The two walks I take before designing an event: One walk for the attendee. One walk for the designer.

The best lesson I ever learned about event design didn't come from a design book, a conference session, or even another designer. It came from an event production coordinator during a site visit in Dallas.

As we arrived at the venue, he suggested something that seemed unnecessary at the time. 

"Let's walk the venue," he said. "Not once. Twice."

I remember wondering why. We already had the floorplans. We knew where registration would be, which ballroom would host the general session, and where attendees would gather throughout the event. From a planning perspective, everything appeared to be figured out. 

But within minutes of stepping into the venue, I realized how much information a floorplan leaves out.

The reason for the two walks was surprisingly simple. The first time through, you experience the venue as an attendee. The second time through, you experience it as a designer. 

I've followed that advice ever since. 

The first walk: experience the venue as an attendee

Whenever possible, I take two separate walks through a venue before beginning any significant design work. The first walk is about understanding the attendee experience. I enter through the main entrance and follow the path attendees will take on event day, moving through registration, down the corridors, into breakout spaces, and eventually toward the general session room. As I walk, I'm paying attention to the moments that don't show up on a floorplan. Where might someone feel uncertain? Which intersections require a decision? Where does the energy naturally build, and where does it fade? 

Those observations often reveal where branding and wayfinding matter most. A sign isn't simply a piece of information mounted to a wall. It's reassurance that you're heading in the right direction. A welcome graphic isn't just decoration. It's a signal that you've arrived where you're supposed to be. The best event branding often works quietly in the background, helping people move confidently through an unfamiliar environment without ever thinking about it. 

The second walk: see the venue as a designer

The second walk shifts my perspective entirely. Instead of looking for points of confusion, I'm looking for opportunities. I start noticing blank walls, transition spaces, registration backdrops, escalator landings, and gathering areas. I think about where a welcome message could have impact, where attendees are most likely to take photos, and where branding can reinforce the story the event is trying to tell. 

It's also during this walk that the venue begins to reveal things that are impossible to understand from drawings alone. Scale feels different in person. Lighting changes everything. Sightlines that looked perfect on paper can be blocked by architecture, while spaces that seemed insignificant on a floorplan suddenly feel like important moments once you're standing inside them. The venue itself starts providing answers that no diagram ever could. 

What I document during every site visit

This is when I begin documenting everything. I'll take photos from multiple angles, record videos while walking attendee routes, and capture views from important decision points throughout the space. Months later, those images often become some of the most valuable assets in the entire project. Rather than asking stakeholders to imagine how a graphic might look in a particular location, I can place it directly into a photograph of the venue. Conversations become clearer, approvals happen faster, and design decisions become easier to make. 

Over the years, those two walks have fundamentally changed how I think about event branding. Many people assume event graphics exist primarily to fill empty walls or make a venue feel branded. While they certainly do that, I've come to believe their real purpose is much more important. Good event branding helps people navigate. It creates confidence. It supports the flow of the experience and reinforces important moments without demanding attention for itself. 

When it's working well, attendees rarely stop and admire the signage. Instead, they simply move through the event without friction. They know where they're going, understand what's happening next, and feel connected to the experience from beginning to end. 

That's why I still take those two walks whenever I can. Some of the most important design decisions aren't made on a computer screen. They're discovered by walking the space and seeing the event before it ever happens.