From Pushback to Buy In:
Leading the Conversations That Move Events Forward
Every event depends on conversations you can't fully control — asking a client to rethink a decision, justifying budget to an executive, pushing a vendor or sponsor, or telling a colleague something isn't working. This 2-hour live, virtual workshop gives event professionals a practical way to prepare for those conversations and get the alignment their events need. Ahead of the workshop, you'll submit a real challenge you're facing now so you can leave the workshop with a plan and the confidence to solve it.
Tuesday 10/20
Workshop Date
11:00 AM – 1:00 PM CT
Workshop Time
$199
Price
CE Hours
Earn 2 continuing education clock hours
What You'll Learn
Event professionals are expected to create memorable attendee experiences, prove ROI, and manage competing priorities, often while depending on people they do not directly manage: executives, clients, sponsors, and internal stakeholders.
You may know the attendee experience needs to change, but a leader wants to repeat what worked last year. You may need more budget or staff to deliver on your event’s goals, but have to justify the investment first. A client may be pushing for a decision that could undercut the experience, or you may need to challenge a vendor, sponsor, speaker, or colleague while preserving a relationship you still need.
In these moments, the event strategy is rarely the hard part. The hard part is getting the people around you to see it, trust it, and act on it.
From Pushback to Buy In is a 2 hour, interactive workshop that helps event professionals lead the stakeholder conversations that determine whether attendee experience improves, event value gets recognized, and resources get approved. We want to work on the issues that are real for you and give you tools and takeaways for immediate use after the workshop. Before you attend, we’ll ask you to submit your challenge tied to attendee experience and engagement, executive expectations and buy in, or demonstrating event ROI so you can work through it live.
Using practical communication strategies grounded in the StoryShift framework and the principles of psychological safety, participants examine what is driving resistance, separate fact from assumption, identify the priorities and power dynamics shaping the conversation, and strengthen how they present their recommendations and requests.
Participants leave with more than communication theory. They leave with a specific plan for a specific conversation, and the practice needed to have it with confidence.
Why This Workshop?
Who This Workshop Is For
This workshop is built for event professionals who are responsible for event outcomes and regularly need buy in, budget, or alignment from people they do not manage directly, including:
- Event managers, senior event managers, and event directors
- Meeting and event strategists responsible for attendee experience
- Anyone preparing to make the case for a decision, a resource, or a change to an executive, client, sponsor, or internal stakeholder
This session assumes you already have an event strategy. It focuses on getting the people around you to support it.
Before You Attend: Submit Your Challenge
Before the workshop, you will submit a brief description of a current event related stakeholder challenge. No confidential or identifying information is required. You may be asked to reflect on:
- What event decision, recommendation, or conversation you are struggling to move forward
- Who you need to influence or gain buy in from
- What makes the situation difficult
- What is at stake for the event, attendees, organization, or relationship if it stays unresolved
- What outcome you would like to achieve
Common themes from submissions may be used as anonymized examples during the workshop, while you work directly on your own situation.
What You'll Walk Away With
Participants complete an Event Stakeholder Conversation Planner during the workshop, a reusable tool for preparing high stakes event conversations. Unlike a one time action plan, the planner is designed to be used again each time you need to influence an important event decision.
The Planner walks you through:
- The event or business issue you need to address
- The outcome or decision you are seeking
- The stakeholder’s priorities and perspective
- What you know versus what you are assuming
- Competing priorities or potential sources of resistance
- The impact on attendee experience, event outcomes, or business value
- Evidence or data that can strengthen your recommendation
- Your communication strategy
- The specific request or decision you need from the stakeholder
- Follow up and next steps
You will begin the planner during the workshop using your own current challenge, and practice part of the conversation live before you leave.
Workshop Format
This is a live, virtually facilitated 2-hour workshop on Tuesday, October 20th from 11:00am to 1:00pm Central.
Structure
The session opens with brief instruction on the drivers of resistance and the StoryShift framework, then moves into individual reflection on your own stakeholder challenge. From there you will practice in breakouts with live coaching, come back together for a group debrief, and complete your Event Stakeholder Conversation Planner before the workshop closes.
What You'll Be Able to Do
By the end of this workshop, you will be able to identify how assumptions, competing priorities, and power dynamics shape resistance in a stakeholder conversation. You will apply the StoryShift framework and psychological safety principles to prepare for a real conversation involving accountability, conflict, or competing needs. And you will build a conversation plan that states the issue, the impact, and the next step you need, while preserving the relationship.
Counts Toward Your CMP
PCMA Institute is recognized by the Events Industry Council (EIC) as a Preferred Provider of continuing education. Completing this course qualifies for CMP continuing education credit, so every hour you invest moves your certification forward.
Learn from an Industry Expert
Dr. Tanisha King
Strategic Advisor, Educator & Consultant
Dr. Tanisha King is a licensed social worker, executive strategist, and educator who partners with organizations to build cultures of belonging, psychological safety, and sustainable leadership.
With over 15 years of senior leadership experience—including serving as a Chief Inclusion Officer—Dr. King brings a unique blend of lived experience and research-informed expertise to her work. She helps leaders translate understanding into actionable systems, practices, and behaviors that strengthen team connection, communication, and organizational trust.
As a strategic advisor, Dr. King works alongside executive teams, associations, and leaders to design long-term learning strategies, develop high-impact training experiences, and foster environments where people feel seen, supported, and safe to do their best work. Her approach is practical, rigorous, and results-oriented, moving organizations from awareness to sustained cultural growth.
Ready to Level Up?
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Satisfaction Guarantee
The PCMA Institute stands behind all of its content. If you feel you didn’t learn what you expected to in this course, just let us know within 30 days of your last lesson and we’ll give you a full refund. Full terms & conditions apply.
