Lisa Diehl
September 17, 2026
Angela Petrie
October 6, 2026
Designing the Rhythm of an Experience
Article by Edie Lanza, Events & Marketing Director
I started my career working with middle and high school students, so I became accustomed to planning engaging content from morning until late in the evening. The goal was simple: keep students engaged so they had no reason to misbehave. When I started working with adults, it was hard to break my mentality that “more is better.”
As an event and experience designer, I always want to make the most of attendees’ time. After all, they’re giving up office hours, time with family and friends and the opportunity to do anything else. It’s my responsibility to make it worth their time. There’s even more at stake when they’ve paid to participate.
But sometimes that sense of responsibility creates a natural desire to overplan.
Agendas become too full, transitions are too tight and every minute is filled. Attendees leave exhausted, without the opportunity to absorb the best of what was offered.
It took me time to learn that the best experiences have rhythm and a good rhythm only comes from intentional pacing.
Give meaningful moments a place to land
Have you ever been captivated by a speaker, only to reach the end of the day and forget what made their message so powerful? It may be because the next moment demands your attention immediately, leaving no space to absorb and reflect.
If you follow your most powerful speaker with another speaker, when will people digest the important message you likely paid big bucks to deliver?
Maybe you planned a big reveal, only for people to seem to forget it by the end of the event? Maybe there wasn’t a beat afterward to give people space to let it sink in.
Or have you ever cut off meaningful conversations for the sake of staying on time? Of course, if the room is dead, you’ve waited too long. But there’s a balance between too much and too little time for interaction, and sometimes those conversations are the most important part of the attendee experience.
Protect the spaces where connection happens
I used to see downtime as a hazard. If we weren't controlling what people were doing at any given time, how could we be sure the event would be successful? Would attendees receive the right message, or would they go rogue?
I was recently part of a leadership cohort, and sitting on the other side of the experience taught me something important: downtime is often when the best conversations happen.
Not only did I have great conversations with incredible people, but I even found myself talking about the speakers and topics the planners hoped we would discuss — all of my own volition.
Connection and conversation aren’t wasted space on an agenda; they’re often the heart of the experience. They bring ideas to life after a session, spark shared interests over coffee or a meal and generate questions someone finally has the space to ask.
Space for connection can be just as productive as a planned moment, and event pacing needs to reflect that.
Putting intentional pacing into practice
So what does intentional pacing actually look like?
Let’s walk through some of the different types of energy you can create throughout an event.
Arrival
Think about a time when you felt like you were exactly where you belonged. That’s the feeling you want to give attendees.
It starts before the event begins with clear communication about what to expect, how to get there, where to park, what attire is appropriate and other small details that remove uncertainty. When someone feels confident and prepared, they can show up ready to engage.
Then, think about the atmosphere when someone enters the space. What signage will make it easy for attendees to find where they need to go? Who should be at your registration desk to set the right tone when people check in? How will you ensure a pleasant experience for the first guest through the last person, even if they’re running late?
Anticipation
When attendees are waiting for things to start, how can you build anticipation? Everything from the music playing to a countdown on the screens can set the tone.
Is your event focused on connection? Have people ready to start hallway conversations and make attendees feel welcome, or use screens to share conversation prompts that encourage networking.
Is the experience building toward a major announcement? A countdown clock might be exactly what you need.
Whatever the goal, make sure your plan reflects the feeling you want attendees to have.
Welcome
Your first speaker sets the stage for what your audience expects from the experience — whether it’s an intimate dinner or a large-scale corporate conference.
Be strategic about who speaks first, the message they deliver and the energy they bring to the room. In general, keep opening remarks short, purposeful and to the point.
Engagement
How will you get people involved in the event?
It might be a strategically timed workshop break for interactive sessions, a speaker who can get the whole audience on their feet or a well-placed interactive station.
Think intentionally about when people will need an energy boost, higher stimulation or a chance to actively participate rather than simply listen.
Breathing Room
What will give people an opportunity to process what they’ve experienced and clear their minds so they can move forward with intentionality?
It could be as simple as a 30-minute caffeine break, a cocktail hour, a programming pause for journaling or even a well-coordinated transition from one space to another. The goal is to create unscripted space for people to take the time they need.
For example, I’ve planned several domestic and international travel experiences for groups. Early on, I planned conversations for bus rides to keep people engaged.
It turned out that many people simply needed time to relax. Forcing a conversation sometimes took away from the positive experience they’d just had before boarding the bus.
So I stopped planning those conversations during bus rides and moved them to intimate after-dinner discussions instead. That gave people space to nap, talk with a friend about what they had just seen or catch up on emails.
Regardless of how they used the time, they had an opportunity to address fatigue, distractions and the need to process. As a result, they were more equipped to start the next thing on the agenda with their full attention.
Peak Moment
If attendees could take just one thing from the experience you’re creating, what would you want it to be?
Knowing the answer will help you build your peak moment. It may be a speaker’s message, a company announcement or another defining experience.
Whatever it is, build momentum around that moment and make sure the rest of the plan doesn’t compete with it.
Connection
Connection doesn’t just mean creating space for people to meet. Sometimes, it needs to be more intentional.
How will you jump-start conversations? Can you encourage people to visit exhibit booths and have meaningful conversations? What can you do to make connecting with someone else feel natural?
The strategy will look different at a staff meeting where everyone knows each other, a reunion where everyone has at least one thing in common or a convention hall full of strangers.
Ask yourself: What kinds of relationships do we hope to build between attendees, and how can we help cultivate them?
Reflection
Reflection is a key part of the experience — not only for the attendee, but also for the speaker or planner. Individual reflection can lead to stronger, more specific feedback while helping attendees turn an experience into action.
When conducting workshops, end with a reflection moment. Try the 3-2-1:
- Three things you learned today
- Two questions you still have
- One thing you’re going to implement when you get back to the office
The exercise prompts individual reflection that leads to tangible action. Then I ask for volunteers to share their responses. Their answers provide valuable feedback about what resonated, what questions remain and what attendees plan to do next.
Whether it’s a five-minute activity like this, a well-designed survey or a few minutes to journal at the end of a session, building in time for reflection is essential for both the attendee and you.
Close
How awful would it be to have a dynamic day and end with a dud?
Sometimes the way we end an event becomes an afterthought, but it should be just as intentional as the way we start it.
Thank attendees for their time and attention. Show a hype video for the next opportunity. Give out a save-the-date item that connects with the theme or location.
Whatever you choose, make the final moment one that leaves people feeling the way you imagined they would when you started the planning process.
Three Questions for Planning
If nothing else, here are three questions that can help you evaluate your plan and decide whether the pacing needs to change.
- What do we want attendees to remember?
If that isn’t clear to you, it certainly won’t be clear to the attendee. Make sure the opportunities to reinforce your message are well-defined and engage the audience appropriately. - Are we ever asking too much of attendees?
If you have three 45-minute keynotes in a row, the answer is probably yes. How often does your audience need a focus break? You can’t expect attendees — even those taking in incredible content — to give you more sustained time and attention than you could realistically give on an average day. - Where can people breathe?
Is there space for someone to catch their breath in this agenda? If not, what can you give up while still successfully achieving your answer to question number one?
Designing for What People Remember
The goal of intentional pacing is to make the most important moments impactful while the ones in between are still meaningful. That’s the rhythm of a good event.
When we stop measuring an experience by how much we can fit into it and start thinking about how people will move through it, we create something attendees have the space to actually feel and remember.
Just like a good song that sticks with you long after you hear it for the first time.
