EVENT ABOUT IT: Event Marketing, Strategy & Business Growth Titelbild

EVENT ABOUT IT: Event Marketing, Strategy & Business Growth

EVENT ABOUT IT: Event Marketing, Strategy & Business Growth

Von: Megan Martin
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 Struggling to make events drive business growth? Welcome to Event About It, the podcast for event-led growth. Hosted by Megan Martin, we ditch surface-level logistics for the high-stakes event strategy and event marketing your CEO, CMO, and CRO actually cares about. We blend actionable tactics with wild, backstage stories to ensure your next activation is a strategic powerhouse, not just a party. Join us every Friday: • 1st/3rd: Event strategy, stories and “Vent of the Week.” • 2nd/4th: The Aftershow—unfiltered truths & Dynamic Dialogue Stop guessing. Start growing.Megan Martin Marketing & Vertrieb Ökonomie
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  • Your Attendee Experience Is Being Graded By Someone Who Never Filled Out Your Survey

    Your Attendee Experience Is Being Graded By Someone Who Never Filled Out Your Survey
    May 15 2026

    Your events are being graded in real time by attendees who will never fill out your feedback form, never tag you in a post, and never tell you what they actually thought. They'll just decide whether they're coming back.

    Today I brought one of them into the studio.

    Christine Martin has attended, spoken at, and worked trade shows and conferences for 30+ years — as a tax professional, a solutions consultant, a road warrior, and now as the woman on the other side of every event decision you've ever made. She's sat through your keynotes, walked your expo floors, stood in your speaker green rooms, and gone home deciding whether it was all worth signing off on again next year.

    She's also my mom. And for this Mother's Day special, she's finally on the record.

    This episode is for every event professional who says they design for the attendee — but has never actually asked one. Christine audits real event planning decisions in our game segment "Audit the Agenda," tells you exactly what she needs from event teams to succeed as a speaker, vents about the industry habits that have been driving her crazy for decades, and shares a memorable Vegas event story that I can only describe as... educational.

    No marketing spin. No industry politeness. Just 30 years of attendee experience, delivered directly.

    In this episode:

    • Why the most valuable attendee feedback you'll ever get is the kind that never shows up in a post-event survey

    • What experienced attendees and speakers actually want from your event team (and what's making them quietly opt out)

    • The real reason "same as last year" is costing you attendee retention and event ROI

    • What a tax pro thinks about your booth activation strategy — and whether it's actually generating pipeline or just foot traffic

    • The event in Las Vegas that involved a bush, a private party, and a badge check that did not go as planned

    If you design events, sponsor them, speak at them, or approve the budget for them — this episode will change how you think about attendee experience.

    ⏱ TIMESTAMPS

    00:00 — Cold Open: "I've been in events since daycare"

    01:04 — Guest Introduction: Meet Christine Martin

    02:00 — The Marriott Headquarters Daycare Story (and the cover photo nobody saw coming)

    03:45 — Game Segment: "Audit the Agenda" — a 30-year attendee audits your event planning decisions

    17:00 — Vent of the Week: Hotel mix-ups, umbrella swag in the desert, and "Sally Events"

    21:00 — Event About It: A Vegas party, a bush, and what actually drives people to your booth

    24:00 — Episode Close + After Show Tease


    🔗 LINKS & RESOURCES

    Subscribe to Event About It: https://eventaboutitpodcast.com

    Submit a story or moment from the field: https://eventaboutitpodcast.com

    Follow Christine Martin on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christine-martin-9a02961/

    Learn more about Avalara: https://www.avalara.com

    Follow Megan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meganmartincmp

    Follow Megan on Instagram: @m2dynamics and @eventaboutit


    About Event About It

    Event About It is the podcast at the intersection of events, marketing, and business growth — where we prove that live experiences aren't just logistics, they're a growth channel. Hosted by Megan Martin, founder of M Squared Dynamics and one of the leading voices in event-led growth strategy. New episodes every other Friday.

    #EventStrategy #AttendeeExperience #EventMarketing #EventROI #EventPlanning #EventIndustry #EventLedGrowth #TradeShowStrategy #EventPros #MeganMartin #EventAboutIt #MothersDaySpecial
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    25 Min.
  • The Business Side of Events Nobody Talks About with Stuart Ruff-Lyon

    The Business Side of Events Nobody Talks About with Stuart Ruff-Lyon
    May 8 2026
    It was the last day of RISKWORLD 2023. The show had been the best one yet. Danica Patrick was about to take the stage for the closing keynote.Then Stuart Ruff-Lyon got pulled from the show floor and walked, without explanation, to a room where the Chief of Police of Atlanta was waiting.Two miles away, there was an active shooter on the loose. Four hotels on lockdown. Two shuttle routes stopped. Nine thousand attendees in the building.In this Dynamic Dialogue After Show, Megan Martin and Stuart Ruff-Lyon go through the whole story, minute by minute, from the walk down that hallway to the decision to cancel the finale, to what RIMS did publicly afterward that the entire events industry should study and copy.But this episode is bigger than one incident. It is the full behind-the-scenes career of the person who turned a 60-year-old conference into a global brand, survived a ransomware attack on the morning of a show, led his professional association through a pandemic as board chair, and now oversees events, sales, and marketing for one of the most recognized societies in the world.This is what it looks like to go wide from the inside.What You'll Learn:What was happening in the RISKWORLD command center in Atlanta that 9,000 attendees never sawWhy RIMS made their entire crisis after-action review public and what that decision cost them and gave themHow Stuart went from Director of Meetings and Events to Chief Commercial Officer at the same organization and what he had to learn that no job description ever mentionsThe real story behind rebranding a 60-year-old conference, from the research and outside firms to the board conversation and the pandemic delay that almost derailed the launchWhat RIMS' 365-day strategy actually looks like in practice, from selling next year's show before this year's show closes to building community beyond the four days on the floorHow RIMS thinks about event revenue as a percentage of total association income and what that accountability looks like for an event teamWhat event professionals fundamentally misunderstand about the business they are actually inThe one metric this industry is obsessed with that Stuart thinks tells us almost nothing (it is the room block and the reason will change how you think about destination ROI)What association leaders say behind closed doors about events that never makes it into the conference presentationResources Mentioned:RIMS Active Shooter Resources and After Action Review — the full report Stuart references about the 2023 Atlanta incident, including the minute-by-minute after action review and RIMS' security enhancementsComprehensive Risk Management Guide: https://www.asaecenter.org/about-us/news_releases/2024-news-releases/asae-collaborates-with-industry-leaders-to-produce-comprehensive-risk-and-crisis-management-toolkit-for-associationshttps://associationsnow.com/2023/05/how-one-association-handled-an-active-shooter-incident-in-conference-city/Adam Grant — Think Again — the book Megan references in conversation with Stuart about rethinking assumptionsConnect with Megan Martin: LinkedIn | msquareddynamics.com | @M2Dynamics on social mediaConnect with Stuart Ruff-Lyon: LinkedIn | RIMS.orgHave an event story or a Vent of the Week worth sharing? Submit it at eventaboutitpodcast.com for a chance to be featured on a future episode.Until next time, stay curious.
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    46 Min.
  • When Hackers Hold Your Conference for Ransom with Stuart Ruff-Lyon

    When Hackers Hold Your Conference for Ransom with Stuart Ruff-Lyon
    May 5 2026
    Everyone says celebrity keynotes are out. Data says audiences want practitioners, not personalities. So why is RISKWORLD, the world's largest gathering of global risk professionals, doubling down on names like Adam Grant and Michael Strahan?Because sometimes the data is right and your audience is the exception. And knowing the difference is exactly what separates an event operator from a Chief Commercial Officer.In this episode of Event About It, host Megan Martin sits down with Stuart Ruff-Lyon, Chief Commercial Officer at RIMS, the risk management society, to talk about what actually happens when you stop measuring the wrong things and start asking better questions of your event.They play The Debrief, a game where Stuart gives the one question every event leader should be asking in their post-show report but almost never does. From flat sponsor revenue to a 92% say-they'll-return survey rate, Stuart flips the script on the metrics this industry treats as wins.Plus, Stuart shares the story of the morning a hacker held every single PowerPoint and video from RISKWORLD's 150-session education program for ransom. The first day of the show. Before the first session opened.And yes, they got it all back.What You'll Learn:The one question hiding behind every post-event metric that nobody is askingWhy cutting your closing reception to save $200K might be your most expensive decisionHow to think about social media engagement after your conference without counting selfies as a strategyWhat cybersecurity risk actually looks like for a large-scale conference and what RIMS did about itWhy the data says ditch celebrity keynotes — and when to ignore that data entirelyConnect with Stuart Ruff-Lyon: LinkedIn | RIMS.orgRISKWORLD 2026: May 3-6 | Pennsylvania Convention Center, Philadelphia Register and learn moreResources Mentioned:RIMS Active Shooter Resources and After Action Review — the full report Stuart references about the 2023 Atlanta incident, including the minute-by-minute after action review and RIMS' security enhancementsComprehensive Risk Management Guide: https://www.asaecenter.org/about-us/news_releases/2024-news-releases/asae-collaborates-with-industry-leaders-to-produce-comprehensive-risk-and-crisis-management-toolkit-for-associationshttps://associationsnow.com/2023/05/how-one-association-handled-an-active-shooter-incident-in-conference-city/Adam Grant — Think Again — the book Megan references in conversation with Stuart about rethinking assumptionsConnect with Megan Martin: LinkedIn | msquareddynamics.com | @M2Dynamics on social mediaGot a Vent of the Week or an event story worth sharing? Head to eventaboutitpodcast.com to submit yours and get featured on a future episode.Don't miss the Dynamic Dialogue After Show with Stuart, where we go deeper on the RISKWORLD rebrand, the Atlanta active shooter incident, and what association event leaders say behind closed doors that never makes it into the conference presentation. Join the Squared Squad at eventaboutitpodcast.com for access to every After Show episode and exclusive bonus content.Subscribe, leave a review, and share this with someone who still thinks 92% say they'd attend again is a good metric.
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    22 Min.
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