DAHLIA+Agency创始人Dahlia El Gazzar谈活动科技策略：从痛点出发设计体验

CHICAGO — Behind successful trade shows lay an ecosystem of work across event design, marketing and technology. When these things work together, they can create useful and energizing experiences for event participants. 

Dahlia El Gazzar has built her agency at the intersection of all this and provides practical education through DAHLIA+Agency. She’s also made it her mission to help event professionals to let go of “vanilla” ideas and to embrace the “rocky road” innovations that generate loyalty and fandom. 

Trade Show Executive sat down with El Gazzar to talk about the direction event technology strategy needs to go, challenging the status quo and what practical AI skills every young professional should start working on now. 

MADDY: For those who may be unfamiliar, can you tell us a bit about your career journey in the events space thus far? 

DAHLIA: My career started in hospitality marketing on the Red Sea in Egypt. Some of my earliest event experiences involved working with Bedouins in Sinai on camel races and desert experiences for travelers. Accidental planner here, for sure. I went on to work in marketing with Starwood Hotels and Puma, and in event technology with Passkey [prior to Cvent acquisition] and onPeak [prior to GES acquisition].  

I founded DAHLIA+Agency in 2012. Today, my work brings together event design, marketing, technology and practical education. The question I keep coming back to is: How do we make this experience more useful, more energizing, more human and worth someone’s time? We are allergic to vanilla and boring events.  

MADDY: You bring an incredible amount of energy and enthusiasm to this industry. After so many years in events, what still gets you excited about the work? 

DAHLIA: Eyes lighting up. I call those ELU moments. There are people that fight me on this one. But I am sticking to it. When someone who came in overwhelmed starts seeing what they could do differently, that gets me every time. I love watching people try something, connect with someone they would never have met or leave with the confidence to take an idea back to their team. I get a thrill when I see someone come into a show, and leave changed somehow.  

There is so much energy exchanged at events. We should be designing for that, and paying attention to it, instead of only counting how many people showed up. The energy swells and dips. It’s the Pisces in me. I think I am in retrograde right now LOL. 

MADDY: You’ve worked in corporate settings before DAHLIA+Agency. What were some of the pivotal moments or career decisions that helped get you where you are today? 

DAHLIA: Starting the agency in 2012 was a big decision. It was also a time in my personal life where I was taking care of my chronically sick husband, and two little ones, and yet, that was my driver, my why. I used it to fuel my work. To take the leaps and to be as curious as ever to do things my way, and differently. Working inside tech companies had shown me how difficult the conversation could be for the people expected to use the tools. I wanted to build a team that could help them see what was possible and put it into practice. To ease the conversation and keep reminding them that their superpowers and expertise will still be much stronger than any tech. Even AI. That purpose still guides my work. 

MADDY: You’re a passionate voice around event technology. What initially drew you to event tech, and when did you realize technology could fundamentally change how organizers create experiences? 

DAHLIA: Curiosity brought me in. Working at Passkey and onPeak showed me how tech could change the way a team worked, but people needed help making that connection. Can we remove something frustrating or make it easier for an attendee to participate? How do we release the user friction?  

We are not there yet, because event tech can be very frustrating for so many. Those are the questions that interest me. The possibilities become real when someone can see how a tool will help them. So, the conversation is about what do you want to design when it comes to experiences, and don’t let the tech be your excuse or box you in. It’s the opposite, design the best experiences and then look at the tech. I love that flip when I work with clients! 

MADDY: With AI and all the new technologies evolving so quickly, what’s one skill you think young professionals should be developing now to make themselves invaluable over the next five years? 

DAHLIA: Asking better questions. Be curious enough to get past the first answer, and thoughtful enough to challenge your own assumptions. And work on delivery in a room of naysayers — those that have done it the same way and can’t see past their old event bible.  

Before you ask AI to produce something, ask what you are trying to accomplish, who it is for and what a useful result would look like. Work on context of the situation. Then check the output. Try it with real people.  

Notice what falls apart. Tools will keep changing. Being able to define a problem clearly and judge whether an answer actually helps will travel with you. 

Don’t try to copy someone else, or another event or another idea. Do you over and over again until it gets easy to sell your ideas, your passion. We need you in our industry to forge new ideas.  

You need to use humor, be easy on yourself. On others. Listen more than talk. Don’t be stubborn; be compassionate and compromise as much as possible. Try the stupid ideas, see how they land. And always be learning.  

MADDY: What do you wish more event professionals understood about evaluating technology and deciding when a new tool actually solves a problem versus simply adding another tool to the stack? 

DAHLIA: Start with the pain. Where is someone getting stuck? What are you trying to solve? What is taking too long? What are attendees struggling to do?  

Then ask the supplier to show you that exact situation using your workflow. Look at what you already own before adding another subscription. Who will use it, who will maintain it and how will you know it helped?  

A brilliant demo can still leave you with another login nobody uses. Give the people doing the work a voice in the decision. 

Ask the tech company to be your creative strategist not your tech provider. It changes the conversation tremendously. 

MADDY: I feel like you’ve really built a personal brand around challenging the status quo, or the “vanilla,” and encouraging people to think differently. For someone earlier in their career, how do you find the confidence to challenge the way things have always been done when you may be the youngest or least experienced person in the room? 

DAHLIA: Start with something you have noticed. “I watched three first-time attendees struggle to find this room. Could we test a different way of guiding them?” That is a much more useful conversation than announcing that everything is broken.  

You can respect someone’s experience and still question a process. Bring a small experiment, explain what you hope it will improve and invite people to help you test it. You don’t need the biggest title in the room to pay attention. But pay attention to what is said, and more importantly how it was said, the emotion behind the story or statement. 

Find the confidence in relaying solutions from your perspective as an attendee for example, or a stakeholder within the situation.  

MADDY: Looking back at the beginning of your career, what’s a mistake, setback or piece of criticism that ultimately made you better at what you do? 

DAHLIA: A CEO once told me I wouldn’t be able to fit in with the rest of the team. I told him, “Then I will be the best fit.” I took it as a challenge. I learned from the people around me, absorbed what they knew and added my own spin. It taught me that I could learn from a team without becoming a copy of everyone in it. 

MADDY: I think there are more career paths within events than people just entering probably even know about. What advice would you give someone who knows they love this industry but maybe hasn’t figured out where they fit yet? 

DAHLIA: Remember that your career is not linear anymore. You are a constellation of skills, talents. You will shine through your talents that you have, and they can be used across different jobs and projects at different times.  

Get close to different kinds of work before deciding where you belong. Spend time with the people designing the experience, selling sponsorships, building the technology, producing the show and helping attendees. Ask what they actually do on an ordinary Tuesday. Notice which problems make you curious enough to keep asking questions. Your place might be where two disciplines meet. Events need people who understand marketing and operations, or technology and human behavior. You can build a career around that combination.  

We need younger people to tear things apart but also who have the passion to work with others to build something more amazing together. 

MADDY: If you could sit down with Dahlia at the beginning of her career and give her one piece of advice about building a fulfilling career, what would you tell her? 

DAHLIA: Pay attention to what gives you energy, and build relationships with people who help you grow. A fulfilling career needs room for your life, too. You do not have to turn every opportunity into an obligation. I would tell younger Dahlia to stay curious, ask for help sooner and stop treating an unfamiliar path as a reason to rule it out. I would also tell her, say no to those projects and people that can suck the life out of you.  

MADDY: What is one “career rule” young professionals are often told that you think they should ignore? 

DAHLIA: “Stay in your lane.” Learn how the other lanes work. Again, you are a constellation.  

Go talk to someone in retail, hospitality, design or another industry entirely. Ask how they solve a problem you are wrestling with. Some of the most useful ideas for events come from outside our own bubble. Bring that perspective back, give people credit and try something. We have enough vanilla. 

To get more articles like this, sign up for TSE’s free Young Professionals Newsletter.    

The post Start with the Pain: Dahlia El Gazzar Talks Event Tech and Energizing Experiences appeared first on Trade Show Executive.