Marketing, event planning, execution, and event management–all similar categories with ultimately the same goal—getting people to like you and putting on fantastic events. To be a whiz in the event biz you have to be great at all of them (and the twenty other subcategories) that make up all that is the events industry. Everyone can use a touch up. If you’re an event professional, you need to follow these event planning blogs to stay on top of your game and get the edge with all the greatest and latest info of all event trends and news.
1. Bizbash
Bizbash may seem like an obvious one for anyone even remotely interested in the industry, but leaving these event experts off the list would be the ultimate crime. More of an event planning industry Media Company than event planning blog, Bizbash is a no-brainer for anyone in the events industry wanting to stay relevant.
2. Velvet Chainsaw
The crew at Velvet Chainsaw Consulting are deep thinkers and it shows with their thought-leadership-style articles. You’ll probably want to pay close attention to anything that Jeff Hurt writes. He provides plenty of valuable insight that is certainly shaping the way people thing about how we conduct annual meetings, conferences, and education through this corporate-ish event planning blog.
3. Event Manager Blog
The Event Manager Blog prides itself on being the first blog for event professionals, beginning in 2007. Julius Solaris is an international speaker, author, and former media consultant for global brands, and frankly, knows his shtick. Not only a bible to the event startup community, but a key innovator in sharing event trends and tips to current professionals. Their “10 Event Trends” was created in 2010 and for the next four years became the most viewed presentation ever for the event industry. We suggest checking it out if you live on Mars and haven’t already.
4. Techsytalk.com
Liz King is a tech-savvy event planner based in New York City. Liz’s fun voice and influencer commentary provide entertaining intellect, and her passion and knowledge still manage to shine through. She runs an annual event tech conference in New York City called techsytalk LIVE.
5. David Tutera
David Tutera is hailed as an artistic visionary and a leading wedding and entertaining expert. At age 19, with only one client, he opened his own event planning business and has made his name become synonymous with style, elegance, creativity, and vision. He has over 124,000 Twitter followers and a blog that offers event planning and design tips, inspiration, and products.
6. Leila Lewis
Be Inspired PR is Leila Lewis’s baby and she is one of the few PR professionals who specializes in promoting event and wedding planning firms. Be Inspired PR is the first-ever wedding PR firm, and her blog, Inspired by This, talks a lot about promoting your business. An awesome outlet for any event planner to learn and take notes from.
7. Event Industry News
Event Industry News is an online magazine based in the UK and offers the latest news on the event industry from both sides of the pond and covers a wide variety of event issues.
8. Laura McCulloh was instrumental in creating the #eventprof Internet community and has been one of its most respected voices ever since. Laura is one of the industry’s most highly regarded consultants and with her sensible business marketing tips, allows you to incorporate real personality in your event planning business.
9. #eventprofs
Eventprofs.co has so much great content, it can be overwhelming trying to sort through it all. You can search the hashtag and only see the most recent parts of the conversation – or you could go to eventsprof.com and get a curated list of trending discussion items. Doesn’t it feel great to be in the know?
10. Grass Shack Events and Media
Grass Shack Events and Media hosts an events and meetings podcast with input from industry leaders. You’ll find in-depth discussions with IMEX influencers that are sure to make for more thought provoking commutes.
11. Endless Entertainment
Endless Entertainment, based in Arizona, offers insight and how-to’s when it comes to pulling off great events. Even though they are an event production company, the breadth of their posts span from dos and don’ts of event tech to how to build an itinerary. Check out their site here.