What happens when you're responsible for LinkedIn's biggest global events — and the caterer doesn't show up, the venue cuts your capacity on the day, or the budget suddenly disappears?
Danielle Damiano Medeiros has spent 12 years building LinkedIn's presence at Cannes Lions, the World Economic Forum, NewFronts and some of the world's biggest industry gatherings. In this episode of The Eventex Podcast, she reveals what actually happens behind the polished final experience.
From creating LinkedIn's Cannes Lions speakeasy with Tao Group to rescuing a 250-person vineyard dinner with snacks from a gas station, Danielle shares the decisions, failures, politics and last-minute pivots behind major global events.
She also explains why events shouldn't end when the doors close, why creators are still underestimated by brands, where AI genuinely helps event teams, and what "doing more with less" looks like when you're working at Cannes.
In this episode, you'll learn:
• Why Danielle believes an event should become a movement, not just a moment
• How a 100-person Cannes session went on to reach 81,000+ people through content
• What she did when a caterer failed to appear for a 250-person dinner
• How she handled a venue cutting capacity on the day of the event
• Why shrinking budgets can sometimes lead to more ambitious creative ideas
• How LinkedIn turned a Cannes Lions budget problem into a partnership with Nespresso
• Why the best events create moments where guests want to film — and moments where they forget about their phones
• Where AI is genuinely useful in event production, and where human creativity still wins
• Why creators may be one of the most underestimated opportunities in events
• What working at the highest level of the events industry actually costs you
This is not a polished success story.
It's a conversation about the ideas that worked, the ones that didn't, and what event leaders do when the plan falls apart.
---
About Danielle Damiano Medeiros
Danielle Damiano Medeiros is Global Head of Industry Tentpole Experiences at LinkedIn, where she leads the strategy, creative direction and execution behind LinkedIn's presence at major global industry events.
Her career spans advertising, media, experiential marketing and global events, with a focus on turning major brand moments into experiences that drive community, content and business impact.
Danielle is also a member of the Eventex Awards jury.
About The Eventex Podcast
Events and experiences, unfiltered.
Everyone sees the final result. Almost no one hears what it took to get there — the near-misses, the 3 a.m. calls, the decisions that cost more than money, and the stories that never make it into the case study.
The Eventex Podcast is where those conversations happen.
After years of covering the events and experience marketing industry through the Eventex Awards, rankings and industry indexes, this show turns the perspective around. Instead of looking at the finished work from the outside, it asks what it actually feels like to build it.
Each episode is a long-form, one-on-one conversation with someone who has been deep inside something significant — with no script, no pre-agreed questions and no PR polish.
The territory is broad: scale and execution, power and politics, crisis and chaos, creative risk, industry truths, and where events are headed next.
Hosting the show is Laura Schwartz of Laura Schwartz Live — veteran keynote speaker, emcee, former White House Director of Events, and long-time President of the Eventex Awards jury.
🎧 Discover more episodes of The Eventex Podcast at eventex.com
