How to design events audiences don't want to leave

What does a tarot reading have to do with a finance panel?

Kayla Lawrence has dedicated her career in events to finding the formats that stick, even the unlikely ones.

At a Teen Vogue Summit she helped shape, attendees had said they wanted more practical, life-hack-style programming. So her team listened and built it: a dedicated workshop, carefully scheduled so it wouldn't compete with the main-stage celebrity panels.

They didn’t stop there, also curating activations outside of the main event space — tarot readings, merch, and other hands-on experiences — which ended up being the star of the show. People didn't want to leave.

"I like to look at programming as my medium of choice for how I support brands in connecting with audiences," says Lawrence. The overarching question she believes event leads should be asking: "How are we providing value to the everyday lives of people, and not just marketing a product to them?” 

Meet the Master

Kayla Lawrence 

Event Director, Inc. Magazine

• Claim to fame: After starting out in PR, pitching then freelancing as a scriptwriter, Lawrence worked her way into programming, shaping live editorial experiences including Teen Vogue Summit, Allure Best of Beauty Live, and Inc. 5000 Conference.

Lesson 1: Prioritize qualitative audience insights over survey complaints to measure event success.

Data is currency. Spend it wisely.

Lawrence takes feedback seriously — but she's intentional about how she weighs it.

Post-event surveys are an important part of the process, but they don't tell the whole story. "Oftentimes what you find is that it's the people with grievances who respond to audience surveys," she says. "Not everybody is filling out a survey. Not everybody is providing feedback." So she treats complaints as one data point among many.

Same goes for metrics. "I think quantitative measurements are easier to communicate and easier to analyze and showcase — like, this percentage of sales happened," she says.

"But I lean heavily into qualitative data because it allows me to get an understanding of how we're curating an experience — not just to drive revenue or drive a subscription or drive a particular numerical metric goal, but how we're really connecting with an audience and building loyalty and connection with them."

Data in this way, she says, is currency. Her role is to allocate it smartly.

Lesson 2: Anchor your decisions to audience value to resolve conflicting departmental goals.

The audience is always the priority.

Every team across a brand walks into event planning with its own agenda. Lawrence’s job is to translate every ask across departments into one shared answer.

She starts this before any conflict even happens. "My main driver is always understanding the audience profile and the objective of the event."

That grounding becomes the tiebreaker if and when any priorities collide. She brings every stakeholder's need back to a single question: Does this serve the audience? 

"If we are able to anchor our goals in what works for the audience, what serves the audience, I find that there's a little bit of wiggle room in being able to curb people's perspectives," she says. 

“Let's hone in on that and see where we can bend within our own jurisdictions or within our own individual goals."

Lesson 3: Create impactful events on minimal budgets through strategic partnerships and mutual value exchange.

Partnerships can fill in the budget gaps.

For those with tighter budgets, Lawrence offers a hot take on where to save coins: "Event design can get very expensive," she says, "but there are creative ways to minimize the event design budget, so it doesn't have to be an elaborate production."

Budget or no budget, partnerships should be a key leverage in maximizing resources for an event. Her advice for anyone working with less: Spend what you have to cover the fundamentals, then look for collaborators. 

"There always is a value add outside of monetary exchange that can allow both parties to thrive." Maybe it’s a high-profile speaker who gets a main stage in exchange for their time, or a vendor who gets in front of a new audience in exchange for a product. 

"I do not believe that you need a grand budget to hold a great event." Instead, she emphasizes, the "essence" lies in giving attendees something they remember — the value you're providing to the people you've invited into the space, she believes, is priceless.

Lingering Questions

Last Week's Question

What will always be true in marketing, despite all of AI's advances?

—Raffi Salama, CEO, Passionfruit

This Week's Answer

Lawrence says: With each technological innovation comes the reshaping of the marketing landscape. Radio disrupted print. Television redefined broadcast. The internet transformed traditional media, and social media fundamentally shifted how brands and audiences connect. 

I think the same can be said for AI. Although it is actively changing how we approach marketing, what remains true, in my opinion, is that on the other end of every strategy are people.

Understanding your audience and finding meaningful ways to connect with them will always be essential to marketing.