Maggie Kennedy founded Kennedy Events in 2000 and has been Chief Everything Officer ever since. She loves any occasion to celebrate and she brings fun to every function. While she now leaves the event planning to her talented team, she is busier than ever running the business side of Kennedy Events. We’re excited to introduce you to the fierce redhead at the helm.

With so much uncertainty and an ever-changing landscape regarding safe events, Kennedy Events has been directing focus towards future-proofing events for safer gatherings. Implementation of COVID best practices and safety measures in every part of the planning process continues to be a vital measure to ensuring client and attendee safety. Here are just a few of the important issues that you might need to address if you’re considering an in-person event.

Finding, sourcing, and vetting platforms to determine which is the best for your virtual or hybrid event needs can feel like searching for a needle in a haystack. Technology has become increasingly integral to events; between the rapid shift to virtual over the past two years and the addition of hybrid event elements, identifying and assessing new technology has become even more critical to a successful event.

You probably have staffing for your face-to-face conferences and events down pat, but what about the staffing structure for your virtual events? It’s hard to plan when you aren’t certain what your event staff is supposed to be doing, and what roles are critical for a virtual event. The value of face-to-face interaction will never go away, but there are times when going virtual is a necessary part of your event program. With these top seven positions, any robust virtual event should include, you’ll be positioned to have an outstanding event.

A virtual event is vastly different from an in-person event. It can be fraught with pitfalls for planners who are inexperienced with the format. All the logistics—and potential glitches—of pulling off a virtual event can stop even the most experienced planners in their tracks; especially as attendees’ expectations for elevated experiences and content production continue to grow. We understand how stressful it can be to navigate the realm of virtual events as that bar is set higher and higher. We’re sharing the five biggest issues standing between you and success.

The pandemic created a plot twist for just about everyone, but the truly remarkable stories are how the obstacles were overcome. For Hamilton Families, the challenge was how to pull off their fundraising events while elevating the donor experience for a virtual realm.

On a tight deadline to produce a virtual event with minimal budget and no clue where to start? You don’t need to throw the towel in just yet. Today, we’re sharing personalized, simple solutions that won’t break your budget, or force you to learn an entirely new set of technical expertise to build the engaging, virtual event experience you’re envisioning.

Nothing quite bridges the gap between the virtual and physical realm like using tangible items that tie back into an experience your attendees will share during the event. Whether the goal of your event is team-building or connecting with your customers, session boxes with tailored swag or activity contents deepen the sense of community and encourage active participation. Your attendees won’t be gathering in person, but incorporating the five senses into the event will ground them in an experience they’ll remember.

We have seen over and over attendees light up at the experience of enjoying thoughtfully items shipped straight to their door. From tie-dying kits for team building to revealing their winnings off scratch cards during a financial presentation to toasting together after creating an elaborate cocktail under the tutelage of a mixologist, to props for a virtual photo booth, items big and small can make an enormous impact. We’re here to help guide you through all the pitfalls of shipping and ensure your event is remembered long after they sign off your virtual event.

As the reality—and necessity—of socially-distanced celebrations settled in last Fall, we were contacted to create a virtual holiday party that needed to take place in less than three weeks. The challenge was not only creating a fun and engaging event in a serious time crunch but to do so across four different time zones.

DonnaRose Kohl, better known by all as DR, comes to Kennedy Events with nine years in the business as a certified meeting planner. We’re so pleased to introduce her, and we know you’ll soon be singing her praises too.

Are you having trouble justifying your event budget to your leadership because your Return on Investment (ROI) is hard to track? The success of a virtual event can be measured in many different ways depending on the purpose and nature of the event.

When Eric Dong joined the Kennedy Events team as an event planner, we knew he would be a natural fit for our team. Eric is a ray of sunshine brightening our clients’ event horizon and we are legitimately jumping for joy to introduce you to him.

Investing the time and money required to pull off a large-scale event can send stakeholders running for the hills, or smaller bottom lines. Don’t be discouraged. Securing stakeholder buy-in can be a cakewalk given the proper preparation, fully baked ideas, and the fundamental fixings for a perfect event plan mixing.

Today’s post is #3 in a 3-part series all about helping you get the most out of your event planning work by setting meaningful and measurable goals....

Welcome to Post #2 in our 3-Part series that teaches you everything(ok, a lot!) we know about to set and measure goals for event success...

So, here’s the inside scoop. Some event planners are well suited to select the venue, recommend food and décor, and make things run smoothly. ..

Planning an event that isn’t just pretty and fun, but drives results to your company’s bottom line takes a lot of hard work from a dedicated group of people....

We made it through a busy event season, but the work isn’t over yet. Paige is a trained meeting facilitator, and when we teamed up a year ago, she suggested creating a structured event debrief meeting we could lead for our clients. ...