Events exist because they catalyze behavior change.

principle — attributed to Tahira Endean

Endean's frame for why businesses invest in events is operational. Events provide a catalyst for behavior change, which leads to business growth. Participants attend because they crave face-to-face opportunities for learning and intelligent conversation with like-minded people. The two together define the event's reason to exist. Without behavior change for the business or learning for the participant, the event is decoration. The discipline that follows is that every design choice should be evaluated against whether it advances one or both. Decor that does not advance them is overhead. Programming that does not advance them is filler. The frame produces tighter events that justify their budgets.

For corporate event teams, agency strategists, and event designers thinking about how to justify and design events. The principle is most useful when budget pressure forces the team to defend every line item.

behavior-change, purpose, business-rationale, design-frame