Behind the Podcast: What Event Businesses Really Need to Break the Feast-or-Famine Cycle

Time: 6 Minutes well spent!

I recently sat down with Rachel Moore on Bizzabo’s Event Experience podcast to talk about something every event professional knows too well – that gut-wrenching revenue rollercoaster where you’re either drowning in work or desperately hunting for the next booking.

The conversation covered my journey from scaling music events to founding Codarity, but what we didn’t have time to dig into were the practical systems that actually break this cycle. The industry keeps pushing the same generic marketing advice that doesn’t account for how event businesses actually operate.

Nobody teaches us how to build these systems – we’re trained to create experiences, not run lead generation. I had to figure this out the hard way, and I want to share what I’ve learned so you don’t have to make the same mistakes I did.

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Key Takeaways

• The feast-or-famine cycle isn’t your fault – it’s a systemic issue caused by reactive marketing and seasonal dependency that the industry fails to address.

• Automation doesn’t replace the personal touch – when implemented correctly, it preserves your creative bandwidth by handling the repetitive work nobody teaches event pros how to do.

• Strategic content beats cold outreach volume – one well-positioned piece of content can generate six-figure deals while building long-term authority.

• Your authentic voice is your competitive advantage – AI can scale your output, but only when it’s amplifying your genuine perspective, not replacing it.

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Watch the Full Episode

In this conversation with Rachel Moore, we dig into the practical realities of scaling event businesses, why traditional marketing advice fails event professionals, and the systems that actually generate predictable revenue.

If you’ve ever felt stuck between being too busy to market or too quiet to survive, this episode breaks down exactly why that happens and what to do about it.

Why “Just Do More Outreach” Fails Event Businesses

During the podcast, I mentioned a client story that perfectly illustrates why the conventional approach doesn’t work for event businesses. This was a large B2B agency – we’re talking established, successful operation – and they were hitting a wall.

Their CEO’s answer? Hire more SDRs. More cold calls. More cold emails. Brute force the problem.

Here’s what the industry doesn’t tell you: event services have fundamentally different buying cycles than most B2B solutions. Your prospects aren’t making impulse decisions. They’re researching for months, comparing vendors, dealing with stakeholders, waiting for budget approval. By the time they’re ready to talk, they’ve already formed opinions about who they trust.

So when my client’s sales director and head of marketing came to me, they were burnt out. Scaling the team wasn’t scaling results – it was just burning cash while grinding down their people.

We took a completely different approach. Instead of chasing more prospects, we focused on being found by the right ones through a systematic marketing timeline that leads prospects through their decision journey. We created content around the specific problems their ideal client persona actually struggled with – not general “event planning tips,” but prescriptive solutions to exact pain points.

The CEO was skeptical. Three to six months in, we were getting 5-10 hits per month on these articles. Not exactly viral numbers.

Then the first lead came through. Six-figure event. The prospect specifically said: “I read your article about [specific problem]. Your approach resonated with me. I want to work with you.”

That single deal was a 30x ROI on everything they’d invested with us.

That’s the difference between volume-based outreach and strategic positioning. One approach treats prospects like numbers to be processed. The other builds authority that attracts the clients you actually want to work with.

The AI Interview Technique That Builds Authentic Content at Scale

Look, I get it. When you’re in the middle of peak season with a thousand logistics fires burning, “create more content” sounds about as helpful as “just relax” sounds to someone having a panic attack.

But here’s a practical hack that actually works with the time constraints event pros face.

Take 30 minutes. That’s it. Open Claude or ChatGPT – doesn’t matter which. Give it context about your business, your ideal clients, what you actually do. Then say: “Interview me like you’re an investigative journalist. One question at a time. Go down rabbit holes if they’re valuable to my audience. Otherwise, stay on topic.”

Answer 5-10 questions naturally. Just talk like you’re explaining this to a colleague who gets it. You can even use voice transcription if typing feels like a barrier.

Here’s what happens: the AI captures your actual voice. Not generic “3 tips for event success” garbage – your genuine perspective, your specific experience, how you naturally explain things.

From that 30-minute interview, you can generate 52 weeks of email content. Social posts. Ad angles. Pain points your prospects actually care about. All in your voice, because it came from you.

This is what we do with every client who comes on board. We interview them, capture their expertise, then build systems around amplifying that authenticity.

AI isn’t replacing your expertise – it’s scaling your ability to share it consistently. There’s a massive difference.

The event industry struggles with this because we’re creative professionals first. Nobody taught us how to systematize our knowledge sharing. But when you figure out how to capture your insights once and multiply their reach, you stop having to choose between serving clients and marketing your business.

Why Event Businesses Need Long-Term Marketing Systems (Not 30-Day Fixes)

The podcast touched on something I see constantly: event businesses thinking in seasonal chunks instead of building for the long term.

I completely understand why. When you’re crushed under logistics during peak season, your brain is screaming “just get through this.” When it’s quiet, you’re scrambling for the next booking. The idea of stepping back to build systems feels impossible.

But here’s what I learned the hard way scaling events from 60-person venues to 3,000+ capacity productions: the businesses that thrive aren’t necessarily more talented. They’re just playing a longer game.

Event marketing requires 6-12 month thinking, not 30-day horizons. Your prospects are researching long before they reach out. Your prospects are researching long before they reach out. They’re watching how you show up over time. They’re seeing whether you understand their specific challenges or just blast generic “book us for your next event” messages.

When I work with clients now through the Evergreen Event Profit System, the first thing we do is shift their timeline expectations. We’re not building quick fixes – we’re building infrastructure that generates predictable revenue year-round.

That means content that continues working for you. Nurture sequences that build trust over months. Systems that qualify prospects while you’re busy delivering excellent events.

The short-term mindset keeps you trapped in feast-or-famine. The long-term approach breaks the cycle completely.

How to Actually Prioritize Automation When You’re Drowning

During the conversation with Rachel, we talked about automation, but I want to be really honest about something: when I tell event pros they need to automate more, I can see them thinking “great, another thing I don’t have time for.”

I’ve been there. I know how brutal the logistics crunch is. I remember 3-4am finishes four days a week. I had to stop doing events because I couldn’t sustain it with young kids at home.

So when I talk about automation now, I’m not saying “just add more work to your plate.” I’m saying: let’s systematically remove the things that drain your time but don’t require your creative expertise.

Start with one thing. Not everything – one thing.

For most event businesses, that’s the follow-up system. How many leads have you lost simply because life got busy and you forgot to respond? Not because you’re unprofessional, but because you were handling five other urgent things and that inquiry fell through the cracks.

A basic email automation sequence – even just one email per week for a few weeks – captures that lost revenue without requiring you to remember to follow up manually every single time.

Once that’s working, add another piece. Maybe it’s qualifying questions that filter out tire-kickers before they waste your time. Maybe it’s automated booking confirmations that maintain professionalism without you doing data entry.

The goal isn’t to automate everything. It’s to automate the repetitive stuff that keeps you from doing the creative work you’re actually good at.

Every event professional I know is better at designing experiences than they are at remembering to send follow-up email #3 to a prospect. Automation isn’t replacing your skills – it’s protecting your bandwidth for what actually matters.

What This Means for Your Event Business

The industry keeps telling event businesses to “just do more marketing.” Run more ads. Make more calls. Create more content. It’s exhausting and it doesn’t work because it’s treating symptoms instead of fixing the system.

Breaking the feast-or-famine cycle isn’t about working harder – it’s about working strategically. It’s about building systems that attract the right clients, nurture them over time, and convert them when they’re ready. Not when you desperately need the booking.

I built Codarity because I’ve lived both sides of this. I know what it’s like to scale events and feel the pressure of filling seats. I also learned how to build marketing systems that generate predictable revenue instead of crossing your fingers and hoping referrals come through.

Discover Where Your Growth Bottlenecks Actually Are

The feast-or-famine cycle isn’t inevitable – it’s a symptom of specific, fixable gaps in your marketing systems.

Our Event Business Growth Readiness Assessment shows you exactly where those gaps are in your business. You’ll get a personalized breakdown across lead generation, lead management, conversion systems, and growth readiness – with specific action steps for what to tackle first.

It takes 3 minutes to complete, and you’ll get immediate results showing your biggest opportunities for creating predictable revenue instead of crossing your fingers and hoping referrals come through.