How to Throw the Best Live Event of the Year

We just hosted a live event with 100 of our ideal customers.

Live events are one of the best ways to build relationships, book calls, and even make some golf money. But if you don’t know what you’re doing, you can lose A LOT of money. 

If I were to consult an agency on how to do a live event to fill up their calendar and build reputation + brand, here is the playbook I would use to host 100 of their ideal prospects.

Before we dive in, I want to give you an inside look at 8F Live. 

It. Was. Sick. 

100+ 7-8-figure agency owners attended. 

We had 5 elite sponsors. 

3 amazing keynotes for epic founders. 

And a room of 100 prospects I personally got to shake hands with and give a 45 minute key note to to close out the event.

The reviews were epic:

If you want to do the same for your business, here is the exact playbook I would recommend for your first event:

Cost & monetization: 

Good events are expensive. My event cost 80k all in for two days. 

If you're planning an event, I recommend starting with one sponsor to cover some of the upfront costs and working with an event planner to confirm your target. 

30 days before my first event in 2023, I was -40k and SO stressed. This guide will help you avoid that.

For event planning assistance, see below.

Sponsors: 

The offer to your sponsors is simple. 

“In return for sponsorship, I will guarantee you ROI. If you don’t get ROI through the event, I’ll be the enlisted agent of your company until you do.” 

Here is what is important about this. 

You need ELITE sponsors. Intros to them should be a gift to the person you’re introducing. 

I make these guarantees to all my sponsors, but I don’t mind! All their services are top-tier. I’m doing a favor to everyone I introduce to them. 

This guarantee will allow you to collect 80k upfront to cashflow from your event. 

Sponsor investment range:

15-25k per sponsor. 

For my last event, I told each sponsor, “My objective isn’t to have you here once. It’s to have you here at each event. What ROI do I have to generate to make that happen?” 

Get great sponsors whose intros are genuine and not forced. 

Help them get ROI. Throw more events. Make more money.

Attendees: 

My first event in 2023 had 100+ agency owners. 

Anyone with a pulse. You run an agency, you’re invited!

This last event was exclusive. 

100+ agency owners. The minimum criteria to attend is 1M in annual revenue. 

You could FEEL the difference in this room. It changed the event completely.

If you’re doing an event for the first time, I recommend going with the sponsor pays for the event model, but don’t cut corners on attendees. 

Get sponsors to cover the cost. 

Hand select a room of worthwhile business owners over 6-9 months. 

Get them there for discounts or free BUT expect a 30-50% no show rate if you give out free tickets. 

If your target is to get 100 people in the room, you have to shoot for 200 people being invited and accepting a free ticket.

Planning:

Everyone told me the event went amazingly and ran so smoothly. 

Truth be told, I got everyone there and got the speakers. 

That’s it. 

I’m a raving fan of my event planning partner, twentyeightevents.com. 

Run by Sam Pena ([email protected]). 

The right event planner will take the event to a whole new level, and Sam did that. She’s elite.

Speakers: 

Get legit speakers. Period. 

If they’re a 7-figure founder, don’t let them speak. 

Many people will ask you to speak. 

You can definitely have a very qualified person pay you to speak. 

My minimum criteria for someone to be a speaker is that they do at least 8 figures a year. 

My next event will be headlined by a guy who sold his agency for a billion dollars. 

Your speakers matter. Go the extra mile to get a great lineup—it’s what people remember.

Venue: 

Pick a dope venue. Don’t be cheap. 

Not much else to say here!

Winning: 

A handful of extra pro tips to win:

• Get 10-20% of the room to be clients. Have them bring friends. 

• Record testimonial videos of them while you’re there. 

• Throw a cocktail hour at some point. It’s easy networking when people feel a little lit! 

• Have 2-4 team members there to work the room. 

• Debrief before and after the event. 

• Have a follow-up plan. 

• Have a QR code to go with your keynote to give guests the option to download the key insights. This allows you to see who engaged the most with your keynote. 

• Have vendors pay to come to the event. 

• If you fill a room of 100 business owners, you can easily sell 10 vendor tickets for 20-25k. Just make sure they’re legit founders, good people, and not annoying. 

• Ask if your sponsors want to pay for a dinner. My sponsors paid for an ad agency dinner at Catch LA. $110/plate. I got 15-20 ad agencies to go to the dinner. Everyone is happy. Sponsors get more face time, and attendees get a sick dinner for free. And if you go, you get more networking in. 

If you want help coordinating your first event, email me or book a call with me here. I’m happy to chat.

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