MarTech’s event marketing experts to follow

Event marketing is where the sizzle and the steak come together in real time. Whether in person or virtual, it’s as live action as marketing gets. You need to be on top of everything all the time and long before the event begins. It’s a constantly changing field, with ever evolving technologies. Here’s the folks to follow to stay up-to-date on trends and informed on best practices.

David Adler

David is CEO and founder of BizBash, the event marketing news site he started in 2000. Before that he was V.P. of Corporate Communications for media companies Macmillan and Primedia. In 1975, when he was only 21, David launched Washington Dossier, a society magazine for the nation’s capital, selling it after a 15-year run.

Rafat Ali

In 2007, Rafat founded Skift Meetings (formerly EventMB), the first blog for event professionals, offering education, innovation and inspiration through daily articles, industry reports, and webinars. Before that he was the founder and CEO of paidContent and ContentNext, which he sold to UK’s Guardian News and Media in 2008. 

Will Curran

Will is founder and “chief event Einstein” of Endless Events, an event management company. He is creator of the #EventProfs community, an online community for event professionals. He is also host of the event industry podcasts, #EventIcons, Event Brew and Event Tech Podcast. 

Dahlia El Gazzar

A long-time event marketing pro who has held roles on the planner side as well as on the supplier side, Dahlia is founder and CEO of DAHLIA+Agency. Known in the events industry as the ‘go-to’ source for tech news, in 2021 she was named one of BizBash’s Most Influential Women in Event Tech. 

Kate Patay

A Certified Professional in Catering and Events (CPCE), Kate is CSO of Patay Consulting and director of engagement for Terramar US. She is chair of Search Foundation, which provides financial help for event, meetings, and catering professionals in crisis. As if that wasn’t enough, Kate is also a Smart Meetings Style Maven and Ambassador for Meetings Mean Business. The most recent of her long list of awards are the Pacesetter Award from the Events Industry Council, the Event Solutions Spotlight Award and the NACE Icon Award.

Julius Solaris

Julius is an influential keynote speaker and entrepreneur in the event industry, having founded Founder and CEO of Boldpush, a management consultancy agency for the event industry, Julius is an international keynote speaker in the event industry. He was editor-in-chief of EventMB (now Skift Meetings) for 14 years and last year was named  a Meetings Industry Influencer by Meetings and Conventions magazine.