Live Events Coalition

26/10/2026

Congratulations to Wendy Porter on receiving the 2026 Ultimate RuckusMaker Award!

The judges selected one word to describe Wendy: "Catalyst." It's a fitting recognition for someone whose leadership, advocacy, and expertise have helped drive meaningful change across the live events industry.

As President of the Live Events Coalition, Wendy has been a tireless champion for our industry, consistently bringing people together, elevating important conversations, and fighting for the professionals and businesses that make live events possible.

A heartfelt thank you to Dahlia El Gazzar 🧿 and the entire RuckusMaker Awards judging team for recognizing those who do the work that often goes unseen but makes a lasting impact.

As Dahlia said:
"The 2026 RuckusMaker Awards were never about collecting another shiny trophy or label. They were built to recognize the humans who question the brief, challenge what they have been voluntold to do, do the invisible work, and leave this industry better than they found it."

Wendy exemplifies those qualities, and this recognition is richly deserved.

Congratulations to Wendy and to all of the 2026 RuckusMaker Award winners announced on Friday.

As Dahlia also reminded the winners:
"Take the spotlight. You earned every damn bit of it."

Wendy Porter
Nancy Shaffer
Dwayne Thomas
Events Education & Workforce Development Federation

04/10/2026

Power to the People!

Not only did Tom Morello put together an incredible concert with so many great musicians, but at the end of the night he took the time to recognize the people who often go unseen the live event professionals who make a show like this possible.

The lighting and sound technicians. The stagehands. The production crews. The countless people working behind the scenes.

As Tom said:

“Thank you to everyone working here tonight… to all of our crew. People that are here long before we got here, staying long after we leave. Without the workers, great shows like this don’t happen. Give them a round of applause!”

As someone who has spent 50 years in the live event industry, that really hit home.

We know the routine: first to arrive, last to leave. Long hours, overnight load-ins, rehearsals, show calls, load-outs—and often very little recognition when the audience goes home.

The audience sees the performers.

We see the people who make it possible for the performers to shine.

On behalf of my fellow live event professionals, the Live Events Coalition and the Events Education and Workforce Development Federation, thank you, Tom Morello, for recognizing the people behind the scenes.

That shout-out meant a lot.

Because without the crew, there is no show.

04/09/2026

The Live Events Coalition wishes our followers, supporters, and their families a joyful Labor Day weekend. Thank you for your commitment to the live event industry as we prepare for a vibrant fall season.

Live Events Coalition
Wendy Porter Events, LLC
Nancy Shaffer
Dwayne Thomas
Al Mercuro

25/08/2026

Protecting Innovation at Live Events!

Live events and trade shows have long been places where new technologies are introduced, demonstrated and experienced before they reach the broader marketplace.

The Live Events Coalition supports Exhibitions & Conferences Alliance's (ECA) call for the FCC to preserve the long-standing exemption that allows certain emerging communications technologies to be demonstrated at U.S. events and trade shows, with appropriate safeguards in place.

Preserving this exemption helps keep the United States competitive as a destination for innovation and gives exhibitors the ability to demonstrate new technologies directly to customers, partners and attendees.
ECA is seeking at least 100 organizations to join the sign-on letter by September 8.

If your organization supports protecting innovation at live events, please sign the letter today and add your voice.

👉 Add your organization to the letter:
https://lnkd.in/gfbfEgVZ

The live events industry needs a voice in policies that affect how innovation is introduced and demonstrated in the United States.

14/08/2026

Job Opening-Project Estimator, Trade Show Industry!

Genesis Exhibits, a world-class trade show exhibit design & manufacturing group with an extraordinary 38-year history, is seeking an experienced, detail-oriented Project Estimator to join our team. This role is ideal for a trade show professional who understands how creative booth concepts translate into accurate, buildable, and profitable projects.

The Project Estimator will develop project estimates for custom and modular trade show booths, rentals, graphics, fabrication, labor, freight, and related services while working closely with design, sales, project management, production, and finance.

This is a full-time position open to qualified remote applicants as well as candidates interested in working at our High Point, North Carolina headquarters.

More info here and apply here also:

Genesis Exhibits, a world-class trade show exhibit design & manufacturing group with an extraordinary 38-year history, is seeking an experienced, detail-oriented Project Estimator to join our team. This role is ideal for a trade show professional who understands how creative booth concepts trans...

10/07/2026

Reminder we need your help! Deadline is Sunday 7/12 EOD!

Dwayne Thomas, representing the Live Events Coalition and Small Business Majority, is heading to Washington, D.C. on Monday 7/13 to meet with Members of Congress and the U.S. Small Business Administration and he needs to walk into those rooms carrying your stories.

Small business owners across the live events ecosystem are being hit from every direction; rising tariffs, fuel and transportation costs, health‑care pressures, and the ripple effects of global instability including the war in Iran.

These challenges aren’t abstract they’re reshaping budgets, staffing, planning, and the very survival of our businesses!

If you’re a small business owner, we need to hear from you. Your lived experience matters. Your voice matters. Tell us what’s impacting your business today.

Your stories will help shape the conversation in D.C. Share your story privately by sending me a direct message via our contact LEC website; https://lnkd.in/gS4Bfwzd

Thank you, Al Mercuro Chair, Marketing and Media

08/07/2026

The Great American State Fair in Washington, DC, a 16‑day undertaking on the National Mall has placed a long‑standing challenge of the gathering economy on full display: many people believe they know how to run an event, but the profession is far more complex than it appears.

Event organizing is one of the most cognitively demanding fields in the modern economy. It blends logistics, spatial design, behavioral science, hospitality, creative direction, safety management, and increasingly, neuroscience all operating in parallel, in real time, under conditions that change by the hour. None of this is intuitive. All of it is learned. And the learning takes years.

A press conference is not an experiential event. A rally is not the same as a state fair. Moving a principal through a room is not designing a room. The credential gap between those things is not about scale it’s about category.
One requires logistics. The other requires a deeply developed understanding of how human beings experience space, time, sequence, comfort, surprise, belonging, and memory.

For decades, the live events industry has worked to establish itself as the serious profession it is. Certification frameworks, university programs, and bodies of knowledge around experience design, cognitive load, and social physics all exist because the stakes are real. One good gathering can transform an organization. One bad one can erode trust for a year.

The Great American State Fair is a vivid example of what happens when that expertise is not engaged. The melted ice cream, the broken Ferris wheel, the empty pavilions, the confusion at the entrance these outcomes aren’t about politics. They’re about professionalism. They’re about the consequences of assuming that proximity to events equals the ability to produce them.

The Live Events Coalition stands for the recognition, respect, and engagement of trained, credentialed event professionals in every major public gathering. The craft is real. The stakes are real. And the profession deserves to be treated as real.

Please check out David Adler's article from last week also: A NEW ENTRY FOR THE BIGGEST EVENT FLOPS IN HISTORY?
https://lnkd.in/gYcHJEny

02/07/2026

Happy Fourth of July and a proud celebration of America’s 250th year, from all of us at the Live Events Coalition!

To our members, partners, and the families who support the people behind every stage, screen, festival, convention, and gathering across this country: today we honor the spirit of independence, resilience, and community that defines both our nation and our industry.

As we mark this historic milestone, we also reaffirm our commitment to you. The Live Event Coalition continues to advocate on your behalf in Washington, D.C. championing fair policy, workforce support, small business protections, and the recognition our industry deserves. Your work fuels culture, commerce, and connection in every corner of America, and your voices guide ours every day.

Wishing you a safe, joyful, and meaningful Fourth of July. Here’s to freedom, family, and the future we’re building together.

Live Events Coalition
Al Mercuro
Nancy Shaffer
Wendy Porter Events, LLC
Dwayne Thomas

24/06/2026

Dwayne Thomas, representing the Live Events Coalition and Small Business Majority, is heading to Washington, D.C. in two weeks to meet with Members of Congress and the U.S. Small Business Administration and he needs to walk into those rooms carrying your stories.

Small business owners across the live events ecosystem are being hit from every direction; rising tariffs, fuel and transportation costs, health‑care pressures, and the ripple effects of global instability including the war in Iran.

These challenges aren’t abstract they’re reshaping budgets, staffing, planning, and the very survival of our businesses!

If you’re a small business owner, we need to hear from you. Your lived experience matters. Your voice matters. Tell us what’s impacting your business today.

Your stories will help shape the conversation in D.C. Share your story privately by sending me a direct message via our contact LEC website; https://lnkd.in/gS4Bfwzd

Thank you, Al Mercuro Chair, Marketing and Media Live Events Coalition

05/05/2026

The Live Events Coalition proudly congratulates our President, Wendy Porter, on being named the Woman Entrepreneur of the Year at the 2026 Women’s Networking Summit!

Wendy Porter Events, founded in 2015, has become one of the most respected experiential agencies in the country producing more than 1,300 events, managing $200M+ in budgets, and creating unforgettable
experiences for over 1 million attendees. From national conferences and CEO Summits to Super Bowl activations and award galas, Wendy’s work continues to raise the bar for what bold, strategic, human-centered events can achieve.
Wendy’s leadership at the LEC reflects the same excellence: clear vision, deep industry insight, and a relentless commitment to elevating the people who make live events possible.

We are so proud to celebrate you, Wendy!

On behalf of your fellow board members and everyone at the Live Event Coalition congratulations on this well‑deserved honor!

Al Mercuro
Wendy Porter Events, LLC
Nancy Shaffer
Dwayne Thomas
Events Education & Workforce Development Federation