What Happens When Event Teams Help Set the Strategy, Not Just Execute It

By every measure, your association’s annual conference was a success. Attendance was strong, sponsors were happy, and members left energized.  

But while the events team is still debriefing and getting a jumpstart on how to improve next year, leadership is mapping out the association’s organizational priorities—without giving a voice to the people who just made your year’s biggest engagement and revenue driver happen. 

For too many associations, this is the norm. Event professionals are often handed a strategic plan and told to execute it—their expertise consulted only after the big decisions have already been made. But a growing number of association leaders argue that model is leaving value on the table. When the people closest to your events are cut out of strategic planning conversations, associations miss the insights only they can provide and risk misaligning their most powerful member touchpoint with their broader mission. 

“Events are how members experience the association,” says Patti Steele, CMP, CEM, vice president of events at ASIS International. “If they walk in and feel community and connection, we feel that as a staff.” 

More Than Event Logistics 

Ask most association executives about their annual conference, and they’ll talk about revenue, education, and networking. Ask their event teams, and you’ll hear something more expansive: a platform for messaging, a vehicle for new partnerships, a year-round content engine that shapes how members perceive the organization for months after the event ends.  

That broader view is exactly why event professionals need a seat at the strategy table, says Christine M. Peck, CAE, chief global learning officer at ASIS International.  

“It’s your platform for messaging—new initiatives, new partnerships,” Peck says. “Done well, it can be integrated fully into the culture and educational schedule of the organization for the entire year. The event is the jewel, and other things build around it.” 

When event teams are excluded from strategy conversations, organizations risk building plans that look good on paper but fall apart in execution—or worse, miss the member insights only event professionals are positioned to gather.  

Event Technology Has Changed the Game 

The argument for including event professionals in strategic planning has only strengthened as the role itself has grown more complex. Today’s event teams manage hybrid formats, real-time data collection, intricate technology integrations, and evolving expectations from members who are increasingly sophisticated consumers of the live experience. 

“When I think about the level of complexity—when we’re talking about digital events or how we’re integrating technology into in-person events—we have to understand their expectations,” Steele says. WiFi, she notes, is a useful illustration: What was not too long ago a nice-to-have amenity is now a baseline requirement that shapes whether an event feels professional or falls flat. 

Data has also transformed the strategic potential of events. Peck points to the wealth of attendee information modern events generate and how it can grow the member relationship well beyond the conference itself. 

 “The data you can gather about attendees—what they do and what they need—curates the event with a new level of sophistication,” Peck says. “It also increases their experience during the year and makes their connection more meaningful.” 

Build Credibility With Leadership 

For event professionals who want a more strategic role, the path often starts with how they communicate—and what they bring to the table when they do. 

Peck and Steele both point to fluency in business language as a critical skill. Detailed logistics updates that impress operations teams rarely land the same way with the CEO or board. The ability to translate event outcomes into organizational impact—member retention, revenue, brand perception—is what earns a place in higher-level conversations. 

“Bring data and information to back up your decisions and recommendations,” Peck says. “Speaking in their language and recognizing their priorities helps.” 

Steele acknowledges this shift can be difficult for professionals who build their careers on meticulous attention to detail. Rightly so, since that’s exactly what keeps events running, but moving into a strategic role requires a different approach. 

“Event planners are incredible with details. We live in the weeds because that’s where something goes wrong,” Steele says. “As we move up in the profession, it is difficult to leave behind what made you successful, but now there’s a different expectation in how you communicate. Keep everything high level and super relevant, and know what the CEO wants. Some want the detail; others just want the high level.” 

Create the Right Organizational Culture 

Individual credibility matters, but so does the environment in which events teams operate. At ASIS International, Peck and Steele describe a collaborative culture where the annual event—Global Security Exchange (GSX)—is treated as a shared organizational responsibility, not the responsibility of a single department. 

“GSX is everyone’s job, from the executive level down,” Steele says. Regular cross-departmental communication keeps the team aligned on goals, challenges, and member feedback throughout the year. 

Peck describes a principle of inclusive ownership that distributes both the work and the sense of investment across the organization. 

“Culturally, set it up within the organization so it’s integrated across the association,” she says. “That gives the event—and those organizing it—ownership, but it also means you get feedback and input from everyone on staff, because they’re all stakeholders.” 

For leadership, Peck offers a straightforward directive: Never make decisions about your event without your events person in the room. “Never go it alone,” she says. “You have to be communicating constantly and openly.” 

Changing How the Field Is Valued 

Despite progress at many organizations, the broader association community still has work to do. Steele puts it directly: Event professionals are too often seen as implementers rather than strategists, a perception that undersells their contribution and limits the organization’s potential. 

“The fact that we’re viewed as implementers versus strategizers, that flows into us and through us at events,” she says. “The events team should be elevated within the organization. That function and how you’re looked at, at the board level, is important.”  

Peck frames the solution in terms of mutual respect and shared mission. 

“Honor everyone’s contribution. Everyone has a role at the event. We’re all taking care of members. We’re all solving problems for each other and members,” she says.

Your annual conference may feel like a moment in time, but for the members who attend and the staff who produce it, its influence stretches far beyond the closing session. Ensuring the people who understand it best have a voice in shaping your association’s strategy is a competitive advantage you can’t afford to overlook.