What happens before a discovery call with Clandestine?

We send a short intake questionnaire before the call so the team can show up prepared. It covers the event, audience, timeline, and success criteria. This means calls are working sessions, not introductory small talk.

Clandestine Events corporate event production, aerialist performance at The Orpheum Theatre

New Orleans • Austin • Nationwide

The highest-stakes night on your calendar. We own the outcome.

We work with executives who know what's at stake. Event production and incentive travel for the NBA, Formula 1, Aramco, LVMH, and Google. Engagements from $75K.

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Not ready to talk? Read the Executive's Guide

Selected clients

NBA IndyCar Aramco LVMH Google Gainbridge Teleflex GammaTile Hyosung Orano

Engagements from $75K · F1 weekends to board dinners · The same standard either way

Our recent productions: NBA All-Star 2026, Los Angeles · Teleflex AUA, Washington, DC

Founder

Kelley Troia. Twenty years of knowing where the money should go.

Eight and a half years running marketing operations at Walmart — where maximizing every dollar of spend isn't a philosophy, it's the business model. Then Whole Foods. Then fourteen years building the rooms.

That's not where she learned to throw parties. It's where she learned to make a budget work harder than it should. About us.

Why us

The difference between a good event and the one they won't shut up about.

We come from corporate, not catering. Process, accountability, and knowing what's actually at stake: that's the DNA. It's why brands in sports, energy, pharma, tech, and luxury hand us the rooms that matter most.

We handle everything end-to-end — sourcing, logistics, contingencies, day-of — so you can focus on what matters. You hand us the event and stop thinking about it. That's the point.

Typically, executives work with us when...

The event is too important to hand to someone who hasn't been in that room before.

The board, the press, or the Governor will be there, and average isn't an option.

They've been burned by a vendor who over-promised and need someone who's already solved the problem they're about to have.

They don't have the bandwidth to manage vendors, and they need someone they can hand the whole thing to and never think about again.

Years producing high-stakes events. NBA, Formula 1, Aramco, LVMH, Google, Gainbridge. Multi-year partner with the NBA.

Questions before anything gets designed. Your brand. Your guests. Your city. Then: what would make everyone else's version look lazy?

Team on every engagement. A tight core: Kelley, plus Chrisy — fifteen years with Jeff Gordon, motorsports and golf programs — plus vetted specialists when scope demands it. No pitch-and-pass. No B-team. Never one person hoping it holds.

Where the money goes

You're not paying extra for us. You're paying us to make sure the rest of it isn't wasted.

Most producers are a line item you add on top of the budget. We're the reason the budget lands where it should.

You tell us what real success looks like. Then we apply your budget where it delivers — and get you as close to that goal as the money allows. It's always a collaboration. The expertise is ours. The event is yours.

Where we flex

Access that money alone can't buy. Side-stage. Backstage. The room before the ask is made.
The first five minutes. Arrival, the reveal, the moment the curtain lifts. That's where the night is won.
Food and drink — sequenced. The premium pour on Saturday when the people who matter are in the room. Not Thursday, when they aren't.
Flow. The second bar so two hundred guests don't bottleneck at the door. Nobody thanks you for it. Everybody notices when it's missing.
Lighting. The cheapest line item that changes a room the most.

Where we don't

Florals and linens at scale. Enough that the table isn't empty. Not a wedding your guests didn't ask for.
Elaborate print. Custom place settings people glance at once and leave on the table.
Swag nobody wants. Make the gift excellent or don't make it. There's no middle.
Over-decorating a beautiful room. If the venue is already good, light it and get out of the way.
Anything a vendor suggested that your guests didn't need.

Most of your budget should go to what people remember. Almost none of it should go to what they glance at.

The right answer changes with the room. A luxury client's florals might be the entire point; a shipping company's aren't. That's the difference between judgment and a template.

From the field

Don't take our word for it.
See the rooms.

Photos from actual Clandestine productions. No stock. No staging.

What we produce

Not every event needs us.
The high-stakes ones do.

When the wrong vendor, the wrong energy, or the wrong first five minutes costs you something real. That's where we work.

Corporate hospitality at scale

VVIP activations at F1, NBA All-Star, IndyCar. Side-stage artist access. Private performances. Bottle-service lounges built in 48 hours. The kind of access that exists before the ask is made.

Groundbreakings & milestone events

Facility launches with elected officials and national press. AV staging for 400+ guests. When the Governor is in the room, the production has to be flawless. It is.

National sales meetings

Multi-day programs for 100 to 500 attendees. Branded receptions, breakout sessions that don't feel like breakout sessions. When your sales team flies in from 40 cities, the experience better earn the flight.

Executive retreats & off-sites

Venue strategy, facilitator sourcing, day flow, evening programming. The hospitality moments between sessions that build the relationships the agenda can't.

Private group incentive travel

Immersive programs for investor groups, executive networks, and private wealth clients. 20 to 60 guests. $250K to $600K per program. Multi-destination itineraries and private buyouts designed around one question: how do we get this group back on a plane together next year?

From the field

The work nobody sees is
the work that matters most.

Access

F1 Austin. Side-stage with Billy Joel and The Chainsmokers. Under a week.

A title sponsor came to us mid-event at COTA with almost no time. They didn't want another corporate dinner. They wanted a night their VVIPs would talk about for years.

We built a private graffiti artist inside the paddock suite, side-stage access to Billy Joel, backstage passes, a dedicated bar, and a front-row table for The Chainsmokers to close the night. Everything on brand. Everything handled in under a week.

This wasn't luck. This was logistics + relationships + taste working at full speed.

Crisis management

The NBA Champagne Wall. Upside down. Hours before showtime.

A custom champagne wall, designed in the shape of the All-Star logo, arrived installed upside down. Right on the point of the star. Hours before guests walked in.

We rebuilt it on-site. Flipped the grid, reinstalled every bottle, matched the paint, remounted it. By event time you couldn't tell anything had happened. Guests never knew. The brand team looked like heroes.

The best operators are defined by what their guests never knew happened.

Brand launch

Hyosung Innovue. 110% attendance. Client hired us again before the night was over.

A global manufacturer was unveiling a new brand identity to 200 international guests in New Orleans during a major industry conference. The event had to beat every other activation in the city that night.

Multi-phase evening at The Civic Theatre. Signature cocktails, a custom feather wall with neon branding, the brand presentation, then curtains lifting to reveal a live aerialist backed by a jazz trio, into a speakeasy lounge with cafe au lait and beignets. Guests skipped competing events to stay. The President commissioned us for future events before the night ended.

The best proof of work isn't a testimonial. It's a client who hires you again before the night is over.

From the people who hired us

"They blew the effing doors off. Supreme client service, backed up with edgy creative, solid event management and a great sense of humor. There is not a curved ball they cannot catch."

Richard Weston-Smith • Global Director of Events, Teleflex

"With an abbreviated planning window they created unique and custom ideas, managed all vendor logistics, helped keep us to the agreed-upon budget and were extremely adaptable when needing to problem solve."

Gioia Shames • NBA

"With less than a week to finish planning a corporate retreat in New Orleans, she listened closely to my requirements, put together a custom plan and went to work. These people know what they are doing and they are the best at it."

Jennifer Ouano • Pacific Content

"They put together a work event for my company at the Orpheum Theater; the place looked magical. We had over 200 guests and they all mentioned this is a night they would never forget."

Tynise Jones • Orano

"We've had the pleasure of working with Clandestine for several years, and they continue to impress us with their creativity, meticulous attention to detail, and can-do attitude. They consistently deliver beautifully executed events that capture our vision and elevate our brand."

Madeline McEwen • Teleflex

Common questions

Before you ask.
We already thought about it.

How much does a high-stakes corporate event cost?

Our engagements typically range from $75K to $1M+ depending on scope, venue complexity, guest count, and market. Most fall between $150K and $350K.

Here's the part most people don't ask about: our fee isn't a cost on top of your budget — it's what keeps the rest of your budget from being wasted. Kelley spent eight and a half years at Walmart, where finding waste is the business model. We know where to spend based on your guests and your goals, and we know where to save.

The discovery call is where we find out whether the scope and the budget align.

What's included — and what costs extra?

One number covers it, end-to-end: sourcing and vendor management, site visits, flights and hotels, logistics, contingency planning, and someone on-site solving problems in real time on the day. It's all bundled.

No nickel-and-diming. No change-order games. If something falls outside the agreed scope, you hear it from us before it's a cost — not after. You hand us the event and stop thinking about it. That's what you're paying for.

What happens before a discovery call?

We send a short intake questionnaire before the call so we can show up prepared, not with a blank whiteboard. It covers your event, your audience, your timeline, and what success looks like. That way our calls are working sessions, not introductory small talk.

What's the difference between an event planner and an event producer?

An event planner coordinates logistics. An event producer owns the outcome. We design the room, the flow, the timing, the contingencies, and the moments guests will talk about afterward. Planning is one part of what we do. Producing is all of it.

Do you only work in sports and entertainment?

No. Our client roster includes the NBA and F1 because those are marquee names people recognize. But we produce just as often for energy companies, tech infrastructure firms, medical device manufacturers, real estate developers, and industrial manufacturers. If the event is high-stakes and the person commissioning it is personally accountable for the outcome, we're the right call.

Do you produce incentive travel programs?

Yes, and it's one of the highest-demand things we do. We design and produce private group travel for investor networks, executive peer groups, and private wealth clients who want something far beyond what a travel agency delivers. Recent programs include a 35-couple private buyout during Mardi Gras in New Orleans and a multi-city European itinerary through Madrid, Vigo, and Porto. Groups typically range from 20 to 60 guests; programs run $250K to $600K. If you're organizing a group trip and need a producer, not a planner, that's the distinction we're built for.

I'm not ready for a call. Where do I start?

Read From Mundane to Holy Shit, our executive guide to producing events people actually remember. It includes an audit you can run on your own brief before you talk to anyone.

Next step

Let's find out if
we're the right fit.

A 30-minute discovery call. You tell us what you're building, we'll tell you if we're the right team to build it. No pitch deck. No templates. Just a real conversation about whether this is the right match.

Book the Call

or email kelley@clandestine-events.com