---
name: event-strategy
description: Strategic planning, marketing, and event design support for events professionals. Use when building event marketing plans, designing event programs, creating run-of-show documents, developing post-event reports, building attendee journey maps, or planning content strategy. Triggers on requests for event marketing, event design, program development, ROI analysis, attendee experience, post-event reporting, or strategic planning.
---

# Event Planning, Marketing & Strategy

## Purpose
Your strategic thinking partner for event design, marketing, and execution — from concept to post-event report.

## When to Use
- Building an event marketing plan or campaign calendar
- Designing an event program or session agenda
- Creating a run-of-show document for production and emcee
- Mapping the attendee journey from first touchpoint to exit
- Building a post-event report for a client or executive audience
- Conducting an ROI or event impact analysis

## Inputs
- Event type, goals, and audience profile
- Event date and key planning milestones
- Format (in-person, virtual, hybrid) and scale
- Existing assets: confirmed speakers, sponsors, venue, budget
- Stated success metrics or leadership expectations

## Quick Reference

### Core Planning Phases
1. **Strategy & Design**: Goals, audience, format, content pillars
2. **Marketing & Promotion**: Campaign timeline, channels, messaging
3. **Logistics & Production**: Venue, vendors, run-of-show, team roles
4. **Attendee Experience**: Journey mapping, touchpoints, engagement
5. **Post-Event**: Reporting, follow-up, lessons learned, ROI

### Event Types Covered
- Corporate conferences and summits
- Association annual meetings and chapter events
- Hybrid and virtual events
- Trade shows and exhibitions
- Fundraisers and galas
- Incentive and experiential programs
- Workshops and training sessions

## Workflow by Task

### Task 1: Build an Event Marketing Plan
1. Define event goals: registration targets, audience profile, key messages
2. Map the campaign timeline backward from event date
3. Select channels: email, social, paid, partner, earned
4. Generate messaging by phase: awareness → consideration → registration → countdown
5. Build a content calendar structure with channel, date, and message type
6. Include a post-event phase: recap, recording, re-engagement

### Task 2: Design an Event Program / Agenda
1. Identify the event arc: what's the emotional journey for attendees?
2. Map content blocks: keynote, sessions, breaks, networking, activations
3. Balance formats: talk, panel, interactive, experiential
4. Apply energy management: high-energy openers, lower after lunch, strong close
5. Build in buffer time — always more than you think you need
6. Generate a formatted agenda suitable for website, app, or print

### Task 3: Create a Run-of-Show Document
1. List every moment from load-in to load-out
2. Assign owner and timing for each element
3. Include AV cues, slide transitions, speaker introductions
4. Add contingency notes for high-risk elements
5. Format for easy use by production team and emcee

### Task 4: Map the Attendee Journey
1. Start pre-event: first touchpoint (ad / invite / word of mouth)
2. Map registration experience, confirmation, and pre-event communication
3. Design the on-site / online arrival and first impression
4. Identify peak engagement moments and low-energy risk points
5. Plan the exit experience: what do they leave with, feel, and do next?

### Task 5: Build a Post-Event Report
1. Frame around stated goals: did we hit them?
2. Include key metrics: registration, attendance, engagement, NPS/satisfaction
3. Add qualitative highlights: standout moments, speaker feedback, attendee quotes
4. Section on what worked, what to improve, what to drop
5. Close with recommendations for next event
6. Format for executive audience: lead with outcomes, support with data

### Task 6: ROI / Event Impact Analysis
1. Define the value categories: revenue generated, pipeline influenced, brand, community
2. Calculate direct costs vs. measurable returns
3. Include indirect value (harder to quantify but important to name)
4. Generate a one-page summary suitable for leadership or board review
5. Connect outcomes to organizational goals — not just event metrics

## Output Format
- **Marketing plan**: Campaign timeline with channel, date, message type, and post-event phase
- **Program / agenda**: Formatted agenda by time block, suitable for website, app, or print
- **Run-of-show**: Moment-by-moment doc with owner, timing, AV cues, and contingency notes
- **Attendee journey map**: Touchpoint-by-touchpoint narrative from first contact to exit
- **Post-event report**: Goals-first executive summary with metrics, highlights, and recommendations
- **ROI summary**: One-page impact document connecting event outcomes to organizational goals

## Key Principles

### Goals Before Tactics
Every plan starts with: what does success look like? What should attendees DO, FEEL, and KNOW after this event? Tactics serve goals — never the reverse.

### Energy is a Design Element
A well-designed event manages energy deliberately: high energy to open, lower and more intimate mid-event, strong close that sends people out with momentum.

### The Attendee Is the Audience, Not the Organizer
Marketing messaging and program design should center the attendee's motivation for being there — not the organizer's agenda.

### Post-Event Work Is Half the Value
The event itself is the moment. The follow-up, reporting, and relationship-building after is where ROI is realized. Build it into the plan from day one.

## What to Avoid
- Starting with tactics before defining goals — always anchor to: what does success look like?
- Building agendas without energy management — the session after lunch and the final hour need deliberate design
- Organizer-centered marketing messaging that leads with your credentials rather than attendee motivation
- Under-budgeting buffer time in run-of-show documents — things always take longer than planned
- Post-event reports that only highlight wins — honest assessment of what to improve is what makes the next event better
- Treating ROI as a purely financial calculation — pipeline, community, and brand value are real and worth naming

## Tool / System Integration
- **Google Docs**: Draft run-of-show, program, and post-event reports here for team collaboration
- **Google Sheets**: Build marketing calendar, registration tracker, and budget tracker in Sheets
- **Google Slides**: Create attendee journey maps and post-event decks for stakeholder presentations
- **Gmail + Calendar**: Automate pre-event reminder sequence and post-event follow-up timing
- **Google Drive**: Organize all event assets in a consistent folder structure (see `references/folder-template.md`)
- **OneDrive**: Same folder structure works identically — store event assets in your mounted `Claude — Skills & Context` folder

## Resources
- `references/marketing-calendar-template.md` — Standard campaign timeline structure
- `references/agenda-formats.md` — Agenda templates by event type and format
- `references/run-of-show-template.md` — Standard ROS structure with owner, timing, and AV cues
- `references/post-event-report-template.md` — Executive report structure and metric definitions
- `references/roi-framework.md` — Value categories, measurement methods, and calculation formulas
- `references/folder-template.md` — Recommended Google Drive folder structure for event files