Make Them Feel That Way On Purpose
From Event Planner to Experiential Strategist: Think Like a Marketer, Design for Emotion, Prove the Impact
You've built the business. Now get paid for the thinking.
You already know how to make an event happen. You've been doing it flawlessly for years. But clients still hand you a date, a budget, and a venue, and ask you to make it look good.
This book is about the part of your work nobody sees: the decisions that make people feel something, do something, and remember it. And how to turn those decisions into results your clients can measure and will pay for.
It's the playbook I wish I'd had when I was booked solid and stuck.
Three shifts that change how clients see you
Think like a marketer
Start where your clients start: with the business goal. Learn to ask why an event exists before anyone talks about the venue, and become the person shaping the brief instead of receiving it.
Design for emotion
People don't remember the logistics. They remember how they felt. Choose the emotion that moves your audience to act, and design every moment to deliver it on purpose.
Prove the impact
Stop reporting headcounts and satisfaction scores. Define success before the event, then show your client exactly what changed. That's what earns repeat clients and bigger budgets.
Every event is designed to change behavior. Define the behavior, and you define success.Jenny Howard-Maxwell
About the author
Jenny Howard-Maxwell spent 25 years in events, building a reputation for flawless execution and an experiential agency of her own. In 2017, she pushed back on a logistics-only brief and proposed a strategy instead. It took her five years to turn that moment into a framework, and it changed her business.
Today she's the founder of the Edgucation Institute and creator of the CPES certification, teaching event business owners to get paid for their thinking. She was named a Top 50 Power Player at The Event Planner Expo in 2025 and has spoken to 150 of the country's top CMOs.
Put the book to work
Start today with the free guide
Five questions to bring to your next client call, while you wait for the book.
The Experiential Strategist's Workbook
The companion workbook. Apply every idea to your real client events, step by step.
Make them feel that way on purpose.
Releasing October 27, 2026. More revenue, less stress: it starts with proving event success.
Get the book on Amazon