Production Value Matters: The Business Event Podcast

The Evolution Of The Event Team: How To Thrive On Tighter Budgets in 2025 with Dr. David Burkus

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Sep 2, 2025

Join Dr. David Burkus, a bestselling author and leadership expert, as he shares insights on navigating the future of event planning in an AI-driven world. Discover why in-person connections are crucial and how every event should be treated as a fresh team. Burkus reveals that constraints can fuel creativity, leading to innovative designs without the need for celebrity speakers. He also discusses smarter ROI measurement and the art of creating memorable moments, showing how real engagement goes beyond gimmicks.

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INSIGHT

Entertaining Enlightenment Works Best

Pair entertainment with evidence-based content to make talks memorable and engaging.
Use levity and storytelling to create surprise-and-delight moments that recapture attention.

ADVICE

Design Shareable Moments

Create experiences that are irresistibly shareable rather than relying on tired gimmicks like photo booths.
Design moments that make attendees want to post on social media and tell others about the event.

ADVICE

Use AI To ‘Plus’ Your Agenda

Use generative AI to upload your agenda and generate non-obvious ways to elevate each line item.
Filter outputs: expect half to be poor but the other half may spark low-cost creative ideas.

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How can event teams keep pace with AI, without losing the human connection audiences crave?

In this episode of Production Value Matters, host Matthew Byrne is joined by world-renowned leadership and teamwork expert Dr. David Burkus to unpack the real drivers of event transformation in 2025. Together they dive into why in-person events will matter more than ever in an AI-saturated world, how to treat every event as a new team, and why constraints can actually unlock creativity. Burkus shares bold takes on surprise-and-delight moments, smarter ROI measurement, and how event pros can build meaningful connection without massive budgets, gimmicks..or celebrity speakers.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

How to use AI as “the world’s smartest intern” to bridge collaboration between event stakeholders
Why surprise and delight must go beyond gimmicks like photo booths
How in-person connection is more valuable than ever in an AI-driven era
Why every event is a new team (and how that mindset transforms collaboration)
Why constraints spark creativity and lead to more innovative event design
Why celebrity speakers don’t deliver ROI—and what audiences really want instead
How to measure event impact beyond surveys by capturing long-term outcomes and stories

About the Guest: Dr. David Burkus is one of the world’s leading business thinkers, a 5X bestselling author, and an internationally renowned keynote speaker on leadership and teamwork. His ideas have been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Harvard Business Review, CNN, BBC, and NPR. A former business school professor, he now works with organizations like Adobe, PepsiCo, Fidelity, and NASA to help leaders and teams unlock their full potential.

Follow Matt on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/matthewbyrnecsep

Follow David on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidburkus/

For additional resources for #eventprofs, or to submit your event production question visit www.productionvaluematters.com

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For additional resources for #eventprofs visit www.productionvaluematters.com

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