Stop accepting chaos! The hidden cost of doing events the old way
Strata’s Louise Wetherell on challenging industry habits, building smarter technology and why innovation starts with questioning the status quo.
When I started my career in delegate management, I was quickly introduced to what many considered a fact of life in events: chaos was simply part of the job.
Event delivery was never simple. It didn’t seem to matter how established the event was, or how large the audience. Registration journeys were often fragmented. Admin was repetitive and prone to human error. Communications, a hodgepodge of email and physical copies, were lost, misplaced or overlooked.
Inefficiencies, it seemed to me, weren’t unusual, or spotted-and-then-fixed. They were industry standard. The cost of doing business. And I started to ask the question that has shaped my career more than any other: is there a better way to do this?
Louise Wetherell, digital solutions lead at Strata, part of The Strata Group
Louise Wetherell, digital solutions lead at Strata, part of The Strata Group
Challenging legacy thinking
Many processes in event management persist because they existed for a good reason at one time, and now time and budget constraints make them difficult to challenge. There can also be a powerful accompanying "this is how we've always done it" mindset. When an event has been delivered successfully for years, even inefficient processes can become accepted as part of the workflow.
The reality is that event teams are often resource-constrained. When deadlines are looming, changing a process can feel riskier than sticking with what already exists, even if everyone knows it isn't perfect. Sometimes, inefficiencies aren't recognised at all because they've become embedded in the way an event is delivered. Teams stop questioning them because they're seen as part of the process rather than a problem to solve.
Take attendee communications. Many events still rely heavily on pre-event emails with joining instructions, links, and updates. Event apps are considered an unneeded additional cost, yet that calculation ignores the hidden costs of repeated email queries, version control issues and the time spent manually managing change. What may seem like the more expensive option upfront can prove more cost-effective over the lifetime of an event programme.
The hidden costs of inefficiency
Another area I see resistance to change is badging. Many organisers still favour pre-printed badges, but on-site badge printing is often more affordable than people assume. It reduces waste, allows attendee details to be updated in real time and provides immediate visibility into who has actually arrived on site, without requiring manual updates from the event team.
These examples share a common theme: organisations tend to focus on the visible costs of change while overlooking the hidden costs of maintaining inefficient processes. The price of a new platform, app or workflow is easy to see. The accumulated cost of manual administration, duplicate work, data errors and change requests is much harder to measure, but can be significantly higher over time.
Building better solutions
Like many people in the industry, lockdown gave me time to reflect. It also highlighted how heavily we relied on external suppliers for technology, and I realised having more of those skills in-house would help with agility and control. I started with teaching myself HTML and CSS. It took work, but I wanted to see if I could make the shift from consumer to creator of technology.
What I realised quickly was that the most effective technology removes complexity, rather than adding to it. That principle is still true today, as the industry explores AI and emerging technology. The opportunity lies in understanding how new tools can solve genuine problems and improve experiences for both delegates and planners, rather than adopting them for technology's sake.
As I started working on practical, problem-led solutions that solve real-world friction, I watched as chaos became less the cost of doing business and more a sign that there was room for innovation. In the years since writing my first line of code, my team and I have built real-time dashboards, automated booking systems, digital signature tools, personalised event apps, and pre- and post-event survey tools that feed into AI-enhanced measurement systems, tracking knowledge and impact.
All of it, built off the back of a thought: there’s got to be a better way.
Courage to innovate is now a business imperative
At the beginning of my career, the events sector was logistics-heavy and ran on manual input for the most part. And while the former is still true in many cases, the sector has also experienced the same undeniable shift towards data, and towards building experience-led environments, not just maximising attendance.
I was fortunate to receive a lot of support as I upskilled and challenged convention, and that energy is needed now more than ever. Organisations need to empower individuals to challenge established workflows and create space for experimentation. External partnerships need to be strong, but balanced where possible with in-house capability. Sometimes there’s a great reason for existing ways of working, but I’ll always argue that questioning legacy thinking is productive, even if you don’t change a thing.
I know we are all looking at the landscape of AI in particular and wondering where the future is headed. While I don't know exactly what comes next, I do know that standing still is no longer a neutral choice. It is a risk.
Whether it's AI, automation or technologies we haven't yet imagined, the principle remains the same: innovation starts with a question. The organisations that thrive won't necessarily be those with the biggest budgets or the newest tools, but those willing to keep asking better questions.