Hi there,

During this hectic holiday week, I want to take a pause to talk about mindfulness. If you’re like most parents (or people for that matter), December can become a blur of holiday parties, closing out year end work projects and EOY planning, gift buying, wrapping, and moving that adorable Elf on the Shelf around every night…

Let me tell you about something I discovered while wrapping gifts this past week—something that sounds counterintuitive in our optimize-everything culture but that might just be the most radical practice you can adopt as an event planner (or honestly, as a human being trying to thrive rather than just survive).

In our current world—especially the of us who plan events for a living —we're masterclass multitaskers. We're listening to podcasts while working out or doing errands. Talking on the phone while gift-wrapping or cooking. Responding to slack, whatsapp and texts while in a Zoom meeting or in the carpool line. We've optimized every moment, convinced that doing two (or three, or five) things simultaneously equals productivity. We wear our busyness like a badge of honor (not admitting that I know this from experience!).

But this past week, I tried something different. I had the intention of being more mindful—of slowing down and doing one thing at a time, even for just a few minutes each day.

Gianna’s Gem: In a world that moves too quickly, the ultimate trick for slowing down time is to be mindful and savor every minute.

The Gift Wrapping Meditation

I usually outsource gift-wrapping, and have recommended this approach to others in the past—it's efficient, it saves time, and honestly, I've always told myself I'd rather spend the time with my son, enjoying the holiday magic, rather than wrapping gifts for him and others. But this year, I decided to wrap half the gifts myself. And something unexpected happened.

While wrapping, I found it was almost like meditation. Sure, it took more time. Yes, it took me away from my computer and my endless to-do list. But it also helped me slow down. To be creative with ribbons, decorations, handwriting, and paper. With my hands engaged and nothing but soft Christmas jazz playing, I became reflective at the end of a long day. And most surprisingly? I actually really enjoyed the calm quiet of it to actually check in with my thoughts and feelings.

Each crease in the paper became intentional. Each ribbon curl required presence and I savored the beautiful output at the end of each creative iteration. I wasn't thinking about tomorrow's client call or tonight's dinner prep. I was just... wrapping a gift. Fully present. Completely focused on the gratitude I have for life.

And you know what? When my family and friends unwrapped the gifts, I felt that much more connected to the experience having lovingly used my time, CHOSEN to spend my time on them.

Savoring the Season (Without a Screen)

I've also been trying to consciously put my phone down and look around to savor this time of year. To actually see the holiday lights instead of photographing them for Instagram. To feel the winter air and smell the pine needles instead of rushing through the day to get to the next task.

Am I perfect at this? Far from it. But that's why they call it a mindfulness practice—because it's exactly that: a daily practice. And the more you do it, the easier it gets to tap into the present.

Which means you actually enjoy life more. You remember the things that matter. And here's what really surprised me: I find I'm actually better at the tasks I need to get done once I tend to them with 100% engagement.

Why Multitasking Is Making You Worse at Everything

Here's something that'll make you rethink your next Zoom-while-Slacking session: neuroscience has definitively proven that multitasking is a myth. What we think of as multitasking is actually rapid task-switching, and every switch has a cognitive cost.

Studies show that when you multitask, your IQ drops by an average of 10 points—putting you at the cognitive level of someone who's just pulled an all-nighter. Your error rate increases by up to 50%. You retain less information and make poorer decisions. Ever hear the saying “penny-wise, pound foolish”? That embodies what happens when you multitask.

But here's the real kicker for event planners: multitasking kills creativity. That brilliant solution to your budget challenge? That innovative way to restructure your agenda? Those inspired ideas come from deep focus, not fragmented attention.

When you split your attention between multiple tasks, you're operating from your brain's shallow processing mode. You're executing, not creating. You're reacting, not strategizing then responding with intention.

Gianna's Gem: The quality of your work is directly proportional to the quality of your attention. Single-tasking isn't a luxury—it's a competitive advantage.

The Event Planner Paradox: Rushing Through Planning, Missing the Experience

As event professionals, we spend months creating experiences designed to make people feel something. To create moments worth remembering. To help attendees be present.

And then we rush through the planning process itself, multitasking our way through vendor calls while answering emails, reviewing floor plans while in stakeholder meetings, finalizing run-of-show while on another Zoom.

See the irony? We're so busy optimizing the process that we miss the very thing that makes great events possible: thoughtful, intentional, fully present planning.

The best event concepts don't come when you're juggling five things at once. They come when you sit with a problem long enough to let your brain actually work on it. When you give yourself the space to ask 'why?' instead of just executing 'what.'

My one exception: Phone calls while on walks. I am known for taking a phone call on a walk, If I don’t need to be in front of a screen (think catch up calls, check-ins). Why? Because I actually feel more engaged when I don’t have my screen open to distract me from the conversation. Plus, it gives my body some exercise and fresh air - and better health leads to better decisions and mood. Win - win!

Practicing the Pause: How to Build Mindfulness Into Your Planning Process

Okay, so you're convinced that mindfulness matters. But how do you actually practice the pause when you have three concurrent events, a dozen vendor calls, and stakeholders who expect instant responses?

Here are the practices that have transformed my planning process—and my sanity:

1. The Single-Task Power Hour

Every morning, block one hour for single-task deep work. No Slack. No email. No interruptions. Just you and one strategic task that requires your full attention. I am religious about prioritizing this time which sets up my entire day for success.

Use this hour for tasks like: strategic planning, reviewing event decks and plans, copywriting, creative brainstorming for activation concepts, complex budget modeling, thoughtful stakeholder communication, or event flow design.

Why it works: Your brain needs approximately 23 minutes to fully focus on a complex task after switching. That hour of uninterrupted focus is worth more than three hours of fragmented attention.

2. The Vendor Call Ritual

If you need to be in front of a screen rather than taking a phone call on a walk, try this: Before every vendor call, take 60 seconds to:

• Close all unnecessary tabs and applications

• Take three deep breaths (inhale 4, exhale 8 to activate parasympathetic and get our of flight or flight)

• Review what you need from this conversation

• Set an intention to be fully present

Why it works: When you're fully present in vendor conversations, you catch details you'd otherwise miss. You build better relationships. You ask better questions. And you make better decisions.

3. The Site Visit Slowdown

During site visits, resist the urge to photograph everything while simultaneously answering texts and slacks coming in. Instead:

• Put your phone in airplane mode and designate one person to be the “photographer” who isn’t also leading the attendee experience design

• Walk the space slowly, imagining the attendee experience

• Sit in different areas and actually feel the energy, hear how “live” the space is, and check the lighting

• Notice details you'd miss while multitasking: smells, sound quality, temperature, quality of furnishings, signage

Why it works: The venue insights that separate good events from great ones rarely appear in the sales packet. They come from presence and observation. This will save you countless hours later on when you’re onsite as there won’t be those “surprises” you missed when not present on your site visit.

4. The Email Batching Boundary

Stop checking email constantly. Instead, set three designated email windows each day: morning, midday, and end of day. Outside these windows, close your inbox.

When you do check email, give it your full attention. Read thoroughly. Respond thoughtfully. Don't skim while simultaneously on another task.

Why it works: Context switching between tasks can decrease your productivity by up to 40%. Batching similar tasks (like email) reduces switching costs and increases quality of responses.

You will also have time to respond when you’re in a more calm/thoughtful mode rather than frantic mode “swatting” emails away.

5. The Meeting Pause

Build in 5-10 minute buffers between back-to-back meetings. Use this time to:

• Stand up and stretch

• Take a few conscious breaths

• Capture any critical action items from the previous meeting

• Clear your mental slate before the next conversation

• Use the restroom (without your phone!) and consciously set your intention for the next meeting.

Why it works: Without transition time, your brain is still processing the previous meeting while trying to engage in the current one. Those 5 minutes increase your presence and effectiveness dramatically.

6. The Creative Pause Walk

When you're stuck on a creative challenge (event theme, activation concept, experience design), get up and take a 10-minute walk. No phone. No podcast. Just you and the problem.

Why it works: Your best creative insights rarely come when you're staring at a screen. They come when you create space for your brain to make unexpected connections.

Embracing Space: How to Design Events That Breathe

If practicing the pause matters in our planning process, it matters even more in the events we create. Yet most event agendas are packed wall-to-wall with content, leaving attendees exhausted rather than energized.

The best events I've planned have something in common: they intentionally build in space. Not empty time—strategic space designed to enhance the experience.

Here's how to embrace space in your next event:

1. The Extended Break

Instead of cramming breaks into 10-minute bathroom-and-coffee sprints, schedule 30-minute extended breaks between major sessions.

What happens: Attendees actually have time to process what they just learned. Real networking conversations happen. People return to the next session ready to engage rather than mentally exhausted. And…your business benefits because when customers are talking to prospects (or your sales and product team), that’s the best sales method there is!

Pro tip: Design your break areas to encourage mingling and lingering. Comfortable seating. Great coffee. Quiet spaces for reflection alongside social spaces for conversation.I like designing my common spaces to resemble “a giant living room” where people feel comfortable and want to stick around.

2. The Breathing Room Session

Build open time into your agenda where attendees can “choose their own adventure”: attend optional workshops or breakout sessions, explore the expo floor, have one-on-one conversations, or literally just decompress (bonus point if you have a meditation lounge available which is all the rage now).

What happens: Attendees feel trusted to manage their own experience. They make connections that matter to them rather than being herded through a mandatory agenda. They stay at your event rather than retreating to their own hotel room “sanctuary”.

What you'll hear: "This was the most valuable time of the conference—I had three breakthrough conversations during the open session, and learned tactical skills I can apply tomorrow at work."

3. The Reflection Moment

After powerful keynotes or intensive sessions, build in 3-5 minutes of structured reflection time before moving to the next thing.

Prompt attendees with a simple question: "What's one insight you're taking from this session? What will you do differently as a result?"

What happens: Instead of information washing over them, attendees actually process and internalize what they heard. Retention increases dramatically.

Better still, leave a notecard on every chair at the last keynote session where they can write the one thing they want to be reminded about six months from now. Then gather them and mail them to attendees in six months. They are pleasantly reminded of their intention AND of you!

4. The White Space Design

Just like visual design needs white space to let key elements breathe, event design needs temporal white space.

Design principle: If you're tempted to pack "just one more session" into the day, and struggling to find the right topic and/or speaker, that's probably the session that should be cut. Quality over quantity. Always.

What happens: Your agenda feels curated rather than crammed. Attendees leave energized rather than overwhelmed. And paradoxically, they retain more from fewer sessions.

5. The Mindful Morning Start

Instead of starting at 8:00 AM sharp with content, consider beginning at 9:00 AM and creating a mindful opening experience:

• Optional early arrival for networking breakfast and a later keynote to accommodate morning commutes (hello parents with school drop off!)

• Exceptional lounge with space with product demos open early, and lots of comfortable small lounges built for organic conversation

• Arrival music and ambiance that sets a calm, intentional tone.

• Start the keynote with a 5 minute mindful meditation for all attendees to help them shift and down-regulate their keyed up nervous system. A wonderful moderator did this before a keynote session I gave for the Four Seasons Tech Summit this year, and I found myself participating back stage as well and it was just incredible plus helped me bring my A game as a speaker on stage and calm the jitters.

What happens: Attendees arrive centered rather than frazzled. They engage more deeply in the first session because they're actually present, not still mentally commuting.

The Resistance You'll Face (And How to Handle It)

Here's what will happen when you start building space into your planning process and your events: you'll face pushback.

"We don't have time for single-tasking when we have three concurrent events!"

"Why are we building in so many breaks? Attendees came here for content!"

"Can't we just add one more session? We have the room!"

Here's how I respond:

To the multitasking defense: "Single-tasking isn't slower—it's smarter. The time I invest in focused planning prevents mistakes that cost exponentially more time to fix. Would you rather I catch that venue capacity issue now during focused review, or discover it two days before the event while I'm distracted by five other tasks?"

To the packed agenda argument: "Research shows that attendees retain only 10-20% of content from back-to-back sessions with no processing time. With strategic breaks and space, retention jumps to 40-50%. We can deliver more content and have them remember less, or deliver less content and have them remember more. Which serves our objectives better?"

To the "just one more session" temptation: "The events people remember most fondly aren't the ones that exhausted them with options. They're the ones where they had space to think, connect, and integrate what they learned. We're designing for impact, not for volume."

Gianna's Gem: The courage to build space into your events—and defend it against the inevitable pressure to fill it—is what separates strategic event leaders from tactical executors.

The Real ROI of Practicing the Pause

Let's talk about what happens when you commit to mindfulness in planning and space in events:

Better Strategic Decisions

When you give yourself space to think deeply about venue selection, agenda design, or experience strategy, you make better choices. Not faster choices—better ones. The kind that your future self thanks you for.

Fewer Costly Mistakes

Multitasking increases error rates by 50%. When you're fully present reviewing contracts, designing timelines, or managing budgets, you catch issues before they become emergencies. That no-resell clause you would have missed while half-listening to the venue contract review? You caught it because you were fully present.

Deeper Stakeholder Relationships

When you're fully present in stakeholder conversations instead of simultaneously answering Slacks, something magical happens: people feel heard. They trust you more. They communicate more openly. Misalignments surface early instead of exploding late.

More Memorable Events

Events with intentional space consistently receive higher satisfaction scores than packed agendas. Attendees remember the conversations they had during extended breaks. They implement the insights they processed during reflection moments. They leave energized rather than exhausted.

Greater Personal Wellbeing

Event planning is demanding work. When you practice the pause, you protect your own mental health and prevent burnout. You remember why you love this work instead of just grinding through it. And if you’re a manager, employee retention saves you so much more time in the long term from having to re-hire a team that’s burned out or taking the blame for unforced errors made by your team.

Your Mindfulness Practice Starts Now

Here's my challenge to you this week:

Pick one practice from this piece.

Just one. Not all of them. One.

Maybe it's the single-task power hour each morning. Maybe it's building 30-minute breaks into your next event agenda. Maybe it's simply putting your phone down during your next site visit and actually experiencing the space (or if you’re not a planner, putting down your phone for ten minutes while you do something with 100% attention).

Commit to that one practice for seven days. Notice what changes. Notice what you discover when you're fully present. Notice how the quality of your work—and your life—shifts when you stop optimizing every moment and start experiencing them instead.

Because here's what I've learned from gift-wrapping, from mindful planning, from building space into my day…and events:

The pause is where the magic happens. The space is where the meaning emerges. The presence is where the excellence lives. And you’ll remember it…and aren’t events (and life) about the memories you make?

You don't have to be perfect at this. I'm FAR from it. But that's why it's called a practice. Show up. Try. Be kind to yourself (and others) when you forget. And try again tomorrow.

The world will always demand you optimize, multitask, and pack every moment with productivity.

The true rebellion—and the true excellence—is in choosing to pause instead.

Happy holidays,

Gianna

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

”Partytrick” you’ll want to use ASAP this season (and beyond):

If you're hosting personal celebrations or smaller-scale events and want to streamline your planning without sacrificing creativity, Partytrick is a game-changer. This free all-in-one platform transforms event planning from overwhelming to effortless with expertly designed templates, built-in guest management, and smart mood boards where every gorgeous image is tagged with actual product links—no more endless scrolling trying to find where to buy that perfect centerpiece!

Whether you're planning a birthday dinner, holiday gathering, or intimate celebration, Partytrick takes you from inspiration to execution with cohosting tools for collaboration, RSVP tracking, task assignments, and expert hosting tips all in one beautifully designed portal. It's like having an event planner's toolkit at your fingertips, designed by professionals but built for anyone who wants to spend less time stressing and more time actually enjoying the celebrations they create. Best part? It's completely free—no fees, no credit card required, no catch.

And…I couldn't be more excited to join Partytrick as an official advisor that will quickly become part of your toolkit so you can spend more time with your guests and less time on the tactics. If you have questions, or want to learn more, feel free to reach out!

You can check also out the fun templates and product recommendations by signing up here: https://lnkd.in/gvzv458H

Because the best moments don't always just happen...they're intentionally planned.

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 take the Master Class: https://www.giannagaudini.com/learn-from-me

Because once you commit to excellence in one small area, it bleeds into everything else.

Remember - your attendees are no different: They're asking: "Is this a brand that sweats the details? That thinks before acting? That cares about how I feel, not just whether I showed up and agreed to scan my badge?"

How you plan your events is how you run your business.

How you write your emails is how you'll treat your customers.

How you do anything is how you do everything.

So: What are your small moments signaling?

Start Here: If you're feeling overwhelmed, start with one thing. Not ten. One.

Personal:

Make your bed tomorrow morning
Write one thoughtful email this week instead of firing off a quick response
Floss your teeth tonight (even though you're tired)

Professional:

Rewrite one attendee outreach email to feel warm and personal
Ask "why" before adding the next thing to your event agenda or 2026 plans
Spend five extra minutes writing compelling marketing copy instead of the standard boring text.

Excellence isn't built in grand gestures. It's built in the accumulation of small, intentional choices.

Start with one. And watch how it changes everything.

XX,

Gianna

p.s.

What I’m loving this week: And for all my top vendors and partners, check out my Gianna Recommend’s Page.

I have to give a shout out to one of my favorite companies. I not only am a proud advisor to them, but I use them frequently for my own events (everything from holiday parties to multi-million dollar celeb evens!) Women-ownedEva is my favorite one-stop platform to book whatever it is I need to make an event more entertaining: From comedians to musicians, unique team-building activities to A-List speakers, even dress-up party costumes and makeup artists…I can find and book it here. I use Eva for both inspiration and new ideas as well as to handle logistics like payment, insurance and riders for me. And since I’m a fangirl, they’ve provided me with my own discount code to give you 10% off any booking with the code: EVAGVIP. Or, DM me for a personal connect.

What I'm Loving This Week: Monet

Speaking of revolutionizing the events industry, I'm thrilled to announce that I've joined an early stage but very hot event tech startup, monet.io as an advisor.

Here's what really blows my mind: Monet can generate entire showfloor layouts for conferences and expos—something that traditionally takes weeks of back-and-forth with venue teams, agencies, sponsors, and operations. The platform doesn't just create a generic floor plan; it uses intelligent algorithms to recommend optimal sponsor booth placements based on traffic flow, sponsor tier, and strategic visibility.

Think about what this means for event planners managing large-scale conferences: instead of manually juggling sponsor requirements, attendee flow, and venue constraints in CAD software or PowerPoint, Monet does the heavy lifting while you focus on the strategic decisions. It's like having an expert event designer and operations manager working 24/7 on your team.

For sponsors, this means better ROI—their booth placement isn't arbitrary, it's data-driven. For attendees, it means better navigation and experience. For planners, it means hours (sometimes days) of work condensed into minutes.

If you're managing complex events—especially in the enterprise space where showfloors, sponsor management, and multi-stakeholder coordination are involved—I encourage you to check out what the Monet team is building. They're not just creating software; they're creating space for event professionals to do what we do best: design experiences that matter. Drop me a line if you want an intro and a Gianna’s Gems VIP discount on their product.

Learn more at monet.io

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