MAD Event Management President Martha Donato has launched 33 trade and consumer shows during her career in the event industry. In October, she and her team will launch event No. 34 — Thriv, a consumer show targeted at late Boomers and Gen Xers who are moving on to a new phase of life, making choices about how they want to spend their time, money and energy.

The show concept is an idea that has been percolating for well over 10 years, Donato said. 

“We created Thriv as the event we wished existed and people like us would want to attend,” she said. “As life-long owners and producers of live events, we wanted to build out an experience that resonated with us and others in the same phase of life.”

The 45 and up demographic target audience represents 35% of the U.S. population, holds more than 77% of the total household wealth in the U.S. and more than $3.9 trillion in annual spending power, she said.

Exhibitors will feature companies that will help attendees manage their health, well-being, appearance and finances. Event sponsors include GSK, Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey and Reilly Financial Group LLC.

The program will offer ideas for spending time traveling, pursuing new hobbies, experiencing culture or even working in new roles. Speakers will discuss how relationships at this stage of life can be both complicated and rewarding when dealing with adult children, aging parents or forming new bonds and making new friends.

TSNN caught up with Donato to find out more about the show launch. Thriv will be held Oct. 14-15 at the Atlantic City Convention Center in Atlantic City, NJ.

Here are the top five quotes from our interview.

1. Why Atlantic City? “The key path for us here is Visit Atlantic City, [which] gave us support and underwriting to do this project in Atlantic City,” Donato said. “It's in the heart of the highest population base in the country. With easy access to New York City and Philadelphia, Atlantic City really felt like the right home for us.”
2.  
3. Why this target audience? “The spending power is just crazy important to brands, and this is a group that's going to age into a really solid economic benefit to the country. There are a lot of groups [that] are trying to reach this audience, but their message doesn't resonate. You're not marketing to Boomers. You're marketing to a different group. To influence this group so they might take a look at your product or your service, it’s important that you're authentic, that you are part of the community and that people understand your benefit and value proposition. That's what we're offering.”
4.  
5. Who will be there? Emmy Award-winning actor Kelsey Grammar, who founded Faith American Brewing Company in 2015. “He’s been in so many things, but he’s best known for Cheers. He's coming in to talk about how you can live your best life. He's also got a brewery, so he's going to have a really fun activation zone where you can sample his beer. He's got a new TV show coming out soon. That wasn't in the works when we first signed him up, so I'm really excited for him about that.”
6.  
7. What lessons has she learned from launching 33 shows? “I have learned more from my failures than my successes, and most of my failures have come from being overconfident that I've actually defined my audience. I would say audience acquisition for those of us in the business, that's what it's all about.”
8.  
9. What’s working right now with audience acquisition? Partnerships and an advisory board. “We have an advisory board, which is quite common with events. Ours is built up of all different members of different sectors of the region. Business leaders, for the most part, and we've given each one of them tickets to offer to their friends and family. That is the most effective because this is a word-of-mouth business.”

Watch or listen to the full interview here.

Don’t miss any event-related news: Sign up for our weekly e-newsletter HERE, listen to our latest podcast HERE and engage with us on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn!