A great dinner or VIP experience means nothing if it doesn’t lead to a meaningful conversation.

In this episode, Stephanie Hunicke (Director of Global Marketing Events at Aderant) breaks down how to design bespoke events that prioritize relationships and real business outcomes from the start.

You’ll learn:

✅ Why depth beats scale when it comes to executive events

✅ How to align purpose, people, and experience to drive real outcomes

✅ What most teams get wrong about VIP dinners, roadshows, and exec forums

As more teams invest in smaller, high-touch events, the question isn’t whether to do them, it’s how to do them well.

Stephanie shares a clear, practical framework for building bespoke experiences that are intentional, audience-first, and tied to real business goals. From defining purpose upfront to shaping the full attendee journey, she explains how these events can strengthen relationships, create meaningful conversations, and move deals forward.

With over 25 years of experience leading global event programs, her perspective is grounded in what actually works in the field, not just in theory.

If you’re rethinking your event strategy, this is a must-listen for making your smaller events matter more.

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Connect with Stephanie Hunicke
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephhunicke/

Connect with Matt Kleinrock
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-kleinrock-9613b22b/
Company: https://rockwayexhibits.com/

🚨 Register for the show: https://tinyurl.com/EventMarketingRedefined

Most trade show booths fail for one simple reason: they’re built to be seen, not experienced. In this conversation, Matt breaks down why the old playbook no longer works and what actually drives pipeline today.

Learn:

✅ Why “show up and pitch” is killing engagement and what to replace it with

✅ How pre-show and post-show strategy often matter more than the booth itself

✅ What it really takes to turn events from a cost center into a revenue driver

In this guest appearance on the Behind the Experience Podcast, Matt Kleinrock joins Francisco Opazo of Eventify to unpack the shift happening across trade shows and B2B events.

The conversation goes beyond booth design and into strategy -- covering audience intent, experience design, and how today’s attendees engage on the show floor.

From aligning sales and marketing to rethinking how events influence the full customer journey, this episode challenges the way most teams approach events today and what needs to change moving forward.

If you want your events to actually drive pipeline, not just check a box, start here.

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Connect with Matt Kleinrock
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-kleinrock-9613b22b/
Company: https://rockwayexhibits.com/

🚨 Register for the show: https://tinyurl.com/EventMarketingRedefined

How do you know if the event agency you hired is actually a strategic partner? Or just a middleman?

Choosing the right agency partner can shape the success of an entire event program, yet many teams still rely on RFP processes that miss what truly matters.

In this episode, Matt Kleinrock sits down with event strategist and fractional Head of Events Gianna Gaudini to unpack how organizations should rethink agency selection from the start. Together, they explore how event leaders can run smarter RFPs, ask better questions, and evaluate agencies based on strategic value rather than surface-level proposals.

You’ll learn:

✅ Why many RFP processes fail to reveal whether an agency can truly be a strategic partner

✅ What questions event leaders should ask agencies to uncover real capabilities and alignment

✅ Red flags that signal when an agency relationship may create more friction than value

With experience spanning Google, AWS, and Airtable, Gianna brings a unique perspective from both brand-side and agency-side roles.

Tune in to rethink how you choose agency partners and how better questions can lead to better event outcomes.

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Connect with Gianna Gaudini
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/giannagaudini/

Connect with Matt Kleinrock
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-kleinrock-9613b22b/
Company: https://rockwayexhibits.com/

🚨 Register for the show: https://tinyurl.com/EventMarketingRedefined

Most event programs are built around visibility: booths, sponsorships, brand presence

For years, that approach was considered the safest way to drive pipeline. But what if the deals you care about aren’t won on crowded show floors? And your highest-value buyers respond to something far more intentional?

In this episode, Matt sits down with Bronwen Gregg, who leads event strategy from inside sales enablement, not marketing. After seeing diminishing returns from large trade shows, her team shifted toward curated micro-events designed specifically for executive decision-makers.

The result: hosted experiences functioning as late-stage deal accelerators, with activations reporting ROI in the five-figure percentage range.

Instead of treating events as lead generation tools, they built a program where each experience has a defined role in the buyer journey and micro-events are engineered to close.

Here’s a look inside the playbook:

✅ Why micro-events outperform large trade shows for executive audiences

✅ How to design experiences that move deals forward instead of just starting conversations

✅ What changes when events are owned by revenue leadership, not just marketing

If your events create activity but not outcomes, this conversation offers a blueprint for turning intimate, high-signal experiences into real business results.

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Connect with Bronwen Gregg
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bronwengregg/

Connect with Matt Kleinrock
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-kleinrock-9613b22b/
Company: https://rockwayexhibits.com/

🚨 Register for the show: https://tinyurl.com/EventMarketingRedefined

Most event teams are doing everything they’re supposed to do: booking the booth, training staff, showing up with the right materials.

And yet, the results rarely match the effort.

The issue usually isn’t poor execution. It’s that the event was never designed to drive revenue in the first place.

In this episode, Matt and Coty break down the thinking behind the session they’ll be bringing to EXHIBITORLIVE 2026… and why so many event strategies stall long before pipeline is even possible.

Instead of tactics or checklists, this conversation focuses on the decisions that shape everything downstream:

✅ Why events fail when emotional outcomes, strategic intent, and revenue goals aren’t aligned

✅ What actually needs to be true before a show starts and after it ends for revenue to follow

✅ How to treat events as a revenue accelerator within your go-to-market strategy, not a standalone moment

This is a zoomed-out, strategic look at what separates busy event teams from effective ones, and why most execution never gets the chance to work.

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Connect With Us

Matt Kleinrock: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-kleinrock-9613b22b/

Coty Adams: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cotykadams/

Our Company: https://rockwayexhibits.com/

🚨Register for the show here: https://tinyurl.com/EventMarketingRedefined

The event didn’t start on the show floor.

By the time Accelevents showed up with a 10×10 booth, much of the pre-show groundwork was already in motion—accounts targeted, meetings scheduled, and conversations planned. The result? 116 meetings driven by intentional strategy, not booth size or blind hope for foot traffic.

In this live conversation, Matt is joined by Jonathan Kazarian, CEO of Accelevents, and Michael Burns, CRO, to walk through a real case study.

They’ll break down the pre-show strategy behind that outcome:

✅ Why booth size had nothing to do with meeting volume

✅ How targeted outreach and community plays drove qualified conversations

✅ What changes when sales and marketing co-own pre-show strategy

✅ How pre-booked meetings should influence booth design and on-site experience

If you want your next event to work BEFORE you arrive and not after, this episode will show you how to rethink your approach.

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Connect with Jonathan Kazarian
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jkazarian/

Connect with Michael Burns
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-burns-0208/

Connect with Matt Kleinrock
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-kleinrock-9613b22b/
Company: https://rockwayexhibits.com/

🚨 Register for the show: https://tinyurl.com/EventMarketingRedefined

Have you ever looked at a big brand’s event partnerships and wondered what actually makes them work... beyond the logos and budgets?

In this episode, Matt is joined again by Jon Wolff and Mandy Glenwright to take you inside how Lenovo thinks about event strategy through the lenses of partnerships, scale, and standing out in crowded environments.

Hear them unpack:

✅ Why most partnerships default to logo placement and what differentiates the ones that feel genuinely collaborative

✅ How Lenovo approaches partner-led events as long-term strategic levers, not one-off collaborations

✅ How large-scale activations (including sponsorships like FIFA) are evaluated for relevance not just reach

If you’ve wondered how big brands avoid becoming bloated, unfocused, or overly tactical with events, this episode offers a grounded, inside look at what intentional event strategy really looks like in practice.

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Connect with Jon Wolff
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jondwolff/

Connect with Mandy Glenwright
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mandy-glenwright/

Connect with Matt Kleinrock
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-kleinrock-9613b22b/
Company: https://rockwayexhibits.com/

🚨 Register for the show: https://tinyurl.com/EventMarketingRedefined

Events are one of the few channels where sales and marketing can show up together, face-to-face, and create real trust.

And yet, many event programs are still planned and measured like isolated moments. So it’s no surprise they struggle to earn long-term credibility.

In our first live episode of 2026, Matt sits down with MacKenzie Grant (Senior Director of Marketing, Experiences at Enverus) to unpack what changes when events are designed as part of a broader go-to-market strategy—one that supports the full buyer journey, aligns teams, and connects creativity directly to business outcomes.

Rather than focusing on aesthetics or one-off wins, the conversation explores:

✅ How event programs gain momentum when they’re integrated across sales, marketing, and customer teams

✅ Why creativity thrives when accountability is shared, not imposed

✅ Where AI actually helps event teams extend impact (without stripping away trust or human connection)

This isn’t about adding more to your plate. It’s about finally making sense of how events fit into the work you’re already doing.

Join us live to rethink how events support growth—before the next show gets planned the same way as the last one.

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Connect with MacKenzie Grant
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mackenziemgrant/

Connect with Matt Kleinrock
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-kleinrock-9613b22b/
Company: https://rockwayexhibits.com/

🚨 Register for the show: https://tinyurl.com/EventMarketingRedefined