Why do some event professionals get compared on price while others become indispensable strategic partners?

In this episode, Jenny Howard-Maxwell takes us back to the toy catalogs of the 1980s to explain a challenge facing today's event industry: when everyone appears to offer the same thing, clients have little reason to choose based on anything other than price.

The solution isn't a fancier proposal, a new job title, or more impressive event photos. It's learning to connect experiences to business objectives, design with intention, and prove what changed as a result.

• The catalog problem: Why event proposals can make talented professionals look interchangeable.

• The Cabbage Patch Kid Effect: What a uniquely designed experience can teach us about differentiation.

• The planner plateau: Five signs that your skills are growing but your pay, influence, and opportunities aren't.

• The execution trap: Why delivering a flawless event isn't the same as demonstrating business impact.

• The five steps off the planner plateau: Connect, differentiate, prove, market, and communicate.

• The strategist shift: How to move from delivering an event brief to helping shape the business decisions behind it.

Ready to discover where you are on your journey from event executor to experiential strategist?

Take the free Strategist Quiz from the Edgucation Institute.

👉 https://edgucationinstitute.com/strategistquiz

Jenny Howard-Maxwell is an experiential strategist and founder of the Edgucation Institute, where she teaches event professionals how to connect experiences to business goals, demonstrate their value, and become certified experiential strategists.

You're listening to The Experiential Strategist — the strategy conversation the events industry has needed.

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