Event Planners Face Increased Burnout. Technology Can Help.

March 30, 2023

Alon Alroy

Alon Alroy is the Co-Founder, CMO and CCO of Bizzabo, the world's fastest growing event technology platform for hybrid, virtual and in-person events. Alon helps marketers and event organizers from world leading brands promote, manage and maximize their professional events, to create memorable and impactful experiences.

Event professionals have lived through a roller coaster over the last three years, which has included the pivot to virtual, the return of in-person events, evolving safety precautions and tightening budgets.

These professionals have delivered exemplary attendee experiences, fostering community even in uncertainty. They chased their revenue goals and embraced event data to demonstrate the business value of their hard work. But constant change can take a toll. More than a third of event planners now report anxiety and burnout.

Advancements in event technology plus old-fashioned teamwork can relieve some of the burden, streamlining event organizing to help planners enjoy and focus on their important work.

Balancing Responsibilities

Event organizers face many tasks, from identifying the perfect concept and narrowing down venues to seeking out fitting speakers and sponsors and building event websites. If you’re like most organizers, you also guide content development and marketing for events and attend to the pressing needs arising as the event date nears.

Delegating tasks to other team members — and hiring reliable vendors — can lift some of the weight off your shoulders. Set a clear purpose for your event so that decisions flow from your established goals. Encourage your team to overcommunicate and leverage event management technology that allows you to build your entire event in one place, from registration websites to sessions and post-event email communications. By syncing your whole team, you won’t have to handle every detail yourself, and you’ll have easy access to provide a steadying hand where needed.

Mastering Messaging

Once your team rallies to divide and conquer event planning responsibilities, you might still worry about attracting the right audience for your event and crafting the right messages to convert registrants into highly engaged attendees and prospects into customers.

Creating personalized messaging can feel daunting, adding another layer of anxiety leading to an event. Robust event management technology that integrates seamlessly with your customer relationship management (CRM) platform enables easier customized messaging. You can segment attendees by persona — marketers, salespeople, C-suite executives — to target messaging specific to roles. From there, use A/B testing to see which versions of your segmented messages resonate with recipients.

Creating a customized registration process can also set your team up for success. A choose-you-own-adventure registration path enables you to collect valuable insight into:

  • Name pronunciation and pronouns;
  • Accessibility needs;
  • Reason for attending;
  • Networking goals and format preferences;
  • Topics of interest;
  • Learning styles.

These insights enable you to further segment audiences to provide relevant pre- and post-event content and even fuel on-site personalization with session tracks and networking groups.

The right event technology empowers your team to constantly iterate on your messaging more quickly, easily and with better results.

Capturing (and Activating) the Right Event Data

The pivot to virtual events challenged the most seasoned event planners. Virtual events may have turned event planning on its head, but those events also revealed enormous data potential. From session engagement to real-time polls and attendee interaction data, virtual events offered unparalleled insights to improve event outcomes and inform future event strategy.

Robust event data can make your work as an organizer easier, but only if you can access the right data easily and leverage it to reach your event goals. Outdated technology and manual processes can stand between you and the data insights you need, especially as in-person events flourish once more.

Wearable technology is a game-changing advancement in event technology, offering the behavioral data insights planners gleaned from virtual events while fostering unique in-person networking opportunities. Wearable badges, wristbands and other accessories allow you to collect session check-ins, dwell time and lead capture for sponsors. Attendees can swap contact details through touchless exchange while you identify trends to improve future events.

Event data is exciting, but some organizers want to dive in and measure everything immediately. Start your event data journey without increasing your stress by focusing on a few goals and three to five metrics best suited to measure your progress. For example, if your team wants to drive registrations, consider monitoring:

  • Event site click-through rates (CTRs), page bounce rates and form fill rates;
  • Marketing email open rates and CTRs;
  • Social media clicks, shares and form fills.

Bringing an event from conception to execution always poses a challenge, and agile event planners always rise to the occasion. Now, as they attempt to do more with less, planners need support to keep delivering outstanding results without burning out. Robust event technology eases the burden, enabling better delegation, more personalized attendee messaging and enhanced data activation without adding steps to a planner’s to-do list.


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Partner Voices
Overview: The award-winning Orange County Convention Center (OCCC) goes the extra mile to make every day extraordinary by offering customer service excellence and industry-leading partnerships. From their dedicated in-house Rigging team to their robust Exhibitor Services, The Center of Hospitality brings your imagination to life by helping you host unforgettable meetings and events. With more than 2 million square feet of exhibit space, world-class services and a dream destination, we are committed to making even the most ambitious conventions a reality. In October 2023, the Orange County Board of County Commissioners voted to approve allocating Tourist Development Tax funding for the $560 million Phase 5A completion of the OCCC. The Convention Way Grand Concourse project will include enhancements to the North-South Building, featuring an additional 60,000 square feet of meeting space, an 80,000- square-foot ballroom and new entry to the North-South Building along Convention Way. “We are thrilled to begin work on completing our North-South Building which will allow us to meet the growing needs of our clients,” said OCCC Executive Director Mark Tester. “As an economic driver for the community, this project will provide the Center with connectivity and meeting space to host more events and continue to infuse the local economy with new money and expanding business opportunities.” Amenities: The Center of Hospitality goes above and beyond by offering world-class customer service and industry-leading partnerships. From the largest convention center Wi-Fi network to custom LAN/WAN design, the Center takes pride in enhancing exhibitor and customer experience.  The OCCC is the exclusive provider of electricity (24-hour power at no additional cost), aerial rigging and lighting, water, natural gas and propane, compressed air, and cable TV services. Convenience The Center is at the epicenter of the destination, with an abundance of hotels, restaurants, and attractions within walking distance. Pedestrian bridges connect both buildings to more than 5,200 rooms and is within a 15-minute drive from the Orlando International Airport. The convenience of the location goes hand-in-hand with top notch service to help meet an event’s every need. Gold Key Members The OCCC’s Gold Key Members represent the best of the best when it comes to exceptional service and exclusive benefits for clients, exhibitors and guests. The Center’s Gold Key memberships with Universal Orlando Resort, SeaWorld Orlando and Walt Disney World greatly enhance meeting planner and attendee experiences offering world-renowned venues, immersive experiences and creative resources for their events. OCCC Events: This fiscal year, the OCCC is projected to host 168 events, 1.7 million attendees, and $2.9 billion in economic impact.  The Center’s top five events during their 2022-2023 fiscal year included:  AAU Jr. National Volleyball Championships 2023 200,000 Attendees $257 Million in Economic Impact MEGACON 2023 160,000 Attendees $205 Million in Economic Impact Open Championship Series 2023 69,500 Attendees $89 Million in Economic Impact Sunshine Classic 2023 42,000 Attendees $54 Million in Economic Impact Premiere Orlando 2023 42,000 Attendees $108 Million in Economic Impact