Introducing the Protagonist Blog for Event Reviews!

Recently, I had an inspiration. I attend many events of all sizes and types. I’m constantly learning by attending everything I can and looking for new ideas to adapt to new clients and situations. Instead of keeping these notes to myself, what if I formalize it and record my findings, creating a record of things I’ve seen and hopefully inspiring others to think creatively about their approach to events. I will not limit my definition of an event (whether there is payment or not, whether it is public or not) and intend to review all manner of events, from theatre I see and networking shows I attend to anything with organization behind it (watch out, friends who invite me to your murder mystery party).

First, I will write a brief description of the event, roughly how many people attended, and if there was a cost I will disclose the range and if I paid or was comped. I will attempt to identify my biases and also disclose any relationships to the event or producers of the event.

To keep it fair, here are the criteria I will judge them on:

1. Transparency/Communication. Did I know in advance what the event and/or the event agenda was? Was I set up for success to arrive on time and be dressed appropriately? Did I receive enough time to prepare if it was a workshop or work session? ⁠ ⁠

2. Event Goals. Related to the above, how well did the event achieve its perceived aims? If I bought a ticket for what the marketing portrayed as a light-hearted puppet show and then watched a puppet giving me a lecture about the patriarchy, even if I enjoyed it, I would consider that not meeting the goals laid out in advance.

3. Reception. How was the event received? Both my impression and my interpretation of others (or hopefully I can talk to other attendees and get more info here)

4. Value. What was the value? Was it worth my time/money/energy/attention?

5. Bottom line. A one line summary of my experience.

If you’re interested in following, there are two options:

1. Follow the Protagonist Events LinkedIn page, and all event reviews will be posted there.

2. Subscribe to the Protagonist Events mailing list (maximum one email per month, if multiple blog posts appear in a month they will be gathered into one email. I detest companies that send out too much email and refuse to ever be one of them!)