Event marketers spent 2025 juggling pressure from every angle—proving impact, planning smarter, and building experiences grounded in what audiences actually want.

With time shrinking, expectations rising, and noise everywhere, it became harder to know which strategies genuinely mattered and which ones were just… loud.

This special Best-Of 2025 compilation brings together the episode moments that delivered clarity, direction, and results. These are the insights that resonated the most with event pros throughout the year.

You’ll learn:

✅ The planning and measurement mindset that separates reactive execution from strategic leadership (Ep 157)

✅ How to build event programs around human behavior, not checklists, so engagement feels natural and earned (Ep 158)

✅ A pre-show tactics playbook that boosts attendance and relevance, even in crowded markets—with AI supporting (not replacing) human judgment (Ep 131)

Press play for the perspective and strategy you’ll want in your pocket heading into 2026.

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Episode Links

EP 131 | AI & Events: The Playbook for Pre-Show Tactics & Better Engagement: https://emr.buzzsprout.com/2035112/episodes/16692463

EP 158 | From Event Planning to Event Marketing That Drives Growth: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2035112/episodes/17817006

EP 157 | Plan to Win: How Top Event Marketers Get Ahead for 2026: https://emr.buzzsprout.com/2035112/episodes/17780613

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Connect with Matt Kleinrock
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-kleinrock-9613b22b/
Company: https://rockwayexhibits.com/

🚨 Register for the show: https://tinyurl.com/EventMarketingRedefined

If you’ve ever been handed a booth brief with zero strategy … or chased down sales to follow up on hundreds of “leads” … or been asked to “do more shows next year” with the same budget, you know the pain.

That old model? It’s broken.

But the fix isn’t a bigger booth or a cooler activation. It’s a shift — away from chasing attention and toward driving revenue.

In this episode, Justin Keys (Sr. Manager, Brand Marketing at Georgia-Pacific) joins Matt to break down how event marketers take back their seat at the table with a strategy that aligns sales, qualifies the right audience faster, and turns follow-up into real pipeline.

Here’s how to make that shift stick:

✅ Move from “builder and executor” to strategic revenue partner (and earn that seat early)

✅ Create on-site moments that quickly separate real buyers from booth tourists

✅ Audit your show calendar so you invest only where it pays off

Tune in if you’re done putting on a show and ready to drive the business.

This is your new event strategy.

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Connect with Justin Keys
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justinakeys/

Connect with Matt Kleinrock
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-kleinrock-9613b22b/
Company: https://rockwayexhibits.com/

🚨 Register for the show: https://tinyurl.com/EventMarketingRedefined

The future of event marketing feels noisy—AI headlines, shifting attendee behavior, sustainability pressure, and a role that keeps expanding faster than the job description.

Most event pros are expected to keep up, even as expectations rise and clarity doesn’t. Is AI a threat or a tool? Are hybrid experiences still relevant? What skills matter now? And how do marketers prepare when the answers keep changing?

In another EXHIBITORLIVE 2025 compilation, Coty Adams and Mollie Stahl ask industry leaders what the future really looks like. Their answers reveal the shifts worth paying attention to—and the ones that matter far less than the hype.

Learn:

✅ How the modern event marketer is becoming a data-driven strategist, not just an executor

✅ Why sustainability is back with urgency, and how cost-effective choices are leading the way

✅ How AI will support capacity and efficiency without replacing human insight or relationships

Listen in for the clarity, perspective, and grounded advice every event marketer needs heading into what’s next.

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Connect With Us

Matt Kleinrock: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-kleinrock-9613b22b/

Coty Adams: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cotykadams/

Mollie Stahl: https://www.linkedin.com/in/molliestahl/

Our Company: https://rockwayexhibits.com/

🚨 Register for the show here: https://tinyurl.com/EventMarketingRedefined