Public Event Announcements

I usually book 70-80 speaking events per year. This year? Maybe 40. Just talked with a friend who's a veteran Top 50 speaker. She said: "This is the slowest year I've seen in 15 years." And you know what? This might be the best thing that's happened to our industry. Here's why: Crisis creates clarity. Despite a rise in in-person conferences and hybrid events in 2025, event analysts report that demand for keynote speakers and average speaking fees have not yet returned to pre-pandemic highs, reflecting a speaking industry still undergoing a slower recovery (Corporate Event News). This makes you realize the old model alone was fragile all along. When corporate training budgets tighten and companies restructure, it forces innovation nobody would've attempted otherwise. The data is clear: Our industry is transforming. Training hours down. Marketing budgets compressed. Organizations making hard choices about every dollar. But here's what this disruption revealed: The need for transformation hasn't decreased. The delivery model was the problem. Organizations still desperately need change leadership. Teams still need resilience tools. Leaders still need guidance through uncertainty. They just need it differently. So instead of waiting for budgets to recover, I asked: How can we serve more people with less friction? I took my power back and leveled up! Old model: One keynote → 500 executives → Hope it sticks  Leveled Up model: Keynotes (same as above) AND Industry-leading certifications → 5,000 change leaders → Proven implementation We're not lowering our value. We're expanding our reach. Companies get: • 10x more leaders trained • Sustainable transformation (not just inspiration) • Budget-friendly investment • Measurable ROI We get: • 10x the impact • Recession-proof revenue • Deeper client relationships • Scalable growth The opportunity hiding in every crisis: While many speakers are raising fees in a struggling market, smart speakers are creating accessibility. While others wait for the "old normal," innovators are building the new one. This isn't about accepting less. It's about achieving more. Your disruption playbook: 1. Thank the crisis for the clarity 2. Find the unmet need it revealed 3. Create radical accessibility 4. Scale through volume AND value 5. Build partnerships, not just bookings The speakers who thrive won't be the ones with the biggest fees. They'll be the ones with the biggest impact. And honestly? That's who we should've been all along. This disruption didn't break our industry. It's forcing us to become what our clients actually needed. The question isn't: When will speaking recover? The question is: What will you create while others wait? How are you turning your industry's constraints into creativity? Ready to transform your organization even in uncertain times? Let's talk about what's possible within your budget. DM me.

Google just changed the game for event marketing. The big winner? Publications and associations. I’ll explain. But first. How are events discovered? Whether you want to admit it or not. It’s word of mouth. You hear about an event. You google it. Well ‘googling it’ is changing. On Monday, google released “AI Mode”. It hasn’t replaced the default search…yet. But it will. Showing up in AI Mode isn’t the same as ranking on google. Here’s what you need to do: 1. Get event page schema right Crawling a site is expensive. It uses token. The easier an event site is to crawl, the sooner it will get picked up. Add schema. org/Event, FAQ, and How-To markup to your reg page. Feed it clear dates, speakers, prices, and “Get tickets” actions. No markup = no mention. Event platforms like Accelevents do this automatically. 2. Earn citations, not backlinks AI Mode loves credibility. Niche trade publications & associations matter again. Land guest posts, podcast, speaker quotes. Visibility first, referral traffic second. 3. Keep Content Updated Stale pages will be punished. Update schedules, seat availability, and pricing in real time. AI Mode surfaces up-to-the-minute info. 4. Drive user-generated content Get attendees to share “One thing I learned at YourEvent” posts. AI Mode loves human content from social, reddit, quora, etc. The volume of brand mentions matters. 5. Tighten the trust signals Keep speak bios consistent. Link to verified social handles & get mentions from them. Credibility & authority are huge ranking factors. 6. Answer the long tail & hard questions Create an event FAQ (using schema markup) E.g. “Is XYZ Summit worth it?” “What’s the ROI of attending?” Publish cost-breakdowns, who your event is and isn’t for, etc Control the narrative. Better you than someone on Reddit. Simply put. When people hear about your event. Make it easy for them to find it. How are you adjusting your event discovery strategy?

We spend crores creating campaigns. But skip the one thing that actually makes them work! You plan a brilliant campaign. You create a stunning event. You pour time, creativity, and serious money into the ‘what’. But then — right when it’s time to tell the world — your budget runs out. Visibility. Dissemination. Audience access. This is where most brands falter. And ironically, this is also where the success of your campaign actually lives. I’ve seen this happen time and again: • A lab-grown diamond brand spent months perfecting its collection and launch experience. But when it came time to bring in a PR partner who could get actual buyers into the room — there were “no budgets left.” • A global sportswear brand had a massive announcement lined up. They invested in the staging, the aesthetics, the content — but when we talked about what was needed to take this story across the right media and influencer channels, the response was: “We don’t have a big budget as everything is already spent. Please give me a workable budget.” • Or the everyday example: running a beautiful social media page but putting zero media spend behind it. You post. You hope. You wait. But you haven’t told the algorithm — or your audience — that you exist. Here’s the truth: You don’t just need to create the moment. You need to move it. And for that, dissemination — whether it’s press, influencers, community, or media strategy — cannot be an afterthought. It’s not a “nice to have.” It’s the thing that ensures everything else was worth it. So if you’re planning a big campaign or event, here’s my advice: At the very first budget meeting, lock in a line item for audience and media amplification. Give it priority. Allocate enough. Bring in the right partners. Because the campaign that no one hears about is just an expensive secret. Let’s stop treating dissemination as optional. It’s essential.

Interviewer: Design a notification service My answer: Challenge accepted, let’s go! 1. what even is a notification system? it’s a system that delivers alerts to users through: ‣ in-app (that bell icon) ‣ push notifications (on mobile or web) ‣ email (for things that can wait) the goal? to tell the right person, the right thing, at the right time — without breaking under millions of users. 2. what happens when an event occurs? a user does something — say, UserA likes your post. question: how does the system know to tell you? → the app calls an API like /notify and sends: { "event_type": "like", "actor": "UserA", "receiver": "UserB", "object": "Post123" } this is the trigger. the system now knows something happened and who cares about it. 3. how do we make sure it doesn’t break under load? millions of events can happen at once. if we handle them immediately, we crash. so we ask: can we queue them instead? → yes. we push every event into a queue (Kafka or RabbitMQ). this lets the app move on fast, while workers handle the heavy lifting later. 4. who processes the queue? a worker picks up each event and starts thinking: ‣ what happened? ‣ who should get this? ‣ how do they want to get it? it checks the user’s preferences (in Redis or DB): “does UserB want push alerts or just in-app?” then it builds a nice message like: UserA liked your post “How to scale systems.” 5. how does it reach the user? now comes the fan-out step. the worker sends this message through the right channels: ‣ In-App → save it in DB (so it shows under the bell icon) ‣ Push → send via FCM/APNs ‣ Email → queue in SES/SendGrid question: what if something fails? 6. what if sending fails? every channel has its own service with retry logic. if a push fails, it tries again (3–5 times, with a delay). we also log everything: sent, failed, or skipped. and if a message just keeps failing? we move it to a Dead Letter Queue (DLQ) to analyze later. 7. how does the user see it? the app just calls: /notifications?user=UserB and fetches from the database. → you see “UserA liked your post” with a “read/unread” flag. simple, fast, familiar. 8. how do we scale this? big systems need smart tricks: ‣ Kafka/RabbitMQ → to handle massive event traffic ‣ Redis cache → for fast preference lookups ‣ Hashing → to avoid duplicate notifications ‣ Batching → to group low-priority ones (“Your 10 posts got likes today”) 9. how do we make it reliable? idempotent writes → no double sends exponential backoff → retry smartly DLQ → never lose failed messages metrics → track success/failure alerts → if queue grows too long this ensures it delivers billions of messages quietly, on time, and with care. 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗻 𝗝𝗮𝘃𝗮 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄𝘀? I’ve got you covered 𝐂𝐡𝐞𝐜𝐤 𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗱𝗲𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝗝𝗮𝘃𝗮 𝗕𝗮𝗰𝗸𝗲𝗻𝗱 𝗗𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗽𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗣𝗿𝗲𝗽 𝗞𝗶𝘁: https://lnkd.in/dfhsJKMj 40% OFF for a limited time: use code 𝗝𝗔𝗩𝗔𝟭𝟳 #Java #Backend #JavaDeveloper

Too often, events and congresses are treated as standalone activations, disconnected from the larger engagement ecosystem. But in reality, they should be an integral part of a broader, data-driven engagement strategy, seamlessly integrated into systems like Veeva Systems, Salesforce, and omnichannel CRMs. How, you may ask: • If an HCP asks a specific question during a congress panel, that data should trigger tailored content recommendations in the CRM, instead of a generic post-event email. • Ensure that digestible short-form key learnings from live sessions flow into on-demand content libraries, allowing non-attendees to engage later. • A Veeva-integrated chatbot could automatically send relevant whitepapers, webinars, or advisory board invites based on what an HCP engaged with at the event. • A Salesforce-powered HCP journey map could ensure that a congress attendee automatically receives digital touchpoints (e.g., follow-up emails, LinkedIn discussions, or small-group webinars) aligned with their specific interests. • A company using Veeva Vault CRM (or other CRMs) + Events Management + Salesforce Einstein AI (or Copilot) can dynamically adjust post-event outreach strategy based on how an HCP interacted with content at the congress. • Sprinklr + Salesforce CDP for social listening enables Digital Opinion Leaders (DOL) Activation by tracking and analyzing post-event conversations across various social and digital platforms. The key takeaway is that events and congresses should be fully integrated within the CRM, digital engagement, and omnichannel ecosystem—ensuring that every interaction contributes to a seamless, long-term engagement strategy rather than just a single event touchpoint. Check the full episode with Pierre Metrailler at Onomi / SpotMe on demand: https://lnkd.in/dwg7BYiu And if you want to learn more about our expertise at The Palindromic across "Next-Gen CX Strategy" and "Expert Engagement & HCP360 Enablement" - drop me a note at claude.w@thepalindromic.com

I’ve been having lots of conversations about LinkedIn for events from organisers wanting to drive visibility and engagement, to exhibitors heading to upcoming tradeshows, and everyone in between. Whether you’re hosting, exhibiting, or attending LinkedIn can help you get more out of every event: ✨ More visibility 🤝 More connections 📈 More business outcomes Yet LinkedIn is often underused in the event space. A one-and-done post. A quick thank you. A flurry of activity... then silence. But here’s the thing: the event isn’t the beginning and it shouldn’t be the end. To get the most value, LinkedIn should be part of your strategy before, during and after the event. Here’s how to make the most of it: 🌠 1. Be LinkedIn Event Ready Your profile and company page shape your first impression often before anyone meets you. They should tell a clear, credible story that aligns with your event involvement. Organiser Tip: Create a LinkedIn Brand Kit for your speakers, exhibitors, and team – banners, hashtags, talking points, and example posts. Exhibitor Tip: Use an event-themed banner to show your stand details or branding. 🌠 2. Build Relationships Before the Event The most valuable connections rarely start cold on event day. The lead-up to the event is prime time to increase visibility, build familiarity, and position yourself as someone worth connecting with or visiting at the stand. Organiser Tip: Spotlight speakers, exhibitors, and sessions early and use tags to amplify. Exhibitor Tip: Shortlist people you want to meet - clients, prospects, collaborators, media and start connecting early. 🌠 3. Maximise the Event Experience Use LinkedIn to take people behind the scenes, amplify moments as they happen, and make your presence visible to those who couldn’t attend. Organiser Tip: Have someone live post from the floor, tagging participants and sharing session soundbites. Exhibitor Tip: Make it easy for people to connect with you it creates immediate pathways to keep the conversation going. 🌠 4. Keep the Momentum Going This is the stage where most people go quiet, but this is when the real relationship-building begins. Use LinkedIn to keep the conversation going. Share your takeaways. Follow up with new connections. Repurpose content into future posts. Organiser Tip: Share a highlight post and set the stage for what’s next even a “Save the Date” works. Exhibitor Tip: Send a personalised follow-up message referencing your chat. 🌟 Key Takeaways LinkedIn is one of the most powerful tools you have to extend your event beyond the room. It allows you to build relationships before the first handshake, stay visible throughout the event and strengthen credibility and connection long after the banners are packed away. And if you'd like support to develop your own LinkedIn event strategy that's more than one and done, I’d love to help. Because showing up is just the beginning. #linkedin #events #eventmarketing

Your calendar isn’t your brand. Your presence is. Everyone says “just show up” But no one teaches how to stand out. Speaker. Attendee. Watching from the sidelines. Doesn’t matter. If you know how to use it. Let’s bust the myths about events and visibility 👇 𝑴𝒚𝒕𝒉 1: Speaking = visibility Wrong. No framing, no impact. A stage means nothing alone. 𝑴𝒚𝒕𝒉 2: Virtual events are just fluff Nope. They’re low-lift, high-leverage, if used right. 𝑴𝒚𝒕𝒉 3: Thought leaders wait for invites False. They create, engage, and earn the mic. 𝑴𝒚𝒕𝒉 4: If it’s not a post, it didn’t happen Bad take. Follow-ups, comments, and DMs build more trust. 𝑴𝒚𝒕𝒉 5: Visibility means constant posting Not really. Relevance beats noise. Precision wins. You want to turn event participation into actual visibility? This is how you do it right 👇 📌 Before the event Clarify your lens Decide what you want to be known for 📌 While attending Listen for insight, not just quotes Capture what’s useful, not what’s loud 📌 While posting Tie it back to your brand Don’t just tag, contextualize 📌 If you speak Share one bold idea, not the whole talk Hook with clarity, not a mic drop 📌 If you lurk Still counts, just show how it shaped your thinking Reflection builds authority, too 📌 What compounds Showing up repeatedly, with a purpose One consistent lens, across moments 📌 What dilutes Clout-chasing recaps Over-tagging, zero signal Events are strategy. Only if you know how to turn presence into proof. So, how do your events show what you stand for? P.S.: Want to turn attendance into real brand impact? Full blog in the comments.

In today’s fast-changing media landscape, learning never stops. Recently, as a brand, we navigated the challenge of building visibility with meaning—balancing brand imagery with reach, especially for our growing Gen Z audience. This generation is reshaping the CPG world—authentic, expressive, and deeply experience-driven. While I strongly resonate with Byron Sharp’s approach to building mental and physical availability, I’ve realized that without experimentation, true growth opportunities often stay hidden. One such space that has evolved rapidly post-COVID? Live events. With rising purchasing power, audiences today are happy to invest ₹8K–₹10K in experiences that create memories—concerts, festivals, and on-ground activations. But making an IRL experience both impactful and ROI-positive is harder than it looks. A recent music festival collaboration gave me fresh perspective—here are some takeaways that might help anyone planning their next live activation: ✅ Do’s • Build campaign themes that extend beyond a single event. • Focus on measurable engagement—FPD collection, contests, UGC creation. • Keep participation fun and simple—think meet & greets, concert wearables. • Activate an influencer army to drive both on-ground and digital buzz. • Use smart, contextual placements—Spotify playlists, Uber route ads. • Integrate a sales leg—concert combos or pre-event “buy to win” offers. • Ensure you have a core team that truly lives and breathes events—those nuances make all the difference. • Add creativity and personalization—it’s what people remember. • Always do your homework: location, layout, and audience flow matter. 🚫 Don’ts • Don’t partner with inexperienced live event teams—it shows. • Avoid overpaying big influencers; mid-tier creators often deliver better ROI. • Steer clear of boxed setups—open spaces encourage organic interactions. • Unless you’re a beverage brand, skip “chill zones.” Movement = visibility. Some of this may sound obvious—but when you’re in the middle of it, these small details truly make or break your brand experience. These learnings have already changed how I approach on-ground integrations, and I hope they spark ideas for your next live activation too. #Marketing #LiveEvents #BrandExperience #GenZ #MediaStrategy #CPG #LearningByDoing #Lollapalooza #Nivea A big thank you to Nivea India, Geetika Mehta , and Shweta Dalal for this incredible opportunity—and to my amazing team for bringing it all to life! Simone Fernandes Priyanka Vaidya Nikhil George Vakkan V Jenita B. Priyanshi Bansal and our Agency Partners Publics (POT), OMD & MSL

What happens when your pipeline fails? Nobody talks about this enough. But in event-driven architectures, failure handling is just as important as the happy path. If your pipeline drops a file into S3, how do you make sure it actually gets processed? What if something breaks? What if the message is lost? AWS has a great pattern for this—fully event-driven and fail-safe. Here’s the setup: 1️⃣ A file lands in S3 (e.g., from a device, an external system, or a batch job). 2️⃣ S3 triggers an event, sending a notification to SNS (Simple Notification Service). 3️⃣ SNS distributes that event to SQS (Simple Queue Service). 4️⃣ An EC2 instance (or Lambda) picks up the message from SQS, fetches the file from S3, and processes it. 5️⃣ If processing fails, SQS ensures the message isn’t lost—it stays in the queue and gets retried automatically. Why SNS + SQS instead of sending notifications straight to the queue? 👉 You can fan out events! One message can trigger multiple processing pipelines. 👉 It keeps your architecture modular and decoupled. This isn’t just an AWS-specific trick. You’ll find similar patterns in other cloud platforms, but AWS makes it easy to implement. If you’re working with event-driven data pipelines, you should absolutely understand and apply this approach. How do you handle failures and retries in your pipelines?

I've said it before and I'll say it again... audience acquisition is the HARDEST part of events!! → You can’t control other people’s behavior No matter how compelling the invite, attendees will still flake, double-book, or ghost you entirely. → Everyone is over-scheduled Your target audience is drowning in meetings, travel, and responsibilities, making it tough to carve out time for your event. → Marketing noise overload Your beautifully crafted event invite is buried under hundreds of emails, LinkedIn DMs, and Slack notifications. → Budget constraints Your audience might love to attend, but travel costs, registration fees, or internal budget approvals can be deal-breakers. →  It’s a long conversion game Getting someone from awareness → interest → registration → attendance takes multiple touchpoints (more than 21 now!), and most event teams don’t have enough runway to nurture that journey. → Corporate red tape Many B2B attendees need manager approval to attend, and if their boss doesn’t see the value fast enough (or believes they can't meet their work deadlines if they go), they’re not coming. → Time zones and geography What’s convenient for one audience is a logistical nightmare for another, making global attendance tough. → Lack of immediate ROI If attendees don’t see a clear, urgent reason to attend (what’s in it for them right now?), they’ll pass. → You’re competing with “doing nothing” Sometimes, the biggest competitor isn’t another event - it’s the sheer allure of not attending anything at all. So what do you do? ➡ Leverage community & advocates People trust people more than marketing. Equip past attendees, speakers, and industry influencers with easy-to-share content and incentives to spread the word. Consider referral programs, social media challenges, or exclusive perks for those who bring a friend. Gleanin can help with this. ➡ Personalize your outreach Mass emails and generic ads won’t cut through the noise (even if they DO make it into the real inbox and not the promo folder). Use segmented messaging based on attendee type (VIPs, first-timers, decision-makers, etc.) and lean into personalized outreach via video invites, direct DMs, or targeted LinkedIn campaigns. Learn the ropes from GURU Media Hub. ➡ Make registration frictionless If your sign-up process takes more than a minute or two, you’re losing people. One-click registration, mobile-friendly pages, and auto-filling forms help. Swoogo can help with this. ➡ Follow up like a human Don’t assume “registered” means “attending.” Keep them engaged with pre-event touchpoints (speaker teasers, or a “what to expect” email written like a friend, not a corporate entity). And always give them an easy way to add it to their calendar. Concierge can help with SMS messaging. -------------------- Need other suggestions? That's what Club Ichi is for! Get advice, ideas, and a little group therapy on the Inside. Get in here: www.weareichi.com