Best In Class Events
“Gianna is the only person I know who has the experiences leading event strategy for major companies like Google and Amazon, the white-glove taste and creativity required for leading VIP Events for brands and VC Firms like SoftBank Vision Fund and AllRaise, and the go-to-market experience required to build event strategies for startups like Airtable, Codeium.Ai, Eva, Events.Com, Gradual, and Hubilo. She brings her insights as a thought leader, her relationships with investors, freelancers, and agencies, and her positive energy to every project she leads, leading to extraordinary outcomes that deliver ROI to her clients and their customers alike.”
“Gianna over-delivers on all aspects of event planning. From her exceptional leadership, her cost saving strategies, creative ideas and helpful introductions, she exceeds expectations on every program”
“From high profile, globally attended conferences to intimate VIP experiences, Gianna offers the full-service event production capabilities and white glove service that that clients expect without the excessive overhead and fees of a traditional agency.”
“Gianna is in the top 1% of both inspiring and get-things-done individuals, I have ever worked with. ”
“Bringing Gianna on to support our all-employee event truly changed the game for us. She brought vision, organization, and critical events expertise that allowed us to make thoughtful, smart and budget-conscious decisions. In fact, after we brought her on to lead our event she actually helped us cut our budget substantially! Gianna brought the leadership and polish we needed to ensure a successful event that met all of our objectives. Thank you Gianna!”
“Gianna is someone you want in your corner. She’s quick to act and has a strategic mindset, making her impactful at all stages of experience planning. Her genuine curiosity made consulting with her effortless as she worked to understand my goals while also guiding me to define and understand the ‘why’ behind the strategy I was creating. She provided fresh ideas, expert framing, and storytelling to help me achieve my desired outcomes.”
I am an Experience Architect: I reverse engineer event planning starting with the results you want to achieve rather than the tactics.
With my strategic methodology, I help companies do less work, but more impactful events. Finding the right timing, people, places, and opportunities yield better outcomes than guessing and doing more events less effectively.
Work with me, and I’ll move your event planning from complexity to simplicity. No matter what your goals, budget or unique needs are, I will engineer an experience that will deliver the results you want to achieve.
My background:
With over 20 years of experience creating best in class events for the top brands in the world, I'm known for my knack for creating a vision, team, narrative, brand experience and creative direction, managing operational efficiencies, and curating details that tie an event together cohesively. In 2019, while still at Google, I published my Amazon best-selling book, The Art of Event Planning, as a way to share my knowledge of events and secret sauce with the world. In 2022, I launched my online event planning course to empower event professionals to level-up their careers and make more impact. I now run my own event business and offer event strategy, planning, and advisory services, connecting people with the right resources and vendors they need for events via my network of preferred vendors and top notch event talent.
Corporate Event Services and Consulting:
What I Offer: The below are some of the services I offer. I create unique proposals for every client as no two clients are the same. Reach out if you’d like an estimate or proposal.
Event Strategy
I work with key stakeholders to develop your event strategy including the objectives, concept, program structure and production needs.
I optimize your investment with the design of an event experience with clear objectives that drive desired actions, and deliver results to the bottom line. I can help you define and plan your event strategy for different types of events and audience with a specialty in VIP, high-touch bespoke events, retreats and CEO/investor summits.
Event Portfolio Strategy, Audit and Design
If you have an event concept, but need help de-risking, or filling in the gaps, I audit your event/portfolio strategy to ensure you’re reaching the right altitude with your audience, creating the most optimized strategy and a memorable, curated experience your guests will never forget.
Team and Guest Experiences
I have a collection of experience ideas for team-building, engagement strategy and off-sites. I customize experiences thoughtfully engage your audience and create social glue. I source teambuilding experts, activities, formats and unique venues.
Current Event State Assessment
I will identify strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities within your current event portfolio and calendar including:
Competitive Analysis
Identifying and analyzing your competitors event strategies and comparing strengths and weaknesses.
Measurement and Optimization - establishing core measurable objectives and KPIs, analyzing the data in real time to adjust the strategy as necessary, gaining alignment, and communicating results.
Talent Management, Event Workstream Resourcing Review and Optimization
Events impact almost every area of your marketing team. I will support your in building a scalable structure designed with clear roles and responsibilities with handoff points defined. She can also support sourcing external agencies and freelancers to scale your internal team.
Need a temporary event leader for a project or to cover a team member on leave? I can “pinch hit” and lead a team or a program from inception through completion.
I can manage external and internal talent for your run of show and provide white glove, VIP service they require.
Program Theme and Content
I can work with you to develop the overall program agenda, key themes and topics. This may also include:
Building unique experiences and event formats that engage your attendees in unique ways
Speaker and talent recommendations and sourcing
Technical direction and show management
Content development and project management
Food/Wine Planning, Client Hospitality, Style/Decor
As a certified sommelier and interior designer, I will create the most memorable and unique food/wine and environments that are unique and build lasting brand deposits. Customers are loyal to brands who show appreciation and I specialize in curating the most unique and tasteful experiences for discerning customers, investors and executives.
Interested in a celebrity chef dinner or an immersive dining experience? I specialize in sourcing the top chefs, caterers and restaurants that will set your brand apart from the competition and build brand love through memories your attendees will never forget.
Do you need help sourcing gifts that are on-brand, on-budget, and relevant? I believe brands should never give swag for “swag sake” but that the right swag can help your guests remember your brand and the wonderful event you hosted them at if you are strategic about what you give them. I work with the best vendors in the industry and can negotiate great rates and unique items that won’t end up in the bin. I cna also design a gifting “‘experience” to make a gift into part of your event experience rather than a passive token of appreciation.
Event Operations
Seamless operational excellence should be a given (but sadly isn’t always). I run events like a product, taking into account: cost, schedule, and features and optimizing accordingly based on the client’s needs. I have deep experience running budgets and production timelines for intimate CEO Summits and 30,000 person conferences. I develop timelines and budgets to help you understand and optimize your event production and execution so you can focus on the other areas of the event.
Event Brand Playbook and Experiential Design
Be it customer community conferences, to white glove C-level/VIP events, retreats, president’s clubs, Customer Appreciation Events, I work with you to create an immersive, one-of-a-kind experience and standardizing what your brand stands for when it comes to events and experiences. Attendees should know from being at your event that it’s an event that only your company could produce.
I will develop your company’s bespoke “Event Brand Playbook” to build brand consistency as you scale. With these guidelines, your brand will be recognizable no matter what type of event you are producing and build affinity and word of mouth marketing.
Contract Negotiation, Venue/Vendor Sourcing and RFP Management
As a former purchasing manager and hotel contract negotiation specialist, I’ve saved my companies and clients hundreds of thousands of dollars through negotiation expertise. I will guarantee you the best rates and concessions plus successful clauses that will help reduce your risk and get the most for your budget.
I can run the venue RFP process for your venue selection, saving you hundreds of hours on your search for the perfect fit for your brand and activation.
I led Google’s international Agency Days and have relationships with the best event agencies in the world. I develop RFP’s and the best agencies to fit your brand/budget and needs.
Event Team Staffing / Fractional Event Leader
Event teams often need to scale up to meet the needs of new events or busy seasons. I have extensive experience building successful event teams including Full-Time employees, Contingent Contractor event team members, and agency support.
I can help you recruit the roles you need for full time hires as well as seasonal or project-based events and can also manage the team on a project-base if needed.
I can step in as a fractional Head of Events to lead your team and make executive-level decisions.
Onsite Event Auditing
I will attend your event as though I am an attendee and take notes on all aspects of your event and then deliver a report to help you improve and optimize your future iterations of the event.
Coaching and Executive Coaching
I offer customized individual coaching or group training programs to teach your teams how to think strategically about events and as an ongoing resource. My intent is to help my clients and their teams be successful.
For executives who don’t have an in-house Event Leader, I can offer advice and coaching on event strategy and execution.
Business Advising
I’m a trusted advisor to event / tech startups and large brands alike. Having worked for some of the top brands in the world like Google and AWS, the largest VC in the world (SoftBank Vision Fund) and startups like Airtable, I can advise on event go to market strategy and evaluate product roadmap, make introductions and support organic PR.
Custom Services:
Don’t see exactly what you’re looking for here? Let’s chat! Every company has different needs so there is no such thing as a one size fits all approach.
Design. Plan. Execute.
Founder Events and Community
Offsites and Executive Retreats
Brand Activations
Corporate Events
VIP events
Conferences
Incentive Trips
Company Kick Offs
Product Launches