The Unstoppable Eventrepreneur™ · 2025-04-24 · 22 min
Key moments - from our scoring
Substance score
31 / 100
Five dimensions, 20 points each
Mayo Silvers shares the operational framework that enables her to scale her event planning business beyond her physical presence. Rather than attending every corporate event or executive conference she plans, she uses a systematic approach: first assessing whether her client's internal team has the capacity and expertise to handle on-site execution; second, establishing explicit expectations with venues and vendors through detailed banquet event orders, floor plans, and pre-event run-of-show calls; third, clarifying communication channels so each team member knows exactly who handles what (rooming, F&B, AV, etc.); and fourth, maintaining remote oversight through group chats and daily check-ins without micromanaging. The deeper insight addresses the psychological barrier many planners face - the belief that physical presence equals value. Silvers emphasizes that the real work happens pre-event: the planning, strategic decisions, and client guidance that justify her high-five-figure fees, not the day-of execution. This mindset shift is critical for eventpreneurs who want to move beyond trading time for money and build a business that scales.
By assessing the client's team capacity upfront, setting clear expectations and detailed specifications with venues and vendors, establishing distinct communication channels for each role, and supervising remotely through group chats and check-ins. The planning work before the event and clear protocols during ensure smooth execution without on-site presence.
When the client's team has competing responsibilities or lacks event execution experience, being stretched too thin will compromise the event. Silvers insists on on-site support in these cases even when clients want to save money, because divided attention leads to failure.
Use detailed banquet event orders, floor plans, and run-of-show calls to cover every specification. Clearly state your hot buttons (like immediate response to requests or fast room turnovers) and ensure the venue acknowledges understanding before the event.
Many planners fear that being absent on-site means clients won't perceive the value they paid for, so they feel compelled to be visibly working. In reality, the pre-event planning and strategy demonstrate worth before the event day.
Our reviewer’s read on each dimension, with quotes from the episode.
The five-point framework (assess team capacity, set vendor expectations, clarify roles, supervise remotely, mindset) is genuine operational advice but largely consists of obvious delegation and project-management principles any experienced operator would recognise. Repetition and throat-clearing dilute whatever density exists.
I always want to know what is the capacity of my client's team okay. Or even my client, what is their capacity in terms of, um, manpower and knowledge about events
I set expectation with the venue and the vendors. Okay, the venue and the vendors in a sense that where I, where my client is hosting the event
The 'prove your worth' mindset point is the only marginally non-obvious idea in the episode; the rest is standard delegation and expectation-setting advice that circulates widely in operations and management content. No contrarian or first-principles thinking is present.
a lot of planners and designers, they feel that they need to be on site because they feel that this is the way to prove their worth
You need to already know that the work that you do leading up to the event has already shown your worth. That's why they hire you.
This is a solo episode; there is no guest. The host is a genuine 20-year practitioner running real events businesses, which provides baseline credibility, but a solo monologue from a niche operator without external perspective limits the ceiling here.
I am your host, Mayo Silvers, an events Veteran with over 20 years of experience and also an unstoppable, uh, eventopreneur with two multiple six figure events business
There are a handful of concrete data points (50 vs 400 attendees, 'high five figures' on-site fees, three-day multi-state event in progress) and role-specific examples (Mary/AV, Suzy/banquet, Lulu/rooms), but no named clients, venues, or outcome metrics, and the anecdotes remain anonymised and illustrative rather than evidential.
when it comes to on site support, they saw how much I'm charging for my on site support. We're talking about high five figures
this is know only a, ah, 50 people event, the big one, like 400 people. That one, I'll be on site
This is an uninterrupted solo monologue; there are no questions, no follow-ups, no pushback, and no interlocutor of any kind. The format structurally prevents any conversational craft from being demonstrated, and the delivery is repetitive rather than tightly argued.
Okay? So there is also no chance for the vendor to make any boo boo unless on that day there's an accident on the highway, they are late, etc. Etc.
Okay? Last but not least, this is probably the one that, what we call this, subconscious thought. Okay? Subconscious thought.
Computed from the transcript - who did the talking, and the words that came up most.
What would it look like if you didn’t have to be onsite for every event you plan? Could your business actually grow faster if you weren’t tied to every detail in person? In this episode, May Yeo Silvers pulls back the curtain on how she manages multiple events, sometimes in different states, without being physically present. May walks through the exact process she uses to decide when she’s needed onsite and when she’s not. From assessing a client’s team capacity to setting expectations with vendors and venues, she lays out the systems that keep everything running smoothly. She also shares how clear communication and proactive oversight allow her to support events remotely while staying fully in the loop. And then there’s the mindset piece. If you’ve ever felt like you have to show up in person just to prove your value, May challenges that belief with one simple truth: the work you do before the event is what truly matters. Want to build a business that doesn’t rely on you being everywhere at once? This episode is a solid place to start.
Transcribed and scored by The B2B Podcast Index.
Speaker A: Welcome to the Unstoppable eventrepreneur podcast where
Speaker B: we have open and honest conversations about
Speaker A: business strategies, thinking and habits that are essential to building a successful event planning business while enjoying a, ah, fulfilling lifestyle. I am your host, Mayo Silvers, an events Veteran with over 20 years of experience and also an unstoppable, uh, eventopreneur with two multiple six figure events business. Come listen with an open heart and open mind. Be ready to reset, recharge and rejuvenate your life and your business.
Speaker B: As I am, um, recording this episode titled why I Don't need to be on site for all my Events. I actually have an event going on right now a few states away from Florida. So I'm recording this session m sitting at home while I actually have a three day event happening in another state. How do I do that? I get asked this question all the time because this is key if you want to learn how to scale your business. Because you can be in more than one place at one time because there's only one of you. Correct. And if you want to skill, you have to be able to do more than one event at one time or more than one thing at one time to be able to grow your business. Okay? So that's why I think it's important for me to talk about what exactly goes on behind the scenes where I'm able to not have to be on site for every single one of my events and allowing me the time freedom to do what I need to do to grow my business or to do what I want to do with myself and with my family. Okay, so there are a few things we will talk about that is going to give you an idea how you can do it too. So every time I do an event for a client, all right, they hire me to plan the events. I ask a few questions and majority of you, if not all of you who have been following me, know that I only do corporate events, namely in person events for Fortune 500 companies or actually not all. And, and ticketed, uh, in person events for corporate companies or uh, for six to eight figure coaches who host ticketed in person events. So I only do in person events, not virtual events. All right? And in person events will require on site coordination. Right. How can I not be on site to coordinate? I'm going to tell you how it's done. So every time I, uh, have the opportunity to be hired by someone, a client, a company, to plan and execute an event, I always want to know what is the capacity of my client's team okay. Or even my client, what is their capacity in terms of, um, manpower and knowledge about events, knowledge about on site execution. All right, so if you were to see me on site for an event for a client, it is not because that the client does not have the capacity, uh, to execute the event themselves. They may have the capacity and the knowledge to execute the event themselves on site, but, uh, they prefer to have me on site to handle everything so that their team can do something else, which a lot of times I encourage this type of scenario when I feel that the on site coordination can be a little bit overwhelming if we were to stretch my client's team. Therefore, I always ask my client about the capacity of the team, the experience of the team and what is happening or what is expected to happen, um, when the event is happening on site. And I try to understand what are the roles of my clients, team members when they are on site and then determine if they actually even have the time or the energy to handle the events specific on site execution. Okay? If, uh, it comes to a point that because the client wants to save money and do not want to incur extra expense of getting me to be on site, and they say that they will have their own team to do it, I will ask them questions about the experience of the team. Okay? And also, again, what are they doing on site apart from executing the event logistics? Are they assigned other tasks? If they were to tell me that this person that they are thinking to be able, or the team that is able to execute the on site event execution, all right, and they share with me that they're actually doing something else, then I absolutely will insist that they need an outsider, uh, on site help. Outsider means as in third party, like my company. Okay? Because if you want a smooth event, you cannot be pulling your team in all directions. So I'm going to be totally honest, you know, be transparent, because I do that all the time with all my clients. I actually have a client that I was onboarding right about a month ago and we're doing their very first in person event. It is a big deal for the company. All right? Uh, their company and they are doing, they are doing the very first in person event and they decide to hire me. They are extremely budget conscious, okay? Extremely, extremely budget conscious. Which is totally understandable because this is their first big investment, right? Doing an in person event. And when it comes to on site support, they saw how much I'm charging for my on site support. We're talking about high five figures, okay? Or, you know, they, they decide that they're going to have their own team to do it. All right? And after I ask these questions like what, what are your team, what is your team going to be doing on site apart from doing events? Do they have any other roles? And they told me that they have, they have um, all this responsibility when they're on site. I'll say absolutely not. If you want this event to be a success, you need, you need help. Okay. So I guided them to the solution, to the, to the uh, I guided them to understand why they need to have uh, someone from my team or even myself on site for the very first event they're going to do. Now today's topic is talking about why I don't need to be on site. Right? But I want to give you the backstory. When I decide whether I need to be on site or not for an event, I always ask this type of question. So for this particular client, I decide that I need to be on site. On the other hand, right where I'm talking about today, where I'm recording this session, I actually have a three day event happening in another state that I don't even need to be on site. How did I come to the conclusion that I don't need to be on site? Okay, first I understood, right? I, I, I had a conversation with the client. I know her team's capacity, her team is top notch. All right? I plan the entire event. I do all the run of show together with her team. The team, because of what I've done with them in the past and the guidance I've given them in the past, they know how to run an event on site. Even before I started working with them, they already know. But when I came on board, I was able to fine tune their process and now they run like a solid machine. Okay. And in that sense I don't need to be on site. Okay. And the client was confident enough to tell me that, no, I don't need you to be on site because this is know only a, ah, 50 people event, the big one, like 400 people. That one, I'll be on site because I know her team will be stretched to do something else. Right? So in this case I said, perfect, I will do all the planning and your team will do the on site execution. But I also will oversee from far right. I want, I asked to be included in the on site communication. So if I were to see any hiccups from the venue or anything that is being discussed on the chat, um, I can chime in when necessary. Okay. But I don't have to be on site. All right. So the first thing is I always ask about the client and the client's team capacity to decide whether do I need to be on site. Okay. And more than 50% I don't have to be. The second thing that I do is I set expectation with the venue and the vendors. Okay, the venue and the vendors in a sense that where I, where my client is hosting the event, the particular place. Okay. The venue and the venue's team. All right, so that means m the events manager, I set expectation for my client to the venue, such as I will tell the venue all the details of the event so that they can create a banquet event order. I also tell the venue, my clients hot buttons or areas of concerns or areas that she wants special focus to be. Um, that, that she paid special focus to so that the venue knows to make sure that they do not drop the ball in these areas. Okay. For instance, my client does not want to have to wait for 30 minutes when she has a request. She wants to be able to find someone very quickly instead of hunting high and low at the venue for a banquet manager, a server. Okay. That means we need to have immediate communication with the on site team at the venue to tell them what we want. And that request has to be acknowledged almost immediately and executed immediately. All right? So I set expectation, um, of my client's expectation for the event and my expectation as what I perceive the venue should do regardless whether my client tells me what she's expecting or not. Okay? So I have a certain expectation for every single venue that I pick and my expectation is they need. I do not want to hunt for people when I need help. And when I ask for help, the help should not take more than 10, 15 minutes. Okay? So these two are my hot, hot, hot buttons. I don't like a dirty looking room. When the the room needs to be cleaned and refreshed. It has to be done quick. And I don't like setup to, to be missing something. If we are so clear on the banquet event order and the floor plan, everything that is on the banquet event order and the floor plan needs to be there. If I ask for certain reports to be delivered to me every single day or delivered to my client every single day, it has to be done. There's no excuse because I communicate very clearly what is needed and expected from the venue before the event even starts. So my client is rest assured that I've already over communicated oversee that all parties involved in executing all these tasks are fully aware that they need to do all these tasks from the venue perspective. Same thing with the vendors. Okay. We will have before the event run a show call. I talk about my expectation, I talk about the expectation of my clients. I talk about the expectation of the event. How does success look like? I uh, talk about punctuality, I talk about making sure they execute whatever is on the contract that we sign with them. The set of time, what time they're supposed to show up, where to park, etc. Etc. Okay. So there is also no chance for the vendor to make any boo boo unless on that day there's an accident on the highway, they are late, etc. Etc. But other than that, under all normal circumstances, they know exactly what to do. They have the floor plan, they have the instructions per the contract that I sent to them, the specification I sent to them. We went through the run of show. They know exactly what needs to be done. So they don't need me to babysit them. Okay. Yes. Myself or the client's team will be there to oversee, to check, to make sure that they do what they're supposed to do. Because we can communicate, but we always, we, we always, you know, we can delegate, we can communicate, but we always still need to check. Okay? So that's what I do. So this is point number two. Point number three. All right? We talk about clear communications with everyone. So when we are on site, right, we want to always have clear communication on who is doing what and who's the on site contact and what information is to be passed to who. Okay? So when it's a big event, when I'm on site, I will tell the venue and the vendors to come to me for XYZ thing. Do not go talk to my client. If I am not on site, I will make sure that my client tells me exactly who will be on site from her team and who is taking care of the rooming list, who is taking care of banquet, food and beverage, who is taking care of audio visual so that my vendors know who. Oh, to go to Mary for audio visual, to go to Suzy. Okay. The venue knows to go to Suzy for banquet, food and beverage and not to go to Mary because Mary has nothing to do with the banquet, food and beverage and to go to Lulu. Okay. Anything that is sleeping rooms related and they will not be going to Suzy or Mary for sleeping rooms related issues. Okay? So everybody knows who to go to for what. That's why the event is smooth, because information is passed on to the correct person. All right, the fourth point. All Right. That doesn't mean that if I am not on site, I don't care what's going on. Okay? I was just supervised from afar because I was the one who planned the event. So at the end of the day, I have the most intimate knowledge of what's happening every single. At every single event during the day, okay? And the specifications or special requests at every single event during the day or the entire conference. So the on site contact from my client's team, they are also aware as well because they have the copy of the run of show and the banquet event orders. But I will still make sure that I still step in to remind the venue in the group chat that, oh, do you have this? Do you have that? Or I remind the client's team that make sure that the venue put out all these things because I requested for it, okay? So I supervise from far. I don't have to be there, all right? And a lot of times things just happen by themselves. And the number, the point, number five is this is important. Okay? I'm not afraid to let go of control. Why? Why am I not afraid to let go of control? I'm a control freak. I'm, um, type A. How can I not be afraid to let go of control? Because I've already done the above four points. I train my clients, okay? And their team, all right? I evaluate my clients and her team's capacity to decide whether I need to be there or not. I set expectation with the venues and the vendors. I set clear communication with everyone. I still supervise from afar. I let the team on site to run the show, but I was still supervised from afar, especially when things have special requests or special arrangements. So I'm not afraid to let go of control because I trust that everybody knows what they're supposed to do because we have communicated and over communicated and determined that everybody is capable to function as a professional to make things happen. Okay? Last but not least, this is probably the one that, what we call this, subconscious thought. Okay? Subconscious thought. That means it is not something that you think about, but it's. There is a lot of the planners. Designers, decorators, okay? Decorators. Is. Is another story. So a lot of planners, let's just say a lot of planners and designers, they feel that they need to be on site because they feel that this is the way to prove their worth. This is the way to show the value to the client that they are working so hard. They are there arranging tables, they are there setting things up. Um, they are there looking busy and they don't Feel guilty for charging what they want to charge and getting paid what they were asked to be paid. So they're trying to show to the client that it is worth every single dime paying them. Because this planner and designer is actually on site working her, uh, butt off. You need to already know that the work that you do leading up to the event has already shown your worth. That's why they hire you. They already know that you are worthy to render that price. Okay? They can see your work, all right? They can see your work even before the day of the event. So there's really no need to think that you have to be on site to prove your worth. Okay? So you have to ask yourself subconsciously, do you feel that you need to be on site to make sure that everything is running well, to make sure that you show your face so that you are worth the price that you have asked them to pay you, that you're worth every single penny? It shouldn't have to be that way. I don't have to be on site, and the clients do think that it's worth every single penny to pay me, to, uh, pay me the fees that I charge. And many of you know that I don't charge a small fee. I don't have to be on site to prove my worth. So this is inner work that you need to do yourself. But I want to bring this up to your awareness. Okay? All right, so that concludes it all. Well, you know, in summary and on a, on a surface level, okay, there's a lot more that goes behind the scene. But these key points that I just shared with you are, uh, the main points that, uh, that has helped me to not have to be on site for every single one of my event. Allow me the time and the freedom to skill my business and to be spend spending time doing whatever I want. Okay? With my family and with myself. So if you want to learn more about how to build a sustainable business, what exactly is the mindset required to build a, uh, thriving business? Okay. The blueprint in building a business, right? To get to the level that you can do what you see me do. Hopefully I'm an inspiration for you. Then go check out my book, the Unstoppable Eventrepreneur. I will drop the, um, the Amazon link where you can get your book. We have it in hardcover and also in soft copy, so in soft cover. Paperback, basically what Americans call it. Okay, paperback and hardcover. So check out, check out the book because I talk about it all. The mindset, the blueprint, the what to do how to do. All right, as usual, don't forget to give me a rating and a review if you have enjoyed today's episode and also share it with a fellow entrepreneur, eventrepreneur if you think that it benefits them. Talk to you again next week.
Speaker A: Thank you for listening to the Unstoppable eventrepreneur podcast. If you have enjoyed this episode, can you do me a favor? Please leave us a review and also share our podcast so we can help more eventrepreneurs out there. And don't forget to subscribe to, uh, our podcast so you never miss any new episodes.
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