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The book by Jenny Howard-Maxwell, CPES

Make Them Feel That Way On Purpose

From Event Planner to Experiential Strategist: Think Like a Marketer, Design for Emotion, Prove the Impact.

Your first way into experiential strategy. The role, the mindset, and the method for designing events that drive behavior and prove their worth, with 14 real case studies.

Buy the book

Hardcover, $49.99

Make Them Feel That Way On Purpose hardcover book

Experiences without strategy are just expensive parties.

If you’ve ever been the person everyone calls when something goes wrong, but never the person asked what the event should do for the business, this book was written for you.

What’s inside

Five parts. One shift: from planner to strategist.

The book stands on its own as a complete introduction to the Experiential Edge Blueprint™, the same framework taught inside The Edgucation Institute.

  1. Part I

    Stuck on the Planner Plateau™

    Why being great at execution isn’t enough, and why it’s supply and demand, not you.

  2. Part II

    Designing the Experience

    How strategists think differently: designing for behavior, using emotion on purpose, and anchoring moments into memory.

  3. Part III

    Proving the Impact

    How to prove measurable success, tell the story each stakeholder needs, and measure return on experience, with the Experiential Edge Blueprint™.

  4. Part IV

    Becoming the Strategist

    Building a shared language with leadership and clients, and getting off the Planner Plateau for good.

  5. Part V

    The Case Studies

    14 real events, from leadership retreats to brand activations, broken down from purpose to proof.

A few of the chapters

Honest, practical, and a little unfiltered.

“When you’re really good at logistics, your reward is more logistics.”

From the introduction
  • It’s Not You. It’s Supply and Demand.
  • If It Doesn’t Change Behavior, It’s Just an Expensive Party.
  • Emotion Is the Most Powerful Lever in Business (Gasp).
  • Assets Get Invested In. Expenses Get Cut.
  • Stop Winking in the Dark.
  • Return on Experience: What ROI Can’t Measure, and How to Prove It Anyway.

14 real case studies

See the framework work on real events, from purpose to proof.

Leadership retreats

Experiences designed to align teams and leadership around what comes next.

Corporate events

Conferences and company events built around a business outcome.

Brand activations

Moments that bring a brand to life and give people a reason to act.

Social events

A couple that almost didn’t make the cut, and what they teach.

Every case study follows the same format: the purpose statement, the design, and the proof, judged through two lenses of success, the client’s and Jenny’s.

Jenny Howard-Maxwell on a pink sofa in front of her navy JHM monogram wall

About the author

Jenny Howard-Maxwell, CPES

Twenty-five years in events, from corporate planning to association management to running her own agency, HM Experiential. She has produced 150+ events and activations for corporations, earned four NACE awards, and was named one of Event Planner Expo’s Top 50 in 2025.

After hitting the Planner Plateau™ herself, she built the method to get off it, and founded The Edgucation Institute in Soho, New York, to teach it.

Read Jenny’s story

Inside the back of the book

Are you a planner or a strategist?

Every copy includes a QR code to the free 2-minute quiz. Take it now and see where you stand.

Take the quiz

Ready to go deeper?

The book is your first taste. The Institute is the full meal.

Get the full courses, the workbook, ExpROI, and a case study that proves how you think. Every On Demand student gets a hardcover copy of the book.

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