Blog

Events Industry 2023, Wrapped: Our Top 10 Most Popular Blog Posts

As we close the door on 2023 and prepare to launch into what will undoubtedly be another busy year in the events industry, we’re excited to take a look back. Throughout the year, the RainFocus blog has helped event leaders stay ahead of the curve. We provide thoughtful advice from our seasoned executives on the most impactful trends, as well as quick practical tips for navigating the day-to-day work of planning and executing events around the world.

To cap off our journey through the year, we’re counting down our top 10 most popular blog posts in 2023. Join us as we revisit these highlights and the trends that defined the year in the events industry:

10. Everything You Need to Know About Badge Printing

Event success comes down to the details. To the uninitiated, badges may seem minor compared to elements like booking keynote speakers or planning a massive welcome party. But attendee badges perform a critical function. Is pre-printing or printing on demand more efficient? How should you differentiate access types? This quick guide helps your team zero in on the right choices.

9. The Path Forward: JR Sherman and Alicia Tillman Reflect on Pandemic Pivots and Events’ Value in Any Economic Climate

RainFocus INSIGHT gives attendees expert guidance on the most important events industry trends, opportunities, and challenges for the year. This blog post recapped the fireside chat between RainFocus CEO JR Sherman and Alicia Tillman, RainFocus board director and current chief marketing officer at Delta Air Lines. No matter the size of your company or your events, these experts’ reflections on customer journeys, budgets, the future of virtual events, and more continue to resonate.

8. Early Bird Pricing Strategy: The Logic and Science Behind Scarcity and Value

Another evergreen favorite, this post dives into the strategy behind offering early-bird pricing for your event. With events under pressure to deliver ROI and meet attendance goals, it’s more important than ever to hit the ground running with a strong response to your special offers for attendees who register early.

7. Conversations: A Look at Today’s Event Trends with Ashleigh Cook

The Conversations series, a signature part of the RainFocus blog, features candid Q&A sessions with RainFocus’ most knowledgeable executives. This 2022 post with Ashleigh Cook, now our CMO, zeroes in on opportunities and challenges that continue to factor heavily into events leaders’ planning. Readers found valuable advice on everything from attendee engagement to smart content reuse to ongoing efforts to increase personalization.

6. Fifteen Points of a Great Recap Video

After an event wraps, it’s time for measurement, analysis, marketing and sales follow-up … and putting together a fun recap video to showcase your success and keep the enthusiasm going. Readers appreciated the detail in this blog post and the provided client examples.

5. How to Structure Cancellation Fees at a Conference

Like badge printing, early-bird pass offers, and recap videos, cancellation fees represent another event element that may seem minor but can have a big impact. Balancing ongoing relationships with financial realities — and making the whole process as efficient as possible — requires the right approach. This popular blog post covers all the nuances.

4. What Should You Look for in a Modern Event Management Platform?

When exploring options for any new technology, buyers often turn to leading analyst firms’ reviews and reports comparing leading platforms. This year, Forrester compared RainFocus and 13 competitors for The Forrester Wave™: B2B Event Management Technology, Q1 2023 report, and we were named a Leader. But this popular blog post is about more than boasting — it also lays out a few key recommendations from Forrester’s analysts for what to look for in any B2B event management technology.

3. How to Supercharge Your Marketing Channel With Event Data

Omnichannel marketing is making big waves this year in the events industry, so it’s no surprise that this blog post ranked near the top in popularity. The end of third-party cookies, meanwhile, has spotlighted the importance of zero- and first-party event data like never before. Best of all, we also co-wrote an entire (free!) e-book with Adobe if you’re ready to take the next steps.

2. A First Look at RainFocus INSIGHT 2024: What to Expect

It’s clear the excitement around RainFocus INSIGHT continues to build! Since this post was first published, we’ve also released a lot more information about the event. Check out the session catalog and preliminary speaker list, bonus excursion offerings, and more. There’s still plenty of time to get the primer through this blog post and then register to join us in Salt Lake City.

1. How to Harness the Power of Events to Drive Business Growth

Finally, our most read blog post in 2023 — by far — tackles a universal, timely theme. Whether or not your organization faced budget cuts and other economic challenges this year, turning to your events channel to fuel marketing and sales success is a smart strategy. Our experts delved into exactly how to make sure those events deliver maximum (and measurable) ROI. For even more guidance, check out the accompanying free e-book!

We’re looking forward to another year of bringing you another year of thought-provoking discussion and practical guidance on the blog. We can’t wait to see what 2024 brings!

December 21, 2023
Small Events Are Surging — Here’s How to Boost Engagement Impact

Small events are in demand. In fact, so far in 2026, the number of companies hosting smaller ancillary events, roadshows, and webinars has increased 36%, according to our benchmark data.

Creating new opportunities for attendees to join events in a location convenient to them has proven effective in boosting customer engagement and attracting prospects. In this post, we’ll dive into engagement trends surrounding small events and share why it’s important to consolidate events into one platform to maximize your small events’ impact.

Latest Data Signals

As small events become more popular, they are producing more data for teams to incorporate into their dashboards. For example, session attendance has grown 27%, offering new insights into customer interests.

Overall, audience acquisition has surged by 48%, providing sales and marketing teams with more prospects to engage with in a personalized setting. Furthermore, meeting attendance has increased 37%, highlighting the value attendees place on face-to-face interactions.

Organizers creating these events aren’t the only ones who have realized their value. Exhibitor participation at small events has seen a 43% uptick in the past year, with exhibitors capturing 26% more leads than before. These increases represent a significant source of revenue for event organizers and their exhibitors.

The Importance of Having a Single Platform

Despite the increasing significance of these events, many organizations are missing out on the opportunity to tailor customers’ experiences based on past event engagement because they’re still hosting small events on a separate platform. Connecting events of all sizes on a single platform delivers numerous benefits:

Unified Data: A consolidated platform ensures all of your event data is stored in one place, making it easier to analyze events as a whole and in comparison to each other. This unified approach facilitates a deeper understanding of attendee behaviors and preferences. As AI becomes more embedded in workflows, the need for interconnected data is imperative. And by integrating all of your events with your CRM and other systems, you’ll be better equipped to harness agentic AI for greater optimization and personalization throughout your buyer journey.

Optimized Templatization: As you increase the number of events you manage, maintaining governance through a single set of standardized templates is essential. Templates and pre-built project plans can help you replicate successful event formats quickly, ensuring a consistent experience for attendees across different locations and types of events. Templates also help prevent delays. However, if those templates are built on separate platforms, their utility is more limited, and you may experience data silos, inconsistency, and poor version control.

Efficient Management: Managing events with a single platform saves time and reduces complexity, allowing your organization to focus on delivering exceptional attendee experiences. This streamlined approach also makes it easier to repurpose event processes for greater efficiency and more value from each event, large and small.

Loyalty Gains

Based on our data, further increased interest in small events is likely. As organizations continue to add events in different locations, they’ll see steady gains in brand loyalty. In the current environment, attendees have demonstrated a deep desire for genuine interactions. As a result, we anticipate meeting participation and exhibitor interaction to continue growing, especially in small-event settings where deep connections may be easier.

Small events are a proven tool for driving engagement and brand loyalty, and RainFocus’ Base Module is designed to equip organizations to hold events that cover the globe. Teams are supported by AI as they enjoy the benefits of a single-platform approach, complete governance, and a guided setup experience. Request a demo to learn more about the Base Module.

April 6, 2026
Selecting the Right Event Platform in the Agentic AI Era
The increasingly sophisticated AI-powered workflows taking hold in the events industry — and nearly every other sector — now introduce two new areas of high importance to keep in mind during the event platform selection process.

First, the rise of AI has made genuine human connections and relationship-building a top priority. Events have become even more valuable. With so much more potential positive impact on the organization’s sales and marketing success at every event, ensuring that the right technology is powering that event now has higher stakes.

The “AI factor” also reshapes evaluation of the platforms themselves. Organizations considering their options should take a careful look at each contender’s current offerings and roadmap. Given that AI technology — particularly agentic AI — is advancing fast, a top-performing event platform needs to keep pace while maintaining the utmost security and flexibility. The company also should properly prioritize future development, rather than checking a box and moving on.

With this context, we’re excited to announce that RainFocus was just recognized as a Leader by Gartner in the 2026 Magic Quadrant. This is our third consecutive placement in the Leaders Quadrant. According to Gartner, “Leaders execute well against their current vision and are well positioned for tomorrow.”

Platform selection considerations

Of course, AI-related innovation isn’t the only major aspect of a top event platform. In the report, RainFocus also has the furthest position for Completeness of Vision among all evaluated vendors. Additional highlights included exceptional customer service, robust feedback channels, one-time implementation, and flexibility to support a diverse range of event strategies.

Research reports like the 2026 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Event Marketing and Management Platforms serve as a knowledge mainstay during the vendor selection process. When learning about various offerings and launching into more thorough investigations of the top contenders, we recommend asking the following questions:
- What is on the vendor’s innovation roadmap? Assess the vendor’s commitment to future-proofing your investment in the platform, particularly with AI functionality. Will you be able to easily work with your current tools and AI models? Are the new capabilities being built natively, or bolted on (which can introduce threats to functionality)? How is data protected?
- How does the pricing model work? Determine whether additional fees may lurk under a deceptively low base price. Investigate exactly what type of service, level of support, and feature set will be available with each purchase option.
- What implementation options are available? Every organization is different, as is every event. Examine whether your event strategy needs extensive guidance and managed services during adoption for a complex event, a simple one-time implementation that you’ll duplicate on your own via templates, or something in between. Match your needs to each vendor’s available implementation offerings.
To access the full Gartner Magic Quadrant for Event Marketing and Management Platforms and research the current platforms in greater depth to discover which is right for you, click here.

Gartner, 2026 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Event Marketing and Management Platforms, Christy Ferguson, Halle Stern, Amy Jenkins, March 26, 2026. Gartner and Magic Quadrant are trademarks of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. Gartner does not endorse any company, vendor, product or service depicted in its publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s business and technology insights organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this publication, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.
March 30, 2026
Conversations: How Rodney Hart Connected Journeys (And People) at INSIGHT 2026

After the RainFocus INSIGHT program concludes each year, one of our favorite traditions is speaking with Rodney Hart, head of events at RainFocus. As an event for event leaders, INSIGHT is uniquely positioned as a rich laboratory for innovation.

Plus, the RainFocus platform provides Hart and his team with volumes of instantly accessible data on what’s working, what can be better, and what he might want to try next year. Our candid reflections on INSIGHT covered everything from major trends to tiny logistical tweaks. You’ll find plenty of actionable takeaways for event leaders in any industry.

This year’s INSIGHT theme was “Connecting Journeys” — what are some of the ways you saw that theme expressed during the conference?

One main way of connecting journeys was bringing in data from past events to make the experience more personalized, such as through session recommendations.

Connecting journeys also means understanding who our attendees are and making sure we have people from the right accounts present. It’s important to tie your systems together and be able to identify people associated with each company and the buying group members.

A key INSIGHT metric is how much of the annual pipeline target is in the audience, and which deals they are associated with. This year, we had 85% of these people in the room, compared to 70% last year.

We’ve heard a lot about how the rise of AI has increased the importance of in-person relationships. INSIGHT seemed to be even more about connecting people this year. Was this an intentional strategy?

The schedule was designed for connection. After the morning keynotes, breakouts didn’t start until 2 p.m. or later. We positioned meetings as opportunities for deep-dive conversations. People can reflect aloud about how they get things done at their job.

We designed the layout to bring everyone together, with one main campus and the keynote area flowing into it.

What were the results? Any specific metrics or attendee feedback to share?

We increased the time spent in meetings per attendee by 32% year-over-year. That figure doesn’t even reflect things like impromptu hallways meetings, which also add to the experience.

Our overall Net Promoter Score^® also increased from 55 last year to 67 this year. INSIGHT has an audience that truly knows events, so it’s especially impressive.

Big Braindate boost

Last year, the AI-generated session summaries from Voxo were one of INSIGHT’s big hits. What stood out this year as especially popular or successful?

The Experience Profiles, which we offer through our partnership with Storycraft Lab, were a big success again. This year, we integrated the profiles more fully within the RainFocus platform. We mapped filters in the session catalog and the attendee list.

There was an 11% jump in the number of Experience Profile quizzes taken. Attendees could add their results to their conference badges, and 72% of people took the quiz before the event. This way, we could dial in the session recommendations even more.

Usage of the Voxo session summaries also saw a jump — around a 70% increase in downloads. Also, we once again offered facial scanning for check-in instead of a QR code, and there was an incremental increase in that choice, from 51% last year to 62% this year. People are getting more comfortable with that authentication technology.

Going back to the major theme of connecting journeys and the increase in meetings, how about Braindates? We saw the Braindates listed in the session catalog reach capacity early on.

Braindates were very big again. We intentionally included a selection in the session catalog to make them more visible because attendees typically orient themselves around the catalog.

Seeing those sessions already filled supported interest in other Braindates. We saw a 300% jump in Braindates held vs. last year, and twice as many attendees participated. The catalog inclusion doesn’t account for the entire massive jump in participation, but it did increase the visibility of the offering.

Many clients have already told us they want to try something similar. Braindates also serve as a secondary offering for speakers you couldn’t fit on the session schedule. And because of the small group size, people could really get to know each other.

Virtual event metrics

As a hybrid event program, INSIGHT has also always had a strong virtual component. What trends and metrics did you see this year on the virtual side?

The number of people dialing in was second only to what we saw in 2023. There was a slight drop in the number of sessions offered virtually, but we gave virtual attendees the ability to participate alongside those in the room, such as by submitting questions to panelists.

Our virtual audience had a lot of early-stage prospects. We want them to learn more about who we are and tune into the keynote. Our “mega keynote” approach this year, anchoring the usual executive address to our major announcement of RainFocus Nexus, worked well.

It’s important to have virtual touchpoints that anyone can engage with for free. We want to develop a relationship with a low barrier to entry. Those virtual attendees may be future in-person attendees.

Within our in-person audience, 56% of them were first timers. Ten percent of those had attended virtually in the past. That is a number I pay attention to — that is significant.

On the content and schedule side, what major changes were made this year? How did they work out?

We intentionally reduced the number of concurrent breakout sessions. Last year, we ran more sessions, including in the mainstage area during times when there was no mainstage session.

Eight concurrent sessions last year proved to be too much for the size of the conference, and it spread audiences thin. This year, the number of breakout sessions and their locations worked much better.

We’ve continued to iterate on our deep-dive content. This year, it took the form of “Share and Compare” sessions. We created 75-minute session blocks guided by an expert and invited attendees to come prepared to also share how they are using the RainFocus platform. I think we found a format that really resonated with our audience.

Working around a holiday in the schedule was tough, but avoiding ending on a half-day helped with engagement and prevented attendee dropoff. Last year, we were forced to end on a half-day, and it is something to avoid — engagement ending on a half day is definitely poorer than when you start on a half day.

Measurement lessons

Finally, given all the new learnings on connecting journeys from INSIGHT 2026, any additional advice you would give other event leaders?

Always continue to experiment and measure. Sometimes you have theories about how things might work better. Sometimes you’re forced to shift, and even if it doesn’t work out, it provides an opportunity to measure the impact.

Plus, there are always new technologies to measure in new ways. For example, this year we used Zenus scanners to evaluate the “energy” in the room during each session and map it to session transcripts to gauge content success and patterns of engagement. We’ll continue to experiment.

Attendee surveys are important, but they only capture a small percentage of information, so it’s always important to see what other data sources you can find. I am a big believer in the adage: ‘You can’t improve what you don’t measure.’

Catch up on INSIGHT sessions you missed (free!) with RainFocus On Demand!

March 24, 2026
Everything You Need to Know About Event Integrations and AI
Event integrations connect key business systems, extending the value of events to multiple departments and enabling event professionals to draw upon existing knowledge for greater personalization.

With AI, these integrations become even stronger. AI can decipher unstructured data passed through integrations into actionable insights. Understanding the basic structure and flow of integrations can help you think through how you might use AI and elevate your event strategy.

This post provides a comprehensive overview of event integrations, highlights which are most important, and describes best practices for setting them up.

Basic Terminology: Integrations vs. APIs

Event technology providers often refer to integrations and Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) throughout event implementation. Though closely related, the two concepts differ in functionality. Integrating is the process of connecting different software systems, and APIs are the set of rules and protocols that allow systems to communicate. They define how requests and responses should be formatted. In short, integrations focus on the end result of connecting systems, while APIs serve as the means to achieve those results.

Understanding the Flow of Data Between Platforms

APIs can be configured to push or pull data into your event marketing platform. Some integrations, such as a CRM integration, are considered bi-directional, meaning they send and receive data. Understanding the nuances of pushing and pulling data is crucial for setting up integrations that support seamless data flow and enhance event operations.

Pushing Data: Pushing data sends it from one system to another, such as attendee details collected during event registration automatically pushed to a CRM, ensuring real-time synchronization and updates. This approach allows marketers to trigger personalized follow-ups or qualify customers based on their actions at events.

Pulling Data: In contrast, pulling data involves retrieving information from another system as needed. An event marketing platform might pull customer data from a CRM to personalize registration flows or tailor session recommendations to specific personas. Pulling data ensures attendee information is always current and relevant.

Key Integrations for Every Event

There are hundreds of possible integrations for an event marketing platform. Deciding which systems to integrate is an important step in the event planning process. Consider company and event goals, partner solutions, stakeholder preferences, and platform capabilities. Generally, the following three types of integrations that are important for any event:
1. Marketing and sales integrations. Establishing bi-directional marketing and sales integrations is key to driving pipeline, accelerating conversions, supporting customer retention, and demonstrating event ROI. CRMs and MAPs provide valuable customer data to fill in attendee records. Event data can bolster customer records, offering key insights into an individual’s interests and behaviors.
2. SSO. SAML or OIDC allow you to authenticate customers and sign them in with an existing external account, creating continuity between the event website and your event platform. Establishing SSO can reduce cart abandonment and streamline registration for returning attendees.
3. Payment integrations. When processing payments for an event, your team must integrate with a secure platform that will protect your attendees’ PII and adhere to your organization’s security regulations.
Best Practices for Setting Up Event Integrations

No matter your level of expertise on these integrations, the following best practices will ensure you are getting the most out of your integrations and aligning them with your overall event strategy:
1. Work cross-functionally. First, meet with all stakeholders to learn what they need to be successful. Plan data mappings to address those needs.
2. Establish governance. Decide early on who will build, test, and manage each integration. Documenting everyone responsible also provides a point of contact in case of any issues that need to be immediately fixed.
3. Validate your data before integrating. Optimal integrations require high-quality data. Avoid a “garbage in, garbage out” scenario by cleaning up records before adding them to your event marketing platform.
4. Standardize your data formats. Whether you are using JSON, XML, Javascript, or another language, standardizing your data format facilitates smooth integration, preventing errors during data transfer.
5. Plan for future configurations. Design data mappings to be easy to update, allowing the team to accommodate future needs.
6. Identify the tools you’ll use to monitor integration performance. An integration dashboard provides visibility into the integration’s success rate, volume of data, queue size, and other information.
7. Conduct testing. Validate that data is correctly mapped before launching registration. As best practice, use a sandbox environment to test the integration and troubleshoot any errors. If data isn’t flowing as expected, check for formatting errors.
The Role of Integrated Data When Using Agentic AI

Once you’ve set up each integration and have proven that everything works the way it should, you can take them to the next level with AI enhancements.

As more people become accustomed to communicating with AI in their daily lives, attendees will also come to expect AI support at events. Agentic AI in particular will enable attendees to get the most out of their experience, such as by helping them fill their agenda with the most relevant sessions, activities, and meetings. Integrating customers’ data into your event marketing platform allows AI agents to identify patterns and trends, offering attendees a personalized experience based on their preferences and behaviors.

RainFocus is actively preparing event leaders for the agentic web with RainFocus Nexus, a system of AI agents that integrate with your existing tech stack to automate event setup and enhance the attendee experience. Request a demo to learn more.
March 17, 2026
Advancing Your Event Career in the Age of Agentic AI

Although AI agents cannot replace the human leadership of events, they are becoming increasingly more important for managing events. During the recent RainFocus INSIGHT 2026 conference, our speakers emphasized that professionals who master AI-powered technologies will advance in their careers, while those who cling to legacy systems and processes will lose their edge.

Event industry leaders at INSIGHT discussed the impact that AI will have on event careers and what event professionals should do now to climb the corporate ladder during this monumental shift. Here are the top three recommendations for growing your career in the age of agentic AI:

Create an AI-Powered Workforce

If it isn’t already, AI will soon be integrated into your daily routine. Taking command of AI agents is the key to advancing your event career, explained Marius Milcher, VP of platform strategy and AI at RainFocus.

“By letting AI handle mundane tasks like drafting abstracts or managing schedules, you free up your time to focus on human connection, creativity, and strategy,” he said during an INSIGHT session. Use AI to solve big challenges, not just small ones. For event professionals, experimenting with AI for tasks like building schedules or sending recommendations demonstrates the forward-thinking leadership needed to get ahead in your career.

Strategize Like a C-Suite Member

Because AI is capable of streamlining event execution, business strategy becomes more important. The key to becoming a strategic advisor requires framing conversations with C-suite members around business trade-offs, risks, and impacts rather than event technology, said Nicola Kaster, CEO of Event Leaders Exchange.

Similarly, INSIGHT keynote speaker Sasha Frieze, author of the Chief Event Officer’s Playbook, recommended that event professionals investigate what their CEO cares most about (e.g., product launches, renewal cycles) and then design events specifically to support those goals.

Master the Art of Gathering and Sharing Data

To think like a C-suite member, you’ll also need to capture the right data. During our industry expert forum, several panelists mentioned the importance of determining return on objective. For events, this means moving beyond vanity metrics like registration numbers and focusing on pipeline influence, deal acceleration, and customer retention. To capture these data points, set up integrations with your CRM and marketing automation platforms. Once you’ve established a bi-directional flow of data, you can give your leadership compelling proof that your event is driving business and, in turn, illustrate your value as an employee.

AI can make these processes much easier. RainFocus Nexus agents enable strategic collaboration with the company’s leadership team by surfacing important event metrics at a moment’s notice. With this data, you can inform sales and marketing of event-generated opportunities, which directly impact closed-won business.

Read more about RainFocus Nexus here or request a demo for more information. For more INSIGHT content, visit RainFocus On Demand.

March 3, 2026
INSIGHT Strategy Scoop: A New Way to Streamline Staff Scheduling
All hands on deck! As an event approaches, organizations often turn to one of their most valuable on-site staffing resources: internal employees from the events team and beyond.

To make the most of their time at the event, employees often pitch in for the myriad on-site roles needed for successful event execution. They may be asked to distribute badges, scan booth visitors, monitor breakout session seating availability, support audience Q&A operations, or even spin the prize wheel at the gamification station.

Plus, with their knowledge of your organization’s latest offerings and pride in the company, employees are natural ambassadors. They make attendees feel connected and can effortlessly answer questions. Event leaders depend on these “temporary staffers” to fill in operational gaps and bring their events to the next level.

But what’s the best way to get everyone signed up for shifts … without drowning in spreadsheets? How can you avoid time conflicts? What are the secrets to ensuring employees show up for all of their shifts over the course of a busy event?

The Dreamforce inspiration

As part of the “Behind the Scenes” series at RainFocus INSIGHT 2026, our own configuration experts and other team members shared an insider perspective building the innovative new staff scheduling solution they debuted this year at INSIGHT.

The previous approach to employee scheduling at INSIGHT was built on spreadsheets, which presented limitations and required significant ongoing manual work.

“The spreadsheet might not have always shown the most up-to-date version,” noted Kristi Nybro, principal project manager at RainFocus. “And people did not have their scheduled sessions appear as shifts on their calendar, so a lot of them needed to have reminders sent.”

With the RainFocus platform already serving as the source of truth for event content and other core scheduling elements, using it for staffing instantly made sense for providing a seamless operation.

Better yet, Salesforce had already successfully run its internal staffing within the RainFocus platform at its massive Dreamforce event. A post-Dreamforce learning session with the Salesforce team gave Nybro and her colleagues an informative jumpstart on building something similar for INSIGHT.

Staffing “session” buildout process

The scheduling system used RainFocus’ existing session catalog functionality, with each employee shift built as a “session.”

Each employee could view available shifts organized by date and time and apply filters to see which still needed to be filled, explained Usamah Rao, solution consultant at RainFocus.

This setup not only made signup easy, but it also ensured work shifts appeared alongside session attendance and other INSIGHT commitments in each person’s agenda to prevent accidental double-booking.

“The process was about using the tools we are already using,” added Gabe Fernandez, senior solution consultant at RainFocus. “There was nothing new to learn, and everything was in one place, with no need to manage multiple spreadsheets anymore.”

Whether a shift was individually selected or pre-assigned (e.g., by a manager), it was automatically populated into the employee’s daily agenda and mobile event app for quick viewing on-site.

Quick deployment tips

Building the staffing system within RainFocus offered plenty of built-in advantages, as seen by Salesforce and our own team at each organization’s respective events.

But regardless of the platform, here are a few guidelines to start streamlining employee staffing sign-ups and on-site operations at your next event:
- Include layered access safeguards. When staffing sessions are built the same way as regular content sessions open to attendees, it’s important to make sure only employees can see them. The RainFocus team used widgets with filters, attribute values, and employee-limited visibility to maximize security. Session catalogues for non-employee attendees contained only the expected menu of sessions for a clean, confusion-free experience.
- Share the dashboard with people leaders. Once initial shift sign-ups are launched, keep managers in the loop. An automatically updated dashboard can show them which days and tasks still need the most staffing. It can also list which of their direct reports attending the event have not yet volunteered where needed.
- Make “Add to Calendar” easy. An email confirmation with a universal .ical file helps employees continue to prioritize shift attendance. You’ll increase the chances that everyone shows up as planned, even as their event agendas inevitably become more jam-packed as the event nears.
- Send day-of reminders. Finally, timely reminders for shift attendance — through emails, mobile push alerts, or a combination of both — tame on-site schedule chaos and provide that last gentle enforcement step. Staffers reminded of their commitments can make sure to avoid scheduling last-minute meetings or other activities over their critical duties for helping make the event a success.
If you couldn’t make it to INSIGHT this year or want to revisit the key learnings, here’s a quick recap of the most important takeaways.

Better yet, we’ve made select sessions available free. Log in here to browse at your convenience.
February 26, 2026
How Will Events Change in the Next Three Years? Six Predictions From INSIGHT

“In the next three years, so much will change,” said Brent Turner, EVP of Strategy and Solutions at Opus Agency. During his keynote session at INSIGHT, Turner and Brian Gates (SVP of Go to Market and Strategy at RainFocus) outlined six shifts that will shape events in the coming years. Using a metaphorical concept car, they showcased what is possible when event professionals embrace change.

Here are the biggest predicted changes, and tips on how event marketers can prepare for each shift:

1. The Live Rush

The shift: The third space is back, meaning people are flocking to meetups, coffee shops, and clubs. As a result, events have more competition for people’s time.

How to prepare: Gates explained the importance of becoming “value obsessed” in your marketing to capture a customer’s attention. The new benchmark for success is a return on engagement, measuring offline engagement with the same speed and accuracy as online data.

2. New Opportunities in the Global South

The shift: Global growth is shifting; within four years, nine of the ten largest cities will be in the global south. This means the total addressable market is moving, requiring portfolios to further expand into regions like the Middle East, Latin America, and Southeast Asia.

How to prepare: Event marketers must develop an infrastructure for growth and automate systems to run experiences in these local geographies. They must provide a sense of belonging to local audiences while minimizing time-consuming extra work for each city.

3. The “Stakeholder Economy”

The shift: People are replacing traditional institutions with brands to find their sense of purpose and identity. Because individuals are investing their identity in these brands, their expectations are increasingly high.

How to prepare: To keep up, event marketers need to bridge the gap between their business and audience needs, to ensure the experience continues seamlessly after the event ends.

4. A Greater Desire for An Interactive Life

The shift: Attendees want more interactive experiences, especially moments that cannot be recorded or summarized by AI. “If an event can be fully experienced via a transcript, it doesn’t need to be live,” Turner said.

How to prepare: Intentionally supporting spontaneity and tactile experiences will help you increase event value in the coming years. A focus on collaboration and networking separates great events from mediocre events.

5. Audiences’ Expectations for Connected Experiences

The shift: Attendees have come to expect personalized recommendations based on interactions they’ve had with companies in the past.

How to prepare: Event marketers can use predictive modeling and agentic AI to surface ideal content or connections, and then recommend them to an individual.

6. The Machine Layer (AI)

The shift: We are moving to a “bot-to-bot” B2B environment in which AI agents act as personal assistants, handling manual work like booking and scheduling. As more events implement this type of concierge experience, attendees will come to expect it at every event.

How to prepare: Begin using agentic AI, such as RainFocus Nexus, now. Set up a workforce of AI agents to solve attendees’ needs on your behalf and focus on high-value activities like building connections.

To watch the entire session on demand, visit rainfocus.com/insight.

February 17, 2026
Five Key Themes From RainFocus INSIGHT 2026

During INSIGHT Encore, the final event in our INSIGHT 2026 event series, RainFocus VP of events Rodney Hart remarked, “This year was our best yet!”

INSIGHT Encore features highlights from INSIGHT, discussion of the biggest industry themes that emerged, and statistics on the event’s performance. From overall attendance to business impact, INSIGHT 2026 proved compelling — and we received 13% more positive feedback from attendees this year.

Let’s dive into a few of INSIGHT’s key themes and most exciting announcements:

1. Agentic AI Eliminates Friction for Events Teams and Their Attendees

RainFocus executives announced RainFocus Nexus, RainFocus’ new agentic AI, on day one of INSIGHT. RainFocus Nexus uses specialized agents designed to handle everyday tasks that event marketers and their attendees face. The speakers noted that AI can handle unstructured data and layer in context, allowing event professionals to focus on strategy. To further emphasize the impact, a mainstage exclusive led by Salesforce demonstrated real-life examples of how agentic AI can reduce friction and delight attendees.

2. Unifying Data to Eliminate Silos

The rise of agentic AI has made it even more important to dismantle data silos to create a single source of truth. Several client sessions at INSIGHT praised the unified nature of the RainFocus platform. “Everything we do starts, stops, or runs through RainFocus,” said one speaker. Disparate tools lead to fragmented customer journeys. The RainFocus platform unifies these data streams, ensuring that sales, marketing, and event teams operate from the same dataset. RainFocus Nexus brings the positive impact to the next level.

3. Templatization and Governance As the Foundation for Scalability

Since the release of our Base Module, many customers have gained new efficiencies by templatizing their events — adding several smaller, localized events to their event programs. Several clients led case study sessions showcasing how they leveraged RainFocus templates to achieve greater governance and scalability without sacrificing quality. In addition, Adobe integrations earned several mentions for increasing efficiency.

4. The Shift From Content Consumption to Community Connection

Event industry leaders repeatedly noted shifts in attendee expectations: People attend events primarily for connection, not just content. “Humans are meant to build communities, not exist in crowds,” explained Naomi Clare Crellin, CEO of Storycraft Labs, during a session. Fostering belonging and psychological safety promotes this community. Similarly, Workday presented a session on its “Rising Signs” campaign, which used personality archetypes to foster peer-to-peer connection. Throughout INSIGHT, we also used popular Braindates to create intentional, participant-led networking opportunities.

5. Unlocking the Content Supply Chain

Last but certainly not least, several speakers offered strategy tips on building a high-quality content supply chain by repurposing event content for downstream marketing and sales use. Valuable event content is often under-utilized. But through our partnerships with platforms like Adobe and Workfront, RainFocus has automated the flow of session data and assets into broader marketing ecosystems (like Adobe Experience Manager). This connection makes it easier to build continuous engagement and ROI long after the event concludes.

These are only a few of the big trends from INSIGHT. Want to revisit conference sessions or catch up on any that you missed? Visit RainFocus On Demand to learn more.

February 5, 2026
“AI Will Accelerate Human Engagement”: RainFocus Nexus Debuts at INSIGHT 2026

As event teams increasingly adopt AI tools, the power of events will further soar, RainFocus executives predicted.

The genuine connections forged at events foster trust and authenticity. These sentiments and the memorable experiences surrounding them translate into positive business relationships and provide a human-centric counterbalance in an AI-driven world.

While AI can’t replace events or the people who create them, it can certainly make their jobs easier, said RainFocus CEO JR Sherman during the opening keynote presentation at RainFocus INSIGHT 2026.

“AI will accelerate human engagement,” he explained. “It’s about removing friction from your job and your organization, eliminating redundant tasks and giving you more time to think strategically about connecting journeys.”

To that end, Sherman and his co-presenters — fellow RainFocus executives Doug Baird (founder and president) and Marius Milcher (VP of platform strategy and AI) — unveiled RainFocus Nexus, the eagerly anticipated intelligent collaboration system for event marketing workflows.

Specialized AI agents

RainFocus Nexus adds a proprietary orchestration and context layer to the RainFocus platform to empower specialized AI agents that act as teammates to event marketers, planners, and sales reps.

“We have always provided that ‘solid ground’ for your event data,” Milcher said. “Today, we are showing a fundamental step change in event orchestration. We aren’t just giving you better tools. We are giving you an augmented workforce.”

First, the context layer within RainFocus Nexus serves as the underlying intelligence layer to translate raw data into operational intuition based on event program requirements and attendee sentiment.

“This layer understands that ‘messy middle’ in event execution,” Milcher noted. It helps teams more readily understand data and get information in real time, enabling faster and more informed decisions.

In the orchestration layer, agents turn the understanding from the context layer into immediate, precise actions. Ultimately, they help bridge the gap between event planning and execution throughout the event lifecycle.

Two agents are now available for select RainFocus clients: The Configuration Agent, which automates setup workflows and can cut launch time in half, and the Concierge Agent, which serves as attendees’ personal guide to provide front-line support and enhance their event experience.

Data security and future features

These agents will soon be joined by several additional “teammates.” RainFocus’ product teams are hard at work finalizing the next three agents within the orchestration layer.

Milcher offered a sneak preview of each of these three agents: Growth Agent, which accelerates pipeline for marketing and sales; the On-Site Agent, which supports event ops through instant metrics and decisionmaking guidance; and the Integration Agent, which orchestrates data connectivity between events and the rest of the organization’s tech stack.

Of course, security and privacy are paramount throughout the system.

“Clients trust RainFocus because of our security, and that has fundamentally informed how RainFocus Nexus is built,” Milcher said. “PII protections and governance are built in, and our cloud-agnostic approach allows you to run your own hardware as necessary.”

RainFocus Nexus is already creating a buzz at INSIGHT. In the spirit of its bold new approach, Baird closed the keynote by encouraging attendees to embrace the future and unfamiliar technologies that may initially feel intimidating, and to seek out new people to meet at INSIGHT over the next few days. After all, human-to-human connection is both the present and the future!

Learn more about RainFocus Nexus here.

Stay tuned for more coverage of all of the biggest announcements and expert strategy discussion coming out of our flagship event.

January 20, 2026
Previewing INSIGHT 2026 Sessions You Won’t Want to Miss
Whether you’re just learning about RainFocus or you’re already running hundreds of events on the platform right now, RainFocus INSIGHT is your must-attend event for learning about the most important industry trends and best practices in event management.

During our INSIGHT Premiere event last month, we unveiled our INSIGHT 2026 conference agenda, filled with inspiring keynotes, case studies, and roundtable sessions.

The main INSIGHT event is coming up fast: Jan. 20–22 in Salt Lake City. As it draws closer, we’ve highlighted a few sessions that are already proving especially popular:

View the full catalog

Keynotes

Connecting Journeys

Our opening keynote session will provide attendees with an overview of all that RainFocus has accomplished with customers and partners in 2025 and previews of the product features coming in 2026. The speakers for this session include RainFocus executives JR Sherman, Doug Baird, and Travis Cushing from RainFocus, alongside special guest Kenneth Marzin from Deloitte.

The Future Vision of Events

Imagine the “concept car” of events. Brian Gates, SVP of Industry Strategy at RainFocus, and Brett Turner, EVP of Strategy and Solutions at Opus Agency, will discuss the future of event management. See how the technologies in development today will shape tomorrow’s events.

The Chief Event Officer’s Playbook

Renowned event strategist and author Sasha Frieze will debut her new book The Chief Event Officer’s Playbook at INSIGHT. In this session, you’ll get a preview of Frieze’s 10-step model for creating transformational events. Complimentary copies of the book will even be available.

Mainstage Exclusive

Veteran INSIGHT speakers Julia Cornish and Scott Allan will be back by high demand this year to share how they’ve used Salesforce’s agentic AI to power conversations with over 47,000 attendees at Dreamforce 2025. After their dynamic breakout sessions drew overflow crowds last year, we’ve decided to bring this dynamic duo to the mainstage so that everyone can hear about the Salesforce team’s incredible accomplishments.

Case Studies

INSIGHT will feature more case studies than ever. Learn how clients are making the best use of RainFocus features and approaching a range of event elements:
- The multi-event container app
- Staffing
- Registration
- CRM-driven personalization
- Branding
- Templatization
- Event safety
- Live tables
- Session, attendee, and exhibitor attribution
“Share and Compare” Roundtables

INSIGHT will close with these can’t-miss roundtables. You’ll learn how others are using the RainFocus platform and share your own solutions with your peers. This is also a chance for attendees to gather and discuss everything they’ve learned throughout the conference.

Discussion topics include RainFocus’ key elements:
- Mobile app
- Event templates
- Attendee Module
- Content Module
- Exhibitor Module
- On-site technology
- Gamification
Spots in these INSIGHT sessions and others are filling up quickly! If you haven’t registered yet, secure your pass today and begin adding sessions to your catalog. View our complete session catalog on our website.
December 3, 2025