ELI Subscriber Spotlight: Allie Marsh

Allie Marsh is the principle and CEO of Events by Allie, an automotive event management company based in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.

Having always loved cars, she started her automotive journey on two wheels, riding motorcycles with her dad at a young age. After seven years in the event planning business working on alcohol-based events, Allie returned to school for a postgraduate diploma in Event Management at Niagara College. It wasn’t long into the school semester before she got her first taste of the automotive industry at The Automobile Journalists Association of Canada’s (AJAC) week-long testing event known as “TestFest.”

Since 2011, Allie has been planning local and international automotive events with the Event Leadership Institute supporting her ongoing professional growth.

We asked her to share her insights and industry expertise below.

What skills have you needed to learn or develop throughout your career?

I’ve learned patience, understanding, and the ability to explain different ways of doing things in plain language to clients.

Being able to meet a client at their level of understanding or vision is key, whether explaining how to evolve their vision into one that will be more efficient, a different approach that will save money in the overall budget, or an idea that will garner more attendance.

Explaining the consequences of a last-minute change or addition to an event is also essential – every action has a reaction. If you help your client foresee what that change of action will cause, they may be more aware of the effect on the entire event versus one small segment they want to change.

It’s being able to see the big picture from 30,000 feet instead of focusing on the minutia that can really help your client.

What is the best piece of advice you can give to new event professionals?

I suggest attending events that interest you and volunteering to help wherever possible.

I have volunteered at nearly every event and contributed my management skills too. It shows you are willing to provide value, expertise, and time to an event’s success – even when you aren’t getting paid. It helps you see an event from the inside out, to incorporate your skillset if you become part of the planning team.

What are you most excited about for the future of the event industry?

I am most excited for the event industry to keep evolving and changing. It keeps us on our toes and keeps us learning and growing.

There is always a more efficient or better way to do something, or a new technology to make events better, faster, or more accessible.

I love that events are always different because the people who attend constantly evolve too.

How has being an ELI subscriber benefited your career?

Being an ELI subscriber helps me refresh. We get so caught up in the day-to-day event operations and planning, so I take time yearly to take a course and refresh or remind myself what I could be doing better, what am I doing well, or what could I stop doing.

Plus, it’s a good excuse to force myself into a break. Being self-employed makes it hard to say no to clients, but we also need to take time off. ELI helps me take a break and (re) learn for a month and refresh.

You can connect with Allie on LinkedIn or on Instagram.

If you are an ELI member who would like to be featured, contact us.