Ten strategic tips for event and experiential marketers who want to get more return on their investment.

1. TOP 10 PRINCIPLES
OF EVENT STRATEGY
Kerrie Sheldon
EVP of Event Strategy, Design & Production
Opus Agency

2. REVISIT YOUR GOALS.
Don’t do an event just because
you did it before. Always reassess
your reasons and goals.

3. KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE.
Research your audience and know
who they are. Speak their language—
avoid marketing babble and clichés.

4. LISTEN TO ATTENDEES.
Give your attendees a voice and listen
to what they have to say. One-way
conversation is not effective communication.

5. CREATE A UNIQUE EXPERIENCE.
Your event should be true to your brand
and echo your unique brand attributes.
Your brand is not just your logo.

6. MAXIMIZE EVERY TOUCH POINT.
Immerse and engage your attendees.
Inspire participation and creation. Do with
events what can only be done with events.

7. INTEGRATE
YOUR EVENTS.
Every engagement is part
of a strategic brand relationship.
Allow them to work together.

8. ENGAGE WITH CONTENT.
Content is not king. Content
is the currency of engagement.

9. MEASURE FOR VALUE,
NOT VANITY.
Align metrics with business
objectives and optimization goals.

10. EMBRACE DATA FOR ITS INSIGHT
AND ACCOUNTABILITY.
Collect and treat it with respect, transparency,
and reciprocal value for attendees.

11. START
PLANNING TODAY.
Good planning is always
better than good reacting.

12. KERRIE SHELDON
IN HER ROLE AS EVP of Event Strategy, Design & Production for Opus, Kerrie deftly
blends strategy and creative in order to bring her clients’ visions to life—while
simultaneously meeting defined, measurable goals. A seasoned pro at achieving success
with projects of all sizes, Kerrie’s ability to bring a creative vision together with the
technical production services necessary to create it is critical to helping Opus clients
extend their brands through keynotes, breakouts, and engagements of all kinds.
With more than 25 years of event management, production, and creative event design
experience, Kerrie joined Opus in 2010 after most recently running her own event
marketing and production company, Genesis Creative Group, for 12+ years. Previously,
she worked for Fortune 500 company Tandem Computers as Director of Global Events.
Kerrie lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her daughter Sarah, and enjoys the
Pacific beaches and mountains throughout the year.
OPUS AGENCY PROVIDES event marketing, management and production solutions to
Fortune 1000 companies. Since 1993, we have been a trusted adviser to a diverse group
of customers creating unique, high quality events. We design, plan and execute brand
experiences that accelerate results and enable customer success.
Our passion for customer success drives every aspect of our business—our amazing
people, the values they share, and our best-practice methodology. We call it TeamCS™—
the Opus Customer Success Platform. We would love to show you how it works.

13. THANK YOU