Tag: event planning resources

Question 1: Why are we actually doing this?

It sounds almost too basic to ask. It isn’t.

Most organizations plan their flagship events without a clear objective—not because the people running them are bad at their jobs, but because nobody paused at the start to answer the most fundamental question: What is this event actually for?

“We had one last year” is not a purpose. Neither is “we’re supposed to do one every quarter.” Those are habits masquerading as strategy. And the cost of that confusion is enormous—not just in wasted budget, but in wasted human potential. When you put 300 people in a room for two days, you have an extraordinary, rare opportunity to shift how your organization thinks and operates. Treat it like a checkbox, and you’ll get checkbox results. Treat it like a catalyst, and watch your entire organization be transformed. Before you book a venue, a caterer, or a single speaker, write down the answer to this question in one sentence. Now you’re ready to plan.

Question 2: What did we promise last year—and did we deliver?

Your annual event is the closing chapter of one year and the opening chapter of the next. It’s a 365 day accountability loop—a chance to remember where you started and look forward to where you’re going.

That means that before you design this year’s program, you have to reckon honestly with last year’s. What did you say you were going to do? Did you do it? Where did things fall short, and why?

These aren’t comfortable questions… but they’re the ones that make organizations better. When your people walk into the room knowing they’ll be measured against last year’s commitments, the energy changes. When they leave having made new commitments publicly—in front of their peers—those commitments actually stick. No speaker, however good, can manufacture that kind of accountability. You have to build it into the structure.

Question 3: What do we want our audience to THINK?

This is the first of three questions that form the strategic core of any great event. (Smart planners answer all three.)

Before you look at a single speaker name, ask: what belief or assumption do we want to challenge? If our audience leaves with one new idea, what is it? Be specific. “Get ahead of the competition” is not an answer. “Understand that slow decision-making is the biggest risk to our growth” is.

When you can name the idea with that kind of precision, you’ve written the brief for your keynote—without looking at a single name.

Question 4: What do we want our audience to FEEL?

Content is only half the equation. The emotional register of your event is just as important as its intellectual content, and far more likely to determine whether anyone remembers it.

Do you want your audience to feel inspired? Proud? Energized? Challenged? People remember how they felt in a room long after they’ve forgotten what was on the slides.

A great event isn’t a series of silos reporting data at each other—sales presenting numbers, operations presenting numbers, marketing presenting numbers, everyone sitting politely and nobody changing. A great event is a force of energy, culture, and renewal.

So define the emotional outcome before you design the experience. Every facet of your event management strategy—the speaker, the room setup, the pacing, the networking breaks—should be in service of creating that feeling.

Question 5: What do we want our audience to DO?

We’ve seen organizations spend $500,000 on a celebrity speaker, only to realize the next week that the audience had no idea how to apply the message to their daily work.

The answer to this question shouldn’t be a vague “collaborate better” or “be more innovative.” Specifically: what behavior do you want to see on Monday morning? What conversation should people be having that they weren’t having before? What should someone do differently in their next meeting, their next hire, their next pitch?

Once you can answer Think, Feel, and Do with that kind of precision, you don’t go looking for a speaker. You write the speech description as if you’ve already found the perfect one—exactly the topic, the angle, the takeaway you need. Then you find the person who can deliver it.

The right speaker becomes obvious. Congratulations—you’ve saved yourself 40 hours of second-guessing.

Question 6: What’s the ROI, and can I explain it to my CFO?

Now you’re looking at speakers, but the budget is a different conversation. How do you sell a $50,000 speaker to your CFO?

Here’s the number that changes conversations: we spend roughly 75,000 hours of our lives at work. If a great event makes even one employee 1% more enthusiastic, more productive, more engaged—that’s 750 free hours of productivity over the course of a career. Per person. In a room of 300 people, the math becomes staggering.

A great event isn’t a cost center. With a clear corporate event strategy, it becomes one of the highest-return investments an organization can make. So the next time you’re asked to justify a speaker fee, don’t defend it—reframe it. You’re not spending money on a speaker. You’re unlocking hundreds of thousands of hours of productivity and engagement your organization would otherwise never see. That’s a number any CFO can work with.

Question 7: Who is our audience when they arrive, and who do we need them to be when they leave?

This is the question that unlocks everything else, and it’s worth writing on a whiteboard at the very start of your planning process.

Not what will they hear. Not what topics will be covered. It’s the delta—the gap between where they are and where you need them to go. Define that gap with specificity, and you have your strategy. Leave it fuzzy, and no amount of logistical excellence will compensate.

The way to impress leadership isn’t booking a famous name. (Anybody can Google “famous keynote speakers.”) What actually distinguishes a great event planner—what makes leadership trust you with bigger budgets and bigger stages—is arriving in the room having already answered this question.

What is the change we want to see in this organization? What does success look like in 90 days? How does this event connect to our strategic priorities? When you can answer those questions before anyone asks them, you’re not planning logistics. You’re driving strategy. That’s a different job… and a much more valuable one.

The bottom line

Most events are planned backwards: speakers first, purpose as an afterthought. The best events are planned forwards—starting with the change you want to create, then building everything else around it.

7 questions. Write the answers down. Get your stakeholders to agree. Then—and only then—go find the speaker who can help you deliver it. That’s how you plan the best event ever.

Ready to find a speaker who can move your audience from where they are to where you need them to be? Get in touch with us. We’d love to help.

The strategic event planning checklist: How to plan an event step-by-step

Copy this into your planning document as a reminder that strategies are only as good as their execution. To ensure your next major event moves from a logistical “checkbox” to a strategic catalyst, use this strategic event planning checklist to guide your process from the first meeting to the final ROI report.

1. Question 1: Why are we actually doing this? Before booking a venue, write your event’s primary objective in a single, clear sentence. If the answer is “because we had one last year,” start over.
2. Question 2: What did we promise last year—and did we deliver? Review last year’s commitments and identify what was actually delivered to establish a baseline of accountability.
3. Question 3: What do we want our audience to THINK? Identify the specific belief or assumption you want to challenge. What is the one new idea your audience must leave with?
4. Question 4: What do we want our audience to FEEL? Define the desired emotional outcome (e.g., inspired, challenged, energized). Every choice—from catering to speaker pacing—should serve this feeling.
5. Question 5: What do we want our audience to DO? Specify the exact behavior you want to see on Monday morning. Define success not by the applause, but by the actions taken after the event.
6. Question 6: What’s the ROI, and can I explain it to my CFO? Reframe costs as an investment in productivity. Use the “1% productivity gain” math to justify your speaker and venue budget to stakeholders.
7. Question 7: Who is our audience when they arrive—and who do we need them to be when they leave? Clearly define the gap between current state and desired outcome. This “delta” is your event’s true strategy.

By following this step-by-step event planning framework, you ensure that every dollar spent is an investment in your organization’s future.

About the author

David Lavin is the founder of The Lavin Agency, where he has represented the world’s most influential speakers for over 35 years. He has consulted on the strategic event planning of thousands of high-stakes corporate gatherings, helping leadership teams transform logistical costs into long-term organizational value.

Mistake #1: Leaving networking up to chance

What’s the #1 reason people go to events? It’s not the fantastic keynote speaker, or the thoughtful programming. It’s networking.

But too many organizers put more thought into choosing the side dish for dinner than helping their delegates meet the people that they really want to meet.

What to do instead

Start by identifying why people are coming to your event. Is it to make industry connections, or maybe riff with other people on new ideas?

Then curate your networking events and coffee breaks around those goals. For instance, set up four coffee stations for four different conversation topics. At one station, they can talk about the keynote speaker. At another, industry trends. At the third, the rise of AI. And at the fourth, you can sit and answer your emails without the pressure of talking to someone.

No, your delegates won’t remember whether they had broccoli or cauliflower for dinner. They’ll remember whether they met the people they wanted to meet. So give people a place to go and a reason to go there, and watch your conference become the most valuable event of the year.

Mistake #2: Letting your industry speakers run wild

Industry speakers are one of the pillars of a conference. There are good reasons to have them: often their sponsors and booths are valuable resources for you and your attendees. But here’s the tradeoff: often, industry speakers want to stand up on the stage and give a pitch for their product or service, when that’s the last thing your audience needs to hear.

What to do instead

Give your industry speakers a little coaching before they stand on your stage. Here’s what they need to understand: to give a good talk that’s valuable for them and for the audience, they should focus on what the audience wants to hear rather than what they want to say.

The truth is, the audience wants to do business with the smartest person in the room. So if your industry speaker sounds like the smartest person in the room, the audience will naturally want to work with them. But if all they say is “My product is better than their product,” the audience is going to walk out—and they’re going to blame you, the conference organizer.

So make sure your industry speakers are prepared—and make sure that they do what you want them to do, rather than just saying what they want to say.

Mistake #3: Not knowing why you’re doing the event

It’s true! The vast majority of conference organizers don’t know why they’re even putting on their event. Most of them, when asked why they’re having a conference, say “Well, we had one last year.” That’s not good enough. You’re never going to achieve anything if you don’t know what you’ve even set out to achieve.

What to do instead

Take 30 minutes and sit down with your leadership and your planning committee. Hash out some simple objectives. Figure out what you’re trying to accomplish—and how that differs from last year’s objectives, if you had an event last year. And don’t forget to figure out how you’re going to measure success!

Here are some questions we recommend that all our clients ask:

• What challenges and opportunities do we want this event to address?
• What measurable impact do we expect from this event?
• Who is our primary audience? What are their biggest pain points and aspirations?
• What do attendees believe or do now that needs to change?

If you’d like more questions and a framework for planning your programming, download our free conference programming workbook!

Mistake #4: Booking a keynote speaker

Here’s a little secret: nobody actually wants to book a keynote speaker. (And yes, we’re saying this as an agency whose whole purpose is to book leading keynote speakers!)

What organizers really want is ideas that can help them in their life, in their job, in the world. Those ideas just happen to be presented by a keynote speaker.

Every time someone calls us up and says “I want this speaker,” the truth is that they don’t. They just want what they think that speaker is going to deliver to their audience. But they haven’t articulated that to themselves, which is why so many organizers start out wanting a mountain climber and end up hiring an economist.

What to do instead

Before you even think about speakers, ask yourself: What do I want the audience to think, feel, or do differently after this event?

Write it down. Be specific. Do you want them to embrace a new technology? Collaborate more effectively? Rethink their leadership style?

Once you’ve clarified the outcome, finding the right speaker becomes simple. You’re no longer spending weeks or months picking from a list of names—you’re matching an expert to a purpose.

Mistake #5: Researching the past, not the future

People always tell us, “Oh, we’ve done our research! We’ve looked through two or three years of conference lineups.”

Trust us when we say: that’s a trap. Sure, those speakers were perfect—for last year’s challenges.

If you’re researching previous conferences or looking for speakers online, all you’re going to get is last year’s ideas. And your audience needs next year’s ideas.

What to do instead

If you want solutions to next year’s challenges, first you need to know what next year’s challenges are.

Seek out voices in Wired, The Atlantic, and Harvard Business Review. Listen to podcasts. Watch for up-and-coming experts who haven’t yet made the conference circuit.

Remember: TED doesn’t go to the TED website to find speakers. They’re out in the world, spotting the ideas no one else has found yet. (Sometimes they come to us!)

If you want to deliver something truly valuable to your audience, do your research where tomorrow’s ideas are being born—not where last year’s ideas were staged.

Mistake #6: Sending out surveys you’ll never use

Most post-event surveys are a formality—something organizers do because they feel they have to. When the answers come back, organizers don’t know what to do with them—so they go in a pile and never actually help to make the conference better.

If your survey questions don’t lead to better decisions next year, don’t even bother asking them. “Did you like the speaker?” doesn’t help you choose the right speaker next time. Neither does “How was the food?”

What to do instead

Only ask questions you know how to act on.

Before you hit send, be clear about what you’ll do with the answers. If 60% of people say a session wasn’t relevant, will you drop it next year? If a speaker gets low marks for ideas that matter, will you reconsider booking them again?

And instead of generic questions, ask targeted ones:

• Which session or speaker provided the most actionable insights you’ll implement in the next 3 months?

• On a scale of 1–10, how effectively did this event meet your main objective for attending?

• In one sentence, how would you describe the impact of this event to a colleague?

Good surveys are valuable. Make sure you’re acting on them.

More resources

• The best (and worst) post-event questions to ask in your survey
• How to tame your speaker selection committee (and finally secure the right speaker)

Can we help?

At Lavin, we have 35+ years of experience helping conference organizers like you pull off perfect events. We’d love to help you choose the perfect speaker for your audience and event—and take some work off your plate in the process. Get in touch with us today!

If you walk away from this article with only one principle, make it this: If you ask a question and don’t know how you’d use the answer, don’t ask it. Every question should tie back to your goal—whether it’s improving next year’s programming, refining your speaker selection process, or enhancing attendee networking opportunities. Ask yourself: “If I get a certain response, what will I change?” If you can’t answer that, tweak or toss the question. 

 The Best Questions are Actionable, Specific, and Purpose-Driven:

1. “Which session or speaker provided the most actionable insights you’ll implement in the next 3 months?”
   Instead of a generic “What was your favorite session?” this question zeroes in on practical takeaways. The attendee who picks a particular speaker is telling you exactly who and what moved them to act. With this information, you can double down on similar speakers or session formats next time. 
2. “On a scale of 1–10, how effectively did this event meet your main objective for attending?”
   This question forces attendees to reflect on their own motivations—were they there to learn a new skill, network, or gain industry insights? Their rating gives you a direct measure of whether you met their expectations. Next year, you can either pivot your content strategy or reinforce what worked. 
3. “How did the networking opportunities (breakout rooms, mixer sessions, app-based meetups) help you establish new professional relationships?”
   Vague feedback on “Did you like networking?” won’t help you fine-tune your approach. By specifying the methods of connection, you can identify which formats fostered the most fruitful exchanges—and where you might invest more resources next time. 
4. “In one sentence, how would you describe the impact of this event to a colleague?”
   This question harvests language directly from your audience—language you can use in future marketing. If someone says, “It’s the best place to learn cutting-edge trends in sustainability,” you know that message resonates with attendees. Incorporate their own words into your promotional copy next time. 
5. “Were there any topics or speakers you feel we should feature next year to keep you coming back?”
   This open-ended question puts the attendee in the planner’s seat. If you start seeing repeat suggestions—like a call for more diversity in speakers, or a deeper dive into AI—consider how you can integrate those elements next time. This turns the survey into a useful planning document rather than just a scorecard.

The Worst Questions you can ask are often Unclear, Unfocused, and Unactionable 

1. “Did you enjoy the event?”
   What does “enjoy” mean here—was the coffee good, the chairs comfortable, the content inspiring, or the venue convenient? “Enjoyment” alone won’t guide your improvement strategy. If everyone says “yes,” you’re left with warm fuzzies, but no specific steps for growth. 
2. “How was the food?”
   Unless your main goal is to improve catering, this question is a dead end. Yes, food matters to the attendee experience, but if your event is about sparking new ideas and forging strategic partnerships, insights on the buffet won’t drive big changes. If you really care, ask something like: “Did the scheduling of meal breaks help or hinder your networking?”—connecting the question to the event’s core objectives. 
3. “On a scale of 1–10, was the event worthwhile?”
   This question is too broad. Worthwhile in what sense? Educationally? Professionally? Economically? If you don’t define what you want to learn, the rating doesn’t guide your strategy. Focus on one dimension at a time. 
4. “What did you think of the length of the event?”
    Sure, you might need to adjust timing. But what will you do with “too long” or “too short”? Instead, be more targeted: “Were there enough breaks between sessions to absorb the information and network meaningfully?” Now the responses can shape the actual format of your schedule. 
5. “Any other comments?”
   This catch-all line rarely yields gold. It tends to attract either off-topic venting or faint praise. If you need open-ended feedback, direct it towards a specific purpose: “What’s one element you’d change next year?” or “If you could add one new format to next year’s agenda, what would it be?”

When you treat post-event surveys as strategic tools rather than obligatory housekeeping, you create a feedback loop that enriches future events. Your attendees see that their voices shape programming, content, and format. They trust that you’re listening. As your surveys improve, your events do too. 

At The Lavin Agency, we believe that insightful inquiry leads to meaningful progress. That’s why we don’t settle for empty questions that yield empty data. When clients partner with us, they gain access to a blueprint for continuous improvement—one anchored by curiosity, intellectual rigor, and a commitment to delivering transformative content. Our long history of working with renowned speakers and forward-thinking event planners has taught us: better questions lead to better answers, better events, and better outcomes. 

After all, if you’re going to ask a question, why not make it one that sparks real insight—and real change? 

Start with a Shared Goal — Thinking — Feeling — Doing

What will the audience be thinking, feeling, or doing when they leave and how does this differ from when they arrive? Let that goal be the north star guiding every subsequent decision.

Too often, committees jump straight into names—“Who’s hot right now?”—before defining what success even looks like. This is how you end up with big names that fall flat, or niche experts who can’t resonate beyond a small subset of attendees.

Our Advice:
At the first committee meeting, make a point to NOT mention speakers by name. The goal is to define the objectives of the meeting and the outcomes you are hoping for. Discussing potential speakers is a distraction from the real work of getting everyone aligned on the event’s primary objective. Is it to foster industry collaboration? Spark innovative thinking? Inspire positive organizational change? Or something else? By agreeing on clear objectives, you can quickly dismiss speaker suggestions that don’t address them, without offending.

Understand Your Audience

You want the audience to leave thrilled they attended. The key is to understand the delta between what they were thinking – feeling – doing when they arrived versus when they left. What meaningful changes did the event bring about?

Our Advice:
Send out a pre-event survey asking what your attendees hope to get out of the event. And then a post-event survey that asks what they got out of the event. The answers will surprise you. And they should. These survey questions will also help make next year’s event even more successful.

Design the Agenda and the Topics

Before you start thinking about speakers, you want to have a firm grasp on what your program will look like. How will the event flow? How many speaker slots? What content will be provided when?

Our Advice:
One client writes out the conference program without any speaker names. They decide what they want the speaker to address, how it fits into the flow of the event, and what credentials they should have. With committee approval, they then go out and look for speakers who can address their needs. There is no shortage of people who want to make $10,000 an hour giving speeches. This approach reins in the committee and narrows down the speakers you need to review.

Speak the Language of Influence: Data, Impact, and ROI

Committees are often composed of people with different agendas: some love marquee names for the bragging rights, others want a safe choice to avoid risking audience dissatisfaction, and still others crave fresh, disruptive perspectives. To cut through the noise, present data-driven reasoning.

Our Advice:
Don’t just say, “This speaker is great.” Show them metrics—audience satisfaction scores from previous events, the tangible business outcomes past clients have seen, testimonials from industry leaders who have benefited from this speaker’s insights. When you back your recommendations with solid evidence, it’s easier for skeptics to get on board. They might not love your personal preference on style, but they’ll respect hard facts that align with the event’s stated goals.

Acknowledge Stakeholder Concerns—Then Address Them Head-On

Your committee members want to be heard, and rushing to dismiss their ideas creates friction. Maybe your CFO worries about cost, your CMO wants a speaker who generates buzz, and your HR rep wants an inclusion expert. Everyone has valid points, and when they don’t feel valued, they’ll dig in their heels. Also, the objectives that were defined in the first meeting may have changed. New information is available but not widely shared.

Our Advice:
Midway though the process, schedule a follow-up meeting on objectives. Ask for questions and observations in advance. Summarize what you’ve discovered, where there is common ground, where there needs clarification, and end with a united vision. Often, the sticking points are not as polarized as they seem. Once committee members feel their input has been truly listened to, they’re more open to compromising and trusting your guidance.

Narrow the Field with Curated Shortlists

One of the worst things you can do is present a sprawling list of speaker options that overwhelms the committee with choice. It sounds democratic, but too many options breeds indecision and conflict. What you will always get is a good speaker who is a compromise rather than a great speaker who is championed.

Our Advice:
Streamline. Curate a shortlist—no more than three to five carefully vetted speakers—each offering a distinct angle that still aligns with the event’s objectives. Accompany each choice with a one-page “value proposition” that clearly states how this speaker meets the agreed-upon goals. By making each option purpose-driven and easy to evaluate, you turn a messy debate into a structured comparison.

Ideally, you can define how they differ. For example, speaker A might have better content while speaker B is more dynamic.

Use Mock Scenarios to Foresee Real Outcomes

Even with a curated list, the committee might still argue over who’s best. Help them visualize the impact of each speaker with scenario planning. What will attendees learn from Speaker A? How will Speaker B’s talk translate into actionable strategies for the company? How might Speaker C’s reputation draw new participants or media interest?

Our Advice:
Paint a picture of what success looks like post-event. Show how the chosen speaker’s talk might look in your event’s marketing materials or share a mock agenda featuring their session. Imagining the event’s narrative and future impact helps people move beyond personal preferences and focus on practical outcomes.

Lean on Third-Party Expertise —The Shameless Plug

As an event planner, you know your organization inside and out. You need to work with people who know speakers as well as you know your organization. Your committee might collectively see 50 speakers live in a year and book three speakers. We book over 1500 speakers for over 1000 events and see hundreds of speakers live. We find speakers years before they become famous. Two speakers we signed in 2013 won the Nobel Prize in economics in 2024. We started signing speakers on AI in 2019. David Lavin has given two workshops at TED (not TEDx) and sees over 300 speakers annually.

As an agency, our job is to anticipate the zeitgeist. The internet will give you a list of last year’s stars. We can show you next year’s stars.

Our Advice:
Draw on your partnership with a reputable speaker’s bureau (hello from The Lavin Agency!) or other trusted consultants. These professionals can provide insights into what’s working in the broader industry, who’s poised to bring real value, and how similar organizations have benefited from certain speakers. This external validation often tips the balance, giving your recommendation extra credibility.

Have a Clear Decision-Making Framework

Your committee might be brimming with great intellect and passion, but without a clear process for making the final call, you risk endless debate. Establish who gets the final say or how votes will be weighted. If one leader holds the purse strings, and another handles marketing, define each person’s sphere of influence from the start.

Our Advice:
Create a simple, agreed-upon framework before any names are discussed. For instance, you might say: “We’ll evaluate each speaker on three criteria—mission alignment, audience engagement potential, and cost-effectiveness—and each criterion counts equally. If two speakers tie, our Head of Communications will break the tie.” It might sound rigid, but clarity prevents conflict.

Build a decision matrix

You’ve decided on objectives but now you must decide what traits to prioritize and how to choose the speaker. Budget is always an issue and compromises might have to be made. But where? A speaker delivers fame, content, style, inspiration, customization, and more. What are the most important traits for your event? For example, if the audience needs to be there then fame is less important than content. If you are tying to attract paid delegates for VIP clients, then fame is very important.

Our advice:

Decide in advance where you can compromise if you need to. Everyone wants a great speaker. But I’ve seen a great speaker inspire people to follow terrible leadership “secrets”. Who is the most dynamic speaker in The Godfather? Sonny —and he ends up dead in a tollbooth in New Jersey. Who are the most compelling speakers, the people you have to listen to because what they say is so important? The Don and Michael —quiet, smart, compelling. 

Turning Internal Tension into Collective Triumph

Event-planning committees don’t have to be battlegrounds. With the right approach—clear goals, data-driven recommendations, empathetic listening, structured shortlists, scenario planning, expert input, and a transparent decision-making process—you can turn a room full of strong opinions into a united team focused on a single objective: making your event truly valuable.

At The Lavin Agency, we’ve seen firsthand how a well-managed selection process results in a stronger, more cohesive event. By taming your committee and ensuring your best ideas get heard, you’ll be far more likely to secure a speaker who not only wows the audience but genuinely furthers your event’s mission. After all, the best speakers don’t just show up—they show a path forward that everyone, from the CEO to the frontline staff, can rally behind.