Assigned seating can make or break an event. Are you using it to your advantage?
May Yeo Silvers unpacks the strategy behind assigned seating, showing how a well-planned arrangement does more than keep things organized—it shapes conversations, builds connections, and even influences business outcomes. With over 20 years in the industry, May shares how different seating approaches, from general areas to carefully placed VIP tables, can transform an event’s flow and impact.
May also dives into the details that elevate an event, like color-coded place cards that make meal service seamless and tiered seating that adds exclusivity while driving ticket sales. When done right, these choices create a smoother experience and a sense of value that guests notice.
Whether you’re planning corporate events, weddings, or ticketed experiences, this episode will change the way you think about seating. May leaves listeners with a call to action, sharing insights from her book, “The Unstoppable Eventrepreneur,” a must-read for anyone looking to build a thriving event business.
Quotes
• “When it is an event that you want your sales team to be seated next to a particular potential client, you actually place where your salesperson is sitting, and then you place the potential client next to the salesperson instead of at the far end of the table.” (04:10 | May Yeo Silvers)
• “When you’re pricing your tickets, think about the perks that can help sell tickets at a higher price. Ideally, those perks should cost you little to nothing while adding significant value for attendees.” (09:18 | May Yeo Silvers)
• “So giving them the front row seats is not going to cost you anything, but it gives the social status, gives the first access, and it also gives a feel-good feeling to your attendees, those who bought those tickets, and they also have better seating. So all in all, it doesn’t cost you anything financially, but it costs the ticket holders. But they’re paying for it because they know they’re going to get all these perks, and they put value to those perks.” (09:38 | May Yeo Silvers)
• “If you are just starting out or you want to do some refinement of your business, check out the book, ‘The Unstoppable Eventrepreneur.’ It teaches you the strategy about how to build a business and also the mindset required, financial knowledge, social marketing knowledge, but it also talks about the industry, like the actual way to plan events as well.” (12:42 | May Yeo Silvers)
Links
If you are looking for an “all in one” book that helps event planners gain more knowledge about event planning AND also provides a step by step guide on how to start and grow an event planning business, check out my book, The Unstoppable Eventrepreneur. Click the link to grab your copy!
Connect with May at: [email protected]
Website: www.mayyeosilvers.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mayyeosilvers/
Facebook: www.facebook.com/mayyeosilvers
IG: www.instagram.com/mayyeosilvers
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mayyeosilversofficial
FB private group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/events4anyone
