The Experiential Strategist with Jenny Howard-Maxwell

Why your events are too complicated and why that's actually a strategy problem.

After twenty years in the industry, Jenny has noticed a pattern: when event professionals aren't sure their event is working, they add more. More décor. More activations. More production value. More spend. But more is not the answer. Clarity is. In this episode, Jenny breaks down the one question every event professional needs to answer before they book a single vendor — and how that question changes everything downstream. In this episode: * Why most planners can't prove event ROI and what's actually causing it * The difference between planning an event and designing one * How to turn a vague event purpose into real, measurable KPIs * Why the most impactful events are almost never the most complicated * The first pillar of Strategic Experience Design in practice Your takeaway: Before your next event, answer this — "What does this event need to accomplish?" Write it down. Make it specific. Then let it drive every decision that follows. Learn more about CPES: edgucationinstitute.com

Do you really need a certification? Navigating event industry credentials.

In this episode, Jenny breaks down every major certification in the events industry: the CMP, CSEP, CMM, DES, CEM, and DMCP. What they cover, who they're built for, and where they sit in the landscape. Then she explains the gap none of them fill — and why that gap is exactly what CPES was built for. If you're a mid-career event professional who already knows how to run events but can't get a seat at the strategic table, this episode will help you understand what's missing and what to do about it. In this episode: * What the CMP actually covers and who it's designed for * The difference between CSEP, CMM, DES, and lane-specific credentials * The strategy gap Jenny identified after 20 years in the industry * What CPES teaches and how it sits differently in the landscape * How Atlas supports the CPES methodology in practice Learn more about CPES: edgucationinstitute.com

The Change the Events Industry Needs And How We Make It Happen

There are two types of event professionals in this industry. Planners and strategists. And for too long, there has been no clear path from one to the other. In this episode, I am talking about the gap that has been holding talented, experienced, brilliant event professionals back. Not because they are not good enough. Not because they do not work hard enough. But because the industry built an entire profession without building the pathway to advance within it. That ends now. We are talking about why the Planner Plateau is real and why it is not your fault. Why clients are no longer buying events, they are investing in outcomes. Why the existing certifications in this industry were never designed to take you to the strategic level. And what it actually looks like when you have the framework, the language, and the credential to show up as a strategic partner instead of a vendor. The Experiential Edge Blueprint, built around five pillars: Purpose, Emotion, Behavior, Activation and Anchoring, and Outcome, is the methodology that connects what you design to what your client needs to prove. This episode is about why that framework exists, why the industry needs it, and why you are the one who gets to carry it forward. The path is built. Come be part of the standard we are setting together. Enroll in the CPES Certification: https://edgucationinstitute.com/enrollment [https://edgucationinstitute.com/enrollment] Join me at The Strategists Hour — free monthly live session: https://jennyhm.com/thestrategistshour [https://jennyhm.com/thestrategistshour]

If You Don't Define Your Event Success, Someone Else Will

I want you to think about the most successful event you have ever planned. Not the biggest. Not the most expensive. The one where you knew, in your bones, that you had done something extraordinary. Now I want you to think about how it felt when someone else took that moment away from you. In this episode, I am sharing a story I have never forgotten. A three hour event across three floors of a stunning Denver hotel. A fourteen foot branded Christmas tree. Employees pulling me aside to tell me it was the best company party of their lives. And a Monday morning debrief that opened with a tip jar and burnt sweet potatoes. That call changed everything I believed about event planning. Because I realized I had handed my client a blank scorecard and let him fill it in himself. If you have ever walked out of a debrief feeling deflated after doing extraordinary work, this episode is for you. We are talking about the single most important conversation you are probably skipping, why vacuums always get filled by whoever shows up with an opinion, and what changes when you stop hoping your client noticed and start making sure they know. This is not about difficult clients. This is not about unreasonable expectations. This is about a vacuum. And this episode is about making sure you are the one who fills it first. In this episode: The story of the Oxford Hotel holiday party and the debrief that changed how I plan every event. Why your client will always default to what went wrong when there is no framework in place. What the burnt sweet potatoes were really telling me. How defining success before a single vendor is booked changes everything about the debrief, your authority, and how your clients see you. Why this is not just a professional strategy. It is an act of self respect. Join me at The Strategist's Hour Once a month I go live for one free hour to teach exactly this framework. How to run the purpose conversation before anything else is decided. How to set KPIs your client will actually use. How to walk into every debrief already knowing you won. Register here: https://jennyhm.com/thestrategistshour Get certified: The Certified Professional Experiential Strategist certification teaches you the full Strategic Experience Design methodology so you can lead every event with purpose, strategy, and proof of impact. Learn more at edgucationinstitute.com/enrollment

Make Them Feel That Way on Purpose

Knowing what your event is for is the beginning. Engineering it to produce that result is the work. And the key to that work lives somewhere most event professionals have never been taught to look. In this episode of The Experiential Strategist, Jenny Howard-Maxwell introduces the neuroscience behind why experiences move people and why that changes everything about how you design them. Drawing on the research of Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett, Jenny breaks down how emotion actually works in the brain and why that makes intentional experience design one of the most powerful strategic tools available to you. This is not about making events feel good. It is about making people feel a specific thing, at a specific moment, because you understand exactly what that feeling will do to their decision making. In this episode: Why emotion is not a reaction but a prediction your brain constructs in advance How the environment you build feeds that prediction engine Why emotion and behavior are one process, not two How to design backward from the feeling you need your audience to have Why every event you have ever run was already influencing behavior without you knowing it.