The business events industry is experiencing renewed momentum. Organizations are once again investing in live experiences to drive connection, learning, culture, and economic impact. Business events continue to play a meaningful role in tourism, hospitality, and local economies.
At the same time, industry research points to a persistent labour shortage. Post-pandemic attrition, retirements, and the pace of recovery have created workforce gaps across planning, production, sales, and operations. Together, these realities present both opportunity and responsibility. If demand continues to rise while the talent pool tightens, the leadership challenge is no longer just how we attract people, but whether the industry is evolving fast enough to keep them.
Awareness Is About Career Paths
More leaders are starting to recognize that many students (high-school level) and early-career professionals don’t realize the business events industry exists. However, awareness of the industry is only part of the equation. Just as important is awareness of the diverse, fulfilling, and lucrative career paths within it.
Too often, events are reduced to a narrow set of roles or stereotypes (ex: party planners), when in reality the industry includes strategy, sales, marketing, production, content, creative, technology, and entrepreneurship. When those pathways aren’t clearly articulated, the industry becomes harder to choose and easier to leave.
I’ve seen firsthand how powerful early exposure can be. Through collaborations with educators, platforms like myBlueprint, and grassroots industry initiatives, students are introduced to real people and real career stories; how individuals entered the industry, how their roles evolved, and what sustainable career paths can look like over time.
Attraction Without Retention Is the Real Risk
The events industry is intense by nature. Live delivery under pressure is part of what makes this work meaningful, and part of what makes it demanding.
For years, resilience and endurance have been cultural strengths. Teams stepped up, absorbed pressure, and delivered extraordinary outcomes. That spirit helped the industry survive, but endurance alone is not a long-term strategy.
Across sectors, people increasingly define sustainable careers through:
- Clear pathways and mobility
- Flexibility over time
- Visible impact and fulfillment (purpose)
- Predictable recovery after periods of intensity
When these conditions are missing, or unclear, even passionate, capable people disengage.
Retention has always reflected leadership choices. In today’s labour environment, those choices are simply harder to outrun. What was once absorbed quietly now surfaces quickly, through burnout, attrition, and delivery strain. Retention is no longer a background concern; it is a visible leadership responsibility.
Modernizing How Value Is Delivered
How work gets done in the events industry matters, both for clients and talent. Organizations that are thriving and will continue to do so into the future are increasingly embracing right-fit operating models, including:
- Leaner internal teams supported by trusted outsourced partners
- Flexible resourcing that scales with demand
- Gig / project-based work integrated intentionally
- Boundaries that acknowledge intensity while allowing recovery
These approaches don’t lower standards. They make delivery more resilient. For clients, they provide access to the right expertise at the right time. For talent, they signal that the industry is adapting to what people value and how people build careers today.
A Collective Leadership Moment
No single organization can solve the talent challenge alone. Associations influence education, standards, and perception. Suppliers shape delivery expectations.
Freelancers, agencies and in-house teams’ model what working in the industry actually feels like. Together, leaders across the event ecosystem determine whether the industry is visible, desirable, and sustainable.
Designing an Industry People Can Stay In
The future of the business events industry will not be determined solely by how many people we attract. It will be shaped by whether people can see themselves growing and staying long term.
That means:
• Pairing industry awareness-building with clearer career trajectories.
• Treating retention as a strategic priority.
• Valuing right-fit teams over scale alone.
• Designing work models that balance intensity with recovery.
Demand for events is growing. Interest for careers within events can grow too. For leaders willing to collaborate and modernize how their organizations operate, the industry’s next chapter is not just viable, it’s full of exciting possibility.
Carly Silberstein, is a serial entrepreneur and the Big Idea Award winner at the Canadian Meetings + Events Expo in 2025. She is the co-founder and former CEO of Redstone Agency, where she built one of Canada’s leading event and association management agencies. Today, Carly leads new ventures through Cielle Group—a modern holding company focused on investing in and scaling businesses across the event ecosystem—and delivers consulting, event management, and strategic services through Cielle & Co, its operating arm. She is also the first outside investor and fractional CRO of shutterb, a Canadian event technology startup that connects event hosts with talented smartphone content creators. Carly is passionate about building companies at the intersection of events, experiences, and technology, and is recognized for pushing boundaries, driving growth, and shaping the future of the event industry.
