(0:34) This was taken today at a rehearsal for the July 4th performance at the Salute Stage on the Mall. Those dancers are incredibly lucky to not have mortal injuries. EDIT: This is not actually at the Great American State Fair, but at a rehearsal for a separate event also on the Mall (Salute to America 250, which will be on July 4th).
I'm based in New York City and looking to connect with NYC event planners and creatives who specialize in small, themed, experience-driven birthday and milestone events, as well as creative company gatherings for around 20–50 guests—rather than traditional weddings or large corporate functions.
The kinds of experiences I’m drawn to tend to attract a creative, geeky, and playful crowd—events where people are actively participating, not just attending.
Think:
I’m especially interested in connecting with people who think about events as complete environments or experiences, not just programming or décor.
If you're someone working in this space (or know others who are), I’d love to connect and learn what kinds of work people are creating in NYC right now.
I’m also open to and would love any recommendations for communities or groups where people doing more creative, themed, or experiential events tend to gather.
If this is your world, I’d love to hear what you’re creating.
I am hosting an event in a few months and I am on the prowl for speakers. My process is to try to connect with a prospective speaker on LinkedIn, and if he or she accepts the request, start sending LinkedIn messages or emails (if I can see their email address in LinkedIn) to get them to respond. It is time-intensive and laborious. I am using AI to scrape their LinkedIn accounts and the Internet to help craft personalized messages to save time. Does anyone have any other suggestions for how to identify and connect with potential speakers? I did a call for speakers, but that didn't really get anyone outside of my network.
LUME Studios is hiring for the Autumn/Fall 2026 and Winter 2027 season! We are looking for people who can do construction, build, fabricate projects and do repairs to help maintain our venue.
This is a flexible, project-based opportunity that's ideal for freelancers, independent contractors, or anyone looking to pick up additional work on their own schedule. Projects range from venue maintenance and repairs to custom fabrication and immersive event installations.
Responsibilities
Qualifications
About LUME Studios: we blend creativity, technology, and live events to make experiences people remember. Our team designs and produces immersive environments using projection mapping, spatial audio, lighting, and interactive technology for brands, artists, agencies, and private clients. One week you might be helping produce an executive dinner surrounded by 360° visuals, the next you’re mapping a music video, building a product launch, or preparing a live streamed conference. We’re looking for curious, reliable people who enjoy solving problems, learning new technology, and working alongside a creative production team.
If you, or someone you know, is interested in this position please email us at Dotan@lumestudios.com
Location: TriBeCa NYC
Pay: Part time Hourly $30 based on experience
Hi! I have a client who is looking for an event production company based in NYC that has experience with small-medium club nights [1000-1500 people] who can do decorations, set up, and some basic branded items.
I only have a small budget though [$1.5K - 2K] so I’m hoping for a miracle 🙏
TIA!!
Hi all,
I am planning a meeting where we will have multiple meetings simultaneously and was wondering if anyone has a website or method they use to plan meetings where you are notified if there are overlaps.
For example: if John is needed for a planning meeting and also needed for an outcome meeting, I can’t do both at 2pm because John would be able to attend both.
I normally just list out all the members and check myself but it takes a lot of time.
Any help is greatly appreciated!
Sorry I posted this like three times like a dummy for not having done the read the rules acknowledgment.
Location: California
we have this idea of doing a karaoke booth, $1 per song, at our church festival... parish council loves the idea... i started digging into licensing, etc, but it seems sooo overwhelming... we have a mechanical license for projecting hymn lyrics on the wall via OneLicense, but the karaoke requirements seem to be a different animal altogether... can we use YouTube or do we need to go a different route? Thanks in advance!
Starting a new job in event sales. This company hosts conferences, exhibitions, webinars etc and I’ll be working to sell spaces/tickets.
I used to work as an event organiser/manager previously and I did med dev sales before that (really trying to get back into that some day). For now I am trying my hand at this career and I wanted to know how it’s going for anyone in this line of work?
What helps you make the most sales? How are you getting leads? What are people valuing the most? I’d be really interested in hearing some stories. Even just to ease my anxiety about going into something new.
Planning my first official event. For some background.
I’m a play writer that has been given the opportunity to have my plays performed at my church. We have roughly around 100 people (for sizing). This will be the first year where my play is the full focus of the night. No other performance just the play. I’m an all or nothing kind of person so I decorate the outdoors/gymnasium, the foyer, and the sanctuary. I’ve done that for the past two years and it was already a toll. I learned to delegate after my first year. Last year I worked with a team but the whole night was not my focus. Now it is. I now need to focus on but just everything that goes on in the play, but the decor, food, drinks, sermon, worship, fund raising, etc.
I need some advise on what I need to look out for, how to delegate, what to expect, and any other advise. Let me explain the evening.
The theme is magical winter wonderland.
Layout.
The gymnasium is separate from the building. Inside there and outside will be table and sitting arrangements for people to spend time while they wait to come inside/during intermission/after the production. There will be very small decorations on the table. Think candle with pinecones or flowers.
The foyer will be one directional. All doors will be blocked off (but in a way where we can escape fire) except for two. One that leads into the foyer and at the end of it another door that leads into the sanctuary. Inside will be more of a winter forest pathway.
In the sanctuary.
I’m still playing with the ideas due to me still refining the play.
Now I also want to incorporate themed drinks (must pay but usually around $5, our church is used to that) and small savoury and sweet treats (handed out).
I am also the director of the play. This means my main focus is on that.
The person I’ve used to help me plan the decor the past couple of times frankly needs a break from the plays. I know my ideas can be a bit demanding. My sister took up the role for that but she isn’t willing to try and see how she could make the vision work.
Any advice from anyone on how to go on with planning this night?
Aside from delegation and minimising. Trust me this is minimised. I am open to reworking ideas if we exhausted our options but I need to know that we have tried all that we can.
We’re starting to plan our annual corporate holiday party and are looking for entertainment that’s different from what we’ve done in the past. Something new and unique for our guests.
The event is in December at a food hall that will be closed to the public. Guests can order from multiple food vendors, there is also a bar, and the entertainment space is wide open. The venue has told us there are essentially no restrictions on entertainment.
In previous years we’ve done:
Mini bowling
Dueling pianos
DJ with a speakeasy theme
This year I’d love to surprise everyone with something unexpected. It could be centered around a theme or just a unique entertainment experience.
Has your company done anything that people still talk about years later? Looking for ideas beyond the typical casino night, photo booth, or standard DJ.
We typically have around 120-150 attendees, and we’re open to almost anything as long as it’s fun, interactive, and works well for adults.
Ok folks, we've had one of our main mods take a break and I've been MIA for 6+ months myself (as I just needed to take a break from social). Anyway, we've cleared all the backlogs in the queue and Mod Mail (except for 1 we are working on). If there is anything outstanding we'll try to be more active and we'll try to get a couple more mods on board as well. Apologies for the spam here. I know I joined as a mod sometime back because of all the spam I saw, and I know it's frustrating. If we've missed something, please let us know again in mod mail or here. Appreciate you all that make this community better!
I run a career conference yearly and it's always hard to get sponsorship. I usually get maximum of 5 sponsors. I'm looking for more strategy out there?
This year,I'm being very intentional and I have my strategy on making my attendees get the best experience but, I wish there's a course for this but none out there. Probably I will be able to create one once I figure it out but I must say it's extremely difficult. We are able to pull in funds through exhibition and ticket sales but sponsorship is limited .
Most sponsors only wanna work with big names and YES there's bias I've seen and I understand some of you Maga will jump at me but the bias is the huge deal which I'm trying to break. I wish there's a course on how to win MAGAs bias but I'm gonna try this year,I actually enjoy playing over their psychology, maybe this is a rant, I don't know
Putting together my concert from the ground up was one of the most chaotic but rewarding things I’ve ever done. It started with finding the right venue — which sounds simple until you’re actually doing it. I toured places, compared prices, dealt with availability issues, and tried to picture how everything would look on the night of the show. Once I finally locked in a venue, it felt like the first real step forward.
Next came booking mid‑tier artists. Reaching out, negotiating, figuring out deposits, and making sure everyone was on the same page took way more time than I expected. Some artists responded fast, some took forever, and some made me rethink the whole lineup. But once the confirmations came in, the event started to feel real.
Then I built my own website. That part came with its own set of headaches — broken layouts, things not loading, random issues that popped up at the worst times. I’d fix one thing and break another. But eventually, the site came together, and seeing it live felt like a huge win.
After that, it was all about promotion. I pushed everything through social media, made graphics, wrote posts, and ran ads to get the event in front of the right people. Some ads did great, some flopped, and some made me question whether I even knew what I was doing. But slowly, the numbers started moving. People were clicking, sharing, and actually buying tickets.
By the time the concert happened, everything I built — the venue choice, the artist lineup, the website, the social media push — came together. Seeing people walk in because they saw my posts or clicked one of my ads was honestly one of the best feelings. All the stress, late nights, and “why isn’t this working” moments suddenly made sense.
If anyone else is trying to find a venue, book artists, build their own site, or promote their own event, I’d be happy to help. I went through the headaches, the trial‑and‑error, and the random problems that pop up out of nowhere. If I can make someone else’s process easier, I’m more than willing to share what I learned.
(NYC/NY based) I graduated last year in Advertising with the expectation of going into art direction at an ad (ideally experiential) agency. I ended up assisting a wedding planner as an event assistant and realized I love more of the production side. I did end up doing an art direction internship at an experiential part of a larger ad agency, and it just solidified my passion is production, hands on, coordination, etc. I've since been on the search for entry level/ junior experiential production, event production, production assistant, event assistant, production coordination jobs and so on. It's ending up being just as hard as my AD job search.
I've also tried cold messaging and networking just to gain some insight from people with experience but nothing seems to land. I'd love some tips on breaking in with some experience but, not quite enough. Places to search, agencies and event/production services to look at, how people might want to chat, groups to join, even job titles I'm not aware of, etc. I'm not married to the agency space and have looked into corporate events for experience as well. I just love the event world and want to get involved (and paid!).
(I am currently working an unrelated customer service job as well as working a few weddings when I can still).
I teach Live Event production at Nottingham University. Towards the end of my students final year I always transition into employability and the different career pathways.
My learners struggle to find opportunities that would give them work experience in Live Events. Is it the same for everyone else? Do people shy away from new ‘students’? How do they get experience if no gives them a chance?
I have to say whoever was in charge of the registration process for the 2026 VidCon- what were you thinking? There were thousands,literally thousands!, of participants trying to enter the first day of the convention today and they all had to be funneled through one (1!) security scanner. Why? You have access to at least four more scanners that were set up around the parameter. Why weren’t those used during the first few hours of registration on day 1?
Instead, you thought it was brilliant to have thousands of people filter through one security scanner, resulting in 2-3 hour wait times just to enter the exhibit hall, missed meet & greets, late arrivals to the hall, limited opportunities to hit the vendors who closed just a few short hours after they ended up getting in.
Really a bad waste of resources and planning. Amateur hour.
Hi fellow Event Profs! I've been in the corporate event space for more than 15 years and I'm looking to transition into working for a music venue. I honestly have always dreamed of working in music events but have found it very difficult to get "an in". Can I get any advice on how to potentially find a job at a concert/music venue? My experience is mostly in event sales so I imagine group sales would be comparable but I rarely see any sales positions available ever. I also have some experience with branding and marketing, so I've also debating if to go that route.
What is the best way to approach networking with people in the venue world? I've been reaching out to some via email (from previous events I've planned with them) or on LinkedIn but no luck. Any advice on how I can gradually make this transition would be greatly appreciated!
Here's something I come across quite often: a lot of self-booking artists sign a venue offer like it's set in stone, not realizing that they're allowed to negotiate clauses that they don't agree with. Months down the line, they get bitten in the ass over something they could've disputed in the first place before signing.
Some examples I've seen artists win:
Where did the lines cross for you, and did you dispute and win any clauses before signing?
Also, did you learn anything that wasn't worth fighting over?
I'm planning a series of events to host prospects/clients and looking to maximize # of RSVPs who actually attend. In LA, I often provide Uber vouchers, which seems to help boost RSVP to attendees. In New York City, I'm wondering if this can help or basically not necessary because of great public transport.
The locations will be easy to get to from the subway, but I'm trying to understand if anyone has used this tactic and seen any benefit in NYC. Thanks!