Andrew Hacking

Here's a lesson shared by Mike Womack at NJMEP during our podcast interview: Trade shows should not be a scan and pray exercise. They redesigned their approach so buyers could say yes right at the booth. The goal was not more scans. The goal was more conversions while the energy was high. Here is the simple checklist I took from Mike’s story: ✅ One clear call to action for the whole campaign ✅ An offer that can be accepted on the spot ✅ A sit down area for real buying conversations ✅ A simple price sheet and terms ready to go ✅ A fast decision path who signs and what you need ✅ Follow up still matters, but capture momentum now If you work events, try this at your next show and measure the lift. How do you turn event energy into revenue? -Ryan

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From Frozen Jet Martinis to AI-powered experiences: 10 ways to keep event audiences engaged At Delta TechOps' 25th anniversary celebration at MRO Americas, more than 600 guests got a taste of what happens when events go beyond the booth. Carnival-style games, branded cocktails, and immersive design turned a networking night into a memory-maker. That’s the power of engagement. When attendees don’t just attend, they participate. From custom digital experiences to simple and effective throwbacks, there are always ways to get your guests involved in the fun. Here are 10 activities that will create deeper connections at trade shows and VIP events: 1. Reimagined classics: puzzles, blocks, Jenga with a branded twist (and giant-size!) 2. Hands-on demos that spark competition 3. Artistic Installations, like coloring a splashy art piece 4. Custom scent bars (yes, smell drives memory) 5. Interactive conductive ink experiences 6. QR scavenger hunts with built-in data capture 7. Digital games that evolve with your message 8. Immersive theaters that transport your audience 9. Gaming headset experiences for next-level storytelling 10. AI activations that surprise, not just selfies Guests remember what they do more than what they see. What’s the most creative engagement tactic you’ve experienced at an event? _________________ Hi, I'm Jay Designing experiences that drive value for your investment. #business #branding #sales #marketing #eventprofs

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You don’t need a Manhattan skyline to make it on national TV - you need a strategy. For spokespeople based outside major media hubs like NYC, media tours offer a proven way to turn a short trip into big-time coverage. Learn how to plan a successful, high-impact tour - and why it’s one of the smartest PR moves - in our latest #UnboxedThoughts article here ➡️ https://lnkd.in/emXDUhXz

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What happens when you trade spreadsheets for a giving platform #BuiltForPurpose? For Central Florida Speech and Hearing Center, it meant a 4x increase in fundraising for their annual fashion show. By moving their event management to Bloomerang’s peer-to-peer tools, they left manual tracking behind and unlocked new possibilities for community engagement and growth. The results speak for themselves: 🌟 Raised nearly $198,000 from a single event 🌟 Simplified participant tracking and donation processing 🌟 Created real-time transparency for fundraisers and donors "Giving increased 300% at this year’s fashion show! If we had not changed our setup to Bloomerang’s Peer-to-Peer platform, it would have been a nightmare to keep accurate records the old way... We will never do another event without Bloomerang!” When your tools empower your community, you don’t just raise more—you build deeper connections to your mission. See their full story here: https://bit.ly/4iMYJt1 #Fundraising #Bloomerang

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At Digiday DPS in Miami and the biggest thing Publishers are talking about, bigger than any Core Web Vitals update, is the fall off in traffic due to AI Overviews. It varies by vertical, but many Pubs are seeing up to a 40% cliff with no bottom in sight. 😱

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Several years ago, Cult was asked to help Eddie Bauer reclaim its relevance. We recommended a solid, actionable customer engagement and brand revitalization strategy (BTW - it had nothing to do with redesigning their logo, which is a poor substitute for brand reinvention). They smiled, nodded, and then... did nothing with any of our ideas. Eddie Bauer just filed for bankruptcy and announced it is closing all their North American retail stores to become a digital-only brand. I'm not an "I told you so" kind of guy, but this post kinda is. Going digital-only is the business equivalent of saying, "We couldn't figure out how to make people want to visit us, so we're just going to stop inviting them." Physical retail isn't dead. Undifferentiated retail is dead. Retailers that offer nothing you can't get faster and cheaper online are dead. Eddie Bauer's problem was never that they had stores. Their problem was that their stores—and their brand—stopped giving people a compelling reason to care. When you're selling the same fleece jackets as everyone else, at roughly the same price, with roughly the same experience, you become forgettable. And forgettable brands don't survive, no matter how many channels they're on. Their digital focus is code for, "we're out of ideas." Real transformation required them to reimagine what made their customers choose them in the first place. It meant finding authentic ways to deliver that in today's world. Instead, Eddie Bauer chose to shut it all down, go online, and hope the Shopify gods smile upon them. They won't, because the internet is already full of outdoor brands. What it lacks is remarkable ones—brands that understand their customers deeply enough to create experiences worth showing up for, whether that's in a store, online, or anywhere else. Omnichannel doesn't mean "both." It means "wherever your customers want you, done exceptionally well." Eddie Bauer chose "neither." That's a shame.

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A few recurring themes I’ve been noticing in the events industry and Sequence Events lately: 1. The Shift Toward Year-Round Thinking 2. A Possible RFP Crossroads 3. Integrating AI at Events I’ve shared more thoughts on each in the article linked in the comments. Curious to know what others are seeing in the industry!

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