• September 2026Hey all, welcome to The Mixer. As we quickly move towards the fourth quarter and past the busy summer season, now is a good time to look at the mechanics of events.
One mechanic that’s drawing a lot of chatter these days? Lead capture. Everyone’s got a lanyard, which makes lead capture easier than ever … but some are drawn in by the intrigue of vibe coding.
What’s an event planner to do? This month’s issue has a few ideas.
Also in this issue:
🎯 Are sponsored sessions on-target?
🛜 Is event Wi-Fi safe?
🗜 How to prevent crowd crushes
Anyway, let’s get to it:
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The Hidden Costs of DIY Lead Capture
Vibe-coded lead capture tools might save cash-strapped exhibitors a little money, but the data-enrichment costs are too hard to ignore.
If you’re on the exhibit floor in a booth, lead capture is too often the name of the game.
It’s essential—but if you’re an exhibitor, it may be expensive. And that might leave you scrounging around for alternatives to the app-driven barcode scanner. In the past, this might have looked like a MacGyver contraption. But vibe coding has made this path surprisingly viable.
But is it the right way to go? Adam Parry, the cofounder of Event Tech Live, says that there’s a real risk that it disrupts how events function.
“The challenge and problem that’s creating for the show organizer is they’ve got a massive black hole in their data: their engagement data, their lead quality data, and who spoke to whom,” he says.
While there are plenty of reasons that vibe-coded lead capture might be a bad call (for one thing, the potential data risk caused by a lack of hardening), one of the biggest is its ripple effects. Parry suggests that decentralized lead capture can harm the conference’s personalization efforts.
What can event planners do to discourage these sorts of stealthy lead-capture endeavors? Parry suggests reworking how event organizers approach (and monetize) the technology.
“I think lead capture should be given to exhibitors and sponsors ubiquitously, not necessarily sold as an additional add-on to them participating at the event,” he says.
Curious about how the lead-capture landscape is changing? Read on:
More insights on the art of lead capture:
» Want to learn more about the state of lead capture at events? Be sure to check out Parry’s article on the sector.
» Event tech as support system: Nancy Drapeau, the vice president of research for the Center for Exhibition Industry Research, argues that event tech is doing more these days to support business outcomes.
» The art of the perfect QR code: EventMobi’s Chrissy Gow breaks down the role QR codes play in keeping a smooth-running event going.
Worried These Tools Are Costing You Revenue?
Exhibitors are scanning badges with AI apps that never touch your platform. Are you losing revenue without even knowing it? The next EventMobi Masterclass shows you the cost, as well as how to keep exhibitors working with you on the same platform.
Sponsored Sessions: Not So Bad?
Your attendees might be more comfortable with sponsored sessions than you might guess.
84%
The percentage of attendees that are open to sponsor segments during an educational session at an event if transparently disclosed, according to a recent Freeman trends report. About 54% are neutral to the offering, while 30% are positive about them. One concern, however, how the presentation comes off: While two-thirds of respondents say they’re willing to check out a sponsored session, 61% believe that the final result is likely to feel like a sales pitch. (The secret is to make something that feels like it isn’t.)
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(Giorgio Trovato/Unsplash)
Is it getting crowded in here? If you’re worried about the literal crush of people at your events, a situation that has at times turned tragic, new academic research might offer you some crowd-control strategies worth implementing.
Researchers at McGill University have found that dangerous crowd conditions are often not sudden, but gradual, with sustained physical contact creating heightened emotions, building pressure that can bubble over into crowd crushes or even “phantom” stampedes.
The good news is that event planners have a lot of room to optimize this, for example, in situations where there might be huge numbers of people trying to get in the door, by using phased entry strategies. Physical barriers and spacing control can also prove helpful in concert-style settings.
One other point that the researchers mention? Intervening in a crowd crush situation as it’s happening could actually make things worse, which is why organizers should focus instead on mitigating risk factors.
“In real incidents, rescue personnel often need to move against evacuation flows to reach dangerous areas, and these interactions may create new risks or affect crowd movement,” lead author Shanwei Liu explained in comments to Phys.org.
The researchers aim to dive into rescue and evacuation strategies next.
That’s where the event sector stands this month. Keep an eye on where we’re headed—and be sure to share this link with your favorite reader: