What’s your event origin story? Here’s mine

Hi y’all,

Welcome to Busy Season, your weekly guide to the hot takes, pro tips, and real stories sweeping the events industry. 🥳

I hope everyone is looking forward to a July 4th filled with fireworks, cookouts, and potentially some big events! Or maybe you’re one of our friendly neighbors to the north who just finished celebrating Canada Day. 

Either way, I know summer is a busy season for many of you. So let’s get right to it!

The start of my events journey

Now you might be wondering, “Who is Mallory and what does she know about events?”

So I wanted to share a bit of my events journey. I started out in political events, before transitioning to live events. I’ve always loved hosting and bringing people together for a good time or an important cause. But at first, I didn’t know what a thrill it would be to work through the chaos and beauty involved in bringing these visions to life.

Early on, I had lots of folks who trained me to keep an eye on the details. As any event pro knows, that’s where the magic happens. In live events, that meant always framing “the perfect shot” — thinking about what the camera would be looking at and how you could keep it there for as long as possible. 

Eventually, after years of being an end client signing Goodshuffle Pro contracts, I decided to join Team Goodshuffle. Five years later, here I am running our sales department. 

My journey in the events industry was a slow climb. Looking back now, it’s easy to see how it’s all come together, but in the moment I always felt like I was “behind.” Perspective is truly one of time’s greatest gifts. 😌

3 Unexpected lessons from my early days

When I was just getting started, I didn’t know much about what to expect. But there were three lessons I learned early on that changed my outlook on events:

🤝 If you don’t communicate expectations clearly, no one will be happy — not you, not your team, and not your clients.

💰 Growing a budget with a client gets much easier after they trust you with the basics, like handling their payment safely and showing up on time.

📆 Maximizing your calendar time is key. Any day that doesn’t produce revenue is costing the business.

14 years in and I’m still learning new things every day, but some of my earliest lessons remain some of the most important.

What’s your busiest season?

In the spirit of the first edition of Busy Season, let’s end with a quick, fun poll. Next week, we’ll go over the results and see what it tells us about the events industry:

What’s your busiest season?

I’ll go first: my busiest season was always fall. 🍂 

Now I’m curious to hear from you! 

See you next Tuesday,

Mallory Mullen

Le remue-ménage