On this episode of “Solution Seekers,” Paige Buck talks with John Silva, President of Always Fishing Hospitality Group, about transforming your business for a memorable customer experience. John shares his experience building relationships with his employees and clients, his innovative brand concepts, and his tips for creating interactive dining experiences.

In this episode of “Solution Seekers,” Paige Buck talks with Russell Benaroya, co-founder and partner at Stride, about reaching self-discovery in entrepreneurship. Russell shares his coaching strategy for identifying your core principles, the foundations of self-discovery, and how Stride teaches conscious leadership.

Meet Event Planner Mariana Fernandez. She joined the KE team as our first Event Admin, working her magic both behind the scenes and with our clients. We were so impressed by her efforts to improve our client onboarding experience and her desire to learn and grow professionally that it wasn’t long before she was promoted to Event Planner.

Adults come to your event with high expectations, an existing knowledge base, and fixed ideas about what does and does not work. When creating learning and retention events, it’s imperative that your event sessions inspire attendees, change their mindsets, and drive performance. While there are multiple methodologies to make this happen, creating an effective learning experience for adult learners can often feel like taking a shot in the dark. Learn how to gain the attention of your customers with these four proven strategies.

Internal events are an investment in your overall culture, providing a valuable opportunity for you to show where your priorities lie—with your people—and that you have a vision for more than just the month ahead. For Bay Alarm, the challenge was taking the tight-knit, family-like culture within the company and translating it to the virtual realm without losing the sense of connection the company has intentionally cultivated. Businesses like Bay Alarm realize the immense importance of company-wide gatherings for the development of an organization’s culture and future. Here are the key strategies we used to structure their successful internal agenda.

With such a unique waterfront space and a lively crowd, there are so many details to share about the SPARK Conference at Pier 27 in San Francisco, Calif. As large corporate event planners, a client who wants to blend creativity with real business is a dream come true. We’ve previously shared a few of the elements that made this event such a success. Now we’re going to dive a little deeper into what made the SPARK Conference such a smashing success with the 700+ attendees who joined us for two days on the Bay.

Paige Buck is the quick-witted, detailed, and incredibly savvy co-owner of Kennedy Events. She made her mark in the Bay Area nonprofit and tech scene with her mad logistical and fundraising skills before teaming up with Maggie as Partner and Chief Strategy Officer to create the Kennedy Events you see today.

Are you planning an event for the fall season? Look to book now. We’re bracing ourselves for a big comeback this fall and the floodgates have already opened. In-person events were canceled left and right over the past couple of years and now both clients and attendees alike are eager to return and make up for lost time. In fact, many venues are already at capacity for the coming season.

Finding unique insights and tools that allow your organization to grow and scale can be a daunting task. There are companies that know how to monetize, particularly through online marketing — but where can you find them? In this episode, Paige Buck sits down with Lael Sturm, the Founder and General Manager at LPSS Digital Marketing, to discuss top tips for adding value to your business. Tune in to learn real-world tactics that will solve your business challenges.

With inflation rising, supply chain challenges continuing, travel costs increasing, and salaries ballooning for top talent, things are getting more expensive on all fronts. When it comes to live, in-person events, we are seeing a 20% increase across the board and we are cautioning our clients to plan for that increase; even before layering in the cost of hybrid technology, more facilitated community building, and flying in a now remotely dispersed workforce. Kennedy Events is armed from the beginning with a new-reality budget to make sure there are no surprises around the corner.

We are going to gather—in person—again! The live events industry is poised for a comeback, and while there’s no doubt that the road back to in-person events will be uncharted territory for many organizers; paved with puzzling new obstacles like fluctuating health and safety regulations. The key to navigating the uncertainty is acknowledging possible challenges in advance and adopting a community-first approach to planning and building connections between your attendees and your organization.

Company-sponsored social events have always been an important predictor of how high employees assess culture and their desire to stay. Intentional work-sponsored events will become even more important in the coming years. With limited social gatherings during the pandemic and a future that’s leaning toward hybrid work, leaders will need to be more conscious about structuring events to build team cohesion and culture in order to retain top talent. We know the alternative can leave you overwhelmed, stretched thin, and focused on securing a new workforce rather than your bottom line. Find out how you can make the case to secure the necessary budget for your next internal event!

While offsite meetings are a great opportunity for teams to come together and collectively solve a larger problem or plan out a period of work, you’ve likely also discovered that loving the idea of a company offsite and implementing a company offsite are wildly different. An offsite’s success is largely determined by what takes place before it convenes. Use this checklist to make sure you’re ticking off the big-ticket items for your offsite.

It’s not always clear what the ROI is when an offsite is said and done. If created intentionally, with the right people in the same place at the same time —whether virtual or in-person or both— with clear heads and sustainable mental energy, offsites can provide space for everyone to focus on big picture issues that will drive the needle for your business the following year. If your offsites have felt sluggish or lacked clear indicators of ROI, use these key strategies to build your next winning offsite format.

Maggie Kennedy founded Kennedy Events in 2000 and has been Chief Everything Officer ever since. She loves any occasion to celebrate and she brings fun to every function. While she now leaves the event planning to her talented team, she is busier than ever running the business side of Kennedy Events. We’re excited to introduce you to the fierce redhead at the helm.

Managing both live and virtual audiences can quickly become overwhelming. Virtual events should be just as interactive and engaging as the events hosted in the physical world, but as these worlds begin to blend there is little margin for error. Here are three of the key challenges to overcome when planning hybrid events.

With so much uncertainty and an ever-changing landscape regarding safe events, Kennedy Events has been directing focus towards future-proofing events for safer gatherings. Implementation of COVID best practices and safety measures in every part of the planning process continues to be a vital measure to ensuring client and attendee safety. Here are just a few of the important issues that you might need to address if you’re considering an in-person event.

Finding, sourcing, and vetting platforms to determine which is the best for your virtual or hybrid event needs can feel like searching for a needle in a haystack. Technology has become increasingly integral to events; between the rapid shift to virtual over the past two years and the addition of hybrid event elements, identifying and assessing new technology has become even more critical to a successful event.

You probably have staffing for your face-to-face conferences and events down pat, but what about the staffing structure for your virtual events? It’s hard to plan when you aren’t certain what your event staff is supposed to be doing, and what roles are critical for a virtual event. The value of face-to-face interaction will never go away, but there are times when going virtual is a necessary part of your event program. With these top seven positions, any robust virtual event should include, you’ll be positioned to have an outstanding event.

Though she may be working her magic behind the scenes from her home in Vermont, Jess’ presence is never far from notice. Whether through an enthusiastic email or a timely response to a request for help, you can rest assured that every last detail is accounted for with dedicated systems to boot. Her savvy and attention to finessing the finer points of any project keep every event running smoothly and that’s why Jess is our indispensable organization maven, workflow wizard, and juggler of logistics.