Events
Host your event instead of running it.
There's a version of your event where you spend the whole thing with a clipboard, fielding questions, chasing a vendor who's running late, and missing the thing you spent months planning.
That's the job I take off your hands. I handle the logistics leading up to the day and run the day itself, so you can be with your guests, your customers, or your team.
How much I do depends on what you need. Some clients bring me in at the concept stage. Some have it all planned and need someone to run it.
Start Here:
Whether you're starting from an idea or have a plan that needs a second set of eyes.
If you're starting from scratch, we spend a working session figuring out what the event actually needs to do. Then you get a written outline: the goal, the format, a rough budget range, a timeline built backward from the date, the vendors you'll need, and the decisions to make first.
If you already have a plan, the session is a review. You get a list of what's still unconfirmed, the decisions nobody has made yet, and a draft run-of-show to build from.
Either way it's yours to run with. If you'd rather I take it from there, the fee comes off what comes next.
$500 · credited in full toward any event booked within 60 days
Event Planning Session
The Day is Decided Weeks Before It Happens
When an event goes badly, people blame the day. The vendor who showed up late, the room that wasn't ready, the thing that ran forty minutes behind and never recovered.
But almost none of that starts on the day. It starts weeks earlier, in the decisions nobody made. Nobody confirmed what time the rentals actually arrive. Nobody asked the caterer what they need from the venue. Nobody built a timeline that accounts for the fact that two hundred people take longer to seat than you think.
By the time you're standing in the room, most of the outcome is already set. What's left is managing what you didn't plan for, and there's always something.
So most of my work happens before anyone shows up. The day itself should be the easy part, and it is, if the weeks before it were done properly.
Event Types
If it has vendors, a timeline, and a room full of people, it's the kind of thing I run.
Grand Openings & Ribbon Cuttings
Company Retreats
Conferences, summits & workshops
Launch Parties
Client appreciation & Holiday Parties
Pop-Ups & Markets
Open Houses
Galas & benefit Dinners
Recurring event series*
*Recurring series work a little differently. A monthly dinner or a quarterly member night is ongoing rather than one-off, and it gets scoped that way.
"I had the pleasure of working closely with Katie on a variety of events and strategic projects, and she consistently exceeded expectations."
Kim Blair
Sr. Director of Principal Gifts & Strategic Initiatives
Carilion Clinic Foundation
What This Usually Includes
Timeline and run-of-show planning
Vendor sourcing, booking, and coordination
Load-in, setup, and breakdown logistics
Budget tracking and reporting
Day-of management and point of contact
Troubleshooting when something goes sideways
Staffing and volunteer coordination
Post-event debrief and recommendations
The Day Itself
I'm there before your first vendor arrives and I stay until the last one leaves. Everyone has my number instead of yours.
If something goes wrong, and something usually does, it gets solved without landing on your plate. You'll hear about it afterward, along with what I'd change next time.
And you keep something. A run-of-show and a vendor list you can use again, plus a debrief on what worked. If this becomes an annual thing, year two starts from something real instead of from memory.
Planning a wedding? I offer day-of coordination for couples. See wedding coordination
Why me
My background is hospitality. Virginia Tech for hospitality and tourism management, then hotels, restaurants, and venues: front office, catering, banquets, food and beverage. I've run events in every job I've held since, through higher ed and then an agency, where I finished as Director of Traffic and Operations.
The venue side is the part that matters most here. I've been the person receiving someone else's event, which means I know what your vendors are dealing with and what they need from you. Vendors do better work for clients who are organized, because they're not spending the day absorbing someone else's confusion. A well-run event gets more out of everyone in the building.
Hospitality is controlled chaos on a deadline. There's always something you didn't plan for, and someone has to keep the whole thing on track without letting the guests see the seams.
Ready to host instead of manage?
Tell me what you're planning and where you are with it. Whether that's six months out or six weeks, it's worth a conversation.