How Events Become Big Businesses

AfroTech is the case study for how a community-first Black tech conference grows from 650 to 25,000+ attendees in six years — proving that cultural alignment is the most durable growth engine in events.

Ascential's acquisition by Informa for $1.5B at 21x EBITDA proves that events businesses controlling the right room — Cannes Lions and Money20/20 — are among the most defensible assets in media.

Blavity is the holding company behind AfroTech — the Black tech conference that grew 3,746% in six years — illustrating how a multi-property media and events platform can be built around a single community gathering point.

Cannes Lions is the case study for how a professional gathering becomes a $90K yacht charter economy — entry fees, delegate passes, and sponsor activations totaling hundreds of millions annually. Owned by Ascential, then acquired by Informa for ~$1.5B.

CultureCon grew from Imani Ellis's one-bedroom apartment to 10,000+ attendees and 200+ speakers, proving that the hybrid of culture and business — not a traditional conference — is itself the product.

The IAB's creator economy framework provided the definitional scaffolding for understanding creator economy infrastructure in the context of the events-as-businesses thesis.

Informa's $1.5B acquisition of Ascential at 21x EBITDA — using capital recycled from pandemic-era data business sales — is the defining example of events as a financial asset class, and they now control the gathering points for advertising, fintech, luxury, and tech.

VidCon grew from 1,400 attendees in 2010 to 55,000+ in 2023 — the blueprint for a creator conference becoming a fan convention becoming an industry summit, and Viacom's acquisition proved that creator gatherings are media assets.

Co-host covering the deal and legal side of how events become businesses.

Founder of CultureCon — started in her one-bedroom apartment, grew to 10,000+ attendees and 200+ speakers — proof that community precedes institution and brand predates the conference.

ESPN's first-ever creator hire — 14M followers built through Penn State sports coverage — signals that legacy media understands they no longer own distribution and must hire the person the audience already follows.

CEO of Informa and architect of the Ascential acquisition — the operator executing the thesis that events are the most durable asset in media, and institutional capital will pay 21x EBITDA for the gathering points that define industries.

Definitive proof that events are a financial asset class — Informa used capital recycling to sell data businesses at peak value and buy Cannes Lions and Money20/20, controlling the two most important gathering points in advertising and fintech at a 21x EBITDA multiple.