The Business of Meetings

If you are an independent business owner in the meeting and event space, this podcast is for you! Your host, Eric Rozenberg has created this show to bring you strategies, tips, and tactics to help your business grow. With more than 20 years in the event industry and planning events for Fortune 100 companies, Eric is prepared to let you in on the insider tactics so you can be successful too!

The Business of Meetings is a business podcast hosted by Unknown Host, with 0 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80.

Unknown Host hosts The Business of Meetings, a business show with 0 episodes published.

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  The Business of Meetings

  342: How Entrepreneurs Can Turn Business Success Into Lasting Wealth with Justin Donald

  Sep 29, 202641 min

  Today, we're delighted to welcome Justin Donald, the founder of Lifestyle Investor and author of The Lifestyle Investor , as our guest! Justin has built a mastermind community where people come together to talk about investments, have fun, and enjoy life together. Stay tuned to hear about his fascinating entrepreneurial journey, learn more about the financial side of running a business, and find out how to save, invest, and project so you can decide whether to retire early or keep on doing the work you love. Justin's Journey Justin grew up in a middle-class family and paid for his own university education through various business ventures. In seventh grade, he started a small sales business selling newspaper and coupon book subscriptions, and by his senior year, he was recruiting and teaching others to do the same. He then joined Cutco, where he developed his sales skills and learned to handle rejection. He eventually built a large organization, and as his business grew, he realized that he was working long hours and that, even with a systematized business, too much still depended on him. So he started looking for a way to buy assets that could produce income without requiring his time, which led him into cash-flowing real estate, starting with mobile home parks. Over time, he invested in different types of real estate and cash-flowing businesses. He eventually created Lifestyle Investor to share the investment, tax strategy, estate planning, and other things he wished he had learned earlier. Build a Business That Doesn't Depend on You It's hard to build a business you can step away from when everything relies on you. So systematize your business, hire the right people, and have someone who can step in when needed. Buy Back Your Time If most of your net worth is tied up in your business, it means you're overconcentrated. Instead, put some of your money into cash flow-producing assets. That cash flow can initially cover your car payment or utilities and eventually grow large enough to cover your whole lifestyle. Financial Freedom Financial freedom is not just about reaching a particular net worth. It's about knowing what it costs you to live and creating enough passive income to cover it. Once you can cover all your expenses, you own your time. Then you can choose whether to continue with the work you're doing or retire early. Put Your Surplus to Work Once your lifestyle is covered, you can decide whether to spend your surplus income on improving your lifestyle or put it toward investments, wealth creation, and making an impact where it's needed. Know Your Numbers Regularly reviewing your financial dashboard can give entrepreneurs clarity and confidence, helping them feel more in control. Hire Well Don't keep people who do not fit the business culture or aren't doing a good job. Take the time to hire really good people, but avoid bloating the business by hiring more people than you actually need. Get Some Help You don't have to figure everything out alone; books, mentors, and peer groups can help entrepreneurs feel empowered and supported as they grow. Tax Code Understanding the tax code can help you take advantage of deductions and credits for activities the government wants to encourage, including business, small business, agriculture, housing, and energy. AI AI is here to stay, so the better you understand it, the more opportunities you will likely have to grow or protect your business or start another business that could be more lucrative than your current one. If you invest in early-stage AI companies, Justin suggests using your surplus income and keeping the allocation limited because it is not yet clear which companies will succeed. Bio: Justin Donald, called the "Warren Buffett of Lifestyle Investing," is the #1 bestselling author of The Lifestyle Investor: The 10 Commandments of Cash Flow Investing for Passive Income and Financial Freedom . As founder of The Lifestyle Investor, he specializes in low-risk cash flow investing, simplifying complex financial strategies, and structuring deals. A seasoned investor and entrepreneur, Justin has served as an SXSW investor judge and spoken at notable venues like Texas Ranger Stadium. Through his Lifestyle Investor Mastermind, podcast, and consulting program, Justin coaches entrepreneurs and executives to "create wealth without creating a job." Connect with Eric Rozenberg LinkedIn Facebook Instagram Website Listen to The Business of Meetings podcast Subscribe to The Business of Meetings newsletter Connect with Justin Donald Lifestyle Investor LinkedIn Click this link for a free strategy session (worth $500) with a Lifestyle Investor team member to help you figure out your next move .

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  The Business of Meetings

  341: Where the Smart Money is Going in Events with Marco Giberti

  Sep 22, 202637 min

  We're excited to welcome Marco Giberti, the Founder and CEO of Vesuvio Adventures, as today's guest. Marco is well known within the events industry for his thought-provoking LinkedIn posts. He is incredibly smart, has a wealth of experience, and operates at the intersection of technology and events, making him the perfect person to discuss AI, private equity, and the industry's future. Stay tuned for more! Marco's Journey Marco started in advertising and marketing, creating a small agency while he was in college. One customer was an Apple distributor in Argentina, which led Marco to pitch Apple and eventually be hired to run marketing for Latin America. After three years, he left Apple to start his own events company. His first show was Windows Expo, followed by partnerships with Comdex and other technology shows. He eventually built a business with 45–50 trade shows and conferences annually and sold it to Reed Exhibitions. After exiting that business in his early 40s, he started Vesuvio Ventures. Today, he invests in event and event technology companies, works with private equity as an advisor or board member, and focuses particularly on early-stage investments. Building an Event Business Building an event around a specific vertical with existing knowledge, a network, some validation, and a track record provides a strong foundation. Strategic partnerships can complement and accelerate a launch, while a niche approach, applied effectively, can help you build the right audience. Live events remain relevant in an AI economy because remote work and digital isolation are challenging human connection. They offer opportunities to connect, build trust, trade, have fun, and create other added value. Private Equity and Building Value Private equity has been involved in events for many decades, and more private equity firms are now entering the category because of its potential for growth and efficiencies through scale. An event generating $5 million-plus after two or three years, growing 20% or more, with a 25–30% EBITDA margin and clear evidence that it is relevant to its community can be highly attractive for small M&A. Private equity also recognizes the importance of being founder-friendly and keeping the founder or founding team, while balancing margin efficiency with product health and growth. An honest conversation about product priorities and community can help align founders and private equity. Qualities of a Successful Founder A successful founder needs a killer instinct, resilience, self-confidence, and psychological resistance to failure. They need to be coachable while having strong opinions, listen while still making decisions, and execute. They also need to sell a dream and attract a dream team. So, if you want to build a valuable, sellable company, you need to think about scale because there is a massive difference between a one-event entrepreneur and a scalable company entrepreneur. Marco believes that founders need to own their decisions, make mistakes, learn quickly, and pivot. Failure and Entrepreneurship Entrepreneurship is not as easy as it sounds. The day-to-day reality is difficult and requires resilience. Marco considers failure an important asset because it is part of the learning cycle. As an immigrant, he was struck by how forgiving the U.S. is of failure and how willing people are to give entrepreneurs another chance. AI and the Events Industry Marco believes AI will replace or dramatically reduce every repetitive, low-added-value task. Customers will expect more from their event experience, and brands will expect better ROI measurement. New event technology companies are helping brands analyze their event ROI, increasing expectations for organizers. He is seeing AI-centric event founders building agents for critical parts of the business and hiring humans only when they deliver incremental value. So, fewer people may be needed to launch an event than in the past, but those people need to be AI-sophisticated and understand how to use agents. At the same time, events cannot run only using AI because trust is built through face-to-face interactions. Where Marco Would Invest If he had $10 million to invest in the meetings and events industry, Marco would put 25–30% into event technology solutions, particularly AI-centric companies solving problems the industry still needs to fix. He would spread those investments across five to seven companies and put most into building early-stage events. He would also consider launching two or three events to diversify risk, or buying a small event with potential to acquire, accelerate, restructure, and grow. Once an event is cash flow positive and profitable, a founder can decide whether to sell or receive dividends and keep growing. How Marco Uses AI Marco built his own agent, Marco Events Twin, using his books, events masterclass, and other content. He uses it to analyze deals and pre-launch plans, drawing on years of information that he might otherwise forget. But he doesn't let the agent make investment decisions for him. It provides green, yellow, or red lights and offers guidance, but he still relies on his own feelings and judgment when assessing an opportunity. External Validation External validation is critical when building an event from scratch. Input from people who bring a different perspective, particularly experts in the specific vertical, can help establish whether there is a genuine need for the event. Event people are generalists, so expertise in the relevant industry can be as important as the event team's own analysis. Bio: Marco is a successful entrepreneur, investor, and advisor with more than 25 years of intensive experience in media, technology, and the events industry. He is Founder and CEO of Vesuvio Ventures , providing early-stage entrepreneurs access to coaching, partnerships, advisory, capital, and advice from big corporations on innovation and digital strategies. Connect with Eric Rozenberg LinkedIn Facebook Instagram Website Listen to The Business of Meetings podcast Subscribe to The Business of Meetings newsletter Connect with Marco Giberti Vesuvio Ventures LinkedIn

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  The Business of Meetings

  340: Community Made: Why Success is Never a Solo Journey with Jayson Gaignard

  Sep 15, 202655 min

  We're delighted to have Jayson Gaignard back on the Business of Meetings podcast today. Jayson is the founder of MMT and the author of Community Made: The Truth About Success and the Relationships That Create It . Eric had the privilege of reading Jayson's book, which includes many of the lessons he learned about relationships, community, and success. Stay tuned for more! Jayson's Journey Jayson dropped out of high school and started a service-based business before pivoting to online e-commerce, which he grew to about $7 million a year over four years with no outside investments. After seven years, he realized he didn't need to impress anyone, so he scaled it down to zero. In August 2012, things beyond his control left him in debt. So he began hosting dinners that brought fascinating people together, which eventually led to MMT and building communities. In 2023, he started putting his lessons in writing, which led to his book, Community Made . Community Made Jayson's book, Community Made: The Truth About Success and the Relationships That Create It , centers on three areas: finding your people, investing in your people, and asking for help. Asking for help was pivotal to his personal growth, so he also explores why people avoid it. Transactional and Transformational Relationships Jayson explains the difference between transactional and transformational relationships. Transactional relationships can help you reach a specific goal, while transformational relationships are based more on shared values and wanting to spend time together. He believes you need to be intentional about the people you bring into your life and the energy you invest in those relationships. Building Community Jayson's approach to community is based on careful curation and creating an environment where people can be authentic and vulnerable. The right people, shared values, trust, and confidentiality are essential to creating a community where members can support one another. Success and Comparison Jayson discusses how success can affect relationships and create comparison and envy. He believes you need to be genuinely happy for other people's success while remaining focused on your own path rather than measuring your life against someone else's. Technology and Connection Jayson believes technology and AI can strengthen communities by helping people find others with relevant experience and expertise. However, technology cannot replace the value of being together in person, which remains central to building meaningful relationships. Preparation and Mentorship Jayson also discusses the importance of preparation, especially when having meaningful conversations with other people. He credits mentors and friends who believed in his potential and encouraged him to think bigger. Bio: Jayson Gaignard is an author and community builder who has spent more than a decade creating high-trust communities and experiences for entrepreneurs. He is the Head Curator of MMT, one of the world's most exclusive entrepreneur communities, and was named one of Forbes' "Top Networkers to Watch." His work explores what happens when you bring the right people into the right room—creating opportunities, ideas, and relationships that can transform businesses and lives. Jayson's work has been featured in Forbes, Entrepreneur, Business Insider, and Tim Ferriss' Tools of Titans . Connect with Eric Rozenberg LinkedIn Facebook Instagram Website Listen to The Business of Meetings podcast Subscribe to The Business of Meetings newsletter Connect with Jason Gaignard Mastermind Talks LinkedIn Book Website

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  The Business of Meetings

  339: How Smart Event Business Owners are Using Tech to Save Time and Make Money with Muhammad Younas

  Sep 8, 202634 min

  Today, we're thrilled to welcome Muhammad Younas, the founder and CEO of vFairs. Muhammad is a true North American tech entrepreneur. He developed the award-winning event technology platform, vFairs, which has powered over 50,000 and reached more than 100 million attendees worldwide. Stay tuned to hear about Muhammad's entrepreneurial journey and the invaluable insights he shares today. Mohammad's Journey Mohammad started at IBM before moving into a role involving virtual events. Frustrated by the limited technology and support available, he built his own platform and used it to run more than 100 events. When an exhibitor asked to use his technology, he saw the opportunity to license it, and vFairs was born. COVID COVID created hockey stick growth for vFairs because the company already had hundreds of customers, case studies, testimonials, and references. Customers also helped shape what came next, asking for tools such as a mobile app, badge printing, exhibitor management, and a speaker portal as they prepared to return to in-person events. Event Technology Event technology can do far more than support an event. Sponsor banners, sponsored notifications, different booth tiers, enhanced profiles, and meetings can create new revenue opportunities while giving sponsors and exhibitors more value. Using AI Mohammad sees AI as a way to remove repetitive tasks from the event process so that people can focus on what technology cannot replace. That includes designing the event experience and creating meaningful connections between attendees, exhibitors, and speakers. The aim is not to automate the human side of events, but to give people more time to focus on it. Automation Before introducing automation, Mohammad recommends mapping out the workflow and deciding which parts genuinely need human involvement. AI can handle repetitive, time-consuming tasks, freeing event professionals to focus on decisions, relationships, and experiences where their involvement adds the most value. Keep the Customer at the Center For Mohammad, building a sustainable business starts with making customers genuinely happy. He sees events as part of the hospitality industry, where the quality of the experience matters because satisfied clients become advocates, generate word of mouth, and create opportunities for future business. The goal is not simply to deliver an event, but to build a company that can continue serving customers well over the long term. An Opportunity for Small Businesses Mohammad believes smaller companies can use AI to rethink problems that were traditionally solved with complex, established software. AI-native technology creates opportunities to build new approaches from the ground up rather than simply adding AI to existing systems. But because events involve so many different use cases and edge cases, that opportunity depends on first understanding how the industry actually works. Perfect It Manually First Mohammad's advice is to understand a process before trying to automate it. That means going through the entire customer journey manually, identifying the real pain points, and learning what prospects and customers actually need. Once the process works and you've built trust with customers, you can use AI to automate the parts that it will genuinely benefit. The Event Planner's Role Is Changing Mohammad expects events to claim a larger share of marketing budgets, but that will come with greater pressure to demonstrate results. Event planners therefore need to move beyond simply executing events and become more involved in the strategic side of the business. Their role is increasingly about showing how an event supports broader business goals and delivers measurable value. Bio: Muhammad Younas is the Founder and CEO of vFairs, an award-winning event technology platform that has powered more than 50,000 events and reached over 100 million attendees worldwide. Over the past decade, Muhammad has helped grow vFairs into a global, all-in-one platform for in-person, hybrid, and virtual events, serving organizations across 50+ countries. Through his work with thousands of event organizers worldwide, he has developed a unique perspective on how technology is reshaping attendee expectations, event engagement, personalization, and the way event teams operate. Under his leadership, vFairs has grown to more than 270 team members and has been recognized as a Leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Event Technology Platforms, while earning a 4.9/5 rating on G2. Muhammad regularly shares practical insights on event technology, AI, attendee experience, and the future of the events industry, drawing on lessons learned from building event technology at global scale. Connect with Eric Rozenberg LinkedIn Facebook Instagram Website Listen to The Business of Meetings podcast Subscribe to The Business of Meetings newsletter Connect with Muhammad Younas vFairs LinkedIn

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  The Business of Meetings

  338: Your Run of Show Won't Save You with Eric Rozenberg

  Sep 1, 202626 min

  Most event professionals can tell you exactly what will happen on stage at any given time. Yet far fewer can tell you exactly what would happen if someone collapsed in the ballroom. Stay tuned as Eric tackles emergency preparedness and security. Emergency Preparedness A 70-page emergency manual that nobody has opened in two years is documentation, not a system. Emergency preparedness starts with the people responsible for responding, not with a binder, processes, or SOPs. Everyone needs to know their role and be ready to act when an emergency happens. Know Who Does What You need to know who makes the decision, who communicates, who executes, and who takes over if someone is unavailable. If you can answer those four questions, you have a true emergency preparedness plan you can act on immediately if something happens. Medical Emergencies For a medical emergency, decide who calls the emergency services, who contacts the venue, where the AED is, who manages the surrounding attendees, who goes with the individual, and who stays on site. It's essential to discuss that before an emergency actually happens. Safety and Security You need to know who is defined as a suspicious individual, what constitutes a threat, who makes the decision, who gets called, and what happens if there is civil unrest or you need to evacuate. Your event team is not law enforcement, so you also need to establish when control transfers to venue security, police, the fire department, or other authorities. Lead by Example If something unforeseen happens, inform the people in charge, lead by example, and support your client. Everyone needs to communicate and be aligned on the action to be taken, with one person making the final decision. Planning You need a plan for hurricanes, tornadoes, flooding, wildfires, and other events that could disrupt a meeting. Decide who makes the decisions, what the plan B is, what the hotel will do, what insurance is available, and what everyone involved will do. Technology and Cyber You need to know what happens if your registration disappears, the internet goes down, attendee data is compromised, your payment system stops working, the app fails, or somebody hacks the system. You also need to consider whether your meeting can continue manually if your technology fails. Business Continuity Owner-dependency problems must also be addressed. Think about what happens if you, as the business owner, are unavailable. Who has access to the bank? Who can authorize payment? Who has the passwords? Who handles communication? Who is running the company? Communication During an emergency, people become desperate for information, and if they don't have it, they create it. Define who communicates internally, who speaks with the client and attendees, who deals with the media and law enforcement, who contacts families, and who is not authorized to communicate publicly. Organizational Dependencies Ask your team to imagine what would happen if you disappeared for the next seven days. If you couldn't call, text, or email, and they couldn't ask you a single question, what would they be unable to do? Their answers will help you identify the organizational dependencies that need to be addressed. A Simple Plan For each major risk, define the trigger, who leads the response, the first three things to do, who needs to be involved, who needs to be informed, who communicates, and who takes over if the designated person is unavailable. Keep the Plan Current Your plan needs to be a living document that reflects your experience, your tests, what you are learning in the industry, and new issues that can happen. Circumstances, the environment, and people change, so you need to review the plan regularly and train your team. Test the Plan After writing a plan, you need to test it. Create a scenario, present it to your team, and watch what happens. The more realistic and unexpected the example, the better you can see who takes control and who is the right person on your team to respond. Build a Business That Can Handle Almost Anything The objective is not to have a plan for everything, but to build a business that can handle almost anything and a team that is ready to act in any situation. Eric Rozenberg's Bio. Rozenberg, CMM, CMP, is an entrepreneur, author, podcast host, and business mentor who has built, scaled, and successfully exited multiple companies in the Meetings & Events industry. As the founder and CEO of Event Business Formula, Eric helps event entrepreneurs build real companies—not just successful event businesses. Through practical frameworks and decades of real-world experience, he teaches business owners how to create predictable revenue, build stronger teams, reduce owner dependency, and develop businesses that are scalable, transferable, and ultimately sellable. Eric is also the founder of Eric AI, the Meetings & Events industry's first AI-powered business mentor, available 24/7 in 77 languages. He is the author of Meeting at C-Level and Before It's Too Late, and the host of The Business of Meetings podcast, where he interviews entrepreneurs and industry leaders from around the world. Connect with Eric Rozenberg LinkedIn Facebook Instagram Website Listen to The Business of Meetings podcast Subscribe to The Business of Meetings newsletter

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