Last July, I attended an event-producer conference, and my expectations were high from the start. The closing keynote was a big-name headliner, the person everyone had been waiting for all week. That should have been the moment that brought the room back to life after several long days. Instead, it felt boring and disconnected from the audience. The topic did not reflect what people had experienced during the conference, and the awkward pauses only made the room more uncomfortable. One by one, attendees began reaching for their phones.
Two rows in front of me, a woman spent the entire keynote emailing and texting. This conference cost more than a thousand dollars to attend—likely paid for by her employer—and she spent most of it in her inbox. And honestly, I did not blame her.
There is a growing assumption in the events industry that disengagement means boredom. So, planners react by booking bigger names for keynotes, jam-packing the agenda with more sessions, or having better swag bags. But what if the audience is already burned out when they walk into the room?
Today’s professionals live in a cycle of back-to-back meetings, overflowing inboxes, and the pressure to produce more with fewer resources. Meetings exist simply because they are scheduled, not because they are always necessary.
Companies invest thousands of dollars to send employees to conferences or to bring in speakers for professional development workshops, and the last thing professionals want from any type of event is to feel as depleted as they do during a normal work week. They want motivation, inspiration, practical knowledge, and to feel that their time is respected.
The events that are most impactful to me are not the ones with the most packed agendas or the biggest names on stage. They are the ones designed with a real understanding of what people want when they walk into the room—shorter presentations, space to pause and reset between sessions, and conversations that feel intentional instead of transactional. Most importantly, they want an experience that creates genuine connection, such as speakers who open the floor for questions and answers after their session, or prompt discussion topics that invite audience participation. Real connection matters, because burnout often isolates people, and connection is what helps them reengage instead of shutting down.
That closing keynote last July was not just a missed opportunity; it reflected something deeper happening in the events industry. Audiences are not tuning out because they are bored—they are tuning out because they are burned out.
The best things event planners can do is to intentionally design experiences and choose presenters that restore energy and create real connection. If attendees leave your event feeling more energized than when they walked in, you did something right.
Jasmine Rice is the founder of Denver-based VoiceQuest Agency, which helps organizations design human-centered events and speaker experiences that create connection, engagement, and meaningful professional development.
