Stop treating your events like vending machines

Are your events stuck in a "rinse and repeat" cycle, chasing leads but failing to build lasting relationships? Many organizations treat their event budget like a vending machine: insert money, get leads. But this transactional view misses the point and often leads to disappointment when deals don't close within 30 days.

In a recent episode of The RevRoom, Andrea Rutherford of Vineacular Events, a strategist with over a decade of experience in the corporate event space, offered a more powerful metaphor: events are community greenhouses. You plant seeds, nurture relationships, and the growth compounds over time.

Here are the key takeaways from our conversation on how to shift your strategy from chasing contacts to cultivating community.

Rethink the rinse-and-repeat cycle

The pressure to prove immediate financial return often clashes with the intangible value of human connection. Andrea shared a story about a sales leader who defended keeping events with low measurable ROI because they were essential for nurturing relationships.

This highlights a central challenge: balancing data with the reality of how relationships are built. Instead of getting caught in an endless cycle of executing the same events because "we've always done it," it's time to think differently.

• Strategize collaboratively: Set aside dedicated time for your team to ideate and ensure event goals are tied to larger business priorities.
• Give everyone a voice: Team members on-site hear things from customers that leaders do not. Involve them in the planning process to incorporate those valuable perspectives.
• Just ask your attendees: Instead of assuming what your audience wants, ask them. Simple surveys or feedback sessions can reveal what they would find most valuable.

Design for every generation in the room

A one-size-fits-all event agenda no longer works. Today’s audiences are multi-generational, and each group has different expectations for what makes an experience valuable.

• Boomers value structure, hierarchy, and formal recognition.
• Gen X wants efficient, actionable insights they can apply to their work immediately.
• Millennials seek purposeful, authentic, and value-aligned experiences.
• Gen Z is tech-first, preferring bite-sized, visually engaging, and inclusive formats where they can participate.

The solution is to design events with variety, flexibility, and intentional options, so every attendee feels seen and served. This could mean offering a traditional deep-dive panel in one room while running an interactive co-creation session in another.

Build a community, not just a contact list

If attendees are still connecting with each other after your event without your prompting, you've achieved a huge win. The event should be the spark, not the endpoint. To foster a true community, think about engagement across three phases:

1. Before the event: Create spaces for attendees to connect ahead of time, using dedicated Slack or LinkedIn groups to build anticipation and familiarity.
2. During the event: Design moments for peer-to-peer connection, like curated roundtables or opt-in networking tracks based on industry or goals. Don't pack the agenda so tightly that there's no room for spontaneous conversation.
3. After the event: Keep the momentum going with light-touch, relevant follow-ups. This isn't about volume; it's about consistency and relevance. Consider hosting an "ask me anything" session with a speaker or highlighting community champions.

[Pull quote, attributed: "Stop asking how do we get more leads and start asking how do we earn more trust?" — Andrea Rutherford, Vineacular Events]

Create a blended ecosystem

In an era of on-demand content and AI-generated recaps, the question becomes: why show up? People don't attend for content alone; they come for context, connection, and the energy of a live experience.

To make your events unmissable, think of them as a blended ecosystem with components that mimic the experiences of these three brands:

• Netflix: High-quality, bingeable content that is accessible anytime, anywhere.
• Reddit: Community-led conversations that provide a safe space for peers to share perspectives and ask questions.
• Airbnb Experience: Curated, immersive live activations that are personal and impossible to replicate, creating a powerful sense of "fear of missing out."

Orchestrating these three elements requires a team that blends event strategy, community management, and experience design. It's no longer enough to just host an event; you have to build a world people want to join.

Listen to the full RevRoom episode with Andrea Rutherford to learn more about how to design events that build trust and create lasting community.