Listening before designing experiential events
Following our Sevinar Sno on The Ground conversation with Freeman’s Ken Holsinger, who revealed how organizers often design experiences around what they can control rather than what audiences value, we caught up with Liz Irving, CEO of Clarion Events North America, to talk about how Clarion approaches event experience design by listening first.
If Ken’s data showed the “why,” Liz’s approach shows the “how.”
“I truly believe in what customer obsession is,” Liz said. “It’s a mantra for me how do we unlock potential? But I can’t do that alone. It’s about how we lean in, understand markets, understand needs, and listen for signals that may unlock the next thing.”
That mindset has become the foundation for Clarion’s evolution: designing experiences that begin with listening and end with measurable impact.
Audience listening is the foundation of event experience design
Clarion’s culture of customer obsession runs deeper than data points. It’s about connecting people to stories.
“The face-to-face experience is never going away,” Liz said. “It’s probably the most trusted and powerful source of a marketing medium. As event organizers, we have to own that and by owning it, it means tell your story.”
At events like ITC and MAU, storytelling drives everything from creative theming to sponsor alignment.
Liz referenced ITC’s “Wonderland of Possibilities” a playful take on disruption and discovery as an example of how thematic storytelling can energize audiences and partners alike.
“It’s been great seeing the customers engage and actually get behind the ideas,” she said. “I think it’s going to be a fun experience to just showcase how we do this live.”
For Clarion, customer listening guides their event experience design process. Because when attendees feel emotionally connected, sponsors follow suit.
Raising the bar through value and data
Retention, Liz emphasized, begins long before showtime.
In an industry where audience choice has never been higher, organizers have to earn return not assume it.
“There’s a lot of events out there,” she said. “So you have to be best in market, best in how you deliver value. Everything is our own experience. I want to see us raise the bar of excellence in how we deliver but we also have to prove it.”
Clarion’s approach ties creative experience design directly to performance metrics.
“We’re doing a lot of work behind data and trends and being able to actually demonstrate true ROI,” Liz explained. “It first starts with the attendee. If you don’t know the attendee, you’re not bringing the right people and you don’t have a shot at getting that return on investment.”
Connection begins with the right audience, and the right audience begins with intention.
Marketing the event experience before attendees arrive
As a lifelong marketer herself, Liz acknowledged one of the biggest challenges organizers face: how to make the onsite energy tangible long before people arrive.
“It really starts with how well you know them and how well you know their network,” she said. “You have to know where your audiences are. They’re not just on email anymore. They’re all over the place. So you have to reach them at the right time, on the right medium, with the right type of value.”
The shift, she explained, is from features to feelings.
“We talk not only about features and functionalities it’s about the emotional connections and the people and ideas you’re going to walk away with after attending.”
That’s what makes people want to register not the agenda, but the anticipation of meaning.
The power of peer-to-peer in promoting experiential events
Liz’s final point reinforces everything Ken’s data pointed to: connection is the real differentiator.
“Peer-to-peer is the most powerful thing we can do right now,” she said. “All of my events have a peer-to-peer element. You’re taking a large show and making it niche giving people work streams and opportunities that matter. You walk away with those meaningful connections.”
That intimacy small moments within big environments is what transforms events into communities.
A message for the industry
As our conversation wrapped, Liz reflected on the opportunity ahead.
“We have so much opportunity in the event space,” she said. “We have to continually think about what’s next and how we raise the bar. I’m seeing such interesting ideas and technology and I think together we can do this.”
Her optimism isn’t naïve; it’s grounded in execution.
Clarion’s success shows that when event experience design starts with listening audiences don’t just attend they advocate.
Watch the Sevinar Sno on the Ground with Liz Irving at IMEX 2025
About Snöball
Snöball is the peer-to-peer event marketing platform that turns your attendees, speakers, sponsors, and exhibitors into your most powerful growth channel.
By making it easy for every participant to share personalized event content with their networks, Snöball helps organizers expand reach, drive qualified registrations, and measure real ROI, right down to who influenced each conversion.
From global conferences to association meetings and corporate events, Snöball powers campaigns that build trust, amplify engagement, and retain your audience so they keep coming back year after year.
Learn more at snoball.events.
