News

As U.S. Visa Costs Climb, mdg Launches ShowReady Package to Protect International Participation at Trade Events 

New ShowReady Package helps organizers preserve international attendance as $250 Visa Integrity Fee impacts global participation

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Sept. 29, 2025) — mdg, the nation’s leading event marketing agency, today announced the launch of the ShowReady: U.S. Travel Support Package. The resource is designed to safeguard international attendance at trade shows and conferences as the new $250 Visa Integrity Fee takes effect October 1, 2025, raising the total visa cost to more than $430 for many travelers.

“If your event attendance relies heavily on participation from markets outside of the Visa Waiver Program, this is something you should be preparing for now,” said Anjia Nicolaidis, group director, international strategy at mdg. “The Visa Integrity Fee will create new hurdles, but with the right strategies and resources, organizers can reduce the impact on their global communities and continue to deliver world-class events.”

The Visa Integrity Fee applies to both first-time applicants and renewals for B-1/B-2 visas, which are commonly used for business and tourism travel. The government has not yet released specific details on how the fee will be paid or refunded, creating further uncertainty for travelers and event organizers. Key markets such as China, Mexico, India and Brazil will be directly affected.

The ShowReady Package provides organizers with practical resources to respond to these challenges, including:

  • Registration Review and Impact Assessment: Identifies the percentage of international attendee and exhibitor participants affected
  • Market Recommendations: Suggests where to redirect recruitment efforts to less-impacted regions
  • Retention and Verification Support: Offers a customizable communication toolkit including email, website and presentation templates to simplify outreach

mdg has successfully supported international attendance campaigns for nearly a decade, including a recent partnership with the National Restaurant Association Show, where a delegation program for Brazil accounted for 86% of total attendees from that market.

Shauna Peters, vice president and marketing strategist at the agency, said, “mdg has always been committed to helping clients navigate change. The ShowReady: U.S. Travel Support Package is our way of giving organizers confidence in the face of new regulations. By combining clear communication, market insights and turnkey resources, we’re helping our clients protect international attendance and keep the U.S. competitive as a destination for global events.”

IAEE SE Chapter to Feature Session From mdg SVP

mdg senior vice president Jacquelyn Wells will speak at the International Association of Exhibitions & Events Southeastern Chapter Luncheon. Registration can be found on the IAEE website and details are below.

October 23, 2025 
11:15am – 1:30pm
Gas South District – Convention Center
Duluth, Georgia

What’s Working to Drive Attendance in Today’s New Marketing Reality 
Jacquelyn will share what’s working and not working in today’s marketing reality. She will cover ten top trends, including digital and influencer marketing, as well as how to harness data to attract new and international markets.

jacquelyn wells

Jacquelyn Wells
Jacquelyn’s ability to drive results for her clients is rooted in strategy and powered by her competitive desire to “win.” She loves tackling new challenges and crafting creative and innovative solutions that move the needle. Over the past 16 years at mdg, she has developed strategic marketing campaigns for clients such as AUVSI, Informa Markets, America’s Health Insurance Plans and the International Baking Industry Exposition. She has a Master of Business Administration from the University of San Diego, is a frequent presenter at industry events and has been instrumental in driving and managing the agency’s ongoing success.

Inbox Wins: How AI + Humans Delivers Results

AI is transforming email marketing into one of the most effective attendee acquisition tools in your arsenal. While splashy headlines talk about AI designing events or writing campaigns from start to finish, the wins we’ve seen are happening in the inbox, where AI is helping marketers send smarter, more personalized emails that convert.

 

Instead of replacing your strategy, AI is making proven tactics like writing effective subject lines, segmentation, and send-time optimization faster and more precise. Here’s how event marketers can put AI to work in ways that move the needle right now.

 

Subject Lines That Actually Work
Subject lines are often the first (and sometimes only) chance to capture attention. AI tools can now generate dozens of variations in minutes, ranking them by tone, clarity, and urgency.

For marketers, this means you can expand your pool of options without investing hours in brainstorming. A smart way to begin is to pit an AI-generated subject line against one you’ve written yourself. While the AI version may not be the wittiest, it often surfaces direct, clear phrasing that cuts through inbox clutter. The role of the marketer is to step in at the end, refining the choice so that it stays aligned with the event’s voice and brand personality.

 

Smarter Send Times
Timing matters as much as messaging. For years, marketers have defaulted to sending emails midmorning during the workweek. But inboxes have grown more unpredictable. AI can analyze audience behavior to predict when specific groups are most likely to engage, allowing you to stagger delivery across different times of day or even days of the week.

This approach reduces the risk of your message getting lost in a flood of emails, and instead, increases the likelihood of reaching people when they are actively checking their inbox. The outcome is a smoother engagement curve, rather than one short-lived spike.

 

Segmentation That Goes Beyond Job Title
Segmentation has long been important in email marketing, but AI is elevating it beyond traditional categories like job title or industry. By clustering audiences based on behaviors, such as which emails they’ve opened, which sessions they attended at last year’s event, or which pages they’ve explored on your site, AI uncovers insights that would take days of manual analysis.

Testing even one AI-driven segment can reveal meaningful differences. A group of “frequent clickers who haven’t registered,” for example, may respond better to urgency-driven content than a broad audience of industry professionals. By layering this behavioral intelligence into campaigns, marketers can make emails feel more personal and more relevant without sacrificing efficiency.

 

Where Humans Still Win
AI won’t catch everything. Subject lines that “score” high may miss cultural nuance. Send-time models can overfit if your audience shifts. And behavior-based clusters still need a strategist to translate insights into messaging.

AI is best as an accelerator, spotting patterns, crunching tests, and cutting time while humans ensure tone, context, and creativity land the message.

 

How To Start Smarter This Quarter
The simplest way to begin is to focus on just one campaign in the coming weeks, perhaps an early bird announcement or a last-chance reminder, and introducing one AI variable. That might mean testing an AI-generated subject line, experimenting with send-time optimization, or adding one behavior-based segment (as long as you have decent data and tracking capabilities) to your audience list.

Track opens, clicks, and registrations to get a full picture of impact. By starting small, refining based on results, and keeping human review at the center, event marketers can let AI sharpen what already works and build momentum toward more effective inbox strategies.

AI doesn’t need to run your whole marketing plan to make a difference — running focused tests in email can unlock measurable gains. Done right, these experiments compound into smarter campaigns with stronger results.

 

mdg to Show How to Make Big Shows Feel Personal at LSR 

Freeman Chief Strategist Kimberly Hardcastle-Geddes will present a session at the upcoming Large Show Roundtable. Registration can be found on the Lippman Connects website and details are below. 

November 6, 2025 
8:00am – 4:30pm
Hyatt Regency McCormick Place
Chicago, IL

Scaling the Attendee Journey: Making Big Shows Feel Personal 
As an organizer of a large trade show, you know that success isn’t defined solely by square footage or registration numbers – it’s also measured by how each attendee experiences the journey. The challenge: how do you make a 250,000+ nsf event feel tailored, relevant and engaging at the individual level? In this session, Kimberly Hardcastle, Chief Strategist, Freeman, will explore ways to design attendee journeys that start long before opening day and extend long after the show floor closes. We’ll examine how large-event organizers can harness data to personalize outreach, reduce friction at critical touchpoints and deliver moments of connection that make big shows feel intimate. You’ll leave with practical ideas for turning scale into an advantage and ensuring attendees walk away feeling seen, valued and inspired to return. 

kimberly

Kimberly Hardcastle-Geddes
As Chief Strategist, Kimberly drives participation, elevates experiences and future-proofs events for Freeman clients. With a Master of Science in business administration, over two decades of industry experience and a unique ability to shift between analytical and creative thinking, she brings both discipline and imagination to solving complex challenges. Her expertise in event marketing, strategic planning, tactical execution and organizational design was shaped during her 24-year tenure at mdg, the agency she helped build before eventually selling to Freeman. Kimberly is a CEM faculty member, a Krakoff Leadership Institute alumna and has been named by IAEE as an Educator of the Year and a Woman of Achievement. She has a monthly column in PCMA’s Convene magazine and is a frequent presenter at SISO, PCMA Convening Leaders, Expo! Expo! and Lippman Connects events. She’s also the mom of a TCU Horned Frog, wife of a retired Navy pilot, Peloton addict, reader, runner and believer in civil rights. 

mdg to Share Trends Shaping Attendee Acquisition at AAR 

Freeman Chief Strategist Kimberly Hardcastle-Geddes will present a session at the upcoming Attendee Acquisition Roundtable. Registration can be found on the Lippman Connects website and details are below.

October 23, 2025 
8:00am – 4:30pm
Virginia Tech Executive Briefing Center 
Arlington, VA

5 Trends Shaping the Future of Attendee Acquisition 
This discussion will explore five emerging trends, grounded in Freeman research, that are transforming how we attract and retain event audiences. From evolving messaging and channel strategies to increasing discoverability in an AI-driven world, you’ll gain insights from Kimberly Hardcastle, Chief Strategist, Freeman, that will help you create urgency, expand reach and increase conversions. It will also cover how intentional networking and a thoughtfully designed attendee journey can deepen engagement and foster long-term loyalty, reducing the need to continually replace large portions of your audience each year.  

  1. Messaging: Timeliness Over Timelessness — In an era of constant change, messaging that reflects what’s happening now, both in your industry and the wider world, creates urgency and relevance that drives registration. 
  2. Channel Strategy: Beyond the Inbox — With email fatigue on the rise and younger audiences favoring other platforms, diversifying your outreach across channels like SMS, social and influencers is critical to breaking through. 
  3. Discoverability: Optimizing for an AI-Driven Web — As search behavior shifts from keyword queries to natural-language prompts, your event website needs to be optimized for answer engines to ensure your event shows up when potential attendees are seeking solutions. 
  4. Networking: A Strategic Lever for Retention — Freeman research shows that when networking is purposeful and aligned with attendees’ goals, it builds community, eases anxiety and becomes a top reason people return year after year. 
  5. Attendee Journey: Designing Pre-Show Touchpoints That Convert — By intentionally mapping and optimizing pre-show communications, from first impression to registration, you can create momentum, build trust and increase conversions. 
kimberly

Kimberly Hardcastle-Geddes
As Chief Strategist, Kimberly drives participation, elevates experiences and future-proofs events for Freeman clients. With a Master of Science in business administration, over two decades of industry experience and a unique ability to shift between analytical and creative thinking, she brings both discipline and imagination to solving complex challenges. Her expertise in event marketing, strategic planning, tactical execution and organizational design was shaped during her 24-year tenure at mdg, the agency she helped build before eventually selling to Freeman. Kimberly is a CEM faculty member, a Krakoff Leadership Institute alumna and has been named by IAEE as an Educator of the Year and a Woman of Achievement. She has a monthly column in PCMA’s Convene magazine and is a frequent presenter at SISO, PCMA Convening Leaders, Expo! Expo! and Lippman Connects events. She’s also the mom of a TCU Horned Frog, wife of a retired Navy pilot, Peloton addict, reader, runner and believer in civil rights.