We measure everything except this

This week I found myself in a conversation with a founder who was telling me about all of the events they're doing: collaborations, pop-ups, brand partnerships, community gatherings. The kind of activity that feels almost mandatory right now if you're building a consumer brand. 

People want to experience things in real life again. They want to meet founders, try products, connect with communities, and feel part of something. Events have become one of the most powerful ways to do that.

At some point, I started asking questions.

How many events have you done this year? How many people have you reached? How many customers have come from them? What has actually worked best?

The answer, more or less, was that nobody really knew. The more founders I talk to, the more I realize that conversation wasn't unique. 

We measure almost everything in business—except events. 

One of the things I've noticed over the last year is that events are often treated differently than every other function inside a business. We would never spend money on advertising and ignore performance. We would never hire salespeople and refuse to track pipelines. 

Yet when it comes to events, many teams are still operating on instinct alone. We remember whether the room felt full. We remember if people seemed engaged. We remember whether we had a good time. But when someone asks what actually happened because of the event, the answers are often surprisingly fuzzy.

What's funny is that when I started Partytrick, this wasn't the problem I thought we were solving.

I came from a world where events were incredibly operational. There were timelines, budgets, vendors, logistics, and countless moving parts. The challenge seemed obvious: make planning easier. Create a system that helps people understand what to do, when to do it, and how to execute without everything living across fifteen different spreadsheets and email threads.

Somewhere along the way, my attention shifted.

The planning still matters. The gathering still matters. The intentionality definitely still matters. I've become increasingly fascinated by what happens after the event is over. What did we learn? What worked? Should we do it again? Was the investment worth it?

What surprises me most is how much I've fallen back in love with numbers.

As a kid, math was always my thing. I loved patterns. I loved understanding how things connected. At some point, I stopped seeing myself as a numbers person and started seeing myself as a creative. I've been realizing those two things were never mutually exclusive. 

Last week my team and I spent hours revisiting pricing models, forecasts, and financial assumptions. This weekend was filled with end-of-school celebrations and lacrosse events. Next week, I'm headed to New York to activate at and attend events during  NY Tech Week. 

Different worlds, different stakes, but all of them revolve around the same thing: people gathering and the effort it takes to make those moments happen. 

The companies getting the most value from events aren't necessarily doing more of them. They're paying attention to what works and doing more of that.

While everyone else seems to be easing into summer mode, I'm over here asking the same questions over and over: What did it cost? What did we get back? If we did it again, what would we change?

The thing I've realized is that numbers don't take away from the experience. They help explain it.

If one event generates a customer that covers the entire investment, that's useful to know. If one gathering consistently creates partnerships while another creates awareness, that's useful too. 

If you can look back at a year and confidently say, "We participated in 75 events, reached thousands of people, and generated meaningful business because of it," that's a very different story than simply saying, "We were busy."

The point of all this 

For someone who just spent the last few minutes talking about spreadsheets, I promise I'm still fun at parties.

We're entering peak gathering season. The weather is better. School is ending. Calendars are filling up. People are saying yes to things again.

So while I'm encouraging everyone to pay attention to the numbers, I'm equally encouraging everyone to enjoy the reason we're collecting them in the first place.

Plan the dinner.
Host the barbecue.
Go to the event.
Make the introduction.

The metrics matter because the experiences matter. 

A few things earning their keep this summer 

Speaking of experiences, my current summer fridge lineup is:

• Hiyo Blackberry Lemon Sparkling Social Tonic — because sometimes you want the ritual without the alcohol.
• Aplós — I've fully accepted this as part of my identity (and make it yours by using a code to save: PARTYTRICK)
• Diet Coke — the fridge cigarette remains undefeated. Please don't tell my mother.

It’s all about balance, right?

Then there’s my Hulken bag — if you've ever seen me at an event, chances are you've seen one of these too. It holds everything, survives everything, and has saved my back more times than I can count. Absolute MVP.

A few people have asked where I track the products, books, hosting essentials, and random things I'm loving right now, so I've started collecting them all in one place → Curated By Virginia 

See you next week.