CEO @ Accelevents | Event Marketing, Management, and Growth

Events are hard enough. At Accelevents, we're on a mission to help event organizers get some sleep the night before their event.

Jonathan Kazarian

Event Strategy vs. Event Plan

An EVENT PLAN is:
1. Your event timeline and schedule
2. Venue logistics and vendor coordination
3. Session topics and speaker lineup
4. Event formats (workshops, panels, networking sessions, etc.)
5. The checklist that keeps you on time and on budget.

Nail the plan and you execute.
Your event strategy will never work if you can’t execute.

An EVENT STRATEGY is:
1. Purpose - why the event program matters to the business and the audience.
2. Audience journey - who you invite, where they sit in the funnel, how you’ll move them forward.
3. Behavior change - the trust, loyalty, or pipeline progression you expect after the show.
4. Core formats - the few repeatable experiences your brand builds a reputation on for (flagship, field, virtual).
5. Measurement - attendee lift, downstream revenue, partner amplification. Probably can’t do this without Marketing Ops.
6. Tool fit - You need a partner, not duct tape. Your event tech should be an enabler.
7. Team cadence - sales, product, brand, and ops aligned from brief to debrief.

Your event program is ultimately a form of PR.
It will share you perception in the market.
And that’s how it should be approached.

When we onboard new customers.
They always fall in 1 of 2 camps.

Either:
Show me how to build out my next event.
OR
Teach me how to roll this out across my company.

The “event strategy” led teams always focus on the latter.
They know they can run the event.
What they care about is how they can scale the program.

**Note** you need management to buy into the strategy.
You need a C-suite that understands the compounding impact of a strategic event program.

When events are reduced to lead quotas, quality erodes.
Trust erodes.
Brand equity erodes.
Strategy prevents that slide.

Do you feel like you’re given room to execute an event strategy?
Or are you being tasked with ‘random acts’ of event planning?

CEO @ Accelevents - Event Management Software| Event Marketing | MarTech

CEO at H2K Labs | Helping business leaders scale up their revenue potential and achieve profitable growth faster | Data-Powered Revenue Acceleration

I've lived through every major disruption in media, events, and data businesses since the dawn of digital. Here's what I know: the old playbooks are broken. The CEOs I work with aren't just trying to hit numbers anymore. They're reimagining what their businesses MUST become in an AI-powered world.

I'm genuinely obsessed with these industries. While others see struggling legacy businesses, I see untapped potential. I've always pushed for what's next, championing data monetization before it was trendy, architecting new revenue models when print was dying, and now helping leaders navigate AI. I've built my career on seeing around corners during turbulent times.

I was the first to connect the dots between data liquidity and enterprise value in our industries, and remain the only one who's built a proven methodology to solve this challenge. While others talk digital transformation in abstract terms, I've spent years perfecting the blueprint for turning data into revenue, profitability, and measurable value creation. This isn't theoretical. It's battle-tested.

At H2K Labs, I wear two hats. First, I build communities where real conversations happen. Through Revenue Room™ Connect, I've created spaces where CEOs & C-suite leaders drop the corporate speak and dig into what's really keeping them up at night. Whether it's an intimate Revenue Room™ Salon, an immersive RevLab, or our flagship RevvedUP conference, these aren't networking events. They're strategic accelerators where breakthroughs happen.

Second, I lead our Strategy Group, partnering with select media, events & information companies whose leadership teams are ready for bold moves. We don't work with everyone. We work with CEOs and boards who understand incremental change won't cut it. Together, we transform complex data ecosystems into competitive moats, turning data liquidity into revenue velocity and enterprise value.

Today's reality? Your data is either your biggest asset or your biggest liability. AI isn't coming; it's here. The gap between leaders who get this and those who don't is widening daily. My philosophy: embrace complexity, invest in relationships, and never stop questioning what's possible.

Leading a media, events, or information business and wrestling with turning disruption into opportunity? Let's talk. The future belongs to those brave enough to build it.

Heather Holst-Knudsen

"Sometimes gifts come in ugly packages."

That is how Marilú Páez described the moment she had to close operations for Intuit Mexico - a "rocky and hard" experience that ultimately became the bridge to her life as an entrepreneur and investor in Miami.

I recently had the pleasure of sitting down with Marilú on The Revenue Room™ podcast to discuss her incredible transition from 17 years in senior corporate leadership to co-founding Events Venture Group (EVG). (full disclosure: I am a member of EVG).

Marilú is a bold strategist who is now tackling the "early-stage capital gap" facing event entrepreneurs. We took a deep dive into why operational know-how often matters just as much as the check and how EVG - a nonprofit consortium of 35+ seasoned industry veterans - is shaping the next generation of event IP.

Key takeaways from our conversation:

🔸 Collaboration is Acceleration: Marilú notes that many founders try to go it alone to keep 100% ownership, but "collaboration is acceleration." Bringing in operators with "skin in the game" can make your Year 2 look like Year 4.

🔸 The "Industry of Industries": Marilú shared her unique perspective on why she now views the events sector as a powerful platform for industry acceleration, rather than just "gatherings."

🔸 Investment Signals: We unpacked what EVG looks for in founders (hint: passion and conviction are non-negotiable) and their strategic investments in ventures like Quantum World Congress, Deep Tech Momentum, Explori, and Stablecon.

Whether you are an event founder looking for a "brain trust" or an investor interested in the intersection of fintech and live experiences, Marilú’s insights on scaling sustainably are a must-hear.

🎧 Listen to the full episode on YouTube:
https://lnkd.in/eG5kTjJR

or read the blog here:
https://lnkd.in/eJ2N__ET

CEO & Founder H2K Labs, Revenue Room™ CXO, RevvedUP and Host of The Revenue Room™ Podcast

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The Battle

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