By Isabella Rodriguez, Chief Experience Officer and Co-founder of Super Great Fantastic
When clients would ask to “make an event shine,” it used to mean scale: big screens, big budget, big guest lists. It was under the old adage “the bigger the better” mantra. But is this true? Is what makes an event “shine,” the big over-the-top moments or a culmination of the small moments throughout?
What I, and the industry, have seen recently is a shift away from the flash and a return to the feel. Especially in a time with a growing dependency on screens, tech, and AI, it is the events that are decidedly more human in nature that shine the brightest.
How does any brand create an event full of those smaller human moments that make it memorable? Whether you’re throwing a pop-up in Times Square or a 30-person dinner during a conference week, the same principles apply: clarity of purpose, care for your guests, and creativity that respects attention spans.
Many events still run on old muscle memory: step-and-repeat, keynote, DJ, done. But guests are looking for more human, less hype. It is time to throw out those old checklists and instead ask yourself, What does this experience feel like from the guest’s point of view?
When building out a Creative Direction, I always put the guests first. The KPIs, the shareholders, of course, are important, but the guest experience is what leaves a lasting impression. If this comes second, or even third, you are walking into a losing battle.
This is true even when I am creating events for myself. For our ongoing dinner series, The Gathering, we’ve swapped out panels for fireside chats, seating charts for curated proximity, and traditional networking for shared conversation. Shine comes from intentionality, not “is it Instagram-worthy?”
By making these shifts, what we are doing is creating an atmosphere that promotes intimacy and a more inclusive environment, where guests feel fully engaged with the evening. If you can make every guest walk away feeling like they were individually part of something, rather than simply an attendee, that is when the memories happen.
2. Design for Curiosity
Every moment in your event should give someone a reason to lean in. Not just physically and mentally, but emotionally.
That might mean unexpected conversation starters at a table. It might be an installation that invites play or reflection. By doing something such as gamifying a product offering, you are creating moments of actual engagement. You are giving guests an opportunity to connect with that product and have an experience they can talk about to others long after the event ends. The problem with traditional product offering events, as an example, is that no guest will care about it as much as the people presenting it. You need to go a step beyond and make it all about the experience, not just a presentation of facts.
People aren’t hungry for content. They’re hungry for connection. This is especially true of B2B companies, where the default is often polished but impersonal. Reframing your event around culture, like shared values and energy, can be the difference between checked-in and checked-out guests.
Something we do in my company is co-create with like-minded creatives and fringe voices. Not because it looks cool, but because shared values resonate deeper than branded talking points. People remember how your event made them feel, not what your slides said.
4. Let Collaboration be Authentic
It used to be that sharing the stage meant giving something up. Now, collaboration is what sets you apart. Some of the best experiences we’ve built have happened when we stopped treating other agencies, partners, or creatives as competition and started inviting them in. By creating a collaborative environment with all partners, the entire tone and feel of an event can shift towards the positive. It is not about those all too familiar microaggressions that make guest feel like they are being pulled in multiple directions for their attention. It becomes a fully cohesive and complementary event that allows guests to fully embrace and explore all that it has to offer. This leaves guests with a richer, positive experience while the partners feel seen.
A great event doesn’t have to be big. It doesn’t even have to be loud. But it should make someone feel something. Connected, inspired, curious, or understood. That’s what gets remembered. That’s what shines.
And in a world full of overstimulation, being remembered is the rarest luxury of all.
About the author:
Isabella Rodriguez is the Co-Founder and Creative Executive Producer of Super Great Fantastic, a global experiential agency based in Austin, Texas with roots in New York City. With over a decade of experience in experiential marketing and the music festival industries, Isabella leads the creative and strategic vision for every SGF project, blending bold storytelling with seamless production execution.
Her career has spanned large-scale activations, executive-level B2B events, and original IP launches, where she’s managed multi-million dollar budgets, overseen teams of 80+, and acted as both a creative and strategic consultant for some of the world’s most recognizable brands, including Reddit, Adidas, Vice, UnitedMasters, and My Code Media.
A proud Latinx and female founder, Isabella is committed to creating immersive experiences that not only connect brands to audiences, but also foster inclusivity, creativity, and innovation. Her leadership has positioned Super Great Fantastic as a nimble, culturally attuned agency that thrives at the intersection of creativity, precision, and real-world impact.
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