So much time, effort and energy goes into a conference or event. But what happens after the event finishes and the venue empties?
For most events, the answer is simple. The recap post goes up, the highlight reel gets shared, and by the following week it's been and gone.
When Grass Roots Media partnered with FoodHQ to activate E Tipu: The New Zealand Future Food and Fibre Summit, held at Te Pae, Christchurch in May 2026, our goal wasn't just to cover the event. It was to create content that elevated the speakers and the content beyond the room that it was in. It was to build the story that helped to draw people in, and importantly, to last long after the event was finished.
Here's how we did it, and what the results showed us.
Act one: The planning
When people see the photos, the social posts, the videos and the highlights from an event, it’s easy to assume the work starts when the phones and cameras come out. But that’s actually the final chapter.
The story of becoming the storytelling partner for E-Tipu started the way all good stories do - with a pen, paper, some wild ideas and a Slack message. We all know that often big creative ideas and suggestions don’t go further than the group chat, but this one… This one we knew we had to bring to life. It’s an event we believed in, that we knew we could bring value to and help get these very important stories out into the wild.
Some people in the team took the phrase “go big or go home” really to heart because there were some whopper ideas that fell out of the creative planning process. We didn’t just want to document E-tipu, we wanted to use the power of storytelling to make sure the conversations didn’t end when the event did. We wanted to take the ideas, innovation and conversations happening at E-tipu and tell those stories in a way that extended their reach beyond the conference walls. And let's be honest, we wanted to help create a vibe that meant E-tipu 2026 would be a memorable one, one that would have people saying “man, I wish I was there!”
Armed with some big ideas and a real passion to elevate this event, we put forward our proposal and waited with bated breath. As it turned out, our ideas were very much in line with Victoria and the FoodHQ team, and before we knew it, we were diving into making our ideas a reality.
Act two: The execution
Anyone who has planned anything before knows that the execution phase of things is never straightforward. Over the course of many months and many video calls, we carefully and thoughtfully fleshed out our plans alongside the FoodHQ team and got things rolling. Some things we pulled off with ease, other things took a bit more work, and some things didn’t pan out. A few of our big whopper ideas didn’t make it to fruition, not because they were terrible (we’ve got them tucked up our sleeve for the future), but because sometimes, things just don’t pan out. It's the nature of the beast and we were dedicated to everything being executed to perfection. So we pivoted, we regrouped, we moved forward.
As the ideas started taking shape, so did the plan. We created pre-event content, worked through the logistics and mapped out what success would look like. Everyone naturally settled into the roles that played to their strengths, and that's where the real magic happened. With such a diverse mix of skills across the Grass Roots Media team, E-Tipu gave everyone the opportunity to do what they do best.
In the weeks leading up to the event, we made our lists, packed our equipment and figured out how much caffeine we’d need to see us through. If you’ve ever wondered how much caffeine is needed for events, the answer is ‘ the limit does not exist’.
Act three: It’s showtime
Fun fact, E-Tipu 2026 was the first event where the four of us were together in real life. Which you’d never know because we spent a lot of time gasbagging and laughing like we’d all been besties for years when we touched down in Christchurch together.
A good nights sleep and a (very) early start we got to Te Pae on day one of E-tipu with a caffeine-fuelled pep in our step. We became fast friends with the Te Pae staff (shout out to Tony !) and E-Tipu team, and the feeling in the air was very much ‘this is going to be epic’.
Being well planned with concepts, ideas, timelines, questions and equipment meant being super prepared and intentional during the two-day summit, clear on what we were capturing and why.
We really honed in using our collective skillset to capture intentional content and in-the-moment interviews with speakers and attendees alike. After each talk, we captured punchy video snippets with speakers. Picking up on an interesting theme, a memorable quote, a key observation pulled from what they'd just shared with the room. The aim was to create a window for those who couldn't be there to gain some of the insights from the event, and create the ultimate FOMO! For those who were there, it gave them reflective and shareable content to add to their thoughts and connect back with the event long after it was over.
Within our content, we also covered the broader connection and engagement elements of the event, the atmosphere, the food, the hallway conversations, the people. Strategically aiming to wrap the event up in a bow and show what it actually felt like to be there. Again, creating that FOMO and enticing people to ensure they had the event on their list to attend next time.
An added bonus for us was covering the inaugural Women in Agribusiness Awards. Announcing each winner on socials via a real-time static post, (clean photo walls with no blue coloured lights next time!), sharing the award winners as it happened. Then we followed up with video interviews with the winners, capturing the raw, genuine moments of surprise, excitement and emotion that an awards night brings.
And we would be remiss to not make mention the fun we had along the way, because there was a lot of that. Laughs with speakers, attendees, and each other. There was also probably a little bit of being laughed at during the creation of a certain reel. But that's what these events are about. Connection.
After a huge 2 days, we went home with full memory cards, brimming with more ideas for future events, and very tired brains.
It’s all in the numbers…
A month on, that live event content is still generating impressions, still pulling in engagement, still reaching people who weren't in the room. All organic. No paid amplification here.
Over the two days, we published 26 posts on LinkedIn. And since the event, three weeks later, that content has reached 13,527 people, been clicked 7666 times and has held an average engagement rate of 21.8%, and it's still gaining attention.
Can we just take a moment to appreciate that engagement rate. 21.8%. Not a spike from a single post. The average. Across all posts. Where ~5% is considered the average for a company page on LinkedIn, that figure is phenomenal and something we are extremely proud of.
These metrics support the idea that a well-covered event doesn't just live in the room. It lives in people's feeds, conversations, and professional networks like LinkedIn for weeks after. The speaker interview that captures the personality and clever insights, the winner video that catches a real moment of recognition and emotion, the reel that shows the atmosphere and makes people wish they'd been there - content that keeps your event front of mind long after the event is wrapped.
High-quality content, well planned posting, and a partner who understands that an event is a content creation opportunity which can elevate your messages and presence, making the investment work harder and longer.
The event ended. The story doesn't have to.
