You’re focused on planning the event. But the reason your event underperforms is simple:
You didn’t plan the communications.
And I don’t just mean emails or social posts.
Your event doesn’t have communications.
Your event is communications — every single piece of it.
The runway.
The room flow.
The speakers.
The visuals.
The follow-up.
All of it.
And once you understand that, events become easier to plan, better attended, and far more impactful.
Why listen to me?
Across my career, I’ve supported communications for events ranging from 10-person community trainings to 10,000-person crowds. I’ve worked in direct selling, nonprofit, ministry, and startup environments. And I’ve supported everything from conferences to webinars to cultural celebrations to fundraising banquets.
I’ve:
- Supported ticket sales and communications for major conferences with 10,000+ attendees
- Led promotion efforts for community events with 1,500+ people
- Produced webinars and expert interviews with 400–500 participants in the virtual room
- Supported fundraising dinners, cultural events, and multi-week online campaigns
- MC’d, presented, ran tech, coordinated greenrooms, managed registration, and even stepped in for décor and seating layouts
- Presented in front of audiences of all sizes, ranging from local 10-person trainings to 10,000-person crowds in Times Square
I’ve been hands-on, behind the scenes, on stage, online, and everywhere in between.
And across all those experiences, one truth has stayed the same:
Great events don’t start on event day.
They succeed because of the communications strategy that carries them — before, during, and long after the room clears.
1. Pre-Event Strategy: Your Runway Matters More Than You Think
The biggest mistake organizations make? Starting too late.
Your audience is busy—kids, sports, church, jobs, holidays, travel. They need time.
One organization I supported understood this perfectly. Their sales audience was more than 7,000 people, many juggling work, family, and heavy travel schedules. So they built their event strategy backwards:
- In December, they released a full annual events roadmap
- Their reps already knew the big conference was coming in the fall
- When tickets opened months later, people were already planning for it
Because they had time, everything worked better—announcements, speaker reveals, throwbacks, all of it landed.
Takeaway: If you can capture space on someone’s calendar early, the rest is icing on the cake.
2. In-Event Strategy: The Agenda Is the Communication Strategy
Once your event begins, your communications strategy doesn’t pause—it accelerates.
I once supported an event for a tech startup where the real strength wasn’t just the speakers—it was the agenda psychology.
They built the experience around how people actually behave:
- Strong engagement at the beginning
- Energy dips after lunch
- Higher engagement with interaction
- Deeper connection when people feel seen
So they designed intentionally:
- A vibrant opening reception
- High-energy speakers after lunch
- Breakout sessions for movement
- Audience participation moments
- Small rewards to keep energy high
- Panels for variety
It worked whether there were 50 people or 500.
And one more critical piece:
If your event is in person, don’t give everything away online in real time.
If people can get the full value without being there, you hurt your future attendance.
Takeaway: A great agenda is an act of communication. Everything is part of the strategy.
3. Post-Event Strategy: Momentum Starts Before the Event Ends
Post-event engagement doesn’t start later—it starts in the room.
At multi-day events, we always reinforced:
- What people learned
- What was coming next
- Why it mattered to stay engaged
And the result was consistent:
When people had a reason to return, they did.
For single-day events, the same applies.
We would:
- Recap key moments live
- Announce what’s next while energy is high
- Send a follow-up within 2–3 days
- Encourage sharing and reflection
- Extend engagement with virtual recaps
This consistently increased attendance, retention, and follow-through.
Takeaway: Post-event isn’t an afterthought—it’s a bridge.
If you’re planning 2026 events… start here.
Your event is the communications strategy.
Every decision — pre-event, in-event, and post-event — tells a story.
When you treat your event as a full communication journey:
Attendance goes up. Engagement deepens. Retention strengthens. Impact lasts.
If your organization is planning events and wants to strengthen communications, here are a few ways I can support:
- Need a proven promotion timeline for webinars or events? I’m happy to share what’s worked across multiple clients
- Not sure where your event strategy should begin? Let’s map it out together
- Need full communications support? I can help build and execute the full strategy
Whether you need clarity, a roadmap, or hands-on support, I’m here to help you build events that actually move people.
Click here to get started!
Originally published on LinkedIn (November 2025):
👉 https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/1-reason-events-underperform-how-fix-2026-debilee-flores-kgnfe