Speaker, Event Designer, Producer, Consultant, Best-Selling Author
Marinda Freeman is a distinguished professional Event Designer with over four decades of experience in planning, organizing and crafting unforgettable events. From large corporate conferences, nonprofit galas, and 5K walks/runs, to intimate weddings and celebrations, Marinda’s expertise spans the full spectrum of event design. She is a true visionary in the field, known for creating meaningful experiences that bring people together and leave lasting impressions.
Marinda’s passion for fostering connections, coupled with her extensive expertise, makes her a sought-after Speaker who can inspire and educate audiences on how to create events that not only succeed logistically but also resonate with attendees on a deeper level. She captivates audiences with her insights, stories and strategies for events resulting greater connection, ease and joy.
Serving as an Event Consultant, Marinda works with businesses, corporate event departments, marketing teams, and individual planners to streamline the planning process. She provides expert guidance on event structure, design, and execution—ensuring each event is organized, efficient, and stress-free. Through her tailored assessments and coaching, Marinda helps clients achieve success with ease and peace of mind.
By teaching event planning principles to clients for over twenty-five years, Marinda developed a set of core strategies that operate across all types of events. These principles are outlined in her book, Everything is an Event: A Step-by-Step Guide to Creating Memorable Occasions for Today’s Lifestyle with 15 Principles Revealed.
Prior to starting her event management business, Marinda managed Martha Stewart’s catering company in Westport, CT. Marinda has taught event planning to clients, nonprofit professionals, organizations, and classes at Sonoma State University, highlighting the principles that operate with every event.
Marinda Freeman is a distinguished Event Designer with four decades of experience crafting unforgettable events. Marinda is a dynamic speaker who inspires and educates audiences on how to create events that not only succeed logistically but also resonate with attendees. She captivates audiences with her insights, stories and strategies for events that result in greater connection, ease and joy.
The author of Everything is an Event: A Step-by-Step Guide to Creating Memorable Occasions for Today’s Lifestyle with 15 Principles Revealed, Marinda specializes in guiding businesses, corporate event departments, marketing teams, and individual planners to create structured, efficient, and impactful events.
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One of Marinda's Speaking Topics...
Re-think the Event Planning Process
and Transform Your Events with Neuroscience
Designing events need to be not only professionally organized and visually stunning but also resonate emotionally with the guests, ensuring every detail contributes to a meaningful and beautiful experience and there’s science that backs this up. The success of every event is determined by the experience the guests have. Yes, you can design the experience you and you client want the guests to have. How do you do that? It starts by building a firm foundation – which is not about the space, the layout, the invite list, the food & beverages and so on. All that comes AFTER the proper pre-planning. Marinda will challenge your thought processes about how you think about your events and where you start the planning process.
Marinda has identified 15 principles that operate with every event. By knowing and using them, you can be more successful in your planning and execution of your events. It is important to design every event to bring people together where they feel comfortable, inspired and at ease in connecting with others. Creating community and connection is the true purpose of every event. To produce this end result requires organization and detailed management processes. And it’s a must to have fun while doing all the planning and coordination! Sound impossible? Join Marinda for her inspiring talk and find out how to ensure your client is thrilled with their successfully realized vision.
Key Takeaways:
- Neuroscience in Event Design: Understand how the brain reacts to different environments and stimuli to design events that make an emotional impact.
- 15 Core Principles: Marinda identifies 15 fundamental principles that can guide your event planning process. By applying these principles, you can ensure a more cohesive, engaging experience for your guests from start to finish.
- Building the Right Foundation: Rather than focusing on surface details first (venue, catering, etc.), Marinda emphasizes the importance of pre-planning. The true success of an event begins with identifying the emotional atmosphere you want your guests to have and how to design the experience that resonates with them.
- Creating Connection & Community: The ultimate goal of any event is to bring people together in a meaningful way. When done right, events can foster a sense of belonging, connection, and inspiration. Neuroscience shows that these feelings are not accidental—they can be designed through careful planning.
- The Fun Factor: Event planning doesn't have to be a stressful, tedious process. Marinda highlights how joy and creativity in the planning stages can translate into a more enjoyable, seamless experience for both planners and guests.
- Practical Steps for Execution: Marinda not only challenges your current approach to event planning but also provides actionable steps and tools to integrate these neuroscience-backed principles into your event design and execution.
Why Attend?
Designing an event that resonates with your guests requires more than just logistical precision and aesthetic beauty—it requires an understanding of how the brain processes experience and emotions. Marinda’s talk is grounded in neuroscience, offering an entirely new way to think about event planning that goes beyond the traditional focus on space, layout, and menu. She challenges event planners to rethink the very foundation of their planning process to create emotionally meaningful, memorable experiences.
Complimentary Discovery Meeting
Let’s chat about booking Marinda to speak to your organization!
