Event Planning

How the Humble American Diner Became the Stage for Brand Storytelling.... When we think of a diner, we think nostalgia. Neon lights, checkered floors, milkshakes, and the smell of fries drifting through the air. But today, brands aren’t just serving nostalgia, they’re serving story, theatre, and tangible brand experiences that make people stop, engage, and remember. Take Tesla’s Cybertruck “Tesla Diner & Drive-In.” It’s not just about the Superchargers. It’s about a retro-futuristic diner and drive-in theatre that transforms a functional stop into a multi-sensory moment. The diner becomes the stage where Tesla’s narrative, 'innovation meets Americana' comes alive. It’s tactile, it’s playful, and it’s a perfect example of a brand turning necessity into experience. Luxury and lifestyle brands are doing the same. CHANEL, SKIMS, and Jellycat have used pop-up diners to reinforce their brand DNA while giving consumers a physical, sensory connection. Think soft tactile displays, curated menus, neon signs echoing campaign aesthetics, and social moments built into every corner. The diner becomes a theatrical playground: consumers don’t just buy a product, they inhabit it. They sip, they snap, they share. So why does this work so well? It taps into the experience economy and Gen-Z’s appetite for moments that feel real, tangible, and shareable. A diner is both familiar and fantastical, it’s something people already know how to navigate, yet it can be transformed into a brand’s universe. Retro cues spark nostalgia, playful design encourages interaction, and the combination of taste, touch, and sight delivers multi-sensory engagement that static campaigns can’t match. They also offer collaboration potential; menus, merch, even limited-edition treats become vehicles for storytelling and co-creation. Social content writes itself: photo-booths, milkshake moments, and a drool inducing aesthetic, all make for irresistible feed fodder. And because diners are inherently communal, they naturally create micro-communities around the brand experience. For me, the power of the pop-up diner is that it’s more than just activation, it’s a physical manifesto of a brand’s values and aesthetics, inviting consumers to live the story, not just consume it. It’s theatre, tactility, and sensory engagement all rolled into one. Brands today aren’t just launching products, they’re designing worlds. So, are you still marketing products, or are you serving experiences with a side of storytelling? ________________ *Hi, I am Tim Nash. I help global brands build connected campaigns that resonate across every touchpoint. 🚀 #BrandExperience #ExperientialMarketing #RetailInnovation #GenZTrends #StorytellingInRetail #CulturalStrategy #BrandActivations #ExperienceEconomy Pictures courtesy of Glossier, Inc. / Skims / Chanel / Tesla / Benefit Cosmetics

India is lost in the magic of 𝐂𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲, but have you wondered what legal protocols are needed before hosting such grand concerts? Here's a quick checklist: ✅ 𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬: Secure approvals from local authorities and police, including details of timings and crowd limits. ✅ 𝐕𝐞𝐧𝐮𝐞 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐬: Sign detailed agreements with venue owners, covering cancellation policies and liabilities. ✅ 𝐏𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐜 𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐑𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬: Obtain licenses from music labels if copyright societies lack licensing rights, ensuring clarity on usage terms. ✅ 𝐌𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐜 𝐋𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞: Obtain licenses from music labels if copyright societies lack licensing rights, ensuring clarity on usage terms. ✅ 𝐏𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐜 𝐋𝐢𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐈𝐧𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞: Cover for accidents or damages during the event, protecting both organizers and attendees. ✅ 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡 & 𝐒𝐚𝐟𝐞𝐭𝐲 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞: Ensure fire safety measures, crowd control protocols, and emergency response plans. ✅ 𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐞𝐫 𝐀𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬: Define performance terms, timings, payments, and cancellation clauses clearly. ✅ 𝐋𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐑𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬: If the concert is being streamed live, establish agreements with streaming platforms covering territorial rights, exclusivity, number of re-runs of recorded feed and revenue-sharing models. ✅ 𝐓𝐚𝐱𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧: Adhere to GST and entertainment tax rules, ensuring accurate filings to avoid penalties. Big concerts are more than just music—they’re a legal concert in themselves! 🎶⚖️ #coldplayindia #concert #legalcompliance #entertainmentlaw

I’ve historically been skeptical of offsites. Too often they turn into PowerPoint slide dumps and bland updates where everyone goes around the room explaining what they’re working on. That’s not a good use of time. My goal is to make offsites truly impactful, and over time I’ve found what works for WHOOP. I now host offsites with my direct leadership team about every 6 months. Here are my rules: - Start with a problem. I structure offsites around a real problem or challenge in the business. It’s easy to talk about exciting initiatives. It’s much harder - and far more valuable - to come prepared with a problem that needs solving. - Use pre-reads and surveys. WHOOP is deeply data-driven, but offsites are expensive. This is not the moment to read charts together. I ask our teams to send data and context in advance so our time together is spent thinking, not consuming. - Make it 80% discussion. Slides can help clarify, but the goal is to maximize strategic conversation. The real value comes from intense debate and pressure-testing each other’s assumptions. - Leave with decisions. Offsites only matter if they lead to decisions and action. That’s always the frame. Many of our biggest moves at Whoop were made at offsites: becoming a membership, launching free trials, adding new membership tiers, becoming a medical device, expanding to 60 marketing, adding new core product features, and more. Not everyone always agrees, but we leave aligned and committed. What do you think makes a great offsite? #whoop #leadership #teamwork #culture #strategy

RAND ‘s report on wartime #disinformation : Applying lessons learned from #Ukraine to other contexts. 92 pages, 3 chapters, 12 lessons learned : 🪖Before the war: shaping operations. 🔹 2014-22: building government &civil society institutions countering adversary disinformation 🔹 steps to stop the flow of Russian propaganda targeting the country 🔹 intelligence-driven “prebunk” informing international audiences about planned Russian operations 🪖During the war: countering false narratives across the 3 theaters of the information war. 🧰12 lessons learned : 🔸Prepare and plan for 3 theaters of information war, look for innovative ways to reach & communicate with populations in totalitarian countries; rally international institutions to effectively prebunk adversary campaigns targeting the rest of the world; support a broader array of institutions residing in host nations. 🔸Build critical host nation institutions in advance of and during conflict 🔸Build and maintain capacity to counter disinformation: assess own doctrine, training, and wargaming efforts to ensure it is able to counter disinformation during conflict. Ensure that institutions & psychological operations forces retain their capability. 🔸Invest in and work with civil society 🔸Build and maintain trust to effectively dispel adversary narratives. 🔸Work with and empower local and military influencers: promote online voices to help support national security objectives. 🔸Build #resilience of troops: to avoid frontline soldiers being a target of adversary campaigns, undermining their will to fight. Develop a mandatory media literacy education campaign to help deployed and garrison personnel recognize malign influence attempts and foster safer online behavior. 🔸Do not allow coordination to sacrifice speed in responding: the Ukrainian experience highlights the value of a loosely coordinated and redundant network response that involves multiple actors both monitoring media and communicating key narratives. 🔸Be prepared to take risks: accept that government communicators outsource their efforts to creative and agile civil society institutions. Allow communicators to quickly create unique, humorous, and engaging content. 🔸Plan on resourcing and executing 3 critical counterdisinformation tools: Debunking (fact checking), prebunking, and the promulgation of proactive information narratives. Ensure the 3 are integrated in military theaters of operation. 🔸Be prepared to build the capacity of key institutions: In future contingency operations, consider adversary targets for propaganda and disinformation and evaluate the ability of local institutions to effectively respond. 🔸Recognize the risk of waning support over time, as the time engaged in conflict increases and influence of messaging decreases & adversary disinformation narratives may become more influential. Wargame these risks and consider incorporating them in war plans. 👏🏼 Todd Helmus Khrystyna Holynska

Most people are taught how to be high performers. But too few are taught how to perform in a team. And that’s a problem, because in most roles, you’re not an individual contributor. You’re part of a larger entity, working with others to build something. Yet, I see founders spend hours refining their product or systems,  But don't devote time to team development. At HomeServe, I approached team performance with purpose,  And it was one of the best decisions I made. Here are 7 tools I’ve used (and still use) to build high-performing teams,  Based on real lessons from building a £4.1bn business: 1️⃣ Start With Why (Simon Sinek) ↳ Before you focus on what or how...get clear on why. WHAT – The product you sell or the service you provide HOW – What makes you different WHY – Your deeper purpose or belief Every great team needs a reason to get out of bed in the morning. 2️⃣ The 70-20-10 Rule (McCall, Lombardo & Eichinger) ↳ How people actually learn on the job: 70% from challenging experiences 20% from coaching and mentoring 10% from formal training Most teams over-invest in training, and under-invest in real development. I'm amazed at how few founders or CEOs have a coach or mentor. 3️⃣ The Trust Triangle (Frances Frei, Harvard) ↳ Trust isn’t built with perks. It’s earned in three ways: Authenticity – Are you real? Logic – Do your decisions make sense? Empathy – Do you care? Without trust, you can’t build speed or loyalty. 4️⃣ The 5 Stages of Team Development (Tuckman Model) 1. Forming – Team gets together 2. Storming – Conflicts surface 3. Norming – Ground rules form 4. Performing – Results roll in 5. Adjourning – Project ends or evolves Don't panic during ‘storming’. It’s necessary friction. 5️⃣ The Johari Window (Luft & Ingham) ↳ Self-awareness is a team sport. Open – You know, they know Hidden – You know, they don’t Blind Spot – They know, you don’t Unknown – No one knows (yet) This helps surface feedback, build confidence, and avoid surprises. 6️⃣ The Energy/Impact Matrix (Inspired by McKinsey) ↳ Map every team member’s impact vs. energy. Use it to: Make smart hiring/firing decisions Spot burnout early Retain high performers High-performing teams don’t tolerate drift. 7️⃣ The RAPID Decision-Making Model (Bain & Company) ↳ High-performing teams make fast, clear decisions. Recommend – Suggest the course of action Agree – Those who must sign off Perform – Executes the decision Input – Provides relevant facts or opinions Decide – Final decision-maker This clears up delays, dropped balls, and blame. Building a great team is about building an environment where talent can actually thrive. I go deeper into team-building in my new book. Order it today: https://lnkd.in/eRYDKXdT ♻️ Repost if you believe team performance should be built, not assumed. And for more on how I scaled teams to build a £4.1bn business, Follow me Richard Harpin.

Confession: I'm a nervous public speaker… (yet I’ll make $1M+ from keynotes this year). Here are 9 strategies that turned my deepest fear into a powerful strength: PHASE 1: PREP WORK Strategy 1: Study the Best. We have the world's best speakers at our fingertips. Use them. Find 3-5 speakers you admire. Watch their talks on YouTube at 0.75x speed. Take notes on their structure and pacing, voice modulation, movement and gestures, audience engagement. Strategy 2: Create Clear Structure. Great speakers don't deliver speeches, they tell stories. Map your journey explicitly: opening hook, 3 key points, memorable close. Tell the audience where you're taking them. Strategy 3: Build Your "Lego Blocks." Don't memorize your entire speech. That's a trap. Instead, perfect these moments: your opening 30 seconds, key transitions, punchlines and closers. Practice in segments, not sequences. When things go sideways (they will), you'll adapt instead of freeze. Weird trick: Practice once while walking or jogging. It simulates the heart rate spike you'll feel on stage. PHASE 2: PRE-STAGE Strategy 4: Address the Spotlight. The Spotlight Effect: We think everyone's watching our every move. They're not. Use the "So What?" approach: Name your worst fear, ask "So what if it happens?", realize it's never that bad. You'll stumble? So what. Life goes on. Your family still loves you. Strategy 5: Get Into Character. Create your speaker persona. Ask yourself: What traits do they have? How do they move? What's their energy? Flip the switch. Become that character. It's not fake, it's your best self. Strategy 6: Eliminate Stress. The "Physiological Sigh" kills anxiety fast: Double-inhale through your nose, long exhale through your mouth, repeat 2-3 times. Science-backed. Immediate impact. PHASE 3: DELIVERY Strategy 7: Cut the Tension. Last week, they asked what song I wanted to enter to. I said "Girl on Fire" by Alicia Keys. They thought I was joking. I wasn't. "It's my 1-year-old's favorite song. Figured he'd be more excited to watch if Dad entered to his jam." Instant laughter. Tension gone. Audience on my side. Find your tension breaker. Use it early. Strategy 8: Play the Lava Game. Your pockets and torso are lava. Don't touch them. This forces you to gesture broadly, open your body, project confidence. Big gestures early build momentum. Strategy 9: Move Purposefully. Don't pace like you're nervous. Move like you own the room. Slow. Deliberate. Purposeful. Use movement to create dramatic pauses. Let your words land. Start with one speech, one strategy: Pick your next presentation—could be a team meeting, a toast, whatever. Choose ONE strategy from this list. Master it. Then add another. Public speaking is a muscle. These strategies are your workout plan. The more you practice, the stronger you get. Remember: Everyone gets nervous. The difference is having a system. Now you have one. Use it. Practice it. Watch yourself transform.

The event industry is moving faster than ever. So should your strategy. What should you keep an eye on? I designed this framework based on the work I do with my clients. I made it a bit more general so you can use it regardless of your event type. -> Who is it for? Event owners Event strategists Head of Events Event marketers running complex event programs -> How to use it: Start by scheduling a dedicated session with key stakeholders from your events team. Before the meeting, collect relevant data points and KPIs for each SWOT category. 1. Begin with Strengths - focus on what your event does exceptionally well and has data to prove it 2. Move to Weaknesses - be brutally honest about internal challenges 3. Explore Opportunities - leverage market trends 4. Address Threats - consider both immediate and long-term risks For each quadrant, identify 3-5 key findings that impact your event's success most. Create specific action items for each finding and assign ownership. Review it quarterly or every 6 months - the events industry moves fast and you may need to update more frequently as market conditions change. P.S. If you want a PDF version of this framework, ask for it in the comments. I will keep the download open for one week.

Over 300,000 people are expected to attend the Formula 1 Dutch Grand Prix this weekend, but not a single one of these fans will arrive by car. Here's how Zandvoort used incentives to create the world's most sustainable sporting event (and why other events should copy their strategy) 👇 First, it's essential to understand why Zandvoort is so unique. The race track is surrounded by water, beaches, dunes, and even a natural park. It's essentially a dead end — there is only one way in and one way out. This is why race organizers banned cars altogether. Instead, they increased the frequency of trains so that one would arrive every 5-10 minutes before, during, and after the race. It's just a short walk to the track from there. Then, race organizers set up "Park & Bike" stations, allowing fans to park their cars a few miles away from the venue and then rent a bicycle to complete the final leg of their journey through the scenic dunes. The result is 40,000 bikes parked directly outside the track, with 98% of attendees arriving via train, bus, or bicycle. The only people allowed to drive into the venue (2%) were drivers, media members, team employees, and F1 personnel. But even more impressive than the Dutch Grand Prix's transportation initiative is how they eliminated waste through a gamified system. When fans arrive at the track, they are given a token that can be exchanged for a plastic cup when purchasing a drink. If you bring your plastic cup back when purchasing your second drink, you will receive another plastic cup in exchange. If you lose your cup, you will be charged 2 euros for a replacement cup. Once the race is over (and you return your last cup), you can then enter the code on the back of each token to win prizes online. This system is commonly used at other events in the Netherlands (concerts, etc.), but it helped achieve a 75% recycling rate for cups during the race. It worked so well because it gamified the recycling process with incentives. Some people held onto their cups to avoid paying the fee, while others proactively picked up trash to increase their chances of winning a prize. Think of it like this: Instead of spending money to hire hundreds of crew members to pick up trash, organizers paid fans (via prizes) to do it for them. This saved them money in the long run, but also produced better results, as people are more likely to recycle when everyone else is doing it too. Genius! P.S. Follow me (Joe Pompliano) for more sports business content! #sports #sportsbiz #linkedinsports

As a speaker, one of the most powerful skills you can develop is the ability to meet your audience where they are. Every audience is unique, shaped by their environment, culture, and expectations. In some parts of the world, people respond with high energy, enthusiasm, and animation—these are the moments when you must match that vitality, bringing the same level of excitement, humor, and passion to the stage. Your energy will resonate with them, fostering a dynamic connection that amplifies the impact of your message. But not all audiences are the same. In other settings, especially in more academic or reserved environments, the audience may not express themselves as openly or energetically. This doesn't mean they're less engaged—it simply means their way of connecting is different. In these settings, it’s crucial to meet them where they are by adjusting your tone, pacing, and content.

🔕 Design Guidelines For Better Notifications UX (https://lnkd.in/ehgF7Taa), with practical techniques on how to make notifications more useful and less annoying — with snooze mode, by exploring how and when they are triggered and measuring their use (scroll down for the newsletter ↓). 🚫 High frequency of notifications is a very frequent complaint. ✅ Not all notifications are equal: some are more useful than others. ✅ Users value updates from close contacts, transactions, insights. 🤔 Users ignore automated, irrelevant, promotional notifications. ✅ Sending fewer messages can improve long-term product use. ✅ Let users choose notification modes (silent, regular, power). ✅ Suggest switching from push notification to email digests. ✅ Let users snooze, pause, mute if high volume is expected. ✅ Track how often notifications are ignored and acted upon. 🚫 Avoid disruption and notification fatigue by sending less. And most importantly: scrutinize the decision tree to find the right timing to send the right types of notifications. Experiment with wording, timing, grouping and frequency for different user segments. And when in doubt, postpone, rather than sending through. --- 👋🏼 I'm Vitaly Friedman, and you can find useful UX resources on my profile. I’m also running “Smart Interface Design Patterns” 🍣 (https://lnkd.in/d4CNaTxR) with a friendly video library and live UX training. 😊 #ux #design #notifications