A 10-foot-by-20-foot seating chart, a 400-person gala, and a client casually adding guests up to the last minute. What could possibly go wrong? Plenty.

In this episode of Mayhem & Method, Jen Santos talks with Andrew Roby of Andrew Roby Events about a multi-day conference that turned into a master class in why "just a few more people" is never just a few more people.

What starts as a tightly planned awards gala — with assigned seating, sponsor tables, QR-code check-in, place cards, meal counts, and a massive printed seating chart — quickly spirals when the client starts handing over revised guest lists an hour before doors open. Then came the screenshots, the surprise attendees, the dietary restrictions, the sponsor table shuffle, and, because apparently the universe was not done, the wrong script in the teleprompter.

Andrew walks through how his team kept guests feeling respected, worked with catering to salvage the meal situation, called an emergency intermission to fix the program, and later made the hard but necessary call to walk away from a client.

Top Takeaways from Drew & Jen's convo:

• A plan only works if people follow it. Revolutionary, we know. But no seating chart, BEO, or run of show can save you from a client freelancing at the eleventh hour.
• Last-minute guests are not just "extra chairs." They are meals, linens, dietary needs, sponsor relationships, floor plans, staffing shifts, and one very tired planner doing emotional damage control in dress shoes.
• Post-event debriefs matter, especially when things go sideways. Andrew's process of gathering feedback from vendors, venues, AV, and the planning team shows the difference between blaming and actually learning. One is useful. The other gets you fired as a client.

Links:

andrewrobyevents.com

IG @andrewrobyevents | Facebook @AndrewRobyEvents | LinkedIn @andrewrobyeventplanner

This episode was produced by Audiotocracy Podcast Production.

What happens when 3,000 attendees get off a cruise ship, the event app loses its superpower, and one person decides Nassau is apparently a choose-your-own-adventure? This went from "fun port stop" to "please tell me Bob is back on the ship" real fast.

Host Jen Santos chats with Kelly Burhop, senior lead event technologist at Sound Planning Meeting and Events, on this episode of Mayhem & Method. Kelly is here to share the very specific chaos of running a large employee event across two cruise ships.

What starts as a smart, cost-saving, cohort-based event format quickly reveals one tiny problem: push notifications do not work when your attendees are off the ship, away from Wi-Fi, and wandering around Nassau like they missed the memo.

What follows is a very event-pro blend of mobile app logistics, group scheduling gymnastics, maritime check-ins, security team heroics, and the classic post-event realization that yes, you now need a contingency plan for "what if no one receives the message?"

Top Takeaways from Kelly & Jen's convo:

• Wi-Fi is not a communication plan. It is a communication hope with a login screen.
• If attendees can wander, one of them absolutely will. Build the plan for Bob.
• A cruise ship event can be surprisingly efficient… right up until your app, your cohorts, and international port logistics all decide to test your blood pressure.

Links:

theburhopper.substack.com

Connect on LinkedIn @kellyburhop

This episode was produced by Audiotocracy Podcast Production.

What do you do when your event is staring down half a million dollars in hotel penalties… and everyone in the room is ready for a fight? You take a breath, say "we blew it," and start figuring out how to make it right.

In Episode 2 of Mayhem & Method, host Jen Santos is joined by Therese Jardine, founder and CEO of Strategic Event Procurement, for a behind-the-scenes look at a contract gone sideways in a very big way. What started as a large-scale event strategy turned into a perfect storm of shifting goals, misunderstood contract language, and a massive room block that didn't fill.

Instead of digging in, Therese made a bold call. She owned the mistake, reset the room, and got to work.

What follows is a masterclass in relationships, quick thinking, and literally moving people to fix a very expensive problem.

Top Takeaways from Therese & Jen's convo:

• Sometimes the smartest move is saying "we blew it" and shifting from defense to solution
• Contracts matter, but how you navigate them in real life matters more
• When things go sideways, relationships, creativity, and a very long night with a spreadsheet can save you (a lot of) money

Links:

strategiceventprocurement.com

@theresejardine on LinkedIn

@strategiceventprocurement on IG

This episode was produced by Audiotocracy Podcast Production.

What happens when 1,200 people want ice cream… and the ice cream isn't frozen, the staff isn't staffed, and the vendor is panicking? Welcome to event planning, where even dessert can go completely off the rails, but a great event magically still gets served.

In this very first episode of Mayhem & Method, host Jen Santos welcomes award-winning event planner and founder of Beyond the BEO Shanondoah Nicholson for the "scoop" of an ice cream activation that went… let's call it "soft."

What starts as a simple employee appreciation treat quickly spirals into melting logistics, missing communication, and a crash course in "everyone grab a scoop and go." This episode is a behind-the-scenes example of why, and how, even experienced teams can find themselves in sticky situations.

Top Takeaways from Shanandoah & Jen's convo:

• Event pros don't panic—they pivot (and sometimes scoop ice cream for four hours straight)
• Vendor communication is everything… until it somehow isn't
• When things go sideways, it's less about blame and more about fixing the process (and maybe rinsing off your arms later)

Mayhem & Method: Untangling the people, politics, and platforms that shape modern events

"If we do our jobs right, our work should be invisible."

Millions of people move through events every year — session to session, show floor to keynote — without a second thought. But somewhere behind the seamless experience is the invisible team that brought the thousands of pieces together. The team that knows exactly how close it came to going sideways.

Jen Santos has spent 15 years producing corporate events at every scale — from CES' city-wide takeovers to multi-city roadshows that are their own special kind of chaos. She knows where the bodies are buried — and that most of them were buried long before load-in.

Join Jen and expert guests as they go behind the scenes of event planning, event management, and event production to explore what goes wrong, what holds, and what the industry can do better.