If Events Overwhelm You…Try This Solution

If you've talked to me for more than five minutes about events, you've probably asked me some version of these questions: What even is a Fractional Head of Events? Who actually needs one? What stage should a company be at before hiring one? And how is this different from just hiring a contractor, an agency, or a full-time employee?

Fair questions - and ones I get asked constantly. So let's settle it once and for all. Here's the overview, the downlow, the whole deal.

Let’s start with some #realtalk:  events aren't just a brand moment. They're one of the most powerful tools in your marketing mix to build trust, drive pipeline, and deepen customer loyalty.

In fact, they're the #1 marketing channel for both ROI and building trust. But they're also high stakes, and without the right strategy, "events" quietly becomes "expensive guesswork."

The solution is a fractional event leader to curate the inputs and guide your decisions so you approach your events with relief rather than risk.

Here's what I’ve observed most companies are missing: a fractional head of events does something no AI, freelancer, or junior planner, producer or ops team member can do. 

They curate the overwhelming amount of advice and information out there and actually make the calls:

• Which agencies deserve a seat at the table and when to RFP new ones 

• What your event portfolio strategy should look like split between owned and third party hosted events

• Where to spend and where to cut budget

• When it's the right moment to host a user conference and what to do before that to build your event muscle as a company

They can tap into relationships and experience built over decades that open doors and get senior attendees in the room. That's not a prompt you can write. That's not a job you can post for $28/hour. That's judgment that comes from years of anecdotal experience.

Gianna’s Gem: You wouldn't hand your CFO position to an intern. Why trust your brand's biggest external moments to anyone but an expert?

What's a Fractional Executive Anyways?

By now, most business leaders know the model. Senior-level experts who plug into your business part-time to fill high-impact roles. Think Fractional CMO, CFO, COO, Head of People. You get C-suite strategy without the full-time cost or the long ramp-up.

As many as 70% of early stage companies now have a fractional team member.

Fractional leaders get brought in when:

• You need experienced leadership without adding another headcount

• You're scaling fast and need expertise now

• You've got a high-priority initiative and need someone to own it

But somehow, events, despite being one of the largest line items in many marketing budgets, often 35% or more, have rarely had a seat at that same strategic table.

That's a mistake. And it's costing companies time, budget, and business.

Enter the Fractional Head of Events:

In 2023, I launched a service I had rarely seen offered: Fractional Head of Events. I built it because I kept observing the same problem. Companies were investing six and seven figures in events without any senior strategic leadership in the mix...and then coming to me to fix everything when they weren’t performing.

Either a junior coordinator was expected to figure it out, or an already-slammed marketing lead was moonlighting as an event expert. There was too much to do, no strategic direction, no way to measure what was working and no brand consistency.

Spoiler: that doesn't work.

A Fractional Head of Events is a senior event executive who joins your team part-time or project-based, bringing decades of lived expertise, executive-level thinking, and a real strategy lens without adding a full-time salary of a C-Suite member and benefits to your org chart. 

Why Companies Are Cluing into the Fractional Head of Events

1. Events are your #1 trust and ROI builder. Since 2022, events have ranked as the top-performing marketing channel for both return on investment and building trust with customers (Freeman Trends Report, 2023). If you're investing in them, they need to deliver measurable impact, not just good vibes and instagram photos.

2. The experience gap is real. 70% of live events industry jobs have turned over in the last 3–4 years (Julius Solaris Research, 2024). That means most of the people running your events are new to their company, new to the role, new to events, or all three. A fractional leader brings steady leadership, mentorship, and structure so nothing gets dropped and your brand doesn't take the hit.

3. Strategy and execution/logistics are not the same thing. Anyone can book a ballroom and plan a menu with reasonable success. Aligning your events to pipeline goals, sales cycles, brand experience, and complex brand goals? That takes real expertise. A fractional event leader brings both the vision and the execution.

4. You've got a high-stakes event and zero margin for error. Launching a customer conference, a product launch, an executive dinner? These aren't "learn as you go" moments. A fractional event leader steps in fast, builds the plan, leads the team, and protects the outcome.

5. You're growing, but not ready for a full-time head. Not every org is ready to add a VP or Head of Events. Fractional gets you executive-level leadership, scaled to your stage and budget.

Gianna’s Gem: The value of a fractional leader isn't just strategy on paper  it's decades of relationships that get the right people in the room. Anyone can send an invite. Not everyone can get a senior exec to actually show up.

Who Should Be Hiring a Fractional Head of Events?

You'll benefit from one if you're:

• A marketing leader drowning in demand gen while also being asked to run events

• A founder or CEO who wants to create a major moment for customers, partners, or prospects, but doesn't have the internal bandwidth to pull it off

• A lean event team that needs seasoned backup, mentorship, and air cover

• A VC- or PE-backed brand that needs to scale experiential quickly and smartly

• A company in healthcare, fintech, or SaaS, where compliance, trust, and reputation are mission-critical

• A company who is ready to grow their events function but doesn’t know how to build a proper event portfolio, or secure the right agency partners, budget and cross-functional team structure

But Does It Work?

Yes. Here's one example: an ai client brought me on with just one event on their calendar (AWS reInvent) to execute that flawlessly and build out the rest if the year’s event portfolio. During that engagement, we:

• Had a 200% ROI from the first event, closing over ten major deals

• Improved client retention rates from 75% to 95%

• Landed a $100K deal out of one curated customer dinner

• Cut waste while elevating the experience for top-tier customers

• Grew new logos by 150%

• Landed the most premiere lounge space to activate at Google Cloud Next

• Launched out own User Conference for 1000 people within 7 months

• Got acquired by Google just 9 months after I started there.

Their words, not mine: "This was not just an event. This was an EXPERIENCE that they will never remember, and serves as an extension of how we’ll treat them as a client" Their Chief Growth Officer got it.

So…what’s stopping you?

The Fractional Head of Events model is still new, but it's taking off. Events are too important to be led by someone without experience, and too expensive to get wrong..

Ready to explore? Here's how to get started:

👉 Book a 30-minute discovery call with me: Request here.

👉 Request a discounted Event Audit (limited spots per quarter): Request here. 

Things I'm Loving This Week: The Essence Experience

I’m obsessed with an event I attended last week at The Battery called The Essence Experience: The Power of Perspective, a workshop led by Michael Tertes. It was unlike anything I've experienced there before.

I've been a founding member at The Battery for 11 years, and in that time I've been to more events than I can count. It takes a lot to genuinely pull me in these days. This one did, even though I admit I was a bit terrified about what to expect. I was so engaged, so captivated, so deeply moved, that I reached out to Michael directly afterward. We met for coffee at The Battery to keep the conversation going, and it was an absolute delight.

What made this event so different? It wasn’t the budget, or any “sizzle”. 

Most "know yourself" work asks us to look inward - to examine our intentions, our efforts, our hopes, the stories we tell ourselves. Michael flips that. He asks: how are we experienced by others, and how do we experience others? And then he holds that question up against our inner beliefs about ourselves - and about each other.

Here's the line that's stayed with me since the workshop:

Every person you've ever met knows something about you that you don't - not because they know you better, but because they know what it's like to be with you.

Most of us spend our lives asking:

• Why have I been successful?

• What makes me different?

• What don't I know about myself that's important to know?

We tend to search for those answers inward. But there's another force shaping every relationship, every conversation, every opportunity we've ever had: the experience other people have of us.

The Essence Experience starts from a different place entirely: what if understanding ourselves begins with how we're experienced by others?

Through a series of thoughtfully designed exercises, we practiced receiving observations with curiosity, noticed the patterns across different people's perspectives, and learned the qualities that have been shaping our lives all along. It was deeply powerful and left me with so many insights and also a newfound curiosity about everyone I encounter. 

If this resonates and you'd love to bring this experience to your own organization, let me know - I'd be happy to personally make an introduction to Michael.

Gianna's Gem: F-It, Ship It. Lessons from Running Events at Airtable and Windsurf

Hi there,

Last week, Airtable sold to Bending Spoons in an all-cash deal valuing the company at a little over a billion dollars, with an equity value of roughly $2.25 billion once you factor in cash on hand. Airtable was valued at over $11 billion at its 2021 peak. Do the math on that, and you'll understand why the news stopped me mid-scroll.

I was Airtable's first Global Head of Events,  hired at the golden moment the company was scaling fast, pivoting from product-led growth into selling to big Enterprise, and launching an entirely new category: the connected apps platform. I fully expected pivots. I expected delayed approvals on our first major externally hosted events. That's the nature of hypergrowth, and I signed up for it with my eyes open and loved and respected every minute of the grind alongside my colleagues and leaders.

What I didn't expect, and what I still think about, is how much overthinking and conservative rather than bold decision-making crept into the approval process for initiatives like events. This apprehensiveness became deeply embedded in the culture and company’s ability to operate and execute with courage and audacity. Not because anyone was lazy or careless -quite the opposite; these were the brightest colleagues I’ve ever worked with (and I’d worked at Google, Amazon and SoftBank Vision Fund)...everyone cared enormously, which is often exactly the problem. But overanalyzing too much about avoiding a wrong move can sometimes cost you the right one. I can't help but wonder whether some of that hesitation cost us opportunities, and in the case of events the “signaling” we needed to strengthen our brand as we scaled and to have a more successful exit.

Gianna's Gem: Fear can be masked inside a company as "prudence” or "vigilance." But "let's revisit next quarter” slowness has a price tag too, and nobody puts it on the leger.

Contrast that with Windsurf (now Cognition).

I came in as fractional events lead with exactly one event on the calendar: AWS re:Invent. Within four months, we had secured the best location right in front of registration at Google Cloud Next for a bespoke Windsurf Lounge and within six months, we were designing and building our own 1,000-person user conference from scratch. No decades of institutional caution. No fifteen rounds of approvals. Just a clear-eyed, level-headed approach to taking calculated bets based on data and sentiment that the moment called for boldness, and the willingness to move. Fast. I loved the bold culture!

Open Ai announced that they were going to acquire us, but…that event didn’t happen, and neither did our Conference. But that’s because before it could happen, Google acquired the majority of Windsurf in the tech story of July 2025, and Cognition swiftly acquired the remainder within 48 hours. 

Is that a coincidence? I don't think so, and I don't think it should surprise you either. A team that moves at that speed on something as visible and vulnerable as a first-ever conference is a team that's operating with conviction across the board. That kind of energy and bold audacity gets noticed. It gets acquired.

Gianna's Gem: The companies that win aren't the ones with the fewest mistakes. They're the ones with the shortest distance between "we should do this" and "we did this."

Here's my philosophy, and it's not reckless, it's disciplined, but bold and action-oriented: 

Do your research. Budget responsibly. Get crystal clear on the ROI or output you actually want from your event and what absolutely cannot happen. And then, f-it, ship it already.

Gianna’s Gem: With events, there is no bad data.

You either crush it, or you learn something you couldn't have learned any other way. Both outcomes beat the alternative: losing the opportunity entirely because you were too afraid to take the swing, and spending the next year regretting it.

Because here's what a great event actually does for your business:

• It’s a Signal: hosting an event at scale tells customers, industry influencers, press, analysts, and investors that your company is serious, and it builds pride internally in the company's growth trajectory.

• It’s a thought leadership driver: the physical environment to show what leadership means to your company and your community.

• It’s a brand personality exemplifier: the place where your brand comes alive IRL, where attendees immerse themselves in the community in a relaxed environment, and where brand impact and social sharing happen organically.

• It’s an morale and momentum booster: it builds momentum heading into the year ahead.

• It’s a pipeline accelerator: it can dramatically expand and accelerate customer and investment pipeline through the new ideas an event generates.

• It’s a relationship builder: a demonstration of what your company stands for, built through the relationships forged between leadership, customers, partners, press, analysts, and investors.

• It’s an appreciator: a genuine thank-you to the employees, customers, and champions who support the company.

• It’s a feedback collector: a live feedback mechanism for needs, challenges, and honest conversation you won't get from a survey.

That's a lot of value sitting on the other side of a "yes." And the cost of not doing the event is just as real, it's just harder to see on a spreadsheet. In today's environment, agility isn't a nice-to-have. It's often the whole ballgame.

Your Challenge This Week:

Find the event (or other initiative) that's been sitting in "let's revisit it" parking lot purgatory. Get honest about what's actually driving the delay: is it a real resourcing constraint, or is it fear wearing a prudent-sounding costume? If it's the latter, do the research, set your budget, get clear on your ROI, and then give yourself permission to ship it.

If you need help overcoming your fear of hosting an event, let's talk. I'm happy to coach you through it or step in as your fractional head of events to take you to the finish line.

You've got this.

XX,

Gianna.

BONUS: I will offer one 45-minute coaching call with one reader. To be entered to be selected, email me with 1-2 sentences about where you’re stuck and what you need my help with. gianna@gaudini.com

P.s. Want to work learn more frameworks for creating the gold standard in events and experiences, negotiating, or creating better content for your events? New individual modules from my masterclass are now available at: giannagaudini.com/learn-from-me

You Can’t take it With You…and other Lessons Pat Would Have Shared with Giacomo

I am always highly intentional with how I personalize everything, and the why behind my intentions and actions. When my mother-in-law passed away on July 11, I wanted to eulogize her in a way that was unique to our relationship, and also in a way that I could share with my 9-year-old son as I shared the news with him. Reading it this past weekend to a room full of people wasn't easy - I was shaking like a leaf (and I never shake while speaking), but afterward, so many of them shared how touching it was, and that they wished more people could hear the lessons and live like Pat.

So in homage to my amazing, strong, beautiful, larger-than-life mother-in-law, Pat Gaudini, here are her lessons for a life well lived. Please pass them on to anyone who might benefit from a dose of her sunshine.

Lessons Pat Would Have Shared With Giacomo

My son, Giacomo, was too young for Pat to impart her life lessons on him while she still lived in California. So today, here are some lessons I want to pass down to him the way I'd envision her sharing it… and with some Patti-isms… because I think you'll recognize her in every line.

ON first impressions. Your smile is your best accessory — but whatever the occasion, you can never, ever be overdressed.

ON people. You catch more bees with honey. Simple as that. Pat never met a stranger, only a friend she hadn't yet charmed. And it doesn't cost a thing to be kind.

ON the benefit of the doubt. Make the charitable assumption. You never know what someone's carrying — so assume the best, and hand them a little grace. You might be the only sunshine in someone's whole day. Pat handed hers out like she had an endless supply. Turns out she did.

ON money. Don't be too tight with money, always carry cash, and tip generously and then some. Invest in experiences, not things. As Pat would say, "Honey, you can't take it with you."

ON who you bring home. If possible, use your mom as your wingwoman. Pat met me first, thank you very much. Not because she was nosy, but because she could sense a good partner for her son. A word of advice — maybe don't wait quite as long as your dad did, but better late than never.

ON hard work and perseverance. Look up the word grit and you'll find something like: courage and resolve; strength of character. Look up tact and you'll find: the ability to handle a difficult situation, or people, with grace. Pat had both in spades. She looked at the fur industry, decided she could do it better than the men running it, and borrowed the money to prove it. According to my sources, many of Pat's clients had this saying: "You don't ask, you don't get…" Well, she learned to be bold, and she asked and received! She ran that business for over three decades through market swings and times others would have folded. But she never did — she trusted her gut, and worked like it was nobody's business. The entrepreneur in me is inspired and motivated by her every day, and I have a feeling that hustle and grit is in Giacomo's genes too.

ON being a gentleman. Learn her favorite flower. Notice the little things, and then act on them — because thoughtfulness without action is just a nice thought. Pat was incredibly thoughtful, and passed that on to your dad. He once conspired with Pat to have a custom monogrammed Loro Piana fur coat made when we were dating. That's the bar now, Giacomo. Sorry. She set it.

ON love. Love with your whole heart. Not halfway. All the way in, every time. It's the only way Pat knew how to do it, and it's why an entire room full of people are here today, all a little heartbroken, because she loved every single one of us like we were the only person in the room.

ON your mother. Call her (that's me). Every day, if you can — even if it's just thirty seconds. Pat did, without fail. Not because there was always news, but because there's always love, and love likes to check in.

ON living la dolce vita. Spend as much time as you can in the places you love, with the people you love. Don't save it for someday. Someday is not guaranteed — but Wednesday, at lunch, with the right people, absolutely is.

ON wandering. Pick a place that calls to you, and go spend a whole month there, every single year, if you can manage it. Roots are lovely. So is knowing exactly which restaurant in Yountville has your favorite bread and chardonnay.

ON eating well. On that note — eat well: salmon, steel-cut oats, the sensible things. But never forget that wine is a food group too. Pat was healthy but had the occasional dessert. Sometimes, if it was really good, she'd whisper, "This is so good, it's a mortal sin."

ON disappointment. Don't dwell on life's little letdowns. Shrug it off, and go find the next good thing. As far as Pat was concerned, if the Eagles lost, "they were just a bunch of fugazi's"… I admit, I still don't get what that means!

ON walking into a room. Light it up like everyone in it has been waiting all day just to talk with you. Pat never entered a room quietly in her life, and every room was better and much more fun because of it.

So, Giacomo — that's the playbook. I'll do my best to fill in for her. But I hope that somewhere down the road, when you meet your wife because your smile drew her in, take a trip even though you're not sure about the cost, or call your mother just to say "I love you," you'll feel her in your heart.

She's not here to say it herself anymore. So I will, on her behalf, one last time:

"You can't take it with you, sweetheart."

So spend your life well.

In loving memory of Pat Gaudini.

https://www.danjolell.com/obituary/patricia-a-burdo-gaudini/

Giannas Gems Sexy Property Spotlight - Auberge du Soleil Napa

I said "I do" with my husband at Auberge du Soleil on 9/10/11…an auspiciously symmetrical date for what has turned out to be a marriage as enduring as the property itself. So when I went back this July to celebrate my birthday, I expected a nostalgic weekend where more than once, I caught myself saying out loud…how did I not experience this when I was here for the wedding?

That's the thing about Auberge du Soleil. It rewards you more the closer you look, wedding day or fifteen years later. And thoughtful details are everywhere. I smiled when I saw conversation cards near the pool (you all know how much I love them),the pink rafts to float on for even deeper relaxation, and a whole library of books in our hotel suite…it’s these little details, anticipating what guests may need or may not even know they’ll delight in, and then letting the splendor of the property and its surroundings unfold to deliver surprise, delight and awe…this is what makes Auberge du Soleil truly timeless.

The View That Started It All

Let's start with what everyone comes for: the view. It was the single biggest reason my husband and I chose this property for our wedding, and it's the same reason travelers from all over seek it out for a destination lunch or dinner while they're in Napa. The property sits atop a breathtaking canyon in Rutherford, and looking out you get a sweeping view of vineyards, hawks circling majestically overhead, and on still mornings, hot air balloons drifting in the distance. It is the kind of view that makes you stop mid-sentence, every single time and one we wanted to share with our friends. It didn’t disappoint then and I was still just as breathtaken by the stunning natural beauty on this visit.

The pool shares that same vista, and lounging beside it is a genuinely majestic experience…the closest I've come to feeling like I was floating atop a fairytale castle somewhere in Europe, if that castle happened to overlook Napa Valley instead of the Rhine. Lunch is served pool side on trays with proper linen and silver, and as you dine, you can hear the laughter and wine glasses clinking from world travelers who are enjoying duck fat fries, burgers and perfectly pan seared salmon from the restaurant on the balcony above. Heaven will have a hard time competing with this.

The Casitas: Every Room Its Own World

Every room here is its own private casita, with high beamed ceilings and a signature scent I can only describe as smoke, leather, and the herbal essence of the earth itself…the kind of detail that instantly transports you the moment you walk in and that I would buy for my own home if it was available. Each room comes well appointed with assorted beverages, books, and magazines, and a soaking tub with bath salts and candles.

The property has just 50 guest rooms and suites in total, spread across five accommodation types: Classic Rooms, Classic Suites, Deluxe Rooms, Deluxe Suites, and the Private Maisons. Every category is housed in its own maison, each named for a town in the south of France, which is exactly the design ethos here: Provence, transplanted onto a Napa hillside. The suites unfold into a separate living room behind French doors that open onto an oversized private terrace, while the two-bedroom Private Maisons take it a full step further with roughly 1,800 square feet of indoor-outdoor living and their own trellised terrace, complete with an outdoor sculptural soaking tub and rain shower framed by unobstructed valley views. It is, without question, one of the most romantic ways to spend a night in wine country.

The beds are, without exaggeration, like sleeping on a cloud. And after a day of sunbathing, there's no better way to transition into evening than lighting a candle beside the sunken tub before dinner.

Dining That Earns Its Michelin Star

The Restaurant at Auberge du Soleil is outstanding, both in the quality of the food and the caliber of the service…and the accolades back it up. Opened in 1981 by French restaurateur Claude Rouas as Napa Valley's very first fine-dining restaurant, it has now held a Michelin star for 18 consecutive years, alongside Forbes Travel Guide Five-Star and Michelin Three Key distinctions. Executive Chef Robert Curry, who has led the kitchen since 2005 after stints working under Alain Ducasse in Monaco and Philippe Jeanty in Yountville, sources ingredients from local purveyors at their peak of flavor for a menu that leans French-inspired California cuisine. On the Terrace, you can choose a two- or three-course prix fixe for lunch, or a three-, four-, or six-course tasting menu for dinner, each paired if you like from the hotel's roughly 15,000-bottle wine cellar, one of the most extensive in the valley. For something more casual, The Bar next door serves continuous dining from 11:30 a.m. to 11 p.m., a favorite mid-valley stop for locals and visitors alike. I used to stop here for lunch while writing my wine blog, Decantress Wine Diary, and it was always a welcome destination in and of itself that often delighted my guests more than the wineries themselves.

Wellness, Done the Auberge Way

The property is true to form when it comes to wellness offerings: an indoor/outdoor gym overlooking the beauty of the valley, a pagoda in the middle of the sculpture garden for meditation and yoga, tennis courts set majestically amid a sculpture garden, and a full spa to round things out. Or, you can do a hike up and down the hill the property is on, like my husband and I did the day after our wedding, and work up an appetite for those duck fat fries.

The Property's Best-Kept Secret

If I had to pick the one feature that surprised me most on this visit, it would be the sculpture garden. It's filled with so many delightful works of art, which I learned (after my visit) is curated by Aerena Galleries, founded and directed by my friend Michael Polenske’. The real magic is in its hidden corners…spaces where intimate lunches or gatherings can be arranged. Picture a wisteria-covered clearing ringed with lavender, surrounded by forrest and vineyards…set for a private lunch. It's the kind of detail that makes you understand why people fall in love with this place long after the honeymoon ends. The grounds also boast three varieties of olive trees, imported from Spain and France alongside some native to California, woven throughout the property.

A Word on Weddings and Events

The venue space sits between the restaurant/bar and the pool. The largest of the event spaces, Bellevue I and II, combines into a nearly 1,900-square-foot reception and dining room with floor-to-ceiling bronze-framed doors that open onto a private terrace with the same panoramic valley views you get everywhere else on property, and it seats up to 120 for a dinner. Smaller spaces like La Rotonde, Maison d'Arbre, and the garden setting of Le Jardin round out the offering for more intimate gatherings, and Le Salon, tucked inside The Restaurant itself, offers a private fine-dining experience for up to 20 guests surrounded by the property's champagne and Cabernet cellars.

Because of noise considerations, Auberge no longer hosts weddings unless it's a full property buyout…a policy that says everything about how much they care about the guest experience, for the couple and for everyone else staying there.

If you are lucky enough to host your wedding here, take a page from my husband's and my playbook: saber the champagne off the terrace. It's a festive, unforgettable moment your guests will never forget…ours certainly still bring it up! And definitely invest in a world class photographer and videographer because you’ll want to remember these views and moments forever.

The Bottom Line

Auberge du Soleil isn't just a place to celebrate a milestone once. It's a place that keeps giving you new reasons to fall for it, whether you're standing on that terrace as a bride or coming back over a decade later for a birthday and finding it more magical than you remembered.

Would I recommend it for a wedding, an anniversary trip, or simply a destination dinner while you're in Napa? Without a single hesitation - it’s worth every penny as the most priceless hotel in Napa.

Gianna's Gem Rating: 11/10

For more information about Auberge du Soleil and to be put in touch with their team, contact me for a direct intro.

In Memory of Pat Gaudini

We checked out of Auberge du Soleil on the morning my beautiful mother-in-law, Pat Gaudini, passed away, after a fifteen-year battle with Alzheimer's. The sunrise was pink that morning, one of her favorite colors. I could feel her surrounding us with the same love we felt on our wedding day, as though she were reassuring us that she was finally at peace.

As you know, I try to be highly intentional about creating personalized moments. When I began thinking about how to remember her, and how to write a eulogy that felt like her, here is where I landed.

Her roses. Pat loved roses, and we were in Napa, just minutes from her home in Yountville. I cut as many as were still fresh from her garden, pressed them, and built a framed memory box for her partner — her roses alongside photographs and small pieces of her life. From what was left, I made little envelopes labeled Pat's Petals to bring to the funeral, so that every family member could carry something of hers home.

Lessons for Giacomo. To tell my son the news, and to eulogize her in a way that belonged only to the two of us, I wrote down the lessons I believe she would have wanted to give him. They're stitched together from things she actually said, with a few bits of her humor woven in, because she would have insisted on the levity.

She lived in a way I can only describe as universally beautiful, sunshine embodied. If you would like me to share her lessons with you, please message me directly. It would be an honor to pass along her wisdom and her light.

Gianna's Sexy Property Spotlight: Alila Napa Valley, St. Helena, California

There are Napa hotels, and then there is Alila Napa Valley - an escape, a retreat, an adults-only luxury that is Napa’s best kept luxury secret. 

Tucked into the heart of St. Helena, arguably the most charming of Napa's small towns, where the Mayacamas Mountains fold into rows of vineyards and the historic downtown has the best shopping and art in all of Napa Valley. Cobblestone-chic storefronts with everything from home-goods to jewelry to fashion, wineries that have been pouring since the 1800s, high-end tasting rooms, bakeries people line up for and restaurants worth the trip alone… all a ten-minute stroll from the property. But you may not want to leave, and you don’t need to - they’ve thought of everything if you want to stay put and still get the full Napa experience.

Alila is adults-only and intentionally intimate with just 64 guest rooms, so it never feels like a crowded resort. It feels like your getaway. This makes it perfect for an intimate retreat, milestone birthday celebration, wedding, or a corporate buyout for smaller group programs. You can’t lose when it comes to the guest room selection - each either looks out onto the vineyard or onto the creek and the storied Beringer Winery next door (the two properties are connected by a private bridge), and every single room delights you with either an outdoor soaking tub or a fire pit and deck. You feel your shoulders drop the moment you walk in and your body thanks you after a blissful night sleep.

For those who want to stay put, Alila brings everything you need in a Napa experience or a retreat to you on property. My favorite offerings include the partnership with Beringer to do an in-suite tasting of library wines, the afternoon tea on the veranda - perfect for women’s spa weekend, blind tasting classes or complimentary daily wine tasting, even a custom scent making wellness experience.

The Spa: A Ritual, Not a Treatment

The Spa Alila is a destination in and of itself. Spa Alila doesn't just pamper you, it invites you to truly release what is weighing you down or holding you back - true transformation…and isn’t that why we really go to a spa? They have thought through the guest experience and offer ceremonious welcome and closing moments that instantly snap you out of your worries and into the present with intention. 

On arrival, you’re welcome to select specific herbs to build your own "Burden Bundle," which is then steeped while you're getting your massage or facial, and then used at the end to soak your feet and shoulders; a literal, physical symbol of release and transformation. They also have little blessings you’re invited to select and take with you as a reminder of your visit (while indulging in hunks of dark chocolate that resemble brown glaciers and gourmet teas and nuts). I had a birthday facial there and walked out glowing, not spa-glowing, different-glowing and was grateful for the practitioner who was empathetic and helpful with recommendations but also let me meditate undisturbed during my treatment.

Violetto: Dinner With a Point of View

The resort's flagship restaurant, Violetto, blends the elegance of French culinary techniques with the warmth of Italian flavors.  Situated inside a beautifully restored 1907 Georgian farmhouse it’s led by executive chef Mark Shoemaker, whose storied path here wound from his grandmother's kitchen through Michelin-starred restaurants in Chicago to a Washington farm where he deepened his connection to land and seasonality, a throughline you can taste in every course. The prix fixe menu features handmade pasta and signature fine dining dishes like braised Rabbit Violetti. 

What makes it memorable is the hyper-local ingredient sourcing: everything is local and seasonal and you can taste the difference. Everything from honey to herbs used is pulled straight from the region.  The moment you walk in, you feel serene in a room that is elegant yet down to earth in tones of lavender and organic touches. The second you sit down, you’re approached with a welcome cocktail of sweet vermouth and lavender honey that sets the tone completely. You’re welcome to select the four or eight course tasting menu, or dine a la carte in the less formal but striking bar or outdoor historic patio overlooking the estate. Every option is a delight and unique in its own right.

Customization: Not only does Alila offer many opportunities to customize your experience (i.e. pre-select what will show up in your mini bar or book an “explore your birth chart reading” but they go above and beyond to make sure your visit suits your needs. As it was my birthday, my husband called their restaurant in advance to request a gluten free dessert with chocolate for me (how thoughtful is that? He’s clearly been trained in the art of thoughtfulness). The chef presented a gluten free tiramisu with about 50 layers that was so delicious, I never would have imagined it was hypo-allergenic and took the time to connect with me persoally. They also accommodated my other dietary requests so that I could feel great and still enjoy the tasting menu - that is true hospitality and something I am grateful for.

The New Brunch: Salvia Terrace & Bar

If Violetto is the destination dinner, Salvia Terrace & Bar is the property's newest reason to linger over a lazy weekend morning in wine country. Chef Shoemaker now oversees the entire food and beverage program, and it shows here too: weekend brunch (Saturday and Sunday, 10:30am–2pm) leans into shareable plates, seasonal salads, and produce harvested straight from the on-site culinary garden and local farmers' markets.  Think grilled vegetables and elevated avocado toast alongside craft cocktails and Napa Valley wines. You can take it indoors in the lounge, enjoy it at the bar, or out on the veranda with those iconic mountain-skyline views. It's easy, unhurried, and exactly the right register for a morning after a long dinner the night before with the hominess of a wine country B&B but the elevated cuisine of a Michelin star restaurant.

Rooms and Grounds

The rooms, designed by Yabu Pushelberg, are the kind of quiet-luxury you feel more than notice: oversized balconies or wraparound terraces, floor-to-ceiling glass, Italian linens, marble bathrooms, and those fire pits and soaking tubs that make you actually use your outdoor space instead of just admiring it through a window. 

The pool is adults-only, too, and looks straight out over the vineyard.  There is genuinely nothing like sipping a cocktail poolside and watching the grapes ripen in real time. It's one of those details that sounds small until you're enjoying it.

The Kind of Place You Bring People To

Beyond the rooms, Alila's social spaces, the outdoor bar, cornhole, scattered fire pits and pop up experience carts, give the property an easy, unfussy intimacy that makes it a genuinely great choice for hosting events of all types or meeting new friends. And the event infrastructure backs that up: at roughly 5,500 square feet, Alila has the largest event space in St. Helena, anchored by the Acacia Barn (a beautifully designed 2,200-square-foot venue built for weddings), the Acacia Lawn (2,640 square feet of open-air space with vineyard and Mayacamas mountain views as the backdrop), and the Violetto Private Dining Patio (an 820-square-foot al fresco spot right off the historic estate house, perfect for a golden-hour dinner). 

For something smaller and more private, the Violetto Loft seats 10–16 for an intimate celebration or executive dinner, and the light-filled Boardroom handles more traditional corporate meetings. Altogether, the property can host up to 120 guests indoors and 200 outdoors, or you can go all in and buy out the entire 64-room resort for a true private-estate experience. Whether it's a corporate retreat, a wedding, or a milestone gathering, it's small enough to feel exclusive and just social enough to bring people together.  I always recommend the Alila for a private corporate retreat, a wedding, a milestone gathering for a group that wants peace, real luxury, and something different from the usual Napa playbook.

The Real Differentiator: The Hospitality

Here's the final thing that actually sets Alila apart, more than any single amenity: the staff. Every person on property, from the online concierge team, to the valet to the servers, the room service staff and housekeeping team, to the spa therapists to the front desk… is genuinely engaged, not just going through the motions. Requests get met with a yes and a smile, not a "let me check." Cords get wrapped up with a note. Special occasions get noticed and celebrated and accommodations delivered above and beyond.  It's the kind of hospitality that can't be manufactured through training alone; it comes from a team that actually loves where they work, and it's the thread that ties every other beautiful detail of this property together.

Rating: 10/10.

Overall Take: Alila Napa Valley isn't trying to be loud, it isn’t trying to be everything, but it is creating a sense of place and delivering personalized experiences that cater to all types and occasions. Quiet, sensual, deeply considered, and built for adults who actually want to slow down and experience something with history and heart, it may be the best kept secret in Napa. Between the spa’s Burden Bundle, the vineyard pool, and that soak in the tub overlooking St Helena’s prized vineyards, it's hard to imagine leaving anything but lighter than you arrived.

What I'm Obsessed with This Week: Summit Series Napa

Back in 2019, I attended Summit LA as a first-timer. I attended as pure "experience research" into what a best-in-class event brand actually looks like as I was building SoftBank Vision Fund’s first ever world class global event program. I've been to a lot of gatherings, including TED and Summit was up there as one of the very best experiences I’ve ever attended.

A few things that stuck with me:

1. The invite process was the product. Every attendee gets a personal phone call, not an email blast. They register you by phone, then reach out multiple times before the event to connect you with people you'll actually want to meet, and invite you into small curated dinners. That's a level of hospitality I hadn't seen anywhere else.

2. The content was genuinely diverse.  Rap artists next to CPG execs next to tech founders. Not diversity for optics; diversity because it made the conversations better and often, my favorites were unexpected. The only complaint - it was hard to pick which sessions to attend because there were so any great ones.

3. The entertainment felt like Burning Man met a music festival. Interactive, immersive, major talent, creative/artistic, but woven into the experience rather than bolted on. The wellness and experiential partners pushed me outside my comfort zone from Theragun therapy sessions, a sound bath healing, things I never would've tried on my own. I genuinely took away real wellness learnings.

4. The serendipity was unreal. More coffee and kombucha  meetups than any event I've been to (and the coffee game itself was incredible). I ended up at a private gathering in Tony Hsieh's trailer, and had sushi with a CEO I hadn't seen since my twenties and ended up joining her Board.

Today, I'm honored to now sit on the board supporting Summit's strategic partnerships. If you're curious about what it looks like to get involved, DM me and we can see about getting you or your company an invite to participate, especially at Summit Series Napa, which I’ll be attending myself in October, and hope to meet you there for a coffee (or wine) meet up.

The Taylor & Travis Wedding Gems Everyone's Asking Me About

Hi there,

I love asking "magic conversation questions," and one I use often is: "If you could relive one day of your life, what would it be?" The overwhelming answer I hear, including from me, is "my wedding day."

A wedding is the one day most people actually get to design on purpose, built around their values, their people, and the memory they want to carry forever. That's what makes it so powerful. You're not just planning an event, you're engineering a memory. And as an event planner, I know the secret formula for designing weddings (and any event) that achieve exactly that.

So when Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce got married a couple weeks ago, every conversation I had seemed to start with the same question…so,what did you think?

Here's my take, Gems.

Gianna's Gem: Taylor and Travis's wedding 100% worked because they followed the same principles I use for every event I plan using goals, thoughtfulness, values and intentionality… not because of the budget behind it or the scale of the venue.

These principles are achievable on any budget. A couple spending five figures and a couple spending five hundred dollars can apply the exact same framework to get the exact same result when it comes to the memories they and their guests keep forever. At the end of the day, no one remembers the cost… they remember how the day made them feel. That's the value that matters and the true return on your experience design.

The Three Questions I Ask Every Couple

Whenever I start working with a couple on a wedding or more frequently, a milestone birthday, I ask three questions to get at the heart of what we're building:

1. What word do you want people to use to describe your event? (Taylor's mom called theirs magical…mission accomplished.)

2. What word do you want people to use to describe how it felt? (Travis's mom called it a "pinch me" moment.)

3. What three things do you want people to remember? The constraint of picking only three is what forces real prioritization, and it's also the number of experiences most people can actually retain about any given event.

At my own wedding, those three were great music, great food, and a venue that was a destination in itself. P.s. my wedding took place at the storied and enchanting Auberge du Soleil, which I was fortunate enough to return to this past week for my birthday and will be posting about in my next Sexy Property feature - stay tuned!

I'd guess Madison Square Garden made Taylor and Travis's list for similar reasons: it let them be fully inclusive with her guest list while landing on a venue that fuses sport and music in a way no other room in the world can.

I'd also bet inclusivity was a core value driving her decisions throughout given that value is central to her brand. That likely explains the venue size, why her wedding party was family rather than a curated friend group, and the open seating that avoided any "who's-at-my-table" drama.

Theme: your memory anchor

A theme is a container that holds the rest of the experience together. Taylor and Travis turned a practical need, privacy and capacity at MSG, into their secret garden theme. I once attended a wedding that got hit by an actual hurricane. Instead of panicking, the bride and groom walked down the aisle to "Rock Me Like a Hurricane." The moment a wedding day seems to be falling apart is often the moment you get your most unforgettable memory and I’ve re-told the story of the badassery of that couple so many more times than the “flawless cookie cutter weddings” I’ve attended.

Make it personal

When I led events at Google, we ran everything through one test: if this could belong to any other brand, we hadn't done our job. Personalizing an experience around your real values and history, not your budget, is what makes people remember it. Taylor and Travis wrote their own vows (twenty minutes long!) and had Adam Sandler officiate because of his relationship with Travis. At my own wedding, my husband and I got engaged in Napa, so we built a "wine ceremony" around it, had my dad saber a champagne bottle to move guests from ceremony to reception, and had five friends each speak to one of our five core values. The best details are the ones that couldn't be copy-pasted onto anyone else's wedding.

Think outside the box on venue

Once you're anchored in your values, the venue stops being a limitation and starts being a canvas. I once had to build a 300-person Google leadership event in a town with no suitable venue, so we transformed a volleyball court into a five-star space: new flooring, scent piped in to erase any trace of "gym," a custom copper stage, and greenery to break up the room. Nobody in attendance ever guessed what it used to be. Any venue can become the right venue with enough imagination. Shout out to Grow Marketing, the female-founded agency that partnered with me on this one. (Dm me if you’d like an intro to the team there who also produced the Mattel Barbie Dreamhouse!)

This was obviously a luxury wedding, but here's what everyday brides can actually take away from it.

Custom logo. Creating one is far more affordable than people assume, and it's one of the highest-impact things you can do to tie a whole event together. I recently planned a milestone birthday for a couple where we built a custom logo from their initials and theme colors, then carried it across invitations, pillows, signage, napkins, notecards, and even the gifts themselves. Guests loved it so much they took the pillows home as souvenirs. A logo isn't decoration, it's the thread that turns a hundred small details into one memory. Taylor and Travis did their own version of this with their custom "JusT&T Married" nuptial branding.

Gifting. Never give a favor just to have a favor; every gift should carry a reason, or it's wasted budget. Taylor and Travis gave guests embroidered cloth tissues with their logo, which signaled the emotional, intimate tone of the night and left people with something to keep. At my own wedding, I gave out custom Bouchon Bakery boxes with our wedding logo, filled with oversized macarons for the ride home, plus a note telling the story of our engagement at that same bakery... and a coupon to go experience Bouchon themselves. A great gift doesn't just say thank you, it extends the story of the day past the day itself.

Personalize the entertainment. Live music is always my first choice for anchoring a memory, and Taylor and Travis leaned all the way in with Paul McCartney, Stevie Nicks, and a custom comedic song from Adam Sandler. I've seen a bride perform a custom wedding dance as a gift to her husband, and a groom compose and perform an original piece for his bride. At one Charleston wedding, the couple brought in a 15-piece local big band, instantly the most talked-about part of the night, and a gift to out-of-town guests who got a real taste of the destination. The best entertainment doesn't just fill the room - It gives your guests a piece of who you are, or where you are.

The real trend underneath all of this

If there's one thread connecting the logo, the no-phones policy, the open seating, the games, it's this: none of it is actually about scale or budget.

Gianna’s Gem:  It's about identifying the essence of an experience and finding a way to implement that essence at any size. 

Taylor and Travis had Paul McCartney; another couple might have their uncle with a guitar. Both can deliver the same emotional payoff  live, personal music that anchors a memory) because the couple identified why the moment mattered, not just what it looked like.

That's the real takeaway for everyday couples watching this wedding: don't copy the execution, copy the intention. A $10 million wedding and a $10,000 wedding can hit the exact same emotional notes if the couple starts from the same question Taylor and Travis clearly did: what do we want people to feel, and what's the smallest, smartest way to make them feel it?

Here are the elements to T&T’s wedding I think could become real trends:

• Secret garden / immersive theme: the best themes usually come from embracing a constraint rather than fighting it. Any couple can do this on a smaller scale: a rented backyard, an odd-shaped room, even bad weather, just by asking "what story can this limitation tell?"

• No phones: the weddings I remember most vividly are the ones where I wasn't holding a phone. Hire a great photographer and photo booth and tell guests photos will be shared, or go softer: hand everyone a silk pouch at the entrance as a gentle nudge to tuck their phone away.

• No assigned seating: letting people sit wherever they want isn't a loss of control, it's a gift of freedom to both the couple and the guests. When people can move around, they meet more people, not fewer.

• Games and raffles: the goal of any great event is to give people something to do together, not just something to watch.

• Wedding logos and crests: a logo turns a wedding from an event into a brand, and brands are what people remember.

• No wedding party, siblings as best men/women: when you strip the wedding party down to family, you're not losing tradition, you're choosing the version of it that matters most.

• Long, personal vows: the trend I'm seeing is couples treating their vows as the centerpiece of the day, not a formality to get through. Guests remember what was said far longer than they remember the flowers.

Gianna's Gem: The celebrity wedding copycat effect

Celebrity weddings don't just reflect trends, they manufacture them. In my experience, planners aren't the ones setting these trends in motion; it's the couples getting married the following year who saw the photos, felt the emotion, and wanted a piece of that same feeling at their own wedding. It's a socially proven copycat effect: when people see someone they admire do something joyful and authentic, it gives them permission to want the same thing.

We've seen this pattern for decades:

• Kate Middleton's long-sleeve lace gown (2011) sent long sleeves back into bridal fashion after decades of strapless dominance.

• Meghan Markle's minimalist, single-layer veil shifted an entire era of bridal style away from maximalism toward quiet luxury.

• Chrissy Teigen and John Legend's Bali destination wedding helped accelerate the destination-wedding boom among millennial couples.

• Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas's multi-day, multi-tradition wedding normalized blending cultural ceremonies rather than picking just one.

Taylor and Travis's wedding will likely do the same thing, not because everyday couples can replicate Paul McCartney or Madison Square Garden, but because they can replicate the feeling behind the choices: inclusivity, personalization, and presence over performance.

So will this start a trend? Almost certainly and just not a trend of what the wedding looked like. A trend of what it felt like. That's always the real copycat effect: people don't remember to steal the venue, they remember to steal the emotion.

Gianna Recommends (and for all my all-time favorite vendors and partners, visit:giannagaudini.com/gianna-recommends)

Natulang: I just celebrated my birthday last week, and on birthdays, I usually take a look at my “bucket list” and take a few steps towards those goals. One of my birthday goals this year is to finally learn Italian (long overdue given how much time I spend dreaming about spending an entire summer there!). I've been trying the app Natulang, which skips the tapping-and-matching games most language apps lean on and gets you actually speaking out loud from day one, using voice recognition so you can practice hands-free while cooking, driving, or getting ready in the morning. It's a completely different feel than the gamified apps I've tried before, and exactly the kind of "small, intentional habit" I talk about all the time when it comes to hitting a goal. Ciao for now signores & signorinas… I'll report back on my progress!

As seen in Martha Stewart Living: Gianna’s Gems: what to bring to your 4th of July party

Hi there,

Big news this week in time for America’s birthday (and my own!): I'm featured in Martha Stewart Living! They asked me to share my best tips on what to bring to a Fourth of July party, and I couldn't resist expanding on that here too, because once I started thinking about it, I had way more to say than one feature could hold.

You can read the full Martha Stewart piece here, but consider this your bonus round: more ideas, more detail, and a few of my personal go-to’s that weren’t included.

Last week, I shared some of my favorite tricks for sparking better conversation at any gathering, the magical questions, the scavenger hunts, the little prompts that turn small talk into something people actually remember (if you missed it, you can catch up here, and bring a few of those questions with you this weekend, they work beautifully at a Fourth of July table too).

This week, I'm tackling the other half of being a great guest: what you actually bring with you when you walk through the door.

As I drafted my response for Martha Stewart Living on what to bring to a Fourth of July party, it got me thinking about how much I love this topic. The "bring a bag of chips and call it a day" approach is fine, but it's a missed opportunity. The best guests I know have figured out how to bring something that's memorable, useful, and thoughtful, often all three in one. It doesn't have to be expensive or complicated. It just has to be intentional.

So whether you're headed to a backyard barbecue this week or any party you're lucky enough to be invited to this summer, here's how I think about what to bring, and how to make sure it actually lands.

The Fourth of July is one of those rare occasions where the theme does half the work for you; red, white, and blue are your palette, and nostalgia is your secret ingredient. I love leaning into that. Think old-fashioned ice pops, Cracker Jacks in their classic box, striped sugar cookies, or those retro glass-bottle sodas that make adults feel like kids again. There’s something deeply joyful about bringing something that makes people smile before they even take a bite. That’s the energy I’m going for every time.The Fourth of July is one of those rare occasions where the theme does half the work for you; red, white, and blue are your palette, and nostalgia is your secret ingredient. I love leaning into that. Think old-fashioned ice pops, Cracker Jacks in their classic box, striped sugar cookies, or those retro glass-bottle sodas that make adults feel like kids again. There’s something deeply joyful about bringing something that makes people smile before they even take a bite. That’s the energy I’m going for every time.

Food: Bring Something Beautiful (and Host-Friendly)

The golden rule? Always ask the host what you can bring, and never show up with something that demands oven space, freezer real estate, or assembly on arrival. The host is already juggling a million things and your contribution should be a relief, not a project.

My go-tos:

•       A watermelon, feta & tomato salad with fresh basil and mint It’s festive, healthy, and works beautifully at room temperature or chilled. It’s the kind of dish everyone loves and is almost impossible to get wrong. Drizzle with good olive oil, fresh mint, and a pinch of flaky salt. Sometimes, I bring potted herbs with little flags sticking out of the platers and shears for people to “snip” their own herbs into the salad. Doubles as fun centerpieces and host gift!

•       A flag fruit platter Arrange strawberries, blueberries, and star fruit on a gorgeous platter. The visual does the talking, and if you source or create your own  beautiful serving board or ceramic platter to leave with the host, it doubles as a gift.

•       Fresh-baked muffins or buttermilk biscuits in a lined basket Tuck them into a red-and-white striped tea towel (that the host keeps), tie with twine, and suddenly a humble basket of baked goods feels like something you’d find at a farmstand in the Hamptons.

Drinks: Think Everyone at the Table

Rosé is practically the official wine of July 4th, and I always bring a bottle, but I never show up without a non-alcoholic option too. The number of times a pregnant mom or a sober friend has lit up seeing a beautiful non-alc rosé in the mix… it never gets old. De Soi (yes, Katy Perry’s brand, and genuinely delicious) is my current favorite for this and comes in both individual cans and bottles.

For the kids, a festive probiotic pop or nostalgic pop in a glass bottle keeps them feeling included in the celebration.

Transport tip: Skip the plastic bag and invest in a beautiful rattan cooler bag. It’s chic on the outside, functional on the inside, and makes the whole arrival feel intentional and pulled-together.

Host Gifts: Make It Personal, Make It Last

Wine is always my favorite and always welcome, but the way you give it is what makes it memorable. Here’s how I elevate it:

•       A custom wine label  I design my own stickers with a family photo and the “vintage” year. It turns a bottle of wine into a keepsake (see photo attached).

•       A festive tea towel wrap  Wrap the bottle in a Fourth of July or flag-themed tea towel and tie with ribbon. Long after the wine is gone, that tea towel lives on in their kitchen as a little reminder of your thoughtfulness.

•       A handwritten note  Always. Not a card, a note. Something specific: what you love about your friendship, one thing you’re looking forward to doing together. It takes three minutes and people keep them forever.

On flowers: I only bring fresh-cut flowers if I also bring the vase. Otherwise, you’re handing the host a task right when they’re at their busiest. A better option? A potted white orchid in a navy or cobalt blue ceramic pot. It’s elegant, patriotic in its palette, and will last for years. There’s always a place for an orchid in a home.

For something truly personal, I love custom fragrance.  You can create a bespoke candle or room scent for the host through Le Labo or a similar house. It takes the standard candle gift to a completely different level. A scent designed for them, for their home? That’s a gift they’ll remember.

Fun Extras: The Things That Make a Party Actually Fun

This is my surprise and delight category. I always bring custom conversation cards themed to the occasion; questions about summer memories, patriotic traditions, family lore. They break the ice, slow people down, and create real connection.

If there are kids involved, Fourth of July trivia cards are an absolute hit. Print a set of questions, bring a small prize (sparkle tattoos, a little flag kit, a bag of old-fashioned candy), and suddenly you’re the most popular person there. Competitive kids + a prize + a little friendly patriotic knowledge? Pure gold.

For the Kids

Kids make or break a party’s energy, so I always come prepared. The goal is to keep little hands busy and little faces lit up, especially during the long stretch before fireworks.

●      Bubbles  Classic, universally loved, and zero cleanup stress for the host. Bring a few extra wands and the big bottle. Kids (and honestly, adults) never tire of them.

●      Glow sticks and glow necklaces  An absolute must for after dark. Kids go wild for these on the 4th, and they double as the best pre-fireworks activity. Bring a big bag and be everyone’s favorite guest.

●      Patriotic pinwheels  They double as decorations and instant toys. Stick them in the yard, hand them to the kids, and watch the magic happen.

●      Temporary patriotic tattoos  Stars, flags, eagles — kids beg for these and they keep little ones entertained for a solid 20 minutes just applying them.

●      Bomb Pops or push-up pops  The Bomb Pop is basically a July 4th icon. Tuck them in your rattan cooler alongside the rosé and you’ve covered every generation at the party.

●      Old-fashioned candy in a mason jar  Think candy buttons, Fun Dip, Pixy Stix, and Pop Rocks. Tie with a ribbon and a little flag pick. It’s a centerpiece and a treat all in one. Can also be used as a prize for the trivia questions.

“The best guests are the ones who bring something that makes the host’s life easier and the party more memorable, and often, those two things are the same.”

Gianna’s Glimmer - No More Bad Conversation. Magic Questions and more.

Hi there,

I just got back from a family vacation in Napa, and one of the small things I packed ended up being one of the best things I packed: a deck of conversation cards for dinner every night.

One evening, our waiter noticed the deck on the table and asked what they were. I told him they're a great way to spark conversation, learn something new about the people you're with, and stretch your imagination at the same time, rather than defaulting to the same dinner-table small talk. Then we pulled a card and asked him the question: What movie would you never want to watch twice?

He lit up thinking about and then sharing his answer. And we felt like we got to know him a little bit better…as a human.

Gianna's Gem: The right question at the right moment can turn a transactional interaction into a memorable one. It costs nothing and takes ten seconds to ask. It creates engagement and inclusivity and a little spontaneous surprise and delight.

Priya Parker, author of The Art of Gathering, has a name for questions like this. She calls them "magical questions." Her definition: a question is magical when everyone in the group is interested in answering it, and everyone is curious to hear everyone else's answer. It's a simple equation, but it's the difference between a question that lands and one that falls flat.

The questions that don't work are the ones we default to on autopilot: How are the kids? How's work? Anything new? They're not bad questions, they're just tired. They invite a status update, not a story.

Magical questions do something different. They invite a story instead of an opinion, and in doing so, they let people show up as more than their job title or their role in the room.

A few of my favorites to keep in your back pocket:

• What is one thing you own that probably nobody else in this room owns?

• What's the first concert you ever went to, and who took you?

• What's a path you almost took but didn't?

• What topic could you give a 20-minute talk on with zero preparation?

Before your next dinner party, networking coffee, or kid's school pickup line conversation, bring one or two of these with you. The moment conversation starts to lag, that's your cue. I often throw a few in my purse and even use them if I’m out entertaining a few of my sons friends - they love it and we all end up with a few laughs as well. For dinner parties, you can also slip a couple under everyone’s plate and it creates a way for people to actively engage and ask questions that are prepared in advance and spark group conversation.

Gianna's Gem: You don't need to wait for conversation to get interesting on its own. You can simply bring the spark with you. 

But the magical question is not the only way to spark better conversation. Here are a few other gems I use regularly to keep conversation engaging and playful:

1. Co-create a scavenger hunt. If you're on a group trip, build a list together before you go (or on the first day together) and require photo proof along the way. In Napa, our family hunted for things like pink hair, a bride, a skateboard, a Ferrari, a grasshopper, a balloon, a hummingbird, etc. It kept everyone looking up and around instead of down at a phone, and it added just enough friendly competition to make people pay attention to the place they were actually in.

2. Pair the meal with an experience. Don't just plan a dinner. Plan a dinner after something: forest bathing, a wine tasting, a painting class, a friendly poker game. Conversation flows so much more easily when people have already shared an experience together. You're not starting from zero, you're picking up a thread that's already there.

3. Ask everyone to bring something to share that’s under $50. Fancy sun lotion or hand cream to share. A genuine compliment. A square of good dark chocolate. A bottle of wine. Even a joke or a compliment. It doesn't matter what it is, what matters is that everyone gets to give and receive. People leave feeling like they contributed to something, not just attended it.

Stack these all together, and your magical question isn't doing all the work alone at a quiet table. It's landing on a group that's already warmed up, present, and a little more generous with each other than when they arrived.

XX,

 Gianna 

What I'm Loving This Week: Good Humans Example 

A New Baby Care Package…But for the Neighbors, not the new parents

Our favorite next door neighbors just welcomed a newborn, and of course, we sent over goodies to welcome the baby. What I didn't expect was what came back: a basket from them, for us, with wine, earplugs, and under-eye patches, along with a note written "from the baby" apologizing in advance for any crying we might hear through the walls.

I was so delighted by the thoughtfulness, I haven't stopped talking about it. It flipped the script entirely. The new parents, who have every excuse to be depleted right now, took a moment to think about our experience too.

Everyone should be this thoughtful. Consider this your nudge: if a neighbor welcomes a baby, a little something for the people who'll be living next door to the new noise might be the most memorable gift you give all year.

Gianna’s Gems is a weekly exploration of ideas that transform the ordinary into the extraordinary. If you found this valuable, please share it with a fellow magic-maker, and subscribe for more inspiration delivered directly to your inbox.

For coaching or a quick consult, book a 1:1: intro.co/GiannaGaudini

Gianna’s Gem: I Went to Dinner at Wolfsbane. I Took Notes. Here's Why…

Hi there,

I’ve spent my career designing the kind of experiences that make people feel truly seen, surprised, and delighted. Corporate conferences, product launches, intimate executive dinners. I think about every touchpoint, every transition, every detail. So when I sat down recently at Wolfsbane, the stunning new tasting menu restaurant in San Francisco’s Dogpatch neighborhood, I didn’t just eat dinner. I took notes for you.

What I experienced was fresh, deeply thoughtful, and unmistakably intentional…A nine-course journey that drew parallel after parallel to how I craft experiences for events. Wolfsbane is, without question, a masterclass in creating a memorable experience that surprises and delights at every turn - is elevated yet approachable, and an experience I’d unequivocally recommend to anyone.

And…the best part is, if you want to bring the magic of this fine dining brick and mortar experience to your events, they have a catering company, Foxtail Catering, which was actually where I first met Chef Tommy and experienced the cuisine while at an AI Leader’s Dinner I blogged about (and raved about) back in March. This is a

The Dream Team Behind the Magic

Wolfsbane is the creation of three culinary forces: Tommy Halvorson, a Kentucky-born chef, catering veteran, and the owner of Foxtail Catering & Events, teamed up with Michelin-starred chef Rupert Blease and his wife and general manager Carrie Blease, the beloved couple behind Lord Stanley, which earned a Michelin star and ran for a decade in San Francisco before closing in May 2025. Together, they transformed the former Serpentine space at 2495 Third Street into one of the city’s most anticipated fine dining destinations.

Rupert and Carrie met at Raymond Blanc’s legendary Michelin two-starred Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons in England, worked through New York kitchens including Per Se and Blue Hill, and made San Francisco their home and life’s work. Wolfsbane, named for the folkloric plant said to help werewolves hold onto their humanity, is their second act. And it is extraordinary.

The experience was part Michelin-star fine dining, part whimsical adventure; a beautifully decorated room hung with flowers, elevated service, and playful, approachable touches that make the room feel alive rather than stuffy.

Gianna’s Gem: Great hospitality, whether it’s a tasting menu or a corporate conference, is never accidental. It’s obsessively, lovingly designed. And when it works, people don’t just remember what they ate or what they heard. They remember how they felt.

What We Can Learn From Wolfsbane

Here’s how Wolfsbane’s experience maps directly to the principles I apply to every event I design:

1. Personalization: The Details That Say “We See You”

At the best events, guests never feel like one of thousands. They feel like the only one in the room. Wolfsbane achieves this with effortless grace:

•       Guests choose their own chopstick holder at the start of a fish course - each “chopstick animal” playfully named by the staff to add an extra element of fun.

•       Pick your steak knife color: a tiny choice that feels surprisingly personal.

•       For guests with dietary restrictions, the adaptation is seamless and invisible. My gluten and dairy-free menu never made me feel like an afterthought.  My dessert was a perfect truffle, exactly what I would have wanted. I didn’t feel like I was missing out. I felt considered and perfectly satisfied, not deprived.

•       A thoughtfully curated mocktail menu for non-drinkers, because inclusion is an experience design decision.

•       For guests who want the Wolfsbane magic without the full prix-fixe commitment, a communal table offers à la carte dining. There’s a format for everyone.

2. Presentation: Surprising, Delightful, and Deeply Creative

In events, we talk constantly about “surprise and delight.” Wolfsbane delivers it with every single course. These are the moments that made me lean over and grab my phone to take notes:

•       A carved-out onion arrived filled with scallop, onion “soup,” and fried onions. It tasted like the pure, concentrated essence of onion, surprising in execution and deeply delicious.

•       At the first course, sunflowers were presented, and the base of each flower was an artichoke heart filled with sunbutter and poppy seeds. Beauty and function, united.

•       For dessert: a chocolate and banana creation that looked, and smelled, exactly like a cigar. They actually have a room in the back where cigar smoke is blown onto the dessert. It’s theater. It’s genius and evokes all the senses.

•       A whole leg of squab, including the feet, was presented tableside. What could have been off-putting became memorable (and the drumstick was one of the best bites of the night!). Alongside it: a piece of bread soaked in the jus, a nod to the Italian “scarpetta” tradition of mopping up sauces at family meals. Story told through food.

•       A single oversized ice cube, the size of a stick of butter, in my water glass. A tiny detail that somehow felt extraordinarily considered.

3. Ambiance: Every Sense Is an Opportunity

•       The main dining room and the bathroom play different music. Different soundscapes for different moments, a detail so few bother with and so easy to implement.

•       Whimsical flowers hang from the ceiling throughout, creating a sense of wonder and warmth that draws you into another world.

•       The room is clean and elevated without being stuffy. Fine dining without the formality barrier, approachable enough that guests can relax, polished enough that they feel special. There is no other dining room like it.

4. The Full Journey: From Welcome to Send-Off

In event design, I always say: the experience doesn’t end when the last session ends. The closing moment is the one people carry home. Wolfsbane understands this better than almost any event I’ve attended:

•       Guests are welcomed by name at the door, and that genuine warmth carries through the evening with thoughtful servers and the owners themselves circulating, checking in, and making real conversation.

•       As you leave, you’re handed a gorgeous branded artisanal wood box filled with a freshly baked loaf of bread and preserves. The last impression is one of abundance and generosity. You don’t just leave full, you leave with a gift, and a story to share over their homemade bread for breakfast the next day.

5. Quality: The Foundation Everything Else Rests On

Here’s what I say to every client: surprise and delight can’t save a bad product. At Wolfsbane, the substance matched every ounce of the theater:

•       Every single dish was a home run: well-seasoned, balanced, seasonal, and genuinely unique. Nothing felt dated or gimmicky.

•       The portions were substantial enough to be filling (almost unheard of at a tasting menu) and I actually had to share bites with my husband. That’s saying something.

•       Service was seamless throughout, water always refilled, the table always tended, attention always present without being intrusive.

•       Every element of the table setting, the ceramics, the silverware, the glassware, was gorgeous. No detail too small to care about. Every course different and intriguing.

Gianna’s Gem Action Step: Map your next event (or dinner party, or meeting) as a guest journey: arrival through departure. At every single touchpoint, ask: “How can I make this person feel more seen, more surprised and delighted, or more memorable?” Then make one change you haven’t made before.

Wolfsbane is currently one of the hardest reservations in San Francisco, and worth every effort to secure one. It is not just a meal. It is a reminder of what’s possible when a team of deeply talented, deeply caring people decide that ordinary is never enough.

That’s the bar. For them. For us. If you live in San Francisco, or have a chance to visit, this is a can’t miss experience - you have my word.

What I’m Loving This Week

Wolfsbane: 2495 Third Street, San Francisco (Dogpatch). The nine-course tasting menu rooted in Northern California’s seasonal bounty. Book it. Reserve the communal table if the main dining room is sold out. Check out the private dining room as well for groups up to 10.

Foxtail Catering & Events Here's a pro tip that goes beyond the dinner table: Chef Tommy Halvorson's catering company, Foxtail, is a masterclass in smart business strategy. While Wolfsbane delivers the full fine dining experience to a lucky few each evening, Foxtail brings that same culinary philosophy, thoughtfully sourced, seasonal, technically advanced, to the masses, servicing weekly SF corporate clients, private events, and weddings with the same commitment to restaurant-quality food and flawless execution.

The model is genuinely clever, and one every event and hospitality business should study: the Michelin-pedigreed tasting menu builds the brand and the buzz; the catering company scales the reach and the revenue. If you want an intro, let me know and I’m happy to personally connect you to the dream team here.

Final thought: Ask yourself… where is the premium version of your service, and where is the scalable one? The two can coexist beautifully, and Foxtail + Wolfsbane is proof. If you're in the Bay Area and need a catering partner who refuses to believe event food should ever be an afterthought, the Foxtail team is your call.

Gianna’s Gems is a weekly exploration of ideas that transform the ordinary into the extraordinary. If you found this valuable, please share it with a fellow magic-maker, and subscribe for more inspiration delivered directly to your inbox.

For coaching or a quick consult, book a 1:1: intro.co/GiannaGaudini

Gianna's Gem: Champagne Wishes, Bud Light Budget? I got you covered.

hi there,

I’m launching my annual summer AMA - send me your burning questions about events, strategy, leadership, wellness, and everything in between. Drop me an email and I’ll be answering one each month over the summer in an abbreviated version of Gianna’s Gems. (I’m calling these shorter form Gems “Gianna’s Glimmers”).

This Week’s AMA asked by a good friend who runs content strategy for some of the top brands in the world.

“How do you approach situations where your boss or client wants champagne on a beer budget?How do you frame it, and what do you say to keep the peace but still set reasonable boundaries and expectations?”

I love this one, and yes, I have many examples. Let me introduce you to the phrase my father, a former CTO and engineering leader, passed down to me early in my career. It has saved my sanity more times than I can count and Executives respond to it well because it’s logical, simple and reasonable.

I’ve been spending a lot of time lately with founders, product marketers, and recently attended the 2024 Engineering Leadership Conference. All of it has me coming back to this idea again and again, so this week’s Glimmer is all about trade-offs and stakeholder management for event planning.

“Cost, Schedule, Features. Pick Two.”

This concept is well-known in project management and product development (my husband’s profession). It’s called the Project Management Triad or the Triple Constraint. Here’s how I translate it for events:

• Cost: The budget and resources allocated to the event.

• Schedule: The timeline and date for planning and execution.

• Features: All the bells and whistles, i.e. gifting, sessions, demos, you name it.

The theory is simple: you can optimize for two of these factors, but doing so will always affect the third. Instead of saying “no” (which rarely lands well), I walk clients through the trade-offs. Most stakeholders understand that cheap + fast + fully-featured isn’t realistic… they just need someone to show them why.

The Three Scenarios

Scenario 1: Prioritize Cost and Schedule

Keep the budget and the timeline. Something has to give; fewer attendees, fewer keynotes, no live stream, a simpler app. The event still happens; it’s just leaner.

Impact: Features take the hit.

Scenario 2: Prioritize Schedule and Features

Full feature set, same timeline… budget climbs. Rush fees, premium vendor rates, and more labor all add up. I use this one constantly: when clients keep adding requests, I say “yes, and here’s what it costs.” That usually does the trick.

Impact: Budget takes the hit.

Scenario 3: Prioritize Cost and Features

Full bells and whistles at your set budget… but the planning window stretches. Early-bird venue discounts, more time to negotiate with vendors, no rush premiums. Think: planning a wedding on a Wednesday instead of a prime Saturday.

Impact: Timeline takes the hit.

This framework doesn’t just help you push back — it gives your client or boss a concrete choice. They’re not being told “no.” They’re being empowered to decide what matters most.

Pretty simple, right?

Cost, Schedule, Features - Pick Two.

Happy prioritizing! 

XX,

Gianna 💎

What I’m Loving This Week - Dejama Bird Boxes

I first experienced this delightful item in my mom’s bathroom! An interior designer with impeccable taste and a sharp eye (and ear) for details, she used this simple little device to create a moment of pure surprise and delight.

The Dejama Bird Box creates birdsong when someone passes by.  Think: entering a bathroom, a hallway, or a quiet corner of an event space. It’s motion-activated, under $50, and requires zero effort to install.

For event planners and hosts, this is the kind of low-cost, high-impact detail that guests remember. It doesn’t shout for attention, it surprises you when you least expect it. That’s the magic of a well-placed sensory detail.

The Gem: You don’t need a big budget to create a moment. Sometimes a $50 bird box in a bathroom does more for your guests’ experience than a $500 centerpiece.A great room is a decision, not an accident.

Gianna's Gem: Sexy Property Spotlight Mauna Lani, Auberge Collection, Hawaii

I've spent a lot of time in Hawaii over the years…Few properties have captured my heart the way Mauna Lani, Auberge Collection has. This isn't just a resort…it's a completely immersive Hawaiian experience wrapped in a freshly renovated, strikingly beautiful package that somehow manages to feel both genuinely luxurious and deeply welcoming and authentic…it’s a property that takes luxury and quality a step further by constantly innovating while maintaining a sense of place and history that priceless. Whether you're planning a multi-generational family vacation, a corporate retreat, or a milestone celebration, Mauna Lani delivers on every level, and even surprises you with moments of delight you didn't even know to ask for.

And I'll be honest: the moment I arrived, my event planner brain lit up like the Big Island sky at sunset. I am already dreaming about bringing a group here… and I want you to be first in line.

Why This Property is a Standout: It Thought of Everything

Let me start with the design, because it sets the tone for everything that follows. The renovation at Mauna Lani is chef's kiss. The aesthetic is clean, airy, and unfussy elegance with an abundance of high quality natural textures, warm neutrals, and open-air architecture that lets the volcanic landscape and Pacific coast views shine. It doesn't try too hard. It doesn't need to. 

Walking through this property, you immediately feel the care that went into making every corner feel intentional. This is the kind of design that photographs beautifully but more importantly, lives beautifully. You can exhale the moment you arrive. It’s luxury that families can enjoy without worry.

And the rooms and spaces themselves? Thoughtfully laid out making use of every square inch, modern without being cold, with a clean, edited sensibility that signals genuine quality. Nothing feels dated, nothing feels spliced together. It's the kind of renovation that makes you think: they actually talked to guests before they designed this.

The Full Hawaii Experience…Without Ever Leaving the Property

Here's what I find most remarkable about Mauna Lani: you could genuinely spend your entire trip on property (I did!) and leave feeling like you had an authentic, complete Hawaiian experience with new discoveries and surprises to be found each day. That's extremely rare. Most resorts ask you to choose between luxury and immersion. Mauna Lani refuses to make you choose.

The crown jewel? The ancient Hawaiian fishponds that sit at the heart of the resort. These are genuine, historically significant loko iʻa (fishponds) that have been part of this land for centuries. Watching the tropical fish glide through crystal-clear water with the open ocean as your backdrop is one of those moments that quietly takes your breath away. Every morning on my daily run I observed something unique - from jumping fish to eels, it never got old and offered an adventure just minutes away from where I woke up.

The Ancient Fishponds & Lava Tubes: Living History You Can Actually Touch

This is what separates Mauna Lani from every other luxury resort in Hawaii, and honestly, from most resorts anywhere in the world. Steps from the beach, the resort is home to the Kalāhuipuaʻa Historical Park, a 27-acre sacred preserve encompassing seven ancient Hawaiian fishponds, collapsed lava tubes, and petroglyphs that date back as far as 250 A.D. This is not a display. This is the real thing, and it is breathtaking.

The seven fishponds span over 15 combined acres and reaching depths of nearly 20 feet, once the prized property of Kamehameha the Great himself. The ponds are fed by a remarkable combination of natural freshwater springs and ocean tidal action, creating a brackish environment that ancient Hawaiians engineered with astonishing ingenuity. Walking alongside them, watching mullet leap and shimmer in the emerald water beneath swaying palms, you feel the weight of centuries in the best possible way.

The lava tubes woven throughout the park add another layer of wonder entirely. These ancient underground tunnels were formed when the outer surface of a lava flow cooled and hardened while molten rock continued flowing beneath, eventually draining away and leaving hollow pipelines behind. Ancient Hawaiians discovered that these tubes made extraordinary shelters: cooler, drier, and more protected from the wind and rain than any surface structure. 

And then there's the insider secret that my contact at the resort tipped me off to, and which became one of the unexpected highlights of the trip for my son and me: the "fish pedicure" pool. Tucked along the trail, there is a spring-fed pool where tiny fish have become so accustomed to visitors that they will happily nibble the dead skin from the soles of your feet. My son and I dangled our feet in and dissolved into laughter… it is the most delightful, ticklish, completely bizarre and wonderful sensation, and watching a kid experience it for the first time is pure joy. It's the kind of tip that doesn't make it into any brochure, which is exactly what makes it special. 

Beyond the priceless fishponds, the water activities program and beach are exceptional. Snorkeling right off the property gives you direct access to the extraordinary marine life that makes the Big Island coast so special. Paddleboarding on calm waters with lava fields and mountains in the background is a postcard that can't be staged. A highlight for us was the sunrise canoe which featured traditional Hawaiian outriggers and guides setting sail with a small group right as the morning sun rises over the glassy water. 

I’m not exaggerating when I say the canoe ride was magnificent and even spiritual. Paddling out on the open water in the golden early morning light, Hawaiian guides sounding the conch, invited us to meditate as we paddled in a kind of reverence to the land and water, with the Big Island coastline still, quiet, and glowing around us, was one of those profound, rare moments where you think: this is exactly what travel is for. The kind of experience that a kid talks about for years (my son will). The fact that Mauna Lani offers it as a "surprise and delight" experience says everything about how this property thinks about its guests while highlighting the local culture.

Built for Families, In The Right Way

I say "the right way" because families know there's a meaningful difference between a resort that tolerates kids, caters to kids and one that was actually designed with kids AND their parents in mind. Mauna Lani is firmly in the latter category, and it shows.

Every day brings structured, genuinely fun activities and experiences for kids that connect them to Hawaiian culture in memorable ways. Coconut shucking? Absolutely. Kids go home with a skill and a story. S'mores making at sunset while star gazing with a local Hawaiian guide? The kind of memory that lasts longer than any souvenir. These aren't afterthoughts; they're curated programming that makes children feel seen and included, educate about the place and culture, and are engaging for kids and parents alike…which, as any parent knows, is what makes a family trip actually feel like a vacation for everyone.

The Brand New Francis Brown Club: A Giant Living Room in the Sky

Here's something I can say I genuinely stumbled into, and it turned out to be one of the highlights of the trip: we arrived on March 28th, the exact day the brand new Francis Brown Club opened its doors. Talk about timing.

The concept is brilliant, and I'm surprised more luxury resorts haven't cracked this code. Mauna Lani took a prime space on the Lobby Level, one that previously housed private events and meetings but was chronically underutilized, and transformed it into an elevated Club experience for guests who want to opt into a next-level stay. For a per-trip fee, Club access unlocks a genuinely impressive suite of perks: a complimentary and amazing morning buffet, evening happy hour, all-day snacks (including an ice cream station, raw bar, healthy bites, and — yes — a candy bar), a complimentary tennis/golf lesson, reserved beach seating, and use of a house Mercedes. It's the kind of upgrade that actually upgrades your trip, not just your room category.

But what made it land for our family wasn't any single amenity, it was the feeling of the space. The Club overlooks the beach and resort, and it's been designed to feel like like a hotel lounge and more like an extraordinarily beautiful giant living room. We were welcomed there for check-in rather than waiting at the front desk, greeted with champagne and the most incredible freshly baked chocolate chip cookies (the whole place smelled like someone's dream kitchen) and given a personal tour before we'd even seen our room. It set the tone for the entire stay.

The game room and terrace became our family's unofficial home base. My son and I played poker out on the terrace with a glass of their exceptional wine in hand, looking out over the resort… and I thought: this is the kind of moment that doesn't happen by accident. It happens because someone designed a space intentionally to encourage guests to slow down, connect, and actually talk to each other. The Club functions as a social hub in the best possible way, sparking the kind of easy, warm conversations between guests that you'd normally only get at a great dinner party. Smart hospitality, beautifully executed, and on opening day, no less.

Two Exceptional Restaurants That Were 10/10

Mauna Lani's dining scene is genuinely excellent, not "good for a hotel" excellent, but excellent excellent to the point that we booked one of them for two nights just to be able to taste everything on the menu.

CanoeHouse

This is the resort's iconic oceanfront restaurant, and one of the most storied dining destinations in all of Hawaii. Perched on a private half-acre lawn at the ocean's edge, CanoeHouse celebrates Hawaii's connection to land and sea with Japanese-inspired fusion cuisine helmed by a truly exceptional culinary team. The sunset views are legendary, the seasonal menu is thoughtful and locally sourced, with delightfully executed dishes that are part theater, packed with flavor… and the fire pits on the lawn for sunset cocktails are the perfect touch. This is one of those restaurants you talk about long after you leave and could genuinely eat at every night. Fun Fact: Executive Chef, Rhoda Magbitang, is currently featured on this season of Top Chef!

HāLani

Overlooking the resort pool, HāLani brings a coastal Mediterranean sensibility to the heart of the Big Island and it works beautifully for families who want to be able to let their kids run around on the lawn while enjoying approachable but high quality dining. It's the kind of restaurant that's perfect for a family dinner or a long, leisurely evening with friends: warm, lively, with shareable From the wood fired pizza and pitas to the charcoal grilled fish, veggies, and meats, the dishes are fresh, seasonal, and craveable with unparalleled service to boot. 

The Surf Shack

And then there's the Surf Shack, a casual, toes-in-the-sand counterpart that completes the picture. Located at the Mauna Lani Beach Club right on the water, this is where you land after a morning of snorkeling or a surf lesson or for happy hour with friends: sun-kissed, hungry, and not remotely interested in changing out of your swimsuit. Fish tacos, fresh beachside bites, cold drinks, live music as the afternoon winds down…it's exactly what a beach shack should be, done with the quality and care that defines everything else on this property. Don't make the mistake of dismissing it as just a grab-and-go. It's a genuinely fun, delicious spot that the whole family will want to return to every single day. 

Event Spaces That Just Work

As an event planner, I can't walk a property without mentally staging it…the Mauna Lani was made for events, and the variety and quality of spaces available is genuinely exceptional.

The outdoor venues alone could anchor an entire event program. Kilohana Beach offers a toes-in-the-sand beachfront setting right alongside CanoeHouse; there is no more dramatic backdrop in Hawaii for a dinner, reception, or ceremony. The Hoku Lawn and Papakōnane Sunset Lawn deliver sweeping oceanfront settings ideal for cocktail receptions and seated dinners under the stars, while the Milo Tree Lawn brings an intimate, almost spiritual quality perfect for ceremonies and smaller gatherings. For larger productions, the Hale Hoaloha Pavilion is a fully air-conditioned, dynamic indoor space that can handle anything from black tie galas to large-scale corporate presentations, and crucially, it serves as a beautiful weather backup so your event never gets held hostage by the elements.

Wellness Done Right: Spa, Fitness Center, and Courts

The Auberge Spa is a sanctuary - beautifully appointed, with a service menu rooted in authentic Hawaiian healing traditions and locally sourced botanicals. Signature treatments like the Lomi Lomi massage and exclusive goop Glow Facial bring real intention to every session.

And if the spa boutique tempts you (it will), Mauna Lani is home to Hawaii's only Goop store, Gwyneth Paltrow's beloved clean beauty and wellness brand, curated right on property. Whether you're stocking up on skincare, picking up a gift, or just browsing beautiful things after your treatment, it's the perfect cherry on top of an already exceptional spa experience.

The Fitness Center is high-quality ad seriously well-equipped with Peloton bikes, rowing machines, HIIT Mills, and an open-air terrace where you can train with the sea breeze naturally reviving you. And, the resort also has a separate Mauna Lani Sports Club facility right next to the tennis courts, just minutes away, meaning you never fight for equipment. Pick your adventure, or enjoy the running paths along the fish ponds and through the lava tubes (my personal favorite way to start the day).

Tennis courts (and pickleball!) round out an offering that covers every guest who wants to stay active. Whether you're a dedicated athlete or someone who likes the option to move their body, the infrastructure here has you genuinely covered.

The Bottom Line

Mauna Lani perfection is what happens when a world-class resort operator takes a spectacular piece of land, renovates it with genuine taste, honors the land/traditions, and then programs it with the intelligence and generosity of a team that genuinely loves Hawaii and wants guests to fall deeply in love with it too. The luxury here is real but never precious. The activities are plentiful but never chaotic. The vibe is elevated but never exclusive in a way that makes anyone feel unwelcome.

Would I return? Already planning it. Maybe annually.

Would I recommend it for your next family trip, corporate program, or milestone event? Without a single hesitation.

So here's my question for you: who wants to be the first to plan an event with me at Mauna Lani, Auberge Collection? Whether it's a corporate incentive trip, a milestone birthday, a wedding, or a family reunion that people will talk about for the rest of their lives… I want to make it happen here. I have the relationships, I know the property, and frankly, I cannot think of a more magnificent canvas. Reach out directly at gianna@gaudini.com and let's make something extraordinary together.

Gianna’s Gem Rating: An emphatic 11/10 (first yet!)

For more information about Mauna Lani, Auberge Collection Hawaii and to be put in touch with their team, contact me for a direct intro.

Gianna's Gem: The Human Formula in an AI-Focused World

Hi there,

There's a quiet revolution happening in events right now.

After years of chasing scale… bigger stages, flashier production, broader reach… something has shifted. The most coveted invitations now aren't to the largest rooms. They're to the smallest ones. And the experiences leaving the deepest impressions aren't the ones with the most impressive production budgets. They're the ones that make you feel most seen, and the ones that make you feel human.

I experienced this firsthand this past week when I was invited to an intimate dinner for marketing leaders at Jack's, an exclusive cultural salon and private venue in San Francisco, recently restored to its original grandeur after a storied history that includes hosting the luminaries who planned the World's Fair. The chef hailed from a Michelin-starred kitchen. The conversation ranged from AI to miscarriage to death doulas. I dreamt about the brodo served as the first course.

And I left thinking: this is what events should feel like.

So what made it work? There's actually a formula… and it's replicable. Here’s how I’d break it down if I was to give a recipe for how to create the most human and authentic dinner that will provide not only catharsis but metamorphosis for attendees who will leave more sated than from any 5 star dining experience.

The Human Formula for Unforgettable Events

1. Curation Over Scale

The guest list was small and intentional. But what elevated it further was that guests weren't just sorted… they were named. Tables carried identities: Builders, Visionaries, Connectors, etc. I was seated at the Builders table alongside six others who had built brands, published books, launched companies. The commonality wasn't just professional, it was dispositional. We already had something to talk about before we sat down.

Even more telling: the organizers had asked guests to nominate others to attend this and future events. That single move is worth noting. Asking your target audience who else belongs in the room is how communities actually grow. It signals trust, activates ownership, and ensures the room keeps getting better. More hosts should do this.

2. Priming Before You Walk In the Door

The experience began well before arrival. A custom website and a thoughtful "know before you go" email set the stage by including the evening’s agenda, parking tips, dress code energy, and yes, a heads-up that phones would be collected in green satin bags upon arrival.

That last detail is worth dwelling on. By naming it in advance, the organizers transformed what might have felt like a jarring ask into an anticipated and appreciated ritual. Guests arrived ready to be present. There was no resistance, no awkward moment, just a graceful collective exhale and the rare feeling of a room fully, genuinely present.

Priming isn't just logistics. It's consent. It's trust-building. It tells your guests: we've thought about you.

3. Exclusivity With a Soul

"Venues hold stories in their walls." That's how the host described Jack's, and it's one of the most astute observations I've heard about why historic venues are having such a moment right now.

We are collectively exhausted by the new and the sterile. Glass-and-steel conference centers optimized for AV load-in cannot compete with a room where you can feel the decades. Authenticity has become the ultimate luxury, and historic venues deliver it structurally, before a single word is spoken. It’s one of the reasons I selected the historic Alamo Drafthouse to host an exclusive Mission Impossible premiere with A list talent last year over a Metreon with reclining seats. 

The same logic applied to the talent in the room. The chef wasn't just a culinary credential, he was a storyteller, a guest speaker, a presence. The venue owner spoke. He sipped wine between questions. He spoke from the heart. An author joined the conversation and similarly spoke from a place of vulnerability that invited guests to subsequently do the same. These weren't last minute add-ons. They were part of the texture of the evening, a layering akin to a complex broth (or brodo?), or elegantly woven tapestry.

4. A Format That Earns the Conversation

Here's where the design truly sang.

Rather than a panel-during-dinner setup (which splits attention and serves neither well), the evening opened with something I'd call a "witnessed conversation." The venue owner, the chef, and the author sat together at a single table facing the rest of us… drinking wine, talking freely, answering questions from an extraordinarily skilled host, while the rest of us leaned in and listened. No slides. No stage. Just three people being genuinely interesting in front of an audience that was given permission to simply receive. The host called it “eavesdropping” on a conversation, which, in this simple lexicon, hinted at exclusivity and intimacy.

The panel was a container for an authentic and vulnerable discussion. My favorite quote was “If you want to predict the future, build it.” My favorite shared term was “protopean”.

Wine was poured, bread served, brodo distributed in small pitchers beside our first course.

Then: two envelopes per table, each containing a discussion prompt tailored to that table's theme. What followed was a Jeffersonian-style dinner (my favorite format as it featured one conversation, no side chatter, no interruptions) and it produced the kind of depth that most hour-long panels never touch.

By the time we were trading perspectives on how humanity survives in an AI-saturated professional world, and how humans find purpose, we'd already metabolized the scene-setting conversation, broken bread, and established enough trust at our tables to say something real.

The phones stayed in the bags. The green pens and journals got used. The gifted tea and book felt like a warm hug goodnight, not a swag bag.

Why This Matters Right Now

We're living in a moment of profound disconnection dressed up as constant connection. We are always reachable and rarely reached. AI is accelerating output while people quietly hunger for exchanges that feel unmistakably, irreducibly human.

The events that will matter going forward, the ones people will actually show up for, remember, and evangelize, are the ones that understand this. They won't try to be bigger. They'll try to be truer.

The formula isn't complicated. Curate with intention. Prime with care. Choose spaces with soul. And design a format that earns the conversation you actually want to have.

A brodo that blows your mind doesn't hurt either.

XX,

Gianna

Gianna's Gem is a recurring column sharing observations, frameworks, and field notes from the world of events, marketing, and human connection.

Gianna Gaudini is an event strategist, advisor, and author of the Amazon bestselling book "The Art of Event Planning." She's held leadership roles at Google, AWS, SoftBank Vision Fund, and Airtable, creating unforgettable experiences that drive business results. For more insights on creating exceptional events, visit GiannaGaudini.com or connect with her on LinkedIn.

Want to work with Gianna or take her Event Planning Masterclass? Visit giannagaudini.com/learn-from-me

Gianna's Gem: No More Group Trip Drama — How to Plan a Stress-Free Spring Break

Hi there,

Last week I joined FOX 4's Good Day live to talk about planning group trips with out the stress, especially over spring break…my SMOOTH framework, what's trending, and the number one mistake people make when booking. (Spoiler: it's not reading the fine print. More on that in a sec.)

But here's what struck me while prepping for the segment: we spend weeks fantasizing about the destination and approximately 30 seconds thinking about the experience once we get there. We book the flights, lock in the hotel, and then show up and… wing it.

Sound familiar?

Whether you're planning a family trip to Hilo, a girls' trip to Key West, or a group getaway literally anywhere, the difference between a trip you'll talk about for years and one you'll spend recovering from comes down to one thing: intentionality before you go.

Gianna's Gem: A great trip, like a great event, doesn't happen by accident. It happens because someone asked "why" before they hit confirm.

Here's what I shared on air, and what I wish more people knew before they packed their bags…

***

Let me paint you a picture.

You've been planning this spring break trip (or insert 40th, 50th birthday, bachelorette, baby shower, wedding, etc) for months. The group chat is buzzing. Everyone's excited. You found a great hotel, locked in flights, and somehow managed to get eight adults to agree on the same week off. Miracle achieved.

And then the trip ends.

And you spend the next three weeks texting the same two people "Hey, just following up on that Venmo 😅" while silently stewing over the friend who paid you $100 short and never mentioned it, the one who bailed on the activity everyone else already paid for, and the dinner where someone ordered the Wagyu and Caviar and a bottle of Barolo and then suggested "let's just split it evenly."

Sound familiar?

Here's what I've learned after 23+ years planning events for Google, AWS, SoftBank, and Airtable (and after navigating more than a few chaotic group trips as a regular human with actual friends); the number one reason group trips go sideways has nothing to do with the destination, the rental, or even the weather.

It's the “let’s get on the same page” conversation nobody wanted to have before everyone left.

The good news? It doesn't have to be awkward. It doesn't have to be complicated. And it absolutely does not have to end in a Venmo chase that quietly strains a friendship for six months.

Today I'm sharing my SMOOTH trip acronym aka the six-step framework I use to plan group trips that are genuinely stress-free, financially clean, and actually fun from start to finish. These same rules work great for any other type of social event, so apply generously.

Gianna's Gem: The secret to splitting costs and planning an itinerary without awkwardness isn't finding the right app. It's having the right conversation before anyone books anything.

Why Group Trips Go Wrong (It's Not What You Think)

Most people assume group trip drama comes from personality clashes, i.e. the friend who's always late, the one who wants to do everything, the one who wants to do nothing. And yes, those tensions are real.

But in my experience, the real culprit is almost always unspoken assumptions about money and group activities.

One person assumes the trip is a "budget trip." Another secretly planned to splurge. One person wants a group activity every day. Another came specifically to decompress and do nothing. Nobody said any of this out loud before booking, so everyone arrived with different expectations and nobody had a framework for resolving them.

The fix isn't finding more patient friends. It's creating structure upfront that makes expectations visible, financial commitments clear, and the whole experience more enjoyable for everyone, including you, the person who probably did most of the planning.

Here's how to do it: The SMOOTH Framework for Stress-Free Group Travel Plans

S — Survey First, Spend Later 

M — Menu Magic (Prix-Fixe Is Your Best Friend) 

O — One Group Activity, Max

O — Open Tabs for the Easy Stuff 

T — Tech Does the Heavy Lifting 

H — Handle It Upfront, Always

S: Survey First, Spend Later

Before a single reservation is made, send a quick Google Form to your group. I know it sounds overly formal for a friends trip, but I promise you: ten minutes of setup saves ten arguments later.

Ask three things:

1. What's your budget? Give a range so nobody feels put on the spot and for specifics like hotel, dinner, activities. ("Under $300/night per person," "$300–500," "Flexible for the right experience.") People will answer honestly when they're not being asked in front of the group.

2. What are your dietary restrictions and food preferences? Vegan? Gluten-free? Shellfish allergy? Pregnant? Kosher? "I don't do spicy"? Get this info now and ask for brutal honesty! Not when you're standing outside a restaurant at 7pm with a hungry, opinionated group and someone quietly mentions they can't eat half the menu.

3. Do you prefer group meals for every meal, or flexibility during the day?

My personal recommendation, built from years of planning experiences for everyone from Google executives to groups of close friends: have guests handle and pay for breakfast and lunch individually, and plan one group dinner per evening. 

This gives your early risers, late sleepers, solo adventurers, and spontaneous wanderers complete freedom during the day (most people have different needs for breakfast and lunch or don’t eat one or both, but virtually everyone eats dinner) and then everyone comes back together at night, which is honestly when the best stories surface anyway. The day belongs to the individual. The evening belongs to the group.

Once you have your survey responses, don't spend hours researching restaurants yourself. Drop your group size, dietary needs, budget, and destination into AI (ChatGPT or Claude both work beautifully for this) and ask the prompt: "What are the best group-friendly restaurants within X miles of [location], with prix-fixe or set menus, under $Y per person, that accommodate [dietary needs]?" You'll have a curated shortlist in minutes that would have taken you hours to compile on your own.

Gianna's Gem: The survey isn't just a logistics tool, it's an act of care. When people feel seen and considered before the trip starts, they show up with more generosity and far less grievance.

And here's something worth sitting with: the "picky friend" every group has (true story, I once had a guest at a corporate event share an entire Google doc with her specific dietary needs including which egg preparations were acceptable) is actually doing you a favor. They're forcing you to plan more intentionally. The picky friend isn't the problem. The last-minute conversation is.

When you ask in advance, everyone feels considered. When you find out at the table, someone feels like a burden. Same information, completely different energy.

M: Menu Magic: Prix-Fixe Is Your Best Friend

This is the single biggest cost-splitting strategy I use for group trips.

When you're booking your group dinners, always ask if the restaurant offers a group or prix-fixe menu. Many do, and if they don't advertise one, they'll often create a custom set menu if you call ahead and ask nicely. Restaurants love groups who come prepared. It makes their job easier, and you'll often get better service as a result..

A set menu at a fixed price per person eliminates the single greatest sources of group dinner tension: the bill and the time it takes to make decisions.

No more "wait, did you get an appetizer?" No more mental math at the table. No more that moment where one person suggests splitting evenly and another person who ordered a salad and a water visibly tenses up. Everyone knows the cost before they sit down, and it was already paid before they left home.

If you plan a group menu, my pro tip (which I use for corporate events as well) is to offer a communal menu with several mains and sides (i.e. a fish, vegetarian and meat option, two veggie sides and a sinful carb-heavy side) so that everyone can find at least one main and one side they can eat. Not only does this satisfy everyone’s needs, but communal menus feel much more social as they promote sharing and bonding as people pass the food from one to the other.

When you price out the set menu, build in one - two drinks per person per hour for however long you plan to dine. If it's wine, a good rule of thumb: one bottle equals one glass each for four guests. Bake that into the per-person price upfront so the bar tab never becomes a surprise.

My favorite tip: Leave dessert deliberately off the set menu. Not everyone wants it, it's easy and inexpensive to pay for individually, and it gives your group an organic reason to wander somewhere for after-dinner drinks or gelato, which is spontaneous, delightful, and pays for itself. Some of the best moments of any group trip happen in that unplanned hour after dinner when nobody has anywhere to be.

Gianna's Gem: When everyone knows the cost before they sit down, and it's already paid, dinner becomes a communal gathering for breaking bread instead of a transaction that leave a bad taste in your mouth.

As an example, Will Guidara recognized how painful it was for Eleven Madison Park’s dinner guests to receive the bill after a wonderful Michelin star dinner, so he eased the pain by leaving a bottle of very high end whiskey on the table with the bill and telling guests they could drink as much as they wanted and take their time with the bill. Similarly, you could ask guests for a “buffer/slush fund” in case there are any extra expenses, but then after the trip “refund people” for anything unspent. How nice to come home from a trip and get money back?

O: One Group Activity, Max

This one might be the most counterintuitive piece of advice I give, but it's the one that makes the biggest difference.

Stop trying to plan seven group activities. I know it feels like more planning equals more fun. It doesn't. It equals more logistics, more money conversations, more opportunities for someone to drop out of something everyone already paid for, and more resentment when the itinerary leaves no room to breathe.

Here's the truth that I share with all of my clients, both for corporate and social events: people can really only remember a MAXIMUM THREE things from any event (including a trip). So if you're planning seven group activities, you're not creating seven memories you're creating one exhausted, slightly annoyed travel group. I remember a group trip to Hawaii once where our host thought he was being a star by booking activities non-stop every day, and all of us ended up revolting and insisting on just having a beach day, so less is more with groups.

My rule is if you’re going to plan in advance, pick one signature group activity. Make it special and memorable, i.e. a sunrise hot air balloon ride, a wine tasting with lunch pairing at a very special winery with a view, a chartered boat to a private beach. Something people will still be talking about in five years and would be hard to plan on their own in smaller groups. Then leave the rest of the time unscheduled. Let people sleep in, explore solo, find their own magic in smaller groups serendipitously.

They'll come back to group dinner that night with actual stories to tell instead of just surviving the itinerary together or getting over-scheduling fatigue.

And a bonus pro tip: I do this for events with multiple breakout sessions in the afternoon: Ask people at dinner to report back on one amazing “happy experience” they had that day to share with the group. This will allow others to live vicariously and potentially try out that activity on their own the next day, and also increase happiness in recalling the day’s events and adventures together over a shared meal.

This approach cuts the number of money conversations in half, honors the introverts and the spontaneous explorers in your group, and still delivers that one collective experience that bonds everyone for years.

Gianna's Gem: One extraordinary shared moment beats five mediocre scheduled ones every single time. Choose depth over density.

O: Open Tabs for the Easy Stuff

Not everything needs to be split with mathematical precision. In fact, trying to collect and divide every single expense is exactly where the Venmo chase begins.

Some things are simply easier, and more pleasant, when everyone just pays for themselves:

• Breakfast and lunch (handled individually, as discussed above)

• Souvenirs and shopping

• Spa treatments or personal experiences

• After-dinner drinks and dessert

• Any activities people opt into on their own

When people can self-select into what they spend, they feel respected, not managed. And you won't be sitting at the end of the trip trying to figure out who owes you $14 for the snack run.

The goal isn't to account for every dollar. It's to identify the expenses that benefit from upfront collective planning, and let everything else be free.

T: Tech Does the Heavy Lifting

You don't need to be your group's human calculator. Here's the toolkit that makes all of this effortless:

Google Forms for the pre-trip survey. Free, easy, and everyone already knows how to use it. Anonymous response options help people share honest budget preferences without awkwardness.

Chat GPT or Claude for restaurant and activity research. Feed in your group size, dietary needs, budget, and location and ask for recommendations. AI finds options in minutes that would take you hours to research, and it can factor in distance, budget, and cuisine preferences simultaneously.

Splitwise (not Venmo) for any shared expenses that do come up mid-trip. Venmo is great for one-off payments between two people. Splitwise is built for group dynamics: it tracks running balances over time, so nobody has to do math in real time and you can settle everything in one go at the end. That said, if you collect everything upfront the way I'm describing, you'll barely need it.

H: Handle It Upfront, Always

Here's the rule I live by, whether I'm planning a 30,000-person conference or a group of eight friends on a beach trip: collect money before the experience, never after.

Once people have had the fun and gone home, the enthusiasm evaporates. They're back at work, back in their routine, and that Venmo request is now a low-grade irritant rather than an enthusiastic contribution to something they're looking forward to.

Here's the script I use once a reservation is confirmed:

"Hey everyone! Dinner at [Restaurant] on Thursday is set. It's $[X] per person including one drink per hour. Please Venmo me by [date] to hold your spot."

That's it. No chasing. No awkwardness. People pay when they're excited and anticipating the trip, and the deadline creates gentle accountability without any confrontation.

Same principle for group activities: book it, confirm the price, send a message, collect before departure.

If someone doesn't pay by the deadline, you have the information you need to adjust the reservation before it costs anyone anything. Which is infinitely better than absorbing the cost yourself and quietly resenting it for months.

Gianna's Gem: Money collected before the trip is never awkward. Money chased after the trip is always awkward. Handle it upfront, every single time.

The Biggest Group Trip Mistake (And How to Avoid It)

I've planned and attended a lot of group trips. And the mistake I see most consistently across friend groups, family trips, corporate retreats, and everything in between is over-scheduling.

People assume that planning more equals more fun. More activities, more reservations, more structured time together. In reality, just like events planned with no “open space”, it equals more stress, more money conversations, more resentment when someone doesn't want to do the thing everyone else just paid for, and less of the spontaneous magic that makes travel memorable in the first place.

The irony is that the trips people remember most fondly are almost never the ones where every hour was accounted for. They're the ones where there was space to wander, to linger over coffee, to discover something unplanned, to actually talk to the people they came with.

Survey your group. Plan one signature activity. Fill in the group dinners. Then put the planning document away.  Trust that the best moments of the trip will happen in the spaces between the plans. They almost always do.

Do this and you'll spend spring break making memories and taking happy group photos, not chasing Venmos.

You've got this.

XX, Gianna

Gianna Gaudini is an event strategist, advisor, and author of the Amazon bestselling book "The Art of Event Planning." She's held leadership roles at Google, AWS, SoftBank Vision Fund, and Airtable, creating unforgettable experiences that drive business results. For more insights on creating exceptional events and experiences, visit GiannaGaudini.com or connect with her on LinkedIn or Instagram.

Want to work with Gianna and learn more frameworks for reating the gold standard in events and experiences? Visit giannagaudini.com/learn-from-me

Gianna's Gem: Steal This From My Son's Summer Camp

Hi there,

This one comes straight from my son's summer camp, (huge shout out to Cole and Kate Kelly at Camp Weequahic) and I mean that literally.

Last week, a book arrived in the mail addressed to my son. It was from Camp Weequahic, who had the brilliant idea to mail this self-published gem directly to campers so the magic of camp could come home with them. The book? Three Good Things, a simple practice built around a daily gratitude ritual called 3 Happies and an Appreciation.

I'll be honest: when I first read about it, I thought, cute idea for kids. But the more I sat with it…and the more I tried it at our own dinner table replacing our basic gratitude practice…the more I realized this wasn't just a camp tradition. It's one of the simplest, most human yet extremely powerful team-building and culture-setting tools I've encountered in 23+ years of creating high-performing teams and unforgettable experiences.

So this week, I'm borrowing this gem from Camp Weequahic and bringing it to you to scale this pearl of wisdom.

Gianna's Gem: The best rituals aren't complicated. They're consistent, specific, and designed to make people feel seen, heard, grateful and appreciated.

What Is "3 Happies and an Appreciation"?

It's a daily gratitude practice you can do in five minutes…be it at the dinner table, the start of a team meeting, on a walk, or even in a quick Slack channel.

Here's how it works:

(3) Happies (Three Good Things or if you want a more corporate tone, Three Wins):

Each person shares three positive moments from their day, no matter how small. The key is specificity. Don't just say "I had a good meeting." Say "I had a great call with Maria where we finally cracked the problem we'd been stuck on for two weeks, and I left feeling energized and confident again." Note what happened, why it happened, and how it made you feel. Variety is encouraged: a productive work win, a kind interaction, a quiet personal moment…all count.

(1) Appreciation:

Each person identifies one person to appreciate and expresses it out loud. Make it specific. Not "Thanks, team." But "I want to appreciate Jake for stepping in at 4 PM when the website had an issue…he handled it calmly and saved the day." Name the person. Name the action. Name why it mattered.

That's it. Five minutes. Every day.

Why It Works: The Science Behind the Practice

This isn't just feel-good fluff, this is neuroscience.

Our brains are wired with what's called a negativity bias. We're evolutionarily designed to notice, remember, and ruminate on problems and threats far more than on positive experiences. It kept our ancestors alive. But in modern life, it means we often end the day replaying what went wrong rather than what went right.

3 Happies and an Appreciation rewires that default setting.

When we actively search for and articulate positive moments, we train our brains to scan for them throughout the day. Over time, you start noticing the good as it's happening, not just in retrospect. Research from positive psychology (Martin Seligman's work on "Three Good Things" is foundational here) shows that this practice consistently reduces anxiety and depression, boosts overall wellbeing, and improves sleep quality after just one week of consistent practice.

It’s why at the end of each day, no matter how tired I am, I journal before bed starting with the prompt “what went well today”. Often, I’m fixated on the one thing I wish I’d done better, but as I start to find all the things that went well, I often fill up a full page and realize all the little wins that far surpass any trouble spots. As a bonus, it’s greatly improved my sleep since I don’t fixate on the one thing that didn’t go wrong and get everything out on paper before my head hits the pillow.

And the appreciation piece? It activates the social bonding systems in our brains, for both the giver and the receiver. When someone feels genuinely seen and appreciated, trust deepens. Relationships strengthen. People want to show up for each other. 

It’s why I make a practice of texting or emailing a person as soon as I get a feeling of appreciation for them during the day. Most people keep this to themselves, but I find that when I take one minute to share my appreciation, even with just a text message, it makes their day and also amplifies my own feelings of gratitude.

Gianna's Gem: When you end the day looking for what's good and who to thank, you start the next day already ahead.

How I Use It at Home

The first time I tried this at dinner with my family, I'll be transparent: there was resistance.

My son looked at me like I'd suggested we go around the table reciting poetry. But I held the space, modeled it first, and made mine specific and real. By the time we got to the appreciation, something shifted. He sat up straighter. He thought harder. He named his friend and told us exactly why that friend made his day better.

We've been doing it (mostly) ever since.

What I've noticed:

• Dinner conversation has become richer and more substantive.

• My son has started noticing and naming good things during the day ("Mom, this is going to be one of my happies tonight").

• The appreciation piece has made him more thoughtful about the people in his life and more likely to actually express thanks

• It takes the edge off hard days. Even when everything went sideways, finding three good things grounds you back in what's real and true.

• And here’s the kicker - much less complaining! It sure makes everything feel a lot easier with the negative muted.

This practice arrived in our house in a book mailed by a summer camp director. And it's become a ritual I genuinely look forward to.

How to Apply It to Your Team (Business Leader Version)

Here's what I want every event planner, team leader, and manager reading this to hear: this practice is one of the highest-leverage culture tools you're probably not using.

Think about how most team meetings begin. A status update. A slide deck. An agenda. Valuable, yes… But cold. People arrive distracted, carrying the weight of everything that happened before they walked through the door (or logged onto Zoom). We jump straight into problems and deliverables, never acknowledging the humans in the room.

3 Happies and an Appreciation changes that in five minutes.

Here's how I'd implement it on a team:

At the start of weekly all-hands or team meetings: Go around and have each person share one wine (not three to keep it moving in larger groups) and the team collectively nominates one group appreciation for someone who went above and beyond that week (MVP) - bonus points if they get an amazon gift card, or something else as a treat for their exceptional effort.

In smaller pod, offsites or squad meetings: Do the full version: three wins and a personal appreciation. This is where the real connection happens.

In one-on-ones: Ask your direct reports to share their three wins for the week first. You'll learn more about what energizes them, what they're proud of, and what relationships matter to them than any performance review will ever reveal.

In a team Slack or group chat: Create a weekly thread. Post your three wins every Friday. Watch what happens to team culture over 60 days.

The rules are the same whether you're at the dinner table or in a conference room: be specific, name the why, and make the appreciation land.

Gianna's Gem: Gratitude isn't soft. It's one of the most strategic things you can do for team retention, psychological safety, and performance.

What This Teaches Us About Event Design

I can't write a Gem without connecting it to what we do for a living in the events world, so here it is.

The reason 3 Happies and an Appreciation works so well is the same reason the best events work: it creates intentional space for people to feel seen, connected, and valued.

Most events end with "safe travels." Most meetings end with "any other business?" And most workdays end without anyone ever naming what went right or who made a difference.

When I plan events, I think about how to close them in a way that creates integration instead of disconnection. A moment of collective reflection. A shared appreciation. A prompt that helps people leave feeling like the time mattered.

This practice does that in miniature form…every single day.

What if your events ended with a version of this? What if your closing keynote invited the room to share one positive learning or connection or “aha” moment from the conference and one appreciation for someone they met? What if your team offsite ended not with logistics but with five minutes of people saying thank you to each other?

I promise you: that's what people would remember.

I once implemented a version of this practice at a SoftBank Vision Fund Women’s Event in San Francisco. At the closing keynote, women stood up and shared one learning from the breakout they attended in the afternoon and then shared one interesting fact about someone they met. It was an amazing way to scale the content and networking so that people learned a bit more about sessions they didn’t attend and people they hadn’t met yet.

Your Action Plan

Try it tonight. Seriously, waiting is just procrastinating on a future goal (to quote James Clear).

At dinner, or before bed, or via text with someone you love or work with. Share three specific things from your day that were good, and one genuine appreciation for someone who showed up for you.

Do it for a week. Notice what changes.

Then bring it to your team. Start small: one meeting, one appreciation callout, one thread. Build the habit.

Because here's the truth: your people, at home and at work, crave being seen, heard, appreciated. They want to know their presence and effort matters. This practice creates the conditions for that acknowledgment to happen, every single day, without requiring a major initiative or a big budget.

It's just five minutes. I promise you, it will spare you countless headaches in the future by taking the time to be intentional about this.

Compounded over weeks and months it can make the difference between a family that feels like a team and a team that feels like a family.

Thank you, Cole, and thank you Camp Weequahic. In your generous gift to my son, you inadvertently reminded this event planner of one of the most important things we can design for, in events and in life: the moment when someone feels truly, genuinely, specifically appreciated.

That's the whole game.

You've got this.

XX, Gianna

Gianna Gaudini is an event strategist, advisor, and author of the Amazon bestselling book "The Art of Event Planning." She's held leadership roles at Google, AWS, SoftBank Vision Fund, and Airtable, creating unforgettable experiences that drive business results. For more insights on creating exceptional events, visit GiannaGaudini.com or connect with her on LinkedIn.

Want to work with Gianna or take her Event Planning Masterclass? Visit giannagaudini.com/learn-from-me

Gianna's Gem: Imagine...Your most underrated superpower

Hi there,

This past weekend, I went on a hike with my family to enjoy the first day of nice weather in a few weeks. No agenda, no deliverables, no Wi-Fi. Just trail, trees, and the three of us.

Somewhere between the first hill and the second water break, we stumbled into one of the most energizing conversations I've had in months… and it started with a single word: imagine.

Here's how it went. I turned to my family and said, "Let's play a game. Everyone has to start their sentence with 'imagine' and finish it however they want. Anything goes."

At first, there was a beat of silence… that slightly skeptical pause you get before someone decides to play along. And then the floodgates opened.

"Imagine if plants could talk… what would they be saying?"

"Imagine if we aged in reverse…so your wisest years were also your youngest."

"Imagine if there were no airplanes… would we still know people from other continents…would we still travel just in super high speed underground tubes?"

"Imagine… what the world will be like in 200 years."

"Imagine… if we had pet dinosaurs"

What followed was one of the richest, most joyful conversations we'd had in a long time. Questions led to theories. Theories led to philosophy. Philosophy led to laughter. We talked about time, about connection, about what we take for granted, about what the world could look like if we just tilted the lens a few degrees.

By the time we finished the hike, we were buzzing and not from caffeine or screens, but from the sheer exhilaration of thinking freely. Of imagining without limits. It was like a “runners high” for the brain.

And I couldn't stop thinking: why don't we do this more? And why aren't we doing this in our events?

Gianna's Gem: Imagination isn't child's play. It's the most powerful tool you have, AND it may be the most underused one in your professional life.

What Imagination Actually Does to Your Brain

Here's what's fascinating: when you engage in imaginative thinking, really letting yourself explore "what if", your brain activates the default mode network, the same neural system linked to creativity, empathy, and problem-solving. It's the opposite of the task-focused, heads-down mode most of us live in all day.

Imagination literally rewires how you see problems. It creates distance between you and your current reality, which is exactly the perspective you need to innovate, to design something new, to ask a question nobody has thought to ask.

Research shows that people who regularly engage in imaginative thinking… daydreaming, hypothetical play, creative exploration… demonstrate higher levels of empathy, resilience, and creative output. They're better at connecting disparate ideas. They're better at reading the room. They're better at solving problems that don't yet have a name.

And yet, most of us leave imagination at the door the moment we open our laptops.

Gianna's Gem: Imagination is not a soft skill. It's a cognitive superpower that sharpens every other skill you have.

Why We've Stopped Imagining

I doubt anyone would argue that we’re living in an era of notifications, to-do lists, back-to-back Zooms, and information that never stops coming like waves infinitely crashing in the ocean. The average adult makes over 35,000 decisions per day. Our brains are running full throttle just to keep up with reality…let alone to imagine a different one.

And then there's the cultural piece. Somewhere along the way, we started equating imagination with impracticality. We stopped asking "what if?" because someone, somewhere, told us it wasn't useful. That we needed to be realistic. That we needed a plan. Compared to the students who were obedient task masters, how often were the daydreamers in class rewarded for thinking creatively, even if at a slower pace? 

But here's what I've learned after 23+ years in event planning: the people who create the most extraordinary events, the most innovative companies, the most meaningful lives… they are the ones who never stopped imagining. They just got better at building the bridge between imagination and execution.

My hike this weekend reminded me that imagination doesn't require resources or a strategy deck. It just requires the willingness to start a sentence with "imagine" and see where it takes you.

Gianna's Gem: The gap between a forgettable event and a transformative one is almost always found in the imagination of its creator.

Why I Think Imagination is the Missing Ingredient in Events

Here's something I've been sitting with since that hike: the events that have stayed with me the longes, the ones I still talk about years later, all had one thing in common. Someone, somewhere in the planning process, asked a truly imaginative question.

Not "what worked last year?" But: what if we flipped the whole format?

Not "what's the standard keynote setup?" But: what if the speaker never touched a stage?

Not "how do we make an incremental improvement" But: what if we took a moonshot this year?

Imagination in events shows up at three levels, and most planners only ever touch the first one.

Level One: The Format

This is where imagination is most underused. We default to formats because they're familiar; a welcome reception, a general session, breakout tracks, a closing dinner. And while structure matters, structure without imagination produces events that feel like every other event.

Ask imaginative questions about your format: Imagine if attendees never sat in a row facing a stage. What would they do instead? Imagine if the most important conversation of the event happened not in a session, but in an elevator or on a walking trail. How do we design for that? Imagine if we built the schedule backwards, starting from the feeling we want people to have when they leave and working forward. What would change?

When I was at Airtable, Google, and SoftBank Vision Fund, we radically reimagined what a user conference format could be, and the results were exactly what you'd expect when imagination takes the wheel: sessions that people remember years later, connections that turned into partnerships, and a community that felt genuinely built rather than assembled.

Level Two: The Creative Concepts

This is where most event planners spend their creative energy… and it's important. The theme. The visual identity. The surprise moments. The unexpected delight.

But even here, imagination is often constrained by "what's been done before." We look at Pinterest boards and past events and industry trends, which is useful, but it's also a ceiling.

True imaginative creative concepting starts not with inspiration boards, but with questions. Imagine if every element of this event told the same story. What story would we tell? Imagine if the venue itself was a character. What would it say? Imagine if every attendee left with one image burned into their memory. What would that image be?

Level Three: The Attendee Experience

This is where imagination becomes your greatest differentiator, and where it's most often forgotten.

Most event planners design for the average attendee. But imagination asks: imagine if we designed for the most introverted person in the room. What would change? Imagine if we designed for the person who almost didn't come. What would make them feel it was the best decision they made all year?

When you imagine the full range of human experience in your room, the person who's nervous, the one who's grieving, the one who flew six hours to be there, the one who's skeptical, the one who's desperate for connection, you start designing with a depth that people feel before they can even name it.

I used to plan the Women’s Events for Google and I remember coming up with creative concepts… a menu key for pregnant women (no aged cheese, raw fish, cured meats), a twist on the opening keynote which started in the evening after school duties were finished and featured passed champagne, caviar and chocolate tasting as women headed into the keynote…I even hired a technical crew that was 100% female and one of our performers gave that detail a shout-out during her fireside chat with Google’s CMO!  I knew my audience and delighted them by catering to their very specific needs.

Gianna's Gem: Great event design starts with imaginative questions, not logistical answers. What if you spent 30 minutes imagining before you started planning?

How to Bring Imagination Into Your Events

Here are five concrete ways to infuse imagination into your event planning process and the experiences you create for attendees:

1. Start every planning session with an "Imagine" round. Before you open your budget doc or your run-of-show template, gather your team for five minutes of unrestricted imagination. Go around the table (or the Zoom) and have everyone finish the sentence: "Imagine if this event…" No filters, no practicality. Just possibility. You'll be surprised what surfaces.

2. Design at least one "What if" moment into every event. This is a moment that breaks the expected pattern and invites attendees to see something differently. It could be a question posed during a keynote with no answer given, or a session that starts with silence, or an activity that requires people to use their hands instead of their voices. One well-designed moment of imagination can shift the entire energy of a room.

3. Use imaginative prompts to facilitate connection. Take a page from my family hike. Conversation cards, imaginative icebreakers, or even a prompt projected on a screen during a networking reception can open people up far more than "so, what do you do?" Some of my favorites to use at events: Imagine if you could have dinner with any historical figure…who and why? Imagine if your company didn't exist… what problem would go unsolved? Imagine what you'd be doing if money were no object. These prompts create the conditions for real conversation, and real conversation is the whole point.

4. Build "imagine" spaces into your physical environment. Create literal spaces at your event that invite reflection and imagination: i.e. a lego wall where people can build their "imagine if" responses. Give people permission to slow down and think expansively, even in the middle of a packed conference day and in formats that utilize different brain pathways than usual.

5. End with imagination, not logistics. Most events end with "thank you for being here, safe travels." Instead, try closing with an imaginative prompt that sends people home thinking: "Imagine what becomes possible if you implement one thing you learned today. What would that be?" or "Imagine yourself one year from now. What does success look like?" This transforms your closing from a formality into a launchpad for real change.

How to Bring Imagination Into Your Own Life

What happened on that hike wasn't just fun. It was a reminder that imagination is a muscle… and like every muscle, it atrophies when you don't use it.

Here's how to start exercising it:

Play the "Imagine" game. You don't need a trail in the woods. You can do this at the dinner table, on a walk, in the car, or even solo in a journal. Start with "imagine if…" and let yourself go anywhere. The sillier and more unexpected, the better. Imagine if you had to describe your day to someone from 1850. Imagine if your morning routine were broadcast as a TV show. Imagine if your biggest professional challenge were actually a gift in disguise. What comes up?

Give yourself unstructured time. Imagination needs white space. When every minute is scheduled and every thought is task-oriented, there's no room for the creative brain to wander. Protect time, even 20 minutes a day, where you're not producing anything. Walk without a podcast. Sit without your phone. Meditate then visualize for 20 minutes…Let your mind go somewhere unexpected.

Ask "what if" before you ask "how." In our professional lives, we rush to execution. But imagination lives in the "what if" phase. Before you jump to solutions, spend time in the question. What if we approached this completely differently? What if the constraint we think we have isn't actually real? What if the answer is the opposite of what we're assuming?

Surround yourself with imaginative people. My family reminded me this weekend that imagination is contagious. When one person starts a sentence with "imagine," something unlocks for everyone in the room. Seek out conversations with people who think expansively. Read widely. Watch things that challenge your assumptions. Imagination loves company.

Be willing to look a little silly. The reason we stop imagining as adults is often fear…fear of being impractical, of being wrong, of being the only one willing to say something weird. But the most imaginative ideas always sound a little strange at first. Give yourself permission to follow the thought before you judge it.

On that hike, my family and I covered maybe four miles of trail. But imaginatively, we covered light-years.  We talked about worlds that don't exist and futures that might. We laughed at absurdities and got unexpectedly philosophical. We connected…and not around logistics or schedules or to-do lists, but around the expansive, joyful act of imagining together.

And when we got back to the car, I had more ideas: for events, for life, for this very Gem… than I'd had all week.

Imagination doesn't require a special location, a big budget, or a lot of time. It just requires the willingness to start with two words: Imagine if.

So here's my challenge to you this week: Start one sentence with "imagine" and see where it takes you. In your next planning session. At your next dinner table. On your next walk.

Because I promise you this: the best events you will ever create, and the most expansive life you will ever live, begin not with a spreadsheet or a strategy deck, but with a simple act of imagination.

You've got this.

XX, Gianna

What I'm Loving This Week: And for all my favorite vendors, partners and products, visit: giannagaudini.com/gianna-recommends

Red Bull Showrun San Francisco: This past Saturday, something happened in my backyard that I can't stop sharing with people… and it's the perfect proof of everything I wrote above.

Forty thousand people packed Marina Boulevard as Red Bull transformed one of San Francisco's most serene waterfront stretches into a four-hour wall of engine noise, burnt rubber, and sheer, collective joy. The San Francisco Standard F1 cars ripping down a street where people normally walk their dogs and I normally do my morning jog. Thick tire smoke hanging over the Golden Gate Bridge backdrop. Fans climbing trees and scaling roofs The San Francisco Standard just to catch a glimpse. Free admission. No tickets required. Just pure spectacle.

And here's what struck me most: Yuki Tsunoda, the young Japanese F1 driver behind the wheel, put it perfectly — "Driving an F1 car in San Francisco next to the sea is something that you only imagine. A dream." The San Francisco Standard

Something you only imagine. Yes. Exactly. That's the whole point.

Someone, somewhere, had to first imagine that a quiet Marina street could become a racetrack. That a neighborhood known for brunch and strollers could hold forty thousand screaming fans. That you could give people a world-class motorsport experience for free, on a Saturday afternoon, with the Golden Gate Bridge as your backdrop. The logistics came later. The imagination came first.

This is what I want for all of us, as event creators and as humans. The audacity to imagine something that makes people stop and say: wait, they actually did that? Red Bull didn't ask whether Marina Boulevard was a "realistic" venue. They asked: imagine if it were. And then they built it. That's the whole game. Start with imagination. The rest follows.

Gianna Gaudini is an event strategist, advisor, and author of the Amazon bestselling book "The Art of Event Planning." She's held leadership roles at Google, AWS, SoftBank Vision Fund, and Airtable, creating unforgettable experiences that drive business results. For more insights on creating exceptional events, visit GiannaGaudini.com or connect with her on LinkedIn.

Want to work with Gianna or take her Event Planning Masterclass? Visitgiannagaudini.com/learn-from-me

Gianna's Gem: Why "Perfect" Is Killing Your Events (And What to Do About It)

Hi there,

Last week, I was coaching a rising event manager who was stuck. She'd been planning her company's first major user conference for six months, and guess what? The company still hadn't sent out invitations.

"We’re still refining the agenda," she told me. "My CMO wants to make sure everything's locked in and perfect before we send out invites."

I recognized that look in her eyes immediately as I could recall being in a similar situation as a Head of Events with a C-Suite who were often paralyzed by “shipping” anything if it wasn’t perfect (and what perfect looked like changed on the weekly!). It's the paralysis that comes from believing that if you just plan a little more, research a little deeper, polish a little longer, check a few more times, you'll finally achieve the "perfect" event (or insert anything else here).

Here's what I told her…and what I wish someone had told me fifteen years ago: Perfect is the enemy of good. 

Gianna’s Gem: In event planning, “motion” is the enemy of “action”.

The Difference Between Motion and Action

James Clear nails this in Atomic Habits (a favorite book of mine I shared with you in last week’s Gem): Motion makes you feel like you're making progress, but it doesn't actually produce results. Action, on the other hand, delivers outcomes.

In event planning:

Motion looks like:

• Endlessly researching venues without booking site visits

• Creating the perfect planning spreadsheet (and then recreating it)

• Attending webinars about event marketing without implementing anything

• Researching but not reaching out to speakers

• Perfecting every budget line item instead of putting a stake in the ground and understanding there will be fluidity as you negotiate with vendors

Action looks like:

• Booking three venue tours for next week

• Sending that imperfect-but-good-enough speaker invitation today with a caveat that the event date might be X, Y or Z to gain intel.

• Testing one new registration strategy with your next small event

• Creating the post-event survey now

• Sending save the dates even though the agenda isn't 100% finalized

• Launching a website with a caveat that speaker announcements will be coming each week

Gianna's Gem: Planning is motion. Doing is action. And only action teaches you what actually works.

The Learning Paradox

Here's what I’ve learned over my 23 year career in event planning: you can read every book and blog post, look at ever pinterest board, and listen to every podcast about how to plan events, but you won't actually know how to plan events until you've planned some events because that’s where the phrase “live and learn” rings true. Even to this day, I learn something new while planning every event.

I learned more from the Airtable event where the video in the overflow viewing room failed during our CEO's keynote than I did from a decade of "perfect" keynotes. I learned more from the AWS sponsorship nightmare where we almost didn’t get our booth than from all the other shows where everything was easy. I learned more from planning a challenging milestone birthday in Sardinia than from seamless milestone birthdays planned with my favorite properties in Napa.

Why? Because repetition creates pattern recognition. Experience builds instinct. And failure teaches you what books simply can't.

The problem is: most event professionals don't get the luxury of planning hundreds of events. You might plan one major conference per year. Maybe a handful of smaller events. How do you gain the wisdom that comes from repetition when you don't have the volume?

This is where working with a coach or consultant, taking a guided course, or even volunteering to plan events becomes your competitive advantage.

The Consultant Edge: Borrowing Someone Else's Reps

When you work with an experienced event consultant, you're not just hiring someone to help with logistics. You're borrowing their 10,000 hours. You're accessing their pattern recognition. You're leveraging their war stories so you don't have to create your own.

For example: I've planned events for Google, AWS, SoftBank, Airtable, Windsurf, and dozens of other companies as a consultant. I've executed conferences for 100 people and 30,000 people. I've managed budgets from $50K to $50M+. I've dealt with every team/vendor nightmare, every venue/AV disaster, every stakeholder conflict you can imagine (and plenty you can't…stay tuned for my next book!).

When you work with me (or any seasoned consultant/coach), you get to:

Mentally Rehearsal and Visualise based on Their Shared Experience

• "Here's what happened when we tried that agenda format..."

• "I learned the hard way that you need to..."

• "Based on similar events, here's the pitfall we need to avoid..."

You're essentially running simulations in your mind based on their real-world outcomes. Neuroscience shows that mental rehearsal activates similar neural pathways as actual experience. You're training your brain without having to make (and pay for) the mistakes yourself.

Anecdotal Wisdom That Shortcuts Your Learning Books and courses teach principles. Consultants teach specifics.

• "For tech audiences in San Francisco, this type of event sponsorship is risky and here's why..."

• "When negotiating with this particular hotel chain, always ask for..."

• "Your sponsor fulfillment should happen like this, not like that, because I've seen what happens when..."

Real-Time Decision Support Instead of making your best guess and hoping it works out, you get instant feedback:

• "That registration flow will create bottlenecks because of X, let's consider adjusting it."

• "Your budget allocation is too heavy on F&B and too light on AV, here's why and how I recommend rebalancing."

• "This vendor quote is 30% above market rate, let me show you the comps."

The Course Advantage: Structured Learning Without the Trial-and-Error Tax

A well-designed course (like my Event Strategy Masterclass) does something different but equally valuable: it gives you the frameworks, systems, and best practices that took me years to develop, delivered in a fraction of the time and cost. If you can’t afford a coach or consultant, a self-paced course with exercises to give you “action” practice can be another great strategy to start getting in your “reps”.

AND…If you can convince your company to let your colleagues take it with you, studies have proven that learning in peer groups with discussion along the way improves engagement, retention and bonding by 140%!

Here's what a strategic course offers:

Accelerated Pattern Recognition Instead of planning 50 events to recognize patterns, you study 50 case studies. You learn:

• What makes successful conferences stand out

• Why certain event formats consistently outperform others

• How to negotiate contracts to save money and get key concessions and some downloadable templates to save you time

Systematic Thinking Courses give you repeatable frameworks:

• My SUCCESS framework for event design (see last week’s Gem if you missed it)

• The attendee journey audit process

• Budgeting models and frameworks you can use immediately to implement with your own events

• Stakeholder management strategies and communication pro tips to unblock you and help you be more strategic and influential

These aren't theories, they're systems I refined through hundreds of events. And they let you operate from a playbook instead of reinventing the wheel. I feel blessed for having had the opportunity to work with some of the most admired brands in the world and it truly is my mission to be able to scale my reach and share what I’ve been blessed to have learned by the best in class.

Community Learning The best courses create peer communities where you learn from each other's experiences. Someone's venue negotiation strategy becomes your blueprint. Another person's speaker management disaster becomes your cautionary tale. 

But Here's the Key Thing Both Consultants and Courses Provide...

They give you permission to take imperfect action.

When you're working with someone who's already made the mistakes, you stop needing everything to be perfect. You learn which details actually matter (the why and intention behind every component, attendee journey and brand experience) and which ones don't (the exact shade of blue in your linens and the type of silverware and china you select for the tables).

You gain the confidence to:

• Send the invitation even though the agenda has TBDs

• Draft a successful event brief and gain approvals swiftly because you know your why

• Launch registration before your website is perfect

• Make decisions quickly because you trust your consultant's guidance and therefore present to stakeholders with confidence 

This is action. This is progress. This is how events actually get planned.

My Early Career: The Volunteer Advantage

Before I landed at Google, I was exactly where many of you are now or have been: passionate about events but lacking real world experience. I needed reps but didn't have a portfolio. So I did something that changed everything:

I volunteered. A lot.

I volunteered to plan my company's holiday party, my team’s offsites. I volunteered to help people in the industry I admired for free. I volunteered at a number of charity organizations I believed in. Were these glamorous? No. Did they pay extra? Absolutely not. But here's what they did:

They gave me reps.

Every volunteer event taught me something AND also introduced me to new people, partners and even mentors.

By the time I interviewed at Google, I had a portfolio of events that demonstrated I could execute. I had stories of problems I'd solved. I had proof of action, not just motion.

Your Action Plan: Start Now, Imperfectly

If you're reading this and feeling stuck in motion, here's how to shift into action today:

1. If You Can't Plan High-Volume Events:

Work with a consultant or mentor who has. You'll compress years of learning into months. You'll avoid expensive mistakes. You'll build confidence faster.

Take a strategic course that gives you frameworks and community. You'll gain systematic thinking and peer learning that shortens your path to expertise.

Attend events critically. Don't just enjoy them, dissect them. What worked? What didn't? What would you do differently? Every event you attend becomes a case study for your mental database. I still audit events for my clients and always learn something in the process myself.

2. If You Want More Hands-On Experience:

Volunteer for event roles:

• Offer to help plan your company's next team offsite

• Coordinate a community meetup or local chapter event

• Help a nonprofit with their fundraising gala

• Manage your friend's milestone birthday party (or baby shower)

Start small but start now:

• Plan a 20-person dinner party with a theme and run-of-show

• Host a workshop or panel discussion

• Coordinate a small networking event

Document everything:

• Take photos

• Track what you learned

• Build your portfolio

• Create case studies

Each of these is action. Each one teaches you something books and planning documents can't.

3. Embrace "Good Enough" and Iterate:

Ship the imperfect invitation. You can always send updates.

Book the venue that's 90% right. Perfection doesn't exist, and you're losing time and negotiating leverage by waiting.

Launch with what you have. Version 2.0 will be better because you'll have real feedback, not theoretical concerns.

Test and learn. Try one new thing each event. Measure what happens. Adjust for next time.

The Compound Effect of Imperfect Action

Here's what most event planners miss: every small action compounds.

That imperfect first event teaches you lessons for the second one. The second event builds skills for the third. By your fifth event, you're operating at a level that would have taken you years to reach through "perfect" planning alone.

Meanwhile, the person who's still researching, still planning, still waiting for perfect? They're on event zero.

And here's the beautiful part: you don't have to make all the mistakes yourself.

Working with a consultant means you borrow their compounding experience. Taking a course means you leverage their accumulated wisdom. Volunteering means you gain real reps without the having to commit to a second full time role. Attending events critically means you learn from others' successes and failures.

All of these are forms of action. All of them move you forward. None of them require perfection.

The Bottom Line

Perfect is a mirage. Motion is a trap. And the only way to actually get better at event planning is to plan events, even imperfect ones.

Whether that means:

• Working with a consultant or coach who's already made the mistakes

• Taking a course that gives you proven frameworks

• Volunteering for opportunities to gain experience

• Attending events to study and learn

• Simply starting with what you have right now

The path forward is the same: Take action. Learn. Iterate. Repeat.

Because here's what I know after 23+ years in this industry:

The best event planner isn't the one who planned the perfect event. It's the one who took imperfect action, learned from it, and got better every single time.

You don't need more time to plan.
You don't need more resources to research.
You don't need permission to be perfect.

You need to take action. Today. Imperfectly. And trust that the learning will come through the doing.

That rising event manager I mentioned at the beginning? After our coffee, she gained the confidence to send her event invitations that week. Were they perfect? No. Did they work? Absolutely. And more importantly, she learned what resonated with her audience: data she never would have gotten from another week of "perfecting" the message.

That's the power of choosing action over motion.
That's the gift of learning from others' experience.
That's how you build a career (and events!) that matter.

So here's my challenge to you: What's one imperfect action you can take today?

Not tomorrow. Not next week. Today.

Whatever it is, do it imperfectly. Do it now. And trust that the learning, the confidence, and the excellence will emerge through the doing.

Because perfect is the enemy of good.

But action? Action is the path to great.

You've got this.

XX,

Gianna

What I'm Loving This Week: And for all my favorite vendors, partners and products, visit: https://www.giannagaudini.com/gianna-recommends

Treehouse Hotel Silicon Valley

I had a chance to site visit this charming, fresh new property (one of only three in the world) located next to Google’s Sunnyvale campus in the heart of Silicon Valley last week. In a sea of sterile tech campuses and cookie-cutter business hotels, Treehouse Hotel Silicon Valley, a sister brand of 1 Hotels,  is a breath of fresh air, literally and figuratively. Ranked #1 on Tripadvisor and named Best Cool New Hotel in the 2025 Metro Silicon Valley Best Of Awards, this property proves that playful doesn't mean unprofessional, and that nostalgia can coexist beautifully with innovation. From the moment you enter the greenhouse-style lobby, complete with a VW bug completely covered in plantlife and other nostalgic charms, you're transported to a world where stump-shaped side tables, owl-embroidered pillows, record players in rooms, and toy soldiers in Mason jars remind you that creativity thrives when we don't take ourselves too seriously. The property features Celeb Chef Stephanie Izard's Valley Goat restaurant, a beer garden with 30+ beers on tap, an gorgeous event barn with large windows and tall ceilings making it perfect for gatherings of all kind, and outdoor spaces designed with Silicon Valley's agrarian heritage in mind…think Google campus meets country chic meets Santa Cruz in character.

What I love most is how Treehouse delivers high-quality experiences without traditional luxury stuffiness. The rooms are thoughtfully designed, impeccably clean, and packed with whimsical touches that spark joy while still feeling high quality and premium. It's wellness-focused, sustainability-committed, and genuinely welcoming for everyone from families (kids' robes! in-room camping experiences!) to business travelers hosting offsites. This is a place that gives you permission to play, think big, and reconnect with the natural world. If you're planning an event in the Bay Area and want your team to actually relax, recharge, and think creatively rather than just grind through another conference agenda, Treehouse Silicon Valley is your answer. If you need an intro, reach out.

Gianna Gaudini is an event strategist, advisor, and author of the Amazon bestselling book "The Art of Event Planning." She's held leadership roles at Google, AWS, SoftBank Vision Fund, and Airtable, creating unforgettable experiences that drive business results. For more insights on creating exceptional events, visit GiannaGaudini.com or connect with her on LinkedIn.

Want to work with Gianna or take her Event Planning Masterclass? Visit giannagaudini.com/learn-from-me

Gianna's Gem: Gianna’s Gem: SUCCESS, the 7-step framework to uplevel your events

Hi there,

Recently, I was having coffee with a CMO who was telling me about her company's upcoming conference. She had the “foundational” components locked in: venue booked, speakers confirmed, agenda set, invites ready. But something was bothering her.

"Gianna," she said, "I know this event is going to be good. But how do I make sure it's actually transformative? How do I take it from good to truly unforgettable?"

It's a question I hear all the time. And honestly? It's the right question to be asking.

Here's the truth: anyone can execute an event. The logistics, the timelines, the vendor management…those are table stakes. What separates truly unforgettable (and thus shareable) events from forgettable ones isn't flawless execution. It's whether your attendees walk away changed. Have you taken them FROM where they were before they met you TO some place better?

That's why I developed the SUCCESS framework: a blueprint for creating events that don't just happen to people, but transform them.

Gianna's Gem: Great events aren't just well-planned. They're well-designed, with every element intentionally crafted to create lasting impact.

So let’s dive in! What SUCCESS Stands For

S - Story-Wrapped Experiences
U - Unforgettable Moments
C - Connection over Content
C - Curated Personalization
E - Empathy-Driven Planning
S - Surprise and Delight
S - Shifts (Strategic & Emotional Metamorphosis)

Each element builds on the others to create experiences that resonate long after the event ends. Let me break down what each one means, and how you can apply it to your next event.

S: Story-Wrapped Experiences

Stories stick while features fade.

Think about the last conference you attended. Can you remember the specific feature set that was announced in the keynote? Probably not. But I bet you remember how you felt when the CEO shared that vulnerable story about the company's early struggles.

That's the power of story.

When you wrap your event in a narrative arc, you give attendees a framework for understanding, remembering, and retelling what they experienced. You transform disconnected moments into a cohesive journey.

Real-World Example: When I was at Airtable, we didn't just "host a user conference." We told the story of transformation: from where customers were struggling (the problem) to where they could be with the right solutions (the possibility). Every session, every activation, every networking moment supported that narrative arc (and that red thread was “connection. changes. everything.” which made sense given we had just launched a category as a connected apps platform).

The result? Attendees didn't just consume content. They saw themselves in the story. And that's when they leaned in, and then shared broadly.

Your Action Step:

Before you finalize another agenda or book another speaker, ask yourself:

• What's the narrative arc of my event?

• Where are attendees when they arrive (emotionally and strategically)?

• Where do I want them to be when they leave?

• How does every element of my event move them along that journey?

My Key Principles:

• Stories stick while features fade in memory

• Narratives help customers reshare and remember what you convey

• Executives approve when stories lead the way

• Share-worthy tales that attendees photograph and post on social

• What's your story? What can your brand do that no other brand can? What does your brand stand for?

U: Unforgettable Moments

People won't remember everything. Make sure they remember the right things.

Here's a hard truth backed by neuroscience: your attendees can't remember everything from your event. Their brains aren't wired that way.

But they will remember roughly three things. Your job? Decide what those three things are and design every other element to support them.

I call this the "Power of Three," and it's one of the most liberating constraints in event design.

Real-World Example: At a Google executive retreat, we could have filled three days with back-to-back sessions on product strategy, market trends, and operational updates. Instead, we identified our Top 3 moments:

1. The opening surprise (an exec skydiving into the welcome reception…yes, really)

2. The innovation workshop where teams prototyped solutions to real customer challenges

3. The closing campfire conversation (complete with a gourmet s’mores bar) where leaders shared their biggest lessons learned

Everything else? Designed to support these moments or get out of the way.

The result? Months later, attendees were still talking about that event. Not because it was packed with content, but because it was intentionally memorable and built around stories.

Your Action Step:

For your next event, identify your Top 3 memorable moments. Then ruthlessly evaluate every other element:

• Does this support one of the Top 3? Keep it.

• Does this dilute focus? Cut it or redesign it.

My Key Principles:

• Magic that makes the mundane bright

• Three memorable things attendees take away—deprioritize the rest

• Obsessive hospitality and attention to detail

• Experiences that feel one-of-a-kind regardless of budget

• Priceless access that attendees can't secure themselves

C: Connection over Content

Peer-to-peer beats another paid speaker.

Here's what most event planners get wrong: they think attendees come for content.

They don't. They come for connection.

Don't get me wrong, content matters. But in 2026, your attendees can access world-class content from their couch. What they can't get virtually? Authentic human connection around shared challenges.

Real-World Example: At Airtable's first major user conference, we made a bold choice: 40% of the agenda was dedicated to peer-to-peer interaction. No speakers. No presentations. Just structured conversation, working sessions, and facilitated networking.

Our stakeholders were nervous. "People are paying to attend…shouldn't we give them more content?"

But here's what happened: attendees rated those peer sessions as the highest value parts of the conference. The unstructured conversations led to partnerships, problem-solving, and genuine community formation that lasted long after the event ended.

Your Action Step:

Audit your next event agenda. How much time is dedicated to peer interaction vs. one-way content delivery?

If it's less than 30%, you have work to do.

Key Principles:

• Peer-to-peer beats another speaker

• Tacit knowledge flows when people meet

• Connect over shared humanity, pain points, and challenges

• Community bonds when problems are solved in think tanks or share circles

• "Me too" moments paired with aspirational real-world heroes

• Pre- and post-event connection for continuous engagement beyond a moment in time

C: Curated Personalization

Generic experiences feel forgettable. Personal moments feel seen.

Personalization isn't about putting someone's name on a badge, or addressing them with their name in an email (though that's a good start). It's about creating moments that are genuinely relevant to each attendee's needs, interests, and journey stage.

When done well, personalization communicates: "We see you as an individual. We've thought about what you need."

Real-World Example: At a SoftBank portfolio CEO summit, we could have treated all 50 CEOs the same. But we didn't.

We created personalized welcome beverages and snacks stocked in their hotel rooms when they arrived based on research into each CEO's preferences. We curated networking introductions connecting people who could specifically help each other in advance and then in person. We offered afternoon and morning “adventure” options so attendees could choose sessions aligned with their company stage and industry but also based on interests so they could cross-pollinate in different ways.

The result? CEOs reported feeling deeply valued, not just as attendees, but as individuals and felt the summit was worth their time out of office.

Your Action Step:

Map out attendee personas for your next event. For each persona, identify 3-5 touchpoints where you can offer personalized options:

• Track selection based on role or experience level

• Content formats (workshops vs. lectures vs. peer discussions)

• Networking matchmaking based on shared interests or challenges

• Dietary preferences handled proactively

• Communication style (some want detailed pre-reads, others prefer minimal prep)

My Key Principles:

• Intention shows you truly care

• Relevance makes attendees feel seen

• Tailored touches everywhere so attendees can customize to meet their needs at the right time and place

• Personal moments, not standardized experiences

E: Empathy-Driven Planning

When you solve for their needs first, your event becomes indispensable.

This one's simple but powerful: great events start with deep empathy for your attendees.

What keeps them up at night? What would make their investment of time and money feel worthwhile? What pain points will they experience at your event—and how can you eliminate them before they arise?

Real-World Example: When planning Google Cloud Next (a 30,000-person conference), we didn't just think about our logistics. We obsessed over attendee pain points:

• Long lines? We created multiple registration areas and mobile check-in AND we added hackers giving away coffee and breakfast to hungry attendees while they waited.

• Information overload? We designed quiet lounges for processing time and streaming option for those who were late and missed getting into the keynote.

• Decision fatigue about which sessions to attend? We created clear tracks and personalized recommendations.

• Women feeling lost without many peers? We created networking breakfasts and lunches for them to meet and navigate the event together as birds of a feather.

Every pain point we solved translated into higher satisfaction scores and better business outcomes.

Your Action Step:

About two weeks before your event, conduct an attendee journey audit. Walk through every touchpoint and ask:

• What could frustrate attendees here?

• What needs might they have that we haven't addressed?

• How can we make this smoother, easier, more delightful?

Key Principles:

• Listen closely to what attendees need and deliver on that

• Understand their ROI, not just yours

• Empathy plants the engagement seed—lead with solving their problem

• Solve attendee pain points at the event; it translates to how you'll take care of their business pain

S: Surprise and Delight

Unexpected joy creates lasting memories—and powerful reciprocity.

Here's something fascinating about human psychology: when you exceed expectations in unexpected ways, you create reciprocity. People feel compelled to give back, even if just through deeper attention, openness, and engagement.

That gelato cart that appeared poolside at the perfect moment? That handwritten note waiting in their hotel room? That unexpected training session with an Olympian? These aren't just "nice touches." They're strategic tools for creating emotional peaks that become lasting memories.

Real-World Example: At a Google leadership offsite, we knew attendees would be exhausted after an intensive morning session. So we surprised them with a gourmet food truck festival for lunch—complete with their favorite childhood comfort foods, customized based on pre-event surveys we'd conducted.

The cost? Marginal compared to our overall budget. The impact? Attendees were reenergized, delighted, and emotionally primed for the afternoon's creative brainstorming. Plus, they associated Google with that feeling of being truly cared for.

Your Action Step:

Identify the top 3 pain points attendees typically experience at events (long lines, bad coffee, boring transitions, etc.). Design specific "delight moments" that turn each pain point into an unexpected pleasure.

Key Principles:

• Unexpected moments spark joy

• Wink-and-a-smile touches offer playful vibes that are the antidote to stress

• Turning expected pain points into joy creates a huge expectation leap (but don't go the opposite way)

• Delight, nostalgia, and comfort put people in the right frame of mind to tune in to what you have to share (needs are met)

• Giving to attendees creates a psychological need to "repay" the giver, even if it's just listening or taking a call

S: Shifts (Strategic & Emotional Metamorphosis)

The ultimate measure of success: transformation.

Here's the question that should guide every event decision you make: What shift am I creating?

Not "What content am I delivering?" or "How many sessions am I including?" But: What belief am I transforming? What emotion am I evoking? What action will attendees take as a result?

Because events that don't create transformation are just expensive gatherings. The real ROI comes from change…in beliefs, behaviors, and business outcomes.

Real-World Example: When I designed events for SoftBank Vision Fund, we didn't measure success by attendance numbers or satisfaction scores (though those mattered). We measured it by shifts:

• From skepticism about AI → to conviction about its transformative potential

• From feeling isolated in their founder journey → to feeling supported by a community

• From uncertainty about next steps → to clarity and commitment to action and implementation

Every element of the event was designed to create these specific shifts. And we could measure the results: partnerships and alliances formed, investments made, strategies changed.

Your Action Step:

Before planning your next event, create a transformation map:

LEFT SIDE (Arrival State):

• What do attendees believe when they arrive?

• What emotions are they feeling?

• What behaviors or strategies are they currently using?

RIGHT SIDE (Departure State):

• What do you want them to believe when they leave?

• What emotions do you want them to feel?

• What actions do you want them to take?

Every element of your event should move attendees from left to right.

My Key Principles:

• Transform beliefs (from → to)

• Emotions journey: Where are they when they arrive? What do they feel when they leave?

• Strategic outcomes: The beliefs and emotions drive actions

Bringing It All Together: The SUCCESS Framework in Action

Here's why I love this framework: it's not about adding more to your event. It's about designing with intention.

You can have a two-hour workshop or a three-day conference. A 50-person dinner or a 5,000-person activation. The SUCCESS framework works at any scale because it's about how you design, not what you include.

Start with Shifts: What transformation are you creating?

Plan with Empathy: What do your attendees actually need?

Craft Your Story: What narrative arc supports the transformation?

Design Unforgettable Moments: What are your Top 3 memorable experiences?

Prioritize Connection: How are you facilitating peer-to-peer interaction?

Personalize Intentionally: Where can you show attendees they're seen as individuals?

Layer in Surprise: What unexpected delights will create emotional peaks?

When all seven elements work together, something magical happens. Your event transcends logistics and becomes an experience people don't just attend—they treasure, share, and act upon.

Your Implementation Challenge

Here's what I want you to do: Pick your next event and audit it against the SUCCESS framework.

For each element, ask yourself:

• Story: What's my narrative arc? Does every element support it?

• Unforgettable: What are my Top 3 moments? Am I protecting them or diluting them?

• Connection: Am I prioritizing content delivery over peer interaction?

• Curated: Where can I add personalization that truly matters?

• Empathy: What pain points haven't I addressed?

• Surprise: Where can I exceed expectations in unexpected ways?

• Shifts: What transformation am I creating? Can I measure it?

You don't have to master all seven elements overnight. Start with one. Maybe it's getting crystal clear on your event story. Maybe it's building in more connection time. Maybe it's identifying your transformation goals before you finalize your agenda.

Pick one. Master it. Then add the next.

Because excellence isn't built in grand gestures—it's built in the accumulation of intentional choices that honor what events can truly be: not just gatherings, but transformations.

The Bottom Line

After 23+ years planning events for Google, AWS, SoftBank, Airtable and Cognition, here's what I know for sure:

The events people remember aren't necessarily the ones with the biggest budgets or the most famous speakers or the fanciest venues (though those things can help).

The events people remember, and more importantly, the events that create real business impact, are the ones designed with the SUCCESS framework in mind.

Stories that resonate. Moments that matter. Connections that last. Personalization that honors individuality. Empathy that anticipates needs. Surprises that delight. And shifts that transform.

That's the secret sauce. That's what takes events from good to legendary.

And now you have the blueprint to create it yourself.

You've got this.

XX,
Gianna

What I'm Loving This Week: And for all my favorite vendors, partners and products, visit: https://www.giannagaudini.com/gianna-recommends

Atomic Habits by James Clear If you've ever struggled to build better habits (or break bad ones), James Clear's Atomic Habits is the game-changer you need. I am obsessed with how he breaks down the science of habit formation into actionable, practical strategies that actually work, proving that tiny changes compound into remarkable results over time. I've applied his framework to everything from my morning routine to how I plan events, and it's transformed the way I approach both personal and professional growth. It proves excellence isn't built in grand gestures, it's built in the accumulation of small, intentional daily choices.

P.P.S Win a $200 Amazon Gift Card!

Follow @giannagaudini on Instagram, then email a screenshot of your follow to gianna@gaudini.com to be entered into our drawing. Winner will be announced February 13. Good luck!

Gianna's Gem: How to Slay a Cross-Functional Event Team Meeting

Hi there,

Last week, I wrapped up a massive product launch event that involved coordinating across seven different teams: marketing, sales, product, operations, creative, brand, and comms. Each team had their own priorities, timelines, and ideas about what "success" looked like.

Sound familiar?

If you've ever tried to plan a complex event with multiple stakeholders, you know the pain: the endless email threads, the meetings that spiral into debates about font choices, the decisions that get unmade three times before anyone commits, the endless Slack messages to try to regain clarity and “alignment” from a meeting that wasn’t well run.

But here's what I've learned after 15+ years of orchestrating events for Google, AWS, SoftBank, and Airtable: The quality of your cross-functional meetings directly determines the quality of your event.

When your meetings are productive, intentional,  motivational, and efficient, your event gets delivered on time, on budget, and on brand. When they're unprepared, unengaging, or dominated by the loudest voice in the room? Your event suffers—and so does your team's morale.

So today, I want to share the exact framework I use to run cross-functional team meetings that actually drive results and save time rather than waste it. These aren't theoretical best practices—they're battle-tested tactics I use every single week to keep complex events on track while keeping my team engaged and energized.

Gianna's Gem: Great events don't happen by accident. They happen because someone facilitated the h*** out of the planning process.

The Pre-Meeting Foundation: Set Yourself Up for Success

The biggest mistake people make with cross-functional meetings? They think the work starts when everyone joins the Zoom. Wrong. The real work happens before anyone shows up.

1. Define Your Meeting's North Star

Before you send a single calendar invite, get crystal clear on what this specific meeting needs to accomplish. Not what it could accomplish. What it must accomplish.

I use this simple framework:

Purpose: Why are we meeting? (One sentence.)
Outcome: What decision or deliverable will we have by the end? (Specific and measurable.)
Success Looks Like: How will we know this meeting was worth everyone's time?

Example:

Purpose: Finalize the event agenda and assign session owners.
Outcome: A locked agenda with confirmed speakers and session leads for each slot.
Success Looks Like: Every attendee leaves knowing exactly what they own and by when. No "I'll think about it and get back to you."

When you're this specific upfront, you eliminate 90% of the scope creep and tangential conversations that derail meetings.

2. Invite Intentionally (Not Everyone Needs to Be There)

Here's an uncomfortable truth: Most meetings have too many people in them.

I know, I know—you don't want anyone to feel excluded. You want to be inclusive. But here's what actually happens when you invite people who don't need to be there:

• Meetings take twice as long because everyone feels obligated to contribute something

• Decisions get diluted because too many voices are weighing in on details that don't concern them or that they aren’t responsible or accountable for

• The people who do need to be there get frustrated because their time is being wasted

My rule: Only invite people who either:

1. Need to make a decision in this meeting

2. Own a deliverable that will be discussed

3. Have critical context that impacts the decision

Everyone else gets a post-meeting summary. That's not exclusion—that's respecting their time. Those “I’s” aka “informed” folks on the RACI chart? Send them the recap since they don’t need to directly weigh in on a decision.

And this also saves money! I often ask an agency which team members need to be in stakeholder meetings, and which can be informed by their team leader in other stand-up meetings. Billable hours are real, so when you cut the folks required to attend meetings, they can be using your budget to actually get work done!

3. The Pre-Read That Actually Gets Read

You know what doesn't work? Sending a 12-page deck two hours before the meeting and expecting people to digest it.

You know what does work? A one-page pre-read that takes 5 minutes to review and actually prepares people to contribute.

Here's my template:

Meeting: [Name]
Date/Time: [Details]
Purpose: [One sentence] and  What We'll Decide: [Bullet points]

Your Prep:

• Review the attached [doc/deck/brief]

• Come prepared to discuss: [Specific question]

• If you have concerns about [topic], please flag them before the meeting

Background/Context: [2-3 sentences of essential context]

Open Questions Going Into the Meeting:

• [Question 1]

• [Question 2]

• [Question 3]

We did this when I worked at Amazon, and while I didn’t love everything about working there, the pre-read culture was super helpful as it set a standard for preparing in advance. Sometimes, we’d even take the first 10 minutes of a call to let everyone read the “PR FAQ brief” as we called them. Ideally, an option to pre-read is best as it allows some processing time (which I often find leads to more productive, thoughtful discussions).

This format does something magical: it tells people exactly what to prepare and what they'll be expected to contribute. No surprises. No winging it.

Pro tip: I send this 24 - 48 hours before the meeting, not 2 hours. People need processing time, not panic time.

During the Meeting: Facilitation Tactics That Keep Things Moving

Okay, everyone's on the call. Now what? This is where most meetings fall apart. Someone dominates the conversation. Side debates erupt. Time evaporates. You end with "let's circle back on this" instead of actual decisions.

Here's how to avoid that:

1. Start with the "Why We're Here" Reminder

Don't assume everyone read your pre-read (they didn't). Don't assume everyone remembers why this meeting was scheduled (they don't).

I start every meeting the same way:

"Thanks for being here. Quick reminder on why we're gathered: [one-sentence purpose]. By the end of this hour, we need to [specific outcome]. If we accomplish that, we'll all be able to [impact on the event]. Sound good?"

This takes 30 seconds and orients everyone to the same goal. It also gives you permission to redirect conversations later: "That's a great point, but it's outside the scope of what we need to decide today. Let's table it for now."

2. Assign Roles (Yes, Even in a One-Hour Meeting)

Here's a tactic I learned from my time at Google that transformed how I run meetings: explicitly assign roles at the start.

The roles I use:

Facilitator (oftentimes me): Keeps time, manages the agenda, redirects conversations, ensures everyone is heard.

Decider: The person with final authority on the decision we're making. (This is critical—there can only be one. If you have co-deciders, you'll spend the meeting watching them negotiate in real-time.)

Notetaker: Captures decisions, action items, and key discussion points. (This should NOT be the facilitator. You can't facilitate and take notes simultaneously.) I am the WORST at trying to take notes while facilitating. Good news - Ai can now handle this for you. :)

Timekeeper: Watches the clock and gives warnings when we're approaching time limits for each agenda item.

When you name these roles out loud, people step into them. The Decider feels empowered to make the call. The Notetaker knows they're responsible for capturing outcomes. The Timekeeper will actually interrupt when you're over time.

Without explicit roles? Everyone assumes someone else is handling it, and nothing gets handled.

3. The Parking Lot: Your Best Friend for Staying on Track

You know those moments when someone brings up a valid-but-off-topic concern and you don't want to dismiss them but also can't afford to go down that rabbit hole?

Enter: The Parking Lot.

I keep a running "Parking Lot" doc visible during every meeting (shared screen or collaborative doc). When something comes up that's important but not urgent for this specific discussion, I say:

"That's a great point—let's add it to the Parking Lot so we don't lose it. We'll address it either at the end if we have time, or in a follow-up."

Then I literally type it into the Parking Lot doc so the person sees I'm taking it seriously.

This does two things:

1. The person feels heard (because they were)

2. The conversation stays on track (because we didn't derail)

And here's the key: You actually have to revisit the Parking Lot. If you say you will and then don't, people stop trusting the process.

The "Strong Opinions, Loosely Held" Framework

Cross-functional meetings often fail because people confuse collaboration with consensus. They think everyone needs to agree before you can move forward.

Wrong.

Here's what I tell my teams:

"We're going to have a discussion where everyone shares their perspective. Then [the Decider] is going to make the call. You don't have to agree with the decision, but you do have to commit to it once it's made. That's what 'strong opinions, loosely held' means—advocate for your position, but once the decision is made, we move forward as one team."

This gives people permission to “disagree and commit” without the pressure to achieve false consensus. And it makes the Decider's job clear: listen to all inputs, weigh the trade-offs, make the call.

5. Decision-Making Framework: When to Discuss vs. When to Decide

Not every topic requires the same level of discussion. But most meetings treat everything equally, which is why they drag on forever.

I use this framework to categorize agenda items:

Type 1 (Inform): No discussion needed. Just share the information and move on.
"Update: The venue contract is signed. Here's the link if you want details."

Type 2 (Input): We need perspectives before deciding, but one person will make the final call.
"We're deciding between three keynote speakers. Here are the options. Let's hear pros and cons, then [Decider] will choose."

Type 3 (Consensus): Everyone needs to align because the decision impacts all teams equally.
"We're setting the event date. This affects everyone's timelines, so we need full agreement."

Type 4 (Debate): We have significant disagreement and need to thoroughly discuss trade-offs.
"Marketing wants a big public activation. Sales wants an intimate client dinner. Let's discuss the strategy and decide."

Label each agenda item with its type. This tells people how to engage and how much time to allocate.

6. The "Two-Minute Drill" for Efficient Decision-Making

When you're trying to make a decision and the conversation is going in circles, I use the "Two-Minute Drill":

"Okay, we've heard a lot of perspectives. Here's what we're going to do: Everyone gets two minutes max to make their final case. Then we decide. No rebuttals, no back-and-forth. Just your clearest, most concise argument."

Then I set a timer (visibly, so people see I'm serious).

This forces people to distill their thoughts. It eliminates the filibustering. And it creates urgency that drives to a decision.

The Post-Meeting Follow-Through: Where Most People Drop the Ball

You had a great meeting. Decisions were made. Everyone left aligned. You're done, right?

Wrong. The meeting isn't over until the proper follow-up is sent.

1. The "Within 24 Hours" Follow-Up Email

Here's my template for post-meeting follow-up (which I send within 24 hours, always):

Subject: [Event Name] Meeting Recap + Next Steps – [Date]

Hi team,

Thanks for a productive meeting yesterday. Here's what we decided and what happens next:

DECISIONS MADE:

• [Decision 1]

• [Decision 2]

• [Decision 3]

ACTION ITEMS:

Owner: Task: Due Date

Lucy: Finalize speaker lineup: Nov 20

etc.

PARKING LOT ITEMS (to address in next meeting or via separate discussion):

• [Item 1]

• [Item 2]

OPEN QUESTIONS:

• [Question we still need to resolve]

NEXT MEETING: [Date, time, purpose]

Let me know if I missed anything or if you have questions.

Thanks,
Gianna

Why this works:

• Decisions are clearly documented (no "wait, what did we decide?" confusion)

• Action items have owners and deadlines (accountability)

• Parking Lot items are acknowledged (people feel heard)

• Open questions are named (transparency about what's still uncertain)

2. The Accountability Check-In

Here's where most cross-functional meetings fail: There's no accountability mechanism between meetings.

Someone commits to delivering something by Friday. Friday comes and goes. The next meeting happens, and suddenly we're all scrambling because the thing didn't get done.

My solution: The midpoint check-in.

If action items are due in two weeks, I send a quick Slack message one week in:

"Hey team—just checking in on action items from our last meeting. How's everyone tracking? Any blockers I can help clear?"

This does two things:

1. It reminds people of their commitments

2. It surfaces issues early, when there's still time to course-correct

No one likes being checked in on. But everyone appreciates not being blindsided by missed deadlines.

Keeping the Team Motivated: The Human Element of Cross-Functional Collaboration

Okay, we've covered the tactical stuff—agendas, roles, decision frameworks. But here's what really separates good meetings from great ones: how you make people feel.

You can have the most efficient meeting process in the world, but if people leave feeling unheard, undervalued, or uninspired, you've failed.

Here's how I keep teams engaged and motivated:

1. Start with Wins

Before diving into the agenda, I always spend 3-5 minutes celebrating wins from the previous week:

"Before we jump in, I want to call out a few wins: Marco, the sponsor deck you created is phenomenal—two sponsors have already signed on. Lucy, your quick thinking on the venue issue saved us a huge headache. Priya, the event copy you drafted got rave reviews from leadership."

This takes less than five minutes and does something magical: It reminds people that progress is happening. It builds morale. It shows that you notice their contributions.

2. Give Credit Publicly, Give Feedback Privately

If someone dropped the ball on a deliverable, don't call them out in the meeting. Pull them aside afterward:

"Hey, I noticed the floor plan wasn't ready for today's discussion. What happened? How can I help?"

But when someone does great work? Broadcast it.

"Everyone, I want to pause here and acknowledge the incredible job Emma did on this. She went above and beyond, and it shows."

Gianna’s Gem: Public praise, private correction. Always.

3. End with Energy, Not Exhaustion

Most meetings end with "Okay, I think that's everything. Thanks, everyone."

Weak.

I end every meeting with:

"Alright team, we crushed it today. We made [X decisions], we're on track for [milestone], and we're building something really special here. Thanks for bringing your A-game. See you next week."

This leaves people feeling accomplished, not drained. It reminds them why their work matters. It creates momentum instead of fatigue.

The Secret Sauce: Making People Feel Like Partners, Not Pe-ons

Here's the real truth about cross-functional meetings: People don't just want to be informed. They want to be involved.

When you treat people like order-takers ("Just do what I'm telling you"), they disengage. When you treat them like partners ("I need your expertise to solve this"), they lean in.

How I do this:

Instead of: "We need the booth design by Friday."

I say: "We're trying to create an experience that feels immersive but not overwhelming. You're the design expert—what do you think would work best?"

Instead of: "Marketing wants a big activation, but we don't have budget."

I say: "Here's the challenge: Marketing's vision requires $50K more than we have. How do we deliver the impact they want within our budget constraints? Let's brainstorm."

Notice the difference? In the first version, I'm assigning tasks. In the second version, I'm enlisting problem-solvers.

Gianna's Gem: When you invite people to solve problems with you instead of for you, you unlock their best thinking—and their deepest commitment.

The Framework in Action: A Real Example

Let me show you how this all comes together with a real example from a recent event.

The Challenge: We were planning a 500-person conference with tight timelines, limited budget, and seven cross-functional teams who all had different priorities.

The Meeting Structure:

Week 1: Vision Alignment Meeting

• Purpose: Get everyone aligned on event goals and success metrics

• Outcome: Agreed-upon vision statement and top 3 priorities

• Format: I facilitated a discussion where each team shared their goals, then we identified overlaps and conflicts. By the end, we had a unified vision that everyone could rally behind.

Week 2-12: Weekly Working Sessions

• Purpose: Make decisions on venue, agenda, budget, and logistics

• Outcome: Locked decisions with clear owners

• Format: Each meeting followed the same structure: wins from last week, decisions needed this week, action items with owners and deadlines, parking lot for future discussions.

Week 13: Pre-Event All-Hands

• Purpose: Final alignment and team motivation

• Outcome: Everyone clear on their role and pumped to execute

• Format: Run-of-show walkthrough, Q&A, and a rousing "we've got this" closing.

The Result?

• Event delivered on time, on budget, on brand

• Zero last-minute scrambles or surprises

• Post-event survey: 94% of attendees rated it "excellent"

• Team morale stayed high throughout (no burnout or drama)

And here's the kicker: Multiple team members told me afterward that it was the smoothest event planning process they'd ever experienced.

Not because I'm a genius. Because I facilitated the hell out of our meetings.

Your Action Plan: Start With One Meeting

I know this feels like a lot. And you're probably thinking, "That's great for Gianna, but I don't have time to redesign my entire meeting strategy."

Fair enough.

So here's what I want you to do: Pick one upcoming meeting and try just three things:

1. Send a one-page pre-read 48 hours in advance with the meeting purpose, decisions needed, and what people should prepare.

2. Assign explicit roles at the start of the meeting: Facilitator, Decider, Notetaker, Timekeeper.

3. Send a follow-up within 24 hours with decisions, action items (with owners and deadlines), and next steps.

That's it. Three small changes.

And I promise you: your meeting will be more productive, your team will be more aligned, and you'll feel more in control.

Then, once you've experienced the difference, you can layer in the other tactics: the Parking Lot, the Two-Minute Drill, the midpoint check-ins.

Because here's what I've learned: Productive meetings aren't about working harder. They're about facilitating smarter.

And when you facilitate with intention—when you create structure, clarity, and psychological safety—magic happens.

Decisions get made. Deadlines get met. Teams stay motivated. And events get delivered with excellence.

Gianna's Gem: Your event is only as good as the meetings that planned it. Facilitate like your event depends on it—because it does.

You've got this.

XX,
Gianna

What I'm Loving This Week: And for all my favorite vendors, partners and products, visit: https://www.giannagaudini.com/gianna-recommends

Unreasonable Hospitality Dialogue Playing Cards

I’m a huge fan of playing cards to bond (current favorite is five card draw poker with my son) and also am famous for having conversations in my purse with me at all times for when you need to facilitate some engagement (I use them with my son’s friends all the time!)

Imagine my delight when I  discovered these stunning playing cards that double as conversation card decks from Will Guidara's Unreasonable Hospitality… they've become my instant favorite for creating meaningful connection at events—and even at home.

Here's why I love them: They're beautifully designed conversation starters that go way beyond surface-level small talk. Each “royal” card poses a thoughtful question designed to spark genuine dialogue and connection. I've been using them at dinner parties, team offsites, and even networking receptions to help people move past "So, what do you do?" and into real conversations. Sometimes I let the guests discover that there are convo cards and other times I advise about how to use them. 

The questions range from reflective ("What's a lesson you learned the hard way?") to playful ("What's your most unpopular opinion?") to aspirational ("What would you do if you knew you couldn't fail?"). They're the perfect tool for event planners who want to facilitate authentic connections without forcing awkward icebreakers.

I keep a deck in my bag for impromptu gatherings, and I've gifted several sets to clients who want to elevate their event experiences. At just $30, they're a game-changer for creating the kind of conversations people remember long after your event ends. Check them out here: https://www.unreasonablehospitality.com/products/dialogues-playing-cards

Because the best events aren't just well-planned—they're well-connected.

Gianna Gaudini is an event strategist, advisor, and author of the Amazon bestselling book "The Art of Event Planning." She's held leadership roles at Google, AWS, SoftBank Vision Fund, and Airtable, creating unforgettable experiences that drive business results. For more insights on creating exceptional events, visit GiannaGaudini.com or connect with her on LinkedIn.

Interested in having your event or venue featured in Gianna's Gems? Reach out at gianna@gaudini.com

Gianna's Gem: Nervous System Regulation- the Secret Weapon Event Planners and Their Attendees Need

Hi there,

Last week, I had one of those conversations that stops you in your tracks. I’ve wanted to write about nervous system regulation for a while and this conversation convinced me of the need to share about why it can be a life strategy and also a business strategy you may never have considered but need to if you want durability…in your own life, and in your business.

I was catching up with an industry colleague who just finished running her company's activation at AWS re:Invent…you know, that 60,000-person conference I've written about before that's essentially Disneyland meets the Super Bowl for tech folks.

"Gianna," she said, "re:Invent is always such an assault on the nervous system. The crowds, the noise, the overstimulation, the constant 'on' energy... by day three, everyone (attendees AND our booth staff) is always completely fried." I agreed with her, commiserating about this week-after-Thanksgiving assault of the nervous system (Vegas, crowds, holidays) during the busiest time of the year.

Then she told me something brilliant.

This year, her company partnered with a client to create something different: a nervous system regulation lounge right on the expo floor. In the tech world of grind-culture, this was a HUGE RISK, but it resonated deeply with attendees and booth staff and was a wild success! Not another branded booth with product demos and lead capture forms. An actual sanctuary designed specifically to help people downshift from sympathetic (fight-or-flight) to parasympathetic (rest-and-digest) nervous system states when they needed it most. For anyone who’s tried to catch an Uber during this event just to get back to your hotel room for a 15 minute meditation or disco nap, and found the wait to be an hour, you know what I mean!

The results? Wildly successful with attendees who literally queued up to experience some relief! But here's what really caught my attention: her booth staff reported that after spending time in the regulation lounge during their breaks, they felt calmer, more grounded, and had more strategic, meaningful conversations with prospects, which directly drove better business results.

Let me say that again: Creating space for nervous system regulation didn't just feel good. It drove revenue. MIND. BLOWN. 

We can take care of ourselves and win the business too!

This conversation crystallized something I've been thinking about for years but haven't yet written about: the absolute necessity of nervous system regulation—both for us as event and tech professionals navigating high-stress industries, and for the attendees we're designing experiences for.

The Science: What Your Nervous System Is Actually Doing (And Why It Matters)

Before we dive into solutions, let's talk about what's happening in your body when you're planning that conference, managing that crisis, or standing on an expo floor for 10 hours straight.

Your autonomic nervous system has two main branches:

The Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS) is your accelerator. It activates when you perceive threat or stress, triggering the famous fight-or-flight response. Heart rate increases. Cortisol and adrenaline flood your system. Blood flow redirects from your digestive system and prefrontal cortex (the part of your brain responsible for complex thinking, emotional regulation, and decision-making) to your muscles. You become hyper-vigilant, reactive, and focused on survival.

The Parasympathetic Nervous System (PNS) is your brake. It activates during safety and calm, triggering rest-and-digest mode. Heart rate slows. Cortisol drops. Blood flow returns to your digestive system and prefrontal cortex. You can think clearly, make strategic decisions, connect authentically with others, and access your creativity.

Here's the problem: modern event planning (and attending intensely stimulating events) keeps us in chronic SNS activation.

Tight deadlines. Budget pressures. Last-minute vendor changes. Stakeholder demands. Technology failures. And for attendees? Overwhelming crowds. Sensory overload. Back-to-back sessions. FOMO about missing the "right" networking opportunity. The pressure to be "on" and perform.

When your Sympathetic Nervous System is chronically activated, several things happen:

• Your decision-making deteriorates. That prefrontal cortex shutdown means you're operating from your reptilian brain—reactive instead of strategic.

• Your creativity evaporates. Innovation requires the cognitive space that SNS activation eliminates.

• Your emotional regulation fails. You snap at your team. You catastrophize problems. You lose perspective.

• Your body breaks down. Chronic cortisol wreaks havoc on everything from your immune system to your sleep quality to your digestive health.

• Your relationships suffer. When you're in fight-or-flight, you can't attune to others. Authentic connection becomes impossible.

And here's what hit me hardest about my colleague's story: If this is true for us as planners, it's equally true for our attendees.

The Event Planner Paradox: We're Dysregulated While Designing Experiences

Let's get real for a moment. How many of you have:

• Responded to an email at 11 PM while your heart was racing about tomorrow's site visit?

• Eaten lunch standing up in three minutes between back-to-back calls or skipped it completely or…eaten but not really felt like you were aware of eating?

• Felt your chest tighten when you saw your inbox hit 150+ unread messages?

• Had trouble falling asleep because your brain was spinning through the event run-of-show?

• Snapped at your partner/kids/team because you were stretched so thin?

• Felt simultaneously exhausted and wired, unable to truly relax even on "off" days?

This isn't just stress. This is nervous system dysregulation. And it's not sustainable.

I learned this the hard way. During my years at Google, Softbank, AWS, Airtable… I was executing flawlessly on the outside while slowly burning out on the inside. I was checking every box, meeting every deadline, exceeding every expectation—while my body was screaming for me to slow down. 

The wake up call came for me when I was trying to conceive my son. After multiple costly failed attempted to conceive, including rounds of IVF, I finally caved and took a full month of unused vacation time to see if that would help. Sure enough, that’s when I conceived.  My work kept me in such a state of chronic fight or flight, I needed a full month “off” from work for my body to feel safe enough to carry a child.

Was it a heart attack? No. It was a panic attack—my nervous system finally waving the white flag after months of chronic activation.

That moment changed everything for me. I realized that my "I'll rest after this event" mentality was fundamentally broken. Because in this industry, there's always another event. Another deadline. Another crisis. Another email waiting to be responded to…

Gianna's Gem: You cannot pour from an empty nervous system. The quality of the experiences you create is directly related to the state of your own regulation.

Why Tech and VC Professionals Need This Even More

If you're reading this and working in tech, venture capital, or similarly high-velocity industries, you're facing a perfect storm of nervous system stressors:

• Constant Context-Switching: Moving between Slack, email, Zoom, Notion, pitch decks, and product demos keeps your brain in a state of fragmented attention that's neurologically exhausting.

• Always-On Culture: The expectation that you're available across time zones, responding to messages at all hours, attending "optional" evening events that aren't really optional.

• High-Stakes Decision-Making: Whether you're deciding which startup to fund or which product feature to prioritize, the cognitive load is immense—and it's happening while your nervous system is already taxed.

• FOMO and Competitive Pressure: The fear that you're missing the next big thing, that your competitor just closed a deal you should have seen, that you're not networking enough/shipping fast enough/scaling quickly enough.

• Event Overload: Between investor dinners, demo days, conference activations, team offsites, customer events, and industry gatherings, you're constantly "on"—performing, pitching, connecting.

The result? An entire industry of brilliant people operating from dysregulated nervous systems, making suboptimal decisions while wondering why they feel simultaneously exhausted and anxious.

The Nervous System Regulation Lounge: A Case Study

Let me paint you a picture of what my colleague created with with her client at reInvent.

Walking into AWS re:Invent's expo hall is like walking into sensory chaos. Flashing lights. Competing music and booth “teaching theaters” blaring content. Thousands of conversations happening simultaneously. Booth staff shouting demos. The constant buzz of opportunity and overwhelm.

And then: an oasis. The “nervous system reset lounge” was designed with intention at every level:

Sensory Design:

• Soft, warm lighting (no harsh fluorescents)

• Sound dampening materials to reduce the chaos of the expo floor

• Comfortable seating that actually supported the body

• Plants and natural elements to trigger biophilic responses

• A water feature providing gentle white noise

Regulation Activities:

• Guided breathwork sessions every 30 minutes

• A quiet meditation corner with cushions and noise-canceling headphones

• Gentle stretching and movement prompts displayed on screens

• Grounding activities (like a sand zen garden)

• Hydration station with herbal teas and infused water

Time Structure:

• A cubby to “check and charge” your devices so you won’t have distraction and also get a nice recharge for your phone while you’re recharging your own batteries. Optional option to have a staff member come get you after a set amount tof time has passed so you can relax stress-free.

• Gentle encouragement to stay for at least 10 minutes (research shows it takes approximately 10 minutes to shift from SNS to PNS activation)

• No pressure to engage with product information or sales staff

• No sales messaging, just light branding that enticed people to learn more just because it was so unobtrusive.

Here's what happened:

For Attendees:

• People literally lined up to enter during peak expo hours (there was a “notify me” option so people didn’t have to stand in line and get more stressed when this happened)

• The average stay time was 17 minutes—in an environment where most booth interactions last under 3 minutes

• Attendees reported feeling "reset," "grounded," and "able to focus again"

• Social sharing was organic and enthusiastic—people genuinely wanted others to know about this space

• Brand affinity skyrocketed (more on this in a moment)

For Booth Staff:

• Team members who took regulation breaks reported feeling less frazzled and more present leading to…

• More strategic conversations (fewer rushed pitches, more listening and understanding)

• Their ability to read prospects improved (when you're regulated, you can attune to others)

• They closed more qualified leads because they were operating from their prefrontal cortex instead of survival mode

• End-of-day energy levels were significantly higher than previous years

For Business Results:

• Higher quality lead capture (people who were genuinely interested vs. people grabbing swag)

• Increased time spent with prospects (those strategic conversations)

• Better brand perception ("This company actually cares about my wellbeing")

• Measurable pipeline from conversations that happened in calmer, more grounded states

Gianna's Gem: When you help people regulate their nervous systems, they associate your brand with safety, care, and genuine value—not just products and pitches.

What Nervous System Regulation Looks Like for Event Planners

Okay, so you're convinced this matters. But how do you actually regulate your nervous system when you're in the thick of event planning?

Here are the practices that have transformed my own planning process and kept me sane through some of the most demanding events of my career:

1. The Morning Non-Negotiable

Before I dive into my to-do list, I spend 10 minutes regulating my nervous system. This isn't a luxury, it's the foundation that makes everything else that will happen that day so much more manageable and my priorities so much clearer.

My ritual:

• 2-5 minutes of breathwork (4-count inhale, 8-count exhale activates the vagus nerve and shifts you into parasympathetic mode) 

• 5 minutes of gentle stretching or yoga

• 5 minutes of journaling intentions for the day

Why it works: You're training your nervous system to start the day from a grounded place instead of immediately spiking into stress mode. This baseline regulation carries through your entire day.

The resistance you'll face: "I don't have 15 minutes!" Here's the truth: you're going to spend those 15 minutes somewhere—either proactively regulating, or reactively managing the mistakes, miscommunications, and meltdowns that happen when you operate from dysregulation.

2. The Micro-Regulation Breaks

You can't sustain regulation through 8+ hours of back-to-back meetings and crisis management. You need strategic breaks throughout the day.

Every 90 minutes, I take 5 minutes to:

• Step outside (even just to a window) and get natural light

• Do a body scan (notice where I'm holding tension)

• Take 10 deep breaths

• Stretch my neck, shoulders, and back

• Drink water (dehydration increases cortisol)

Why it works: These micro-breaks prevent the accumulation of stress. You're resetting your baseline instead of letting dysregulation compound throughout the day.

Pro tip: Set calendar reminders (or another mechanism that will enable you to remember your intention). Otherwise, you'll get sucked into the vortex and realize at 6 PM that you haven't moved or breathed properly all day.

3. The Sacred Lunch break

I know, I know—lunch is when you "should" be networking, squeezing in one more call, or powering through emails.

But here's what I discovered: when I protect even 20 minutes for lunch for actual nourishment and regulation, my afternoon productivity skyrockets.

My lunch protocol:

• Eat sitting down (not at my desk)

• Put my phone away completely

• Chew slowly and actually taste my food

• Take a 10-minute walk after eating

Why it works: Your digestive system only works properly in parasympathetic mode. When you eat while stressed (SNS activation), your body can't properly digest—leading to energy crashes, brain fog, and that horrible "wired but tired" feeling.

Plus, that midday reset prevents the 3 PM crash that has you reaching for your fourth coffee while making increasingly poor decisions.

4. The Transition Ritual

One of the hardest parts of event planning is the constant context-switching between strategic thinking, vendor management, stakeholder communication, budget reviews, and creative design.

I developed transition rituals between major tasks:

Before switching contexts:

• Close all unnecessary tabs and applications

• Take three deep breaths

• Set an intention for the next task

• Clear my physical space

Why it works: Research shows it takes approximately 23 minutes to fully focus on a complex task after switching. These micro-rituals reduce that cognitive switching cost and help you arrive fully present.

5. The Boundary Enforcement

This one's hard, but it's essential: you must create boundaries around your availability.

My boundaries:

• No work emails after 8:30 PM or before 7 AM

• One full day per weekend completely offline (admittedly still working on this)

• No working on phone during time with my son

Why it works: Your nervous system needs genuine recovery time to restore. If you're always "on call," you're training your system to stay in low-level SNS activation even during supposed downtime.

The pushback you'll get: "But what if there's an emergency?"

The reality: In 15+ years of event planning, I can count on one hand the number of true emergencies that required immediate response outside business hours. Everything else can wait until morning—and your rested, regulated brain will handle it better anyway.

Gianna's Gem: Boundaries aren't selfish—they're the prerequisite for sustainable excellence. You cannot serve others from depletion.

6. The Movement Integration

Sitting in meetings and hunched over computers creates physical tension that dysregulates your nervous system. Movement is one of the fastest ways to release that stored stress.

What works for me:

• Walking meetings whenever I don’t need to be reviewing something at my computer (I'm convinced I have better conversations when moving as I’m less distracted by my screen)

• Stretch breaks between calls (yes, really—put on one song and move)

• Evening yoga or stretching routine before bed when possible

• Weekend hikes to reset in nature with my family

Why it works: Movement metabolizes stress hormones. When you're stuck in your head and your body, you're trapping cortisol and adrenaline. Movement releases it. Nature also helps reduce cortisol, ground us and see the bigger picture.

Designing Nervous System-Friendly Events: A New Framework

Now let's talk about what this means for the events you're creating.

If nervous system regulation matters for you as the planner, it matters exponentially more for your attendees—because they're experiencing all the stressors of the event without the benefit of having designed it.

Think about the typical conference experience from a nervous system perspective:

Sympathetic Activation Triggers:

• Overwhelming crowds and noise

• Back-to-back sessions with no processing time

• FOMO about missing sessions or networking opportunities

• Constant stimulation (bright lights, loud music, competing demands for attention)

• Pressure to be "on" and performative

• Lack of quiet space or privacy

• Poor food choices (sugar and caffeine spikes, no real nutrition)

• Uncomfortable seating and physical exhaustion

• Information overload with no integration time

The result? By day two, your attendees are operating from survival mode. Their prefrontal cortex is offline. They're making poor decisions about which sessions to attend. They're having surface-level conversations because they don't have the capacity for depth. They're consuming content without retaining it.

And then we wonder why event ROI is hard to measure.

Here's the paradigm shift: What if we designed events specifically to support nervous system regulation instead of accidentally sabotaging it?

The Nervous System-Friendly Event: Practical Design Principles

1. Build in Genuine Recovery Time

The problem: We pack agendas wall-to-wall because we think more content = more value.

The reality: Attendees retain only 10-20% of content from back-to-back sessions with no processing time. With strategic breaks and integration periods, retention jumps to 40-50%.

What to do instead:

• Schedule 30-minute breaks between major sessions (not 10-minute bathroom sprints)

• Create dedicated "integration hours" where attendees can choose their own adventure: attend optional workshops, explore quietly, have one-on-one conversations, or literally just decompress

• Design your final session to end by 4 PM, giving people time to process before evening networking

• Build in a "pause and reflect" ritual after powerful keynotes (3-5 minutes of guided reflection)

What happens: Attendees actually absorb and integrate what they're learning. They return to sessions ready to engage rather than mentally exhausted. And paradoxically, they report getting MORE value from fewer sessions.

2. Create Restorative Zones Throughout Your Venue

Taking a page from my colleague's lounge, every event should have designated spaces for nervous system regulation.

Essential elements:

• Quiet Zone: Soft lighting, comfortable seating, sound dampening, no screens or networking expectations. Just space to be.

• Movement Zone: Gentle stretching guides, yoga mats, or even a simple walking path

• Sensory Regulation: Plants, natural materials, water features, calming scents

• Nourishment Station: Healthy snacks (not just coffee and cookies), herbal teas, infused water

• Technology Breaks: Phone-free zones or "phone parking" stations

Pro tip: Make these spaces visible and inviting, not hidden away like a shameful secret. Normalize the need for regulation by designing it prominently into your event flow.

What attendees will say: "This was the most thoughtful event I've attended. I actually had the space to think and connect meaningfully."

3. Rethink Your Sensory Environment

Most events assault the senses, assuming that "high energy" equals "good experience." But overstimulation dysregulates nervous systems.

Lighting:

• Natural light whenever possible (our circadian rhythms respond to it)

• Warm, soft lighting for registration and common areas (not harsh fluorescents)

• Dimmable options for different times of day

• Avoid strobing or rapidly flashing lights that can trigger stress responses

Sound:

• Intentional music choices (research shows certain tempos and frequencies regulate nervous systems)

• Sound dampening in high-traffic areas

• Quiet zones that are actually quiet

• Mindful volume levels (if people have to shout, it's too loud)

Smell:

• Fresh air circulation and outdoor spaces/lounges

• Subtle, calming scents (lavender, eucalyptus, citrus)

• Avoid overwhelming air fresheners or food smells

Touch:

• Comfortable, supportive seating (your attendees' backs will thank you)

• Temperature control (slightly cool is better than too warm) and blankets for those who may need extra warmth 

• Quality materials that feel good (tablecloths, name badge lanyards, swag items)

Gianna's Gem: Your sensory environment is constantly sending signals to attendees' nervous systems. Design it intentionally to signal safety and care, not chaos and overstimulation.

4. Upgrade Your Food Strategy

Food is one of the most overlooked nervous system regulation tools at events.

The typical approach: Sugar laden pastries for breakfast, heavy carb-loaded lunch, endless coffee, afternoon cookies, evening alcohol. This creates a blood sugar and cortisol roller coaster that dysregulates everyone.

The regulated approach:

• Protein-rich breakfast options (not just muffins and bagels)

• Balanced, nourishing lunch with real vegetables and quality vegetarian and animal protein options

• Healthy snack stations throughout the day (nuts, fresh fruit, veggie sticks with hummus)

• Hydration emphasis (herbal teas, infused water, coconut water—not just coffee and soda)

• Mindful non-alcohol service (quality over quantity with booze, mocktails that aren’t pure sugar and include adaptogens, with substantial food always available)

Why it matters: When blood sugar crashes, cortisol spikes. When attendees are dehydrated, cognitive function declines. When they're surviving on caffeine and sugar, they're in SNS activation.

Feed them well, and you're literally supporting their nervous system regulation.

5. Design Connection, Not Just Networking

Traditional networking creates SNS activation for most people (especially introverts). The pressure to perform, make small talk with strangers, and "work the room" is exhausting.

What to do instead:

• Structured connection activities with clear prompts (reduces social anxiety)

• Small group conversations facilitated by hosts (eliminates the "lost in a crowd" feeling)

• Shared experiences that create natural bonding (like my poker tournament example from the last Gem)

• "Introvert-friendly" zones where deep one-on-one conversations are encouraged

• Post-session integration circles where small groups discuss what they learned

What happens: Authentic connections form. People feel seen and valued rather than reduced to a badge scan. And paradoxically, business outcomes improve because relationships built from regulation are stronger than those built from stress.

6. Open with Regulation, Close with Integration

The opening ritual: Instead of immediately diving into content, start your event with a collective regulation practice.

Examples:

• 5 minutes of guided breathwork to help everyone arrive fully

• A mindful moment acknowledging the transition from "outside world" to "event space"

• Gentle movement or stretching to release travel tension

• A gratitude practice or intention-setting exercise

Why it works: You're creating a collective nervous system baseline. Everyone starts from the same grounded place instead of bringing their stressed-out travel energy into your opening session.

The closing ritual: Don't just end with "thanks for coming!" Create space for integration.

Examples:

• Guided breathwork or visualisation to start a session

• Reflection prompts ("What's one insight you're taking from today?")

• Journaling time with beautiful notecards that attendees can mail to themselves in six months

• A closing circle where people share their key takeaway

• A gentle transition ritual that honors the experience and prepares people to return to regular life

What attendees will feel: A sense of completion and integration rather than abrupt disconnection. They'll leave feeling nourished instead of depleted.

The Business Case for Nervous System Regulation

Let's talk ROI, because I know you're thinking: "This all sounds lovely, Gianna, but what about the bottom line?"

Here's what research (and my colleague's GitHub lounge) demonstrates:

When attendees' nervous systems are regulated:

• Retention increases dramatically. They actually remember your content instead of experiencing it in a fog.

• Engagement deepens. Regulated nervous systems can access curiosity, creativity, and genuine interest—not just surface-level participation.

• Decision-making improves. When their prefrontal cortex is online, they can evaluate your solutions strategically rather than reactively.

• Brand affinity soars. You become associated with care, safety, and genuine value—not just another vendor.

• Word-of-mouth amplifies. People don't rave about "another conference." They rave about "the event that actually cared about my wellbeing."

• Sales conversations improve. Your booth staff and sales team, operating from regulated nervous systems, can listen better, attune to needs, and close more strategic deals.

• Employee retention strengthens. Your event team doesn't burn out and leave the industry (or your company).

Gianna's Gem: Nervous system regulation isn't a nice-to-have wellness add-on. It's a strategic business decision that drives measurable outcomes.

Watch what happens. Notice how you feel as a planner. Notice how attendees respond. Collect feedback. Iterate.

Excellence isn't built in grand gestures—it's built in the accumulation of small, intentional choices that honor human nervous systems rather than overwhelm them.

The Bigger Picture: Events as Agents of Change

Here's what excites me most about this conversation: we have the opportunity to model a different way of working.

If tech and VC are facing a burnout epidemic (and all data suggests they are), and if our events are microcosms of our industry culture, then we can use events to show people what regulated, sustainable, human-centered work looks like.

When you create a nervous system-friendly event, you're not just making attendees comfortable. You're teaching them that:

• Rest is productive, not lazy

• Boundaries are professional, not selfish

• Regulation is strategic, not indulgent

• Humanity belongs in business

And when they return to their companies carrying that experience, they might just start asking: "Why don't we design our workplaces like that event designed their experience?"

That's the real ROI: events as agents of cultural change.

A Personal Note

I'm writing this from a place of hard-won wisdom. I spent years operating from a dysregulated nervous system, believing that was just "the cost of excellence."

The truth is, I wasn't excellent when I was dysregulated. I was surviving.

Durable Excellence came when I learned to regulate. When I protected my nervous system as fiercely as I protected my event budgets and timelines. When I designed events that honored human biology instead of fighting it.

The nervous system regulation lounge story reminded me of something crucial: the experiences we create for others begin with the state we create for ourselves.

You cannot design creatively from chaos. You cannot create connection from depletion. You cannot offer presence when you're barely holding it together.

So this Gem is an invitation—to yourself first, and then to your attendees:

What if we stopped glorifying exhaustion and started celebrating regulation?

What if we measured success not just by attendance numbers, but by how nourished people felt?

What if we used our events to model the sustainable, human-centered future we want to see in our industries?

The nervous system regulation revolution starts with you. In your morning ritual. In your lunch break. In your event design choices. In your willingness to say "my wellbeing matters, and so does yours."

Because here's what I know for sure: the future of events isn't about more content, more stimulation, more overwhelm.

It's about creating the conditions for human nervous systems to thrive—so that genuine learning, authentic connection, and strategic thinking can emerge.

And that future? It's being built one regulated breath, one quiet room, one nourishing meal, one mindful moment at a time.

Welcome to the revolution.

XX,

Gianna

What I'm loving this week: And for all my favorite vendors, partners and products, visit: https://www.giannagaudini.com/gianna-recommends

Cirque du Soleil ECHO, San Francisco

I took my family to see Cirque du Soleil's ECHO this past weekend, and I'm still thinking about the artistry and experience design days later. This production is a masterclass in creating immersive, multi-sensory experiences that honor the audience's journey from start to finish.

What stood out to me: 

The Thoughtful Welcome: As we entered the main tent, my son was immediately handed a booster seat—unprompted, unasked. This tiny gesture set the tone for the entire experience: "We've thought about you. We want you to see everything." That's nervous system regulation in action: anticipating needs before they become stressors.

Projection Mapping Excellence: The use of projection mapping wasn't just technical wizardry—it was storytelling. The cube structure transformed seamlessly throughout the show, creating infinite worlds within one space. As event designers, we often focus on physical set pieces, but ECHO demonstrates how technology can create emotional impact and narrative flow without overwhelming the senses. This one structural element served multiple purposes throughout the show, constantly surprising while maintaining coherent design. This is exactly what we should be doing with event spaces: designing elements that transform and reveal new dimensions rather than cluttering with more "stuff."

Experience Value: Here's what really matters: my son (who's 8) didn't check out once during the 90-minute show. No fidgeting. No "when is it over?" whispers. He was completely absorbed, because Cirque understood pacing, created moments of wonder, and respected the audience's attention span with varied acts and intentional transitions. They even leveraged the clowns from the show to “warm up the crowd” and create humor and intrigue while we waited for the show to begin. He loved them more than any of the acrobats!

The Takeaway for Event Planners: ECHO reminded me that the best experiences layer multiple elements (acrobatics, music, projection, narrative) in service of one cohesive story. They don't overstimulate—they guide your attention with precision. They create rhythm: moments of intensity balanced by moments of breath.That's exactly what nervous system-friendly events do: they orchestrate stimulation and regulation, energy and rest, spectacle and space.

If you're in the Bay Area and want to see world-class experience design in action, catch ECHO before it moves on. And bring your kids—they'll thank you for it.

Gianna's Gem: How to Take Your Events to the Next Level

Hi there, and happy 2026!

I’m having a lot of conversations with clients who want to take their events to the next level - this is awesome! I love that events are back and there’s a desire to continue to optimize them. I wanted to share some of the secret sauce more broadly with you gems in hopes that it will give you some food for thought as you start planning what your event strategy looks like in 2026…

By now, if you’re reading this, you’ve likely nailed the basics. You’ve got your planning documents lined up, your venue locked in or contract in progress, and you know exactly what your stakeholders need. That’s the foundation—and it’s critical.

But here’s where the magic happens: once the logistics are sorted, the real question becomes

How do you make this event unforgettable?

Because here’s the hard truth: your event can be flawlessly executed down to the last detail, but if your audience walks away bored, disengaged, or—worse—disappointed, you’ve missed a massive opportunity. Usually an expensive one.

The difference between good event planners and legendary ones? They never settle. They push beyond the paint-by-numbers approach and tap into creativity to craft something extraordinary. And that’s exactly what I want to help you do.

1. Master the Art of Surprise and Delight

Here’s my challenge to you: For every event—from intimate birthday parties to massive corporate conferences—aim to surprise and delight each attendee at least once.

The most memorable events are the ones you can’t stop talking about. Science backs this up: our brains are wired to remember novel, surprising stimuli. That’s why you’ll never forget your first trip to your favorite city, but visits five and six blur together.

The element of surprise gives your events that prized place in people’s memories. But I’m not talking about any surprise—I’m talking about moments of delight that make people say

“Well that’s clever!” or “I can’t believe they went to such lengths!”

Real-World Example: While at Google, I faced one of my most stressful requests ever. A top exec who was passionate about aviation wanted to skydive into our executive retreat’s welcome reception. We pulled it off (though it gave me my first gray hairs in my 30s), and the impact was incredible. It showed his human, playful side and got attendees excited in ways no icebreaker ever could. I still remember him showing me how he had to duct tape his loafers to his feet since he forgot to change into his sneakers - talk about a humanizing and humorous exchange after such a daring feat!

Another time, when Google’s self-driving cars were brand new, we secured test drives for our event—but could only accommodate a handful of people during lunch. To make it equitable, I hid golden tickets Willy Wonka-style under random seats. Before lunch, we announced everyone should check their chairs. Nobody felt left out because it was completely random, and the lucky winners had an unforgettable experience.

2. Create Smooth Transitions (Adults Are Just Tall Toddlers)

If you have kids, you know how challenging transitions can be. Here’s a secret: adults aren’t much different. You need to give them compelling reasons to move and make the transition enticing.

My wedding story: At a certain point during cocktail hour, my dad appeared brandishing a real saber. Everyone wondered what was happening as he corralled guests for the toast wielding what was more or less a sword. Then he raised the “sword” and used it to saber a champagne bottle—distributing champagne to guests in glasses bearing their table numbers. A potentially awkward transition became one of the wedding’s most memorable moments - the male guests couldn’t stop talking ot my Dad and asking questions about how he learned this trick.

Other transition tactics:

• Hire a local marching band to parade attendees into the general session

• Use a sleight-of-hand artist as a “Pied Piper” to lead people to the next venue

• Play energizing pump-up music or make dramatic announcements

• Deploy food (the ultimate motivator)—ice cream carts, churro stations, popcorn, anything mobile that people will follow

The golden rule: Always pull your audience toward the next experience. Never push them.

3. Eliminate Pain Points Before They Happen

Great events anticipate attendee needs before they arise. This means thinking through every possible friction point in the attendee journey.

Start with the basics:

• Clear signage (people shouldn’t have to search for anything)

• Comfortable seating (invest in quality chairs for long sessions)

• Temperature control (always err on the side of slightly cool)

• Accessible power outlets and WiFi that actually works

• Dietary accommodations clearly labeled and plentiful and strategically placed to minimize wait time and lines

• Quiet spaces for people to meditate and recharge

Pro tip: About a week before your event, conduct a deep-dive attendee journey audit. Walk through every single touchpoint and ask:

“What could go wrong here? How can we make this smoother?” It’s not always fun, but it works. Every. Single. Time.

4. Design for All the Senses: 

The best events engage all five senses, not just sight and sound.

Sound: Give your event its own soundtrack. Background music during arrivals can energize or calm attendees. Walk-on music for speakers sets the tone. Think about how music transforms movies—your event deserves the same treatment.

Smell: Hotels spend millions on signature scents. You can use fresh pine to invigorate, or fresh-baked cookies to lure people to your booth. I’ve even created signature scents for events and given take-home candles to guests.

Taste: Food creates powerful emotional responses. Ask yourself: Do I want energizing food? Comfort food? Communal sharing? I once attended an evening keynote where guests were served champagne and caviar as they entered the general session—immediately setting an elevated, celebratory tone for the entire conference.  I’ve also had wild success with cooking demos that captivate the senses and also are great at team building (like baking bread or making pizza in a woodfired oven).

Touch & Sight: Consider everything from the texture of materials to lighting that shifts throughout the day. These details compound to create an immersive experience that feels luxurious, relaxing, brings the outdoors in, or sets the right tone you’re evoking.

5. Evoke Intentional Emotions

Speaking of evoking - Surprise and delight should be first on your priority list, but they can’t be the only emotions your attendees experience. The best planners understand how to tap into the full range of human emotions.

Remember: Actions are inspired by emotions. If you want attendees to follow through on your call to action, identify what you want them to feel—this will influence what they think and do.

Nostalgia is incredibly powerful. Sequoia’s camping-themed CEO retreat taps into summer camp memories. WIZ’s booths always feature nostalgic references like Blockbuster video or a Sleepover party. Salesforce’s Trailhead events use camping themes complete with animals and projection-mapped waterfalls. When I need to evoke nostalgia, I host s’mores-making dessert receptions around a campfire—it reminds people of storytelling as kids and helps them bond.

Excitement and celebration can be created through unexpected elements—like that champagne and caviar entrance I mentioned earlier.

Trust and comfort are built through clear communication, comfortable spaces, and attention to attendee well-being.

The Bottom Line

Taking events from good to legendary isn’t about having a bigger budget or more resources. It’s about never settling for good. It’s about thinking beyond the checklist to create moments that surprise, transitions that delight, and experiences that engage all the senses.

Start with one thing. Pick one element from this list and implement it at your next event. Then build from there. Excellence isn’t built in grand gestures—it’s built in the accumulation of small, intentional choices.

The secret to life-changing, maybe even world-changing events? Simplify how much you’re doing, and take the RIGHT moments from ordinary to extraordinary. 

And now you’ve got a few techniques to do exactly that.

XX,

Gianna

What I’m loving this week: And as a reminder, you can find all my favorite partners and products here.

Inspiration for the new year from the soul: I met David Fischette at a BizBash Leaders Summit in Puerto Rico several years ago and was instantly drawn to his energy. He has a style and charisma about him that is magnetic and we went on to become industry friends and partners. I was thrilled to purchase his first book which is the perfect antidote to the winter doldrums - a bone broth for the soul. Hello, Fine Friends is a collection of real-life reflections, with each short chapter capturing a moment of wonder, gratitude, vulnerability, or revelation — the kind that often passes unnoticed in the rush of life.

This book is a companion for the quiet moments, which I am embracing in January — a collection you can open anywhere and always find something that meets you right where you are. Every story stands alone, yet together they reveal a journey of creativity, friendship, and personal growth. Each piece invites you to pause, reflect, and ask yourself how you might see, feel, or respond differently in your own life. These are simple stories about ordinary days, offered in hopes that they might spark extraordinary thoughts.

---

Gianna Gaudini is an event strategist, advisor, and author of the Amazon bestselling book “The Art of Event Planning.” She’s held leadership roles at Google, AWS, SoftBank Vision Fund, and Airtable, creating unforgettable experiences that drive business results. For more insights on creating exceptional events, visit GiannaGaudini.com or connect with her on LinkedIn.

Interested in having your product or venue featured in Gianna’s Gems? Reach out at gianna@gaudini.com