If live events are a real field, where do they actually live?

In this episode of So You Want to Be an Event Planner, we take a guided tour of the live events and experience industries to make the event ecosystem visible. We explore how live events show up across sport, festivals, corporate environments, associations, tourism, civic life, and mega-events—and why event planning and event management work is often embedded inside other industries rather than labeled clearly.

This episode helps students, career-switchers, parents, counselors, and advisors understand where event careers exist, why event jobs can be hard to spot, and how seeing the full ecosystem makes the field larger, more legitimate, and easier to navigate.

If you’re curious about event planning or event management careers—and wondering where this work actually “lives”—this episode gives you the map.

1. Events operate across multiple experience industries, not a single sector
2. Event roles are often embedded inside marketing, operations, tourism, and civic systems
3. Visibility and legitimacy are not the same thing
4. Sport, festivals, corporate events, associations, tourism, civic life, and mega-events all rely on live events
5. Understanding the ecosystem expands career options and reduces confusion

1. Experience industries
2. Embedded event roles
3. Distributed ecosystem
4. Cultural and economic value
5. Event labor market

Think about an industry you wouldn’t normally associate with events (tech, healthcare, government, education).

Where might live events show up inside that system—and what purpose would they serve?

Episode 3: How Do People Get Into This Field?

If event planning is everywhere but hard to see, how do people actually find their way into it? Next, we break down the real entry paths into live events—and why non-linear backgrounds are the norm, not the exception.

1. Professional sport leagues (live sport events)
2. Music and arts festivals
3. Corporate conferences and brand activations
4. Association annual meetings
5. Destination and tourism-driven events
6. Civic and public sector events
7. Global mega-events

Companies mentioned in this episode:

1. Apple