Your CEO just said you're hosting an event. You've never run one. Now what?

Maggie Arai is the Founder of IRL Studios, where she designs in-person events for online brands. She's run more than 70 of them. She's also the person keeping Death to Marketing, our own conference, out of a ballroom with fluorescent lighting.

We asked her what a product marketer needs to know before their first event lands on their desk. Where the budget quietly disappears (food and bev, every time). Why every event needs a 10 to 15% contingency line. And her take on open networking (heads up: not the answer none of us expected).

She also tells us, on the record, where we already messed up planning our own event.

If you've been handed an event with no budget, no team, and a note to "do something like that happy hour," start here.

What and who was mentioned in today's episode
IRL Studios, Maggie's company: https://irlstudios.ca

Maggie Arai on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maggie-arai/

Above the Fold: https://www.spiralyze.com/abovethefold

Highline by UserEvidence: https://userevidence.com/highline/

Toronto Tech Week: https://www.torontotechweek.com/

Death to Marketing: https://www.death-to-marketing.com

In this episode

00:00 Welcome, and the hosts introduce themselves

00:29 Meet Maggie Arai, Founder of IRL Studios and our event planner

01:31 Why would anyone sign up to run something this insane?

02:18 Nobody wants another ballroom with fluorescent lighting

03:26 What scared her about taking on her first B2B event

04:29 Event number 71, and still intimidated

05:44 You don't have to be a product marketer to have imposter syndrome

06:01 Are the rules different for B2B and consumer events?

09:21 Her first real exposure to a room full of product marketers

11:04 The IRL Studios thesis: getting online people into one room

13:31 Zach wants his lawyer in a suit

14:19 Be honest: where did we mess up?

14:50 The budget line nobody scoped: venue visits

16:32 Get more detailed in your budget than you think you need

17:57 Why every event budget needs a 10 to 15% contingency line

18:58 Your CEO says you're hosting an event. What catches you off guard?

19:23 Food and bev will eat your budget

21:13 Skydiving, whitewater rafting, and the insurance question

22:46 Why we killed the roast, and what replaced it

26:23 How Maggie designs events people actually want to attend

27:57 Easy to host an event, hard to host one that moves the needle

28:45 Why Death to Marketing ends with a field trip

30:23 The one event practice that has to die

31:05 Open networking has to die

33:18 The invisible hierarchy in every networking room

36:16 Drink tickets are not a designed experience

37:22 Toronto Tech Week: two DJs and nowhere to talk

38:27 Go see the room for yourself

39:20 Where to find Maggie

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