Eric Rozenberg

Eric Rozenberg, CMM, CMP, HOEM, FONSAT, president & CEO of Event Business Formula, is an entrepreneur, podcaster and author. He has helped thousands of entrepreneurs grow and manage their event business better. His purpose is to inspire people, help them take action, get results, and develop their event business and their lives. He is the host of The Business of Meetings podcast and a former Chair of MPI International Board. Connect with him on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/ericrozenberg.

More than 99% of U.S. firms are small businesses, defined as companies with 1 to 499 employees, and most have fewer than 20 employees. The Meetings & Events Industry is no exception, contributing over $1 trillion to the economy and supporting thousands of small businesses that generate millions of jobs. Post-pandemic, many people have either left the industry or started their own businesses, driven by the surge in outsourcing from organizations that no longer have the in-house skills.

However, many small event business owners face significant challenges in growing their businesses, creating more time for themselves, and increasing their revenue.

Corporate & Incentive Travel had the opportunity to sit down with Eric Rozenberg, founder of Event Business Formula, the first platform dedicated to helping Event Business Owners grow and manage their businesses more effectively. Eric brings a wealth of experience in our industry, having successfully grown small businesses and teams, as well as coaching numerous entrepreneurs. He shared valuable insights into the unique challenges that entrepreneurs in our industry face.

CIT: Tell us about your background.

Eric Rozenberg: I studied International Business Management in Belgium and launched my first business at the age of 28. Since then, I’ve grown, launched and exited several small businesses, including a corporate events agency, a consultancy, a SaaS company, and I have also been a coach for Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) Accelerator Program for several years. In addition, I’ve authored two books and host The Business of Meetings podcast, which has over 230 episodes.

CIT: It sounds like you’ve had a clear career path. How do you know when it’s time to move on to something new?

ER: Absolutely not! My career has been a mix of serendipity, gut instincts and luck. I landed my first job at a barbecue and entered the Meetings & Events Industry after a conversation during a ski holiday. I wish I could say it was all meticulously planned, but that’s far from the truth. Starting and running a business is like riding a roller coaster for the first time — you never know when you’re going up or down, and even though the excitement and rapid changes are thrilling, they often make you scream. I’ve faced numerous setbacks, but the key is to get back up one more time than you fall and keep fighting.

Over the years, I’ve realized that three elements are crucial in my decision-making process: Do I enjoy the people I’m working with? Are we making a difference with the business? Am I fairly compensated? If one of these elements is missing, I struggle. If two are missing for too long, it’s time for a change.

CIT: What can an Event Business Owner learn from your success with your Corporate Events Agency?

ER: We served clients across Europe, and although we were a small business, we secured recurring business with major Fortune 100 companies. Success didn’t happen overnight, but I’ve distilled it down to five key elements:

• Two Years of Hustling: The first two years were incredibly intense. During the day, I met with prospects, gave presentations and networked. At night, I prepared proposals. In between, I managed the projects. It wasn’t until I grew the team and began delegating that things started to stabilize.
• Risk Analysis from the Start: I always put myself in my clients’ shoes. C-level executives hired me, and my job was to help advance their careers by supporting them behind the scenes when they were “on stage” in front of their company or customers. I even planned for worst-case scenarios, ensuring a contingency plan was in place to keep the program running smoothly, even if something happened to me.
• Positioning Yourself as a Strategic Partner: I researched my prospects and clients thoroughly —their industry, company challenges and strategy. I always started meetings with questions focused on their business, not logistics. There’s a significant difference in perception when you ask, “Why are you investing in this sales meeting, and what impact do you want it to have on your sales?” instead of, “Do you want a welcome cocktail and a farewell dinner?”
• Exceptional Service: I always aimed to “beat size with exceptional service.” Quick responses, creativity, availability and managing the unexpected were key to outshining larger competitors. For example, when the Eyjafjallajökull volcano erupted in Iceland and closed European airspace, we rescheduled a major incentive program for a client within three days — at no additional cost. This solidified our business relationship.
• Creating Truly Unique Experiences: Imagine returning from an incentive trip and finding your clients have purchased the back cover of an industry magazine to thank you for an extraordinary and unforgettable program. That happened to one of our clients because we followed a consistent recipe: participants couldn’t put a price on their experiences, they encountered contrasts between activities, and they were unable to replicate the program if they returned to the same destination with family or friends.

CIT: How do you handle the unexpected, and what has been your greatest challenge?

ER: Like most event planners, I thrived on the unexpected! It was always an adrenaline rush, and I immediately switched into “solution finder” mode. In 20 years of running hundreds of projects across more than 50 countries, I’ve never had a project executed 100% as planned. I faced many challenges — from airline strikes and hurricanes, to saving lives and being near a terrorist attack — but I always tried to remain calm, assess the situation with local partners, brainstorm solutions, be transparent with clients and take decisive action.

One of the greatest challenges I faced was moving my family from Belgium to America and restarting everything from scratch. We never regretted it for a second and are now proud American citizens. However, leaving a comfortable life for the unknown is not easy, even when you know it’s the best decision for your kids. I’m good at connecting the dots and believe that when you reach a conclusion, you need to act on it. I also realize that many people choose misery over uncertainty, finding reasons to stay in a place where they are unhappy.

CIT: Growing a small business is not for the faint of heart, especially an Event Business, with its many facets requiring different skills. What should entrepreneurs in our industry focus on?

ER: That’s an excellent question. Whether you’re a solopreneur or run a large agency, you’re an entrepreneur. Chances are, you didn’t get much formal “business management education” in the past. It’s time to invest in yourself, and I suggest focusing on three key areas: clarifying your vision, increasing sales and mastering delegation.

Getting Clarity on Your Vision:

Alice in Wonderland: “Which road do I take?”

Cat: “Where do you want to go?”

Alice in Wonderland: “I don’t know.”

Cat: “Then, it doesn’t matter.”

Whether you started your business because you didn’t want a boss, got fired from a previous job or saw a market gap, there’s a reason behind it. How can you make decisions, hire or fire people, target a specific niche, or invest in sales and marketing without clarity on what you want your business to look like in the future? Spending time clarifying and defining your vision, and how you plan to get there, helps you make decisions, reduce stress and share your business vision with every stakeholder.

Increasing Sales: No sales, no customers. No customers, no business.

Whether you like it or not, every company needs a “face,” and chances are, that face is you. What’s your value proposition? What’s your pitch? What’s your sales playbook? How do you ensure that everyone in your company speaks with the same voice? How do you handle objections? How do you differentiate your services? What kind of customers do you want?

Are sales really your primary focus? If so, does your calendar reflect that? If I were to look at your calendar today, would I see hours dedicated to sales activities?

What metrics are you tracking? What are your lagging and leading indicators? What are your revenue and profit goals? What’s on your dashboard? How often do you review the data to make informed decisions?

Finding answers to these questions will significantly improve your business. You can make the change in a few months, but you need to start now.

Mastering Delegation: During the first two years of my business, I hustled like crazy, running fast on the hamster wheel: I had a project, great! No one could do it better than me, it was my client, and it was my brand, so I managed everything myself. As the end of the program approached, I stressed about getting more business. When I did, I went back to running everything myself. Sound familiar?

This is NOT sustainable, and the best outcome I could have hoped for was burnout. Eventually, I stopped the insanity and hired more people. Luck had it that I had two projects on the same weekend, and I was at home, biting my nails, until nothing went wrong. That experience allowed me to start working more ON my business, changing its trajectory.

What I needed was a change in mindset and process. I wish I knew then what I know now, so here’s an effective way to determine quickly what you can delegate.

Create a document with four columns: Tasks, Do, Delegate, Stop. Over the next two weeks, write down every task you’re busy with and the time you’re spending on it in the first column. After two weeks, review your document, look at the patterns, and for each task, mark an X in the respective column: Do (continue to do it yourself), Delegate (to someone else), or Stop doing it altogether. Then, review the Delegate column and consider the time you’ll save by automating tasks and/or delegating them.

As simple, and at times overwhelming, as this process may seem, it will help you grow your business and positively impact your mental health by creating more time for you to focus on what you do best and on what/who you want to spend your time on/with.

CIT: How can Event Business Owners use technology, especially A.I.?

This is an incredible time for small business owners! I remember when I started my first business, email was barely a thing, and a fax machine was essential for receiving offers. I would spend every night unrolling each page, stapling them together and preparing offers. It sounds absurd now, but that was the reality.

Today, most repetitive (and often tedious) processes can be automated. You no longer need to carry around a heavy binder when you’re on-site, and the sheer volume of information available about your clients, events and business is astounding.

From managing events (registration, engagement, networking, etc.) to optimizing your sales and marketing processes, the technology available today allows you to be far more productive. It also enables you to run your business with more data and accurate insights.

However, the large volume of information can be overwhelming, with a new A.I. tool seemingly launched every week, if not every day. The key is to stay focused on your clients’ needs and your business’s objectives. We must work our way up to finding the right tech tools that serve those needs — not the other way around. Otherwise, we risk getting lost in every new “cool tool” that comes along.

CIT: Do you think A.I. will eliminate the need for event planners?

Absolutely not. A.I. will not put you out of business — but your competitors using A.I. might. The fundamentals remain unchanged: understanding your customers’ needs and delivering competitive solutions is crucial for any Event Business. A face-to-face meeting cannot be automated, nor can the serendipity of authentic conversations that occur at conferences.

CIT: Any final thoughts for Event Business Owners?

Yes! Focus on what will not change.

I love an interview with Jeff Bezos from Amazon where a journalist asks him how he anticipates future changes to guide his company. Bezos’s response is brilliant: “I focus on what will not change. People will always want products delivered faster and at a competitive price. No one will tell me: Jeff, you’re delivering my order too quickly, and it’s too cheap.”

I believe the same holds true for our industry: people prefer to buy from people, especially for high-value face-to-face meetings that impact an organization’s strategy. That will not change. In fact, the more we use technology, the greater the need to come together in person.

Loneliness is one of the main afflictions of our time, and Event Business Owners are no exception. We often feel alone and overwhelmed.

Connecting with other like-minded individuals and belonging to a community of entrepreneurs is essential. There’s no better place for that than face-to-face meetings. That, too, will not change.

This is a fantastic time to own and grow your Event Business. C&IT