Stacy Eichel

How to hold a microphone. Simple, but necessary tip shot this week January 8th 2026 production in the Bahamas. #suits&signalflow #EventProfs #MeetingPlanners #AVTech #EventProduction #VirtualEvents #HybridEvents #LiveEvents #EventTechnology #TechForEvents #ProductionLife

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Event Tip Tuesday 💡 Before you add more gear, take stock of what’s already in the room. If a venue has built-in projection, screens, and a solid sound system, use them. These turnkey solutions are often more than adequate for basic sessions, content playback, and branded moments. When systems are already installed, tested, and ready to go, you save on labour, logistics, and time. Take the Design Exchange in Toronto, for example. I was recently reminded of the strong in-house AV available, including projection mapping and interactive lighting, all set and ready to go. They even offer pre-programmed content. For clients looking to enhance their events who don't have the budget to start from scratch, this can be a smart place to begin. Once the basics are covered, enhance where it matters most. Lighting accents. Scenic touches. Custom content. Strong Technical support. Have you ever experienced uplights on a raw brick wall? Pretty classy. Or in-house screen/projectors that are simply showing secondary or ambient visuals; they work. Stretching your AV budget isn’t always about doing less. Sometimes it’s about using what’s there to your advantage. Do the site visit. Find out what’s available. And when in doubt — ask. #AV #EventTip #AVTweeps #EventProfs 📸 Design Exchange & CCR Solutions

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56% of tradeshow attendees said they would design in more demonstrations if they were the exhibtor. This aligns with attendees reasons for attending tradeshows, which 50% say is learning. I love both these stats from the recent report put out by Event Marketer. Why? Because its a clear tell that people want to engage with your brand, NOT be sold. This is wild misconception in the tradeshow world IMO. Too many companies "just show up," then they throw up vomiting features and benefits. The brands who show up to sell scare off the attendees. The brands who deliver an experience, invite them in. ✅ Your prospects and customers want value, not a pitch. ✅ Your prospects and customers want authentic relationship building, not to be hounded. ✅ Your prospects and customers want an engaging experience, not a flea market purchase. ✅ Your prospects and customers want to be educated so they can make smart decisions, not a pressured pitch. ✅ Your prospects and customers want to get to know your brand through look, touch, feel type interactions. Not transactional interactions.

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Event marketing strategy is vital, and thank god everyone is finally talking about it. BUT what does it really look like? Strategy at tradeshows, host events, brand activations take many forms and there are many ways to craft and execute strategy to drive the results you desire. A simple example could be rearranging the furniture and seating to promote and encourage a specific type of atmosphere or interactions. Type/style of furniture can play a role in this as well. So simple, but can be so effective when thought through thoroughly and you know what you're trying to accomplish. Lets talk a big one... Whether a tradeshow booth or event, "where are we trying to move our audience to?" Forms of this: - What do we want them feeling after their interaction with us? - What perception of us do we want them to have? - Do they know nothing about us and trying to introduce ourselves? - Are they aware of us and are we informing, educating and persuading? - Where are they in customer/prospect journey and where do we want to move them to in that journey? - Are we trying to accelerate current pipeline or trying to convert SQL -> pipeline or both? Example answer when you ask the right questions in an effort to craft strategy: "We see and talk to a lot of customers at this tradeshow who only use one vertical of our offerings and we really want to cross sell them into another vertical." This would be a great answer and something we can strategize around. How do we get this to happen? What's the setup? How are we engaging them? What do our messaging and scripts look like? Example 2 "We see and meet with a good bit of prospects and already engaged SQL's, the show feels like a good opportunity to add new business pipeline but we are struggling to create those conversions." These are real life answers that we have heard on calls, because we've asked the right questions. Strategy is in the details.

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In this episode of Rants & rAVes, Steph Beckett 💜 chats with Michelle M. about the work of the Digital Signage Federation and what DSF is focused on heading into 2025 and 2026. She also gave details on the October 13 Signage Social at Google in New York City! Catch the full conversation: https://lnkd.in/evPsvx-T #AVtweeps

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It’s been fifteen years of learning, building, and figuring it out as I go. Every event, every client, every challenge has taught me something new, lessons that go beyond planning and into how we build sustainable, professional event brands. That’s what The Purple Print is all about; your blueprint for building a lasting, purposeful career in events. Over the next few weeks, I’ll be sharing fifteen lessons from fifteen years of doing what I love. Welcome to The Purple Print Series. ⭐️ Abokuma Ellis #ThePurplePrintSeries #PurplePrintOfficial #15for15 #EventPlanningBlueprint #EventPlanningTips

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For anyone planning large events, conferences, or brand activations… If you think the couch selection and the florals are what make an event successful, you’re looking at the wrong part of the room. Experienced event producers know the success of an event is decided long before the furniture ever arrives. When you’re producing events at scale, the real work starts with things most people never see. Large-scale events often require coordination with venues, city regulations, safety protocols, and multiple operational teams working together behind the scenes. Here are three things experienced producers think about first. 1. Risk assessment before creative Before we talk about stage design or decor, we evaluate feasibility. Venue constraints. Capacity limits. Structural restrictions. Security considerations. Emergency access routes. Because the fastest way to derail an event is designing something that can’t actually be executed safely. 2. Guest flow engineering Beautiful events can still fail if people can’t move through the space. Where guests enter. Where they pause. Where lines form. Where congestion builds. Experienced producers design the movement of the room, not just how the room looks. 3. The run of show is a risk document People think the run of show is just a timeline. In reality, it’s a protection plan. Every cue exists to prevent something from going wrong. If a speaker runs long… If AV needs a reset… If talent arrives late… A well-built run of show protects the event from chaos. Producing an event at scale isn’t about decoration. It’s about leadership. And when the stakes are high, that difference matters. If you’re responsible for producing large-scale experiences, start looking at the parts of the room most people overlook. That’s where successful events are actually built.

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The Talking Point “Impact 2.0 — Activating the Future” at IMEX America 2025 set the stage for how the events industry can collaborate to drive sustainability and positive change. Fill it Forward provided attendees with reusable Cupanion Bottles—a gift that encourages reuse, tracks impact, and gives back. Read the Success Story here: https://zurl.co/LOC48

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From Expo to Experience: Are We Witnessing a Total Reinvention of the Tradeshow Model? If you walked the floor at IMEX this year, you probably felt it. Booth after booth after booth — polished, professional, predictable. Sales stations disguised as exhibits. Rows of hotels, venues, DMC consortiums, tech platforms, and service providers all lined up like clockwork. Perfect branding. Perfect lighting. Perfectly forgettable. Every conversation began the same way: “Where are you based?” “How big is your group?” “Do you handle incentives?” The rhythm of repetition was deafening. It’s the trade show model we’ve all grown used to — efficient, transactional, and flat. But if you stopped and paid attention, there were flickers of something different happening. The booths drawing real crowds weren’t the biggest or the most polished. They were the ones that broke script. A tequila tasting that turned a passing glance into a ten-minute conversation. A cowboy hat bar where attendees got fitted and personalized — suddenly part of a moment instead of an appointment. A champagne toast for award recipient alumni — spontaneous, celebratory, human. An offsite “club” campus that was anything but the pretty awful hotels offered for hosted buyers – a wonderful respite from the monotony of the day. These weren’t gimmicks but rather connection points. And they reminded everyone that the real power of a tradeshow isn’t visibility; it’s memory. So what does that look like if we actually commit to it? Imagine exhibitors designing “mini rituals” instead of giveaways — moments that pull you into the story of a place, a brand, a feeling. Imagine scent and sound as wayfinding, guiding you toward certain experiences on the floor (not OFF the floor). Imagine a “neighborhood” model where complementary brands build ecosystems instead of silos. Imagine live content being created inside the booth, streamed, clipped, and reused as part of the brand’s year-round story. Why stop at foot traffic when you could design emotional gravity? The tradeshows that thrive next year won’t be the ones with the best square footage at the best spot on the show floor; they’ll be the ones that make attendees forget they’re standing on carpet. The ones that feel alive — choreographed yet unpredictable, structured yet human. That’s the opportunity sitting in plain sight. IMEX just reminded me how rare it still is to see it done well. Maybe the reinvention hasn’t arrived. Maybe it’s waiting for someone to stop playing it safe and start building the kind of experiences everyone else talks about on the flight home.

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🚀 E-Commerce Packaging & Labeling: The Silent Powerhouse Behind White Label Success 📦 As we gear up for the White Label World Series here in the U.S., one thing is clear & great products don’t sell themselves. Presentation, compliance, and customer experience all begin the moment your product lands on a doorstep. That’s where packaging and labeling step in. Whether you’re launching a wellness brand, beauty product, or functional food line, your packaging does more than protect your product it tells your story, builds trust, and ensures you meet retailer and regulatory standards. ✅ Need to stand out in an overcrowded e-commerce market? ✅ Looking to scale with retail-ready compliance? ✅ Want to reduce returns and increase customer loyalty? Then packaging and labeling aren’t just operational details, they’re strategic drivers. At this year’s White Label World Expo, it’s not just about what’s inside the box. It’s about how it gets there, how it looks, and how it makes your customer feel. Let’s connect at the show and talk about how your packaging can become your competitive edge. White Label World Expo White Label World Expo USA #WhiteLabelWorldSeries #EcommercePackaging #BrandExperience #ProductLabeling #WhiteLabelSuccess #PackagingMatters #DTC #RetailReady #WLWS2025 #USExpo #EcommerceStrategy #SustainablePackaging

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Breaking up with an exhibit partner isn’t easy. In Mastering the Switch, experienced event leaders share what actually drives partner decisions, how teams structure RFPs, and how they transition providers without disrupting results. Watch the on-demand panel and use the Supplier Assessment Workbook to evaluate your current exhibit partnership with clarity and confidence. 👇 Access everything here: https://bit.ly/4rrNWHq #TradeShowMarketing #EventStrategy #EventProfs #ExhibitHappy

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When planning large-scale corporate events, the ROI of your branding matters. Traditional print signage is a one-time use expense. High-resolution LED walls, however, allow for dynamic, multi-brand rotations and real-time updates without the waste. At Event Entertainment Capital, we help Fortune 500 companies maximize their event budget by replacing static decor with versatile digital assets. It’s cleaner, smarter, and significantly more impactful. #CorporateEvents #LEDVideoWall #EventBranding #Sustainability #Fortune500

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Our Top 5 Promo Swag Ideas for every exhibitors needs! From branded hand sanitizers and custom pens to snack packs and fridge magnets, this fast-paced video highlights practical, budget-friendly trade show giveaways that drive booth traffic and leave a lasting brand impression. Perfect for event marketers, exhibitors, and small business owners looking for promotional merchandise ideas and exhibitor freebies. Use these promo swag tips to increase engagement, generate leads, and reinforce your brand at conferences and expos. Like the video if you found the list helpful and share it with your event team! #PromoSwag #TradeShow #Exhibitor #MarketingTips #BrandedMerchandise

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No matter which side of the RFP (Request for Proposal) process you find yourself on—submitting or reviewing—chances are, you've encountered your fair share of them. Some are thoughtfully crafted and clear; others, not so much. That’s why, in my latest Mercuro Event Industry Interview, titled “Crafting an Effective RFP with Candy Adams,” I turned to my longtime friend and trade show veteran Candy Adams—better known in the industry as The Booth Mom®—for expert insight. In this candid Q&A, Candy shares what sets a standout RFP apart, where exhibitors commonly go off track, and how to ensure your next request attracts the right partner instead of a mountain of generic responses. Whether you're refining a seasoned exhibit program or drafting your very first RFP, Candy’s advice is essential reading for anyone looking to streamline the process and improve results. Genesis Exhibits Events Education & Workforce Development Federation Live Events Coalition TSNN - Trade Show News Network Eventex 🤝 Meetings & Events Support Association (MESA) Smart Meetings Skift Meetings Exhibitor Group Exhibit City News The Exhibitor Advocate UFI, The Global Association of the Exhibition Industry EDPA - Experiential Designers & Producers Association

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