, Ruta? Is there anything you would, before we wrap up? you guys covered a lot of really good areas. I would say if you are exhibiting, be very clear about who you're there with. it might be, you know, like if you're a small team, it might be the same people that you go with all the time. So, you know, kind of who does what and who's good at what and what's happening. But if it's, you know, a team that you haven't gone with before, just try and kind of suss out what people are like. because sometimes, you know, people would just show up and just stand there, you know, and not do anything. And you're like, Oh guys, come on. What's other other times, you know, it might be the opposite of that. So kind of suss out the level of kind of event comfortability and experience that people have and try and plan a little bit for that. Um, because it can be really frustrating as a marketer when you put in all this work and then you go there and the salespeople are sometimes just standing there, not doing anything or like decided all to take lunch at the same time. And you're like, Is everyone okay? Like, what is happening here? you have a marketing person like us, we'll hunt you down and drag you away from your lunch. So don't do it. Exactly. So. that switch to in-person, a lot of our work that we do now, everyone across the globe is doing a lot more of like team schools and you know, it's all email and social and whatnot. So before working in events, you don't really think about events. I think something I saw particularly coming out of the COVID era, which I know people don't really talk about so much anymore, was the amount of people that have come into the workplace having never had to have face-to-face interactions with people. you can like, we didn't run the show again until 2022 after COVID. And the amount of people who were like dears in the headlights, you know, having not. been prepared and it's a major piece that I say all the time because also we talk we you know We're talking to the marketers who are managing it and there is a disconnect between them and who's actually running stuff on the stand So we talk about this quite a lot and I preempted I go have you thought about your resource? Have you trained them for this in-person face-to-face element? You know, some people are absolutely naturals at it. But if not, you need a plan because they are, you know, they need, they're going to need the help at this point. And being prepared for that face to face element. I think we're out of practice with, if I'm being honest. But it is, like you say, you've met some great people last year at Technology for Marketing. That doesn't happen in the other ways that we connect with people. Unless, you know, there's a funny guy on LinkedIn, you're like, suppose it's funny. But you don't have like a connection like you would at an event, for sure. Absolutely. So thank you everyone for sharing your best tips with us. And thank you to those that are listening. We are going to be at Technology for Marketing and the E-Commerce Expo on the 24th and the 25th of September. It's at the Excel in London. So if you haven't registered and you're in-house marketer, please do. It's free for you to attend. There's lots of talks, lots of exhibitors. We'll have a little confession slash related marketing area. So come say hello. And again, thank you guys for being on and... I'm hoping that this helps everyone get through the event season.