About
Big enough to deliver and boutique enough to care. Accountable. Authentic. All-in.
About
Big enough to deliver and boutique enough to care. Accountable. Authentic. All-in.
About
Big enough to deliver and boutique enough to care. Accountable. Authentic. All-in.
The Origin Story
Where It Started
It was November of 1995, and while most of Chicago's attention was on Michael Jordan's return to the Bulls, something else was brewing. Total Event Resources was born — a scrappy agency with an outsized appetite and a simple bet: that clients would choose a partner who outworked, outprepared, and outcared everyone else in the room.
That bet paid off. TER grew from the little agency that could into the one that did, delivering award-winning brand activations, experiential events, and incentive trips across six continents. Not by being the biggest. By being the most prepared, the most accountable, and the hardest to outwork. That shared approach laid the foundation for TER's acquisition by Trident Experiential in 2019.
One year to the week before COVID shut the world down.
Through The Fire
Trident Today
One moment can change everything. And it did.
We watched as friends and competitors left the industry and others closed their doors. We had a different response: we got back to work. Within six weeks we'd reimagined a 500-person live event as a 2,000-person virtual experience spanning multiple time zones.
But the real lesson wasn't loss or even grit. It was about an industry that had been coasting on the same playbook for decades. Events with no design framework crumbled. Events built around clear outcomes adapted and survived. We took extreme ownership of that lesson and invested in a strategic design methodology rooted in design thinking, behavioral science, and adult learning principles because we saw firsthand that the future belongs to design that truly moves people, not just moves them into ballrooms.
Our clients didn't need another vendor pushing proposals. They needed a partner with a steady hand and a better model. We chose candor over commerce, and those relationships became values-based partnerships built on mutual accountability and shared outcomes.
Future Forward
Still Making Waves
We emerged the fire with a fundamentally different approach, and it's why we don't compete with legacy planning agencies anymore. We've moved past them. While most of the industry is still selling logistics wrapped in a creative brief, we're designing outcome-driven experiences that prove their value before a single attendee walks through the door. That's not a subtle difference. It's a completely different answer.
But here's what makes Trident unlike any agency you've worked with: the intensity never comes at the expense of the experience. Our team brings a contagious energy to every engagement. We get fired up about your mission, we challenge your thinking in ways that spark better collaboration, and we make the planning process something you actually look forward to. That chemistry is why single events turn into multi-year campaigns and why our clients refer us without being asked.
We "choose hard" in how we prepare, how we train, how we hold ourselves accountable. We punch above our weight and go head-to-head with agencies multiple times our size. Our clients stay because the work speaks, the relationship delivers, and, three decades later, there's still nobody in the room who cares more than we do.
We're headquartered in Chicago and can be anywhere in the world within a day. When the pressure is on and the stakes are highest — the career-defining SKO, the incentive trip the CEO is attending, the conference that has to land, we're the team to call. Not because we're the loudest in the room — because we're the most prepared and have the framework for success ready for you.
The Origin Story
Where It Started
It was November of 1995, and while most of Chicago's attention was on Michael Jordan's return to the Bulls, something else was brewing. Total Event Resources was born — a scrappy agency with an outsized appetite and a simple bet: that clients would choose a partner who outworked, outprepared, and outcared everyone else in the room.
That bet paid off. TER grew from the little agency that could into the one that did, delivering award-winning brand activations, experiential events, and incentive trips across six continents. Not by being the biggest. By being the most prepared, the most accountable, and the hardest to outwork. That shared approach laid the foundation for TER's acquisition by Trident Experiential in 2019.
One year to the week before COVID shut the world down.
Through The Fire
Trident Today
One moment can change everything. And it did.
We watched as friends and competitors left the industry and others closed their doors. We had a different response: we got back to work. Within six weeks we'd reimagined a 500-person live event as a 2,000-person virtual experience spanning multiple time zones.
But the real lesson wasn't loss or even grit. It was about an industry that had been coasting on the same playbook for decades. Events with no design framework crumbled. Events built around clear outcomes adapted and survived. We took extreme ownership of that lesson and invested in a strategic design methodology rooted in design thinking, behavioral science, and adult learning principles because we saw firsthand that the future belongs to design that truly moves people, not just moves them into ballrooms.
Our clients didn't need another vendor pushing proposals. They needed a partner with a steady hand and a better model. We chose candor over commerce, and those relationships became values-based partnerships built on mutual accountability and shared outcomes.
Future Forward
Still Making Waves
We emerged the fire with a fundamentally different approach, and it's why we don't compete with legacy planning agencies anymore. We've moved past them. While most of the industry is still selling logistics wrapped in a creative brief, we're designing outcome-driven experiences that prove their value before a single attendee walks through the door. That's not a subtle difference. It's a completely different answer.
But here's what makes Trident unlike any agency you've worked with: the intensity never comes at the expense of the experience. Our team brings a contagious energy to every engagement. We get fired up about your mission, we challenge your thinking in ways that spark better collaboration, and we make the planning process something you actually look forward to. That chemistry is why single events turn into multi-year campaigns and why our clients refer us without being asked.
We "choose hard" in how we prepare, how we train, how we hold ourselves accountable. We punch above our weight and go head-to-head with agencies multiple times our size. Our clients stay because the work speaks, the relationship delivers, and, three decades later, there's still nobody in the room who cares more than we do.
We're headquartered in Chicago and can be anywhere in the world within a day. When the pressure is on and the stakes are highest — the career-defining SKO, the incentive trip the CEO is attending, the conference that has to land, we're the team to call. Not because we're the loudest in the room — because we're the most prepared and have the framework for success ready for you.
The Origin Story
Where It Started
It was November of 1995, and while most of Chicago's attention was on Michael Jordan's return to the Bulls, something else was brewing. Total Event Resources was born — a scrappy agency with an outsized appetite and a simple bet: that clients would choose a partner who outworked, outprepared, and outcared everyone else in the room.
That bet paid off. TER grew from the little agency that could into the one that did, delivering award-winning brand activations, experiential events, and incentive trips across six continents. Not by being the biggest. By being the most prepared, the most accountable, and the hardest to outwork. That shared approach laid the foundation for TER's acquisition by Trident Experiential in 2019.
One year to the week before COVID shut the world down.
Through The Fire
Trident Today
One moment can change everything. And it did.
We watched as friends and competitors left the industry and others closed their doors. We had a different response: we got back to work. Within six weeks we'd reimagined a 500-person live event as a 2,000-person virtual experience spanning multiple time zones.
But the real lesson wasn't loss or even grit. It was about an industry that had been coasting on the same playbook for decades. Events with no design framework crumbled. Events built around clear outcomes adapted and survived. We took extreme ownership of that lesson and invested in a strategic design methodology rooted in design thinking, behavioral science, and adult learning principles because we saw firsthand that the future belongs to design that truly moves people, not just moves them into ballrooms.
Our clients didn't need another vendor pushing proposals. They needed a partner with a steady hand and a better model. We chose candor over commerce, and those relationships became values-based partnerships built on mutual accountability and shared outcomes.
Future Forward
Still Making Waves
We emerged the fire with a fundamentally different approach, and it's why we don't compete with legacy planning agencies anymore. We've moved past them. While most of the industry is still selling logistics wrapped in a creative brief, we're designing outcome-driven experiences that prove their value before a single attendee walks through the door. That's not a subtle difference. It's a completely different answer.
But here's what makes Trident unlike any agency you've worked with: the intensity never comes at the expense of the experience. Our team brings a contagious energy to every engagement. We get fired up about your mission, we challenge your thinking in ways that spark better collaboration, and we make the planning process something you actually look forward to. That chemistry is why single events turn into multi-year campaigns and why our clients refer us without being asked.
We "choose hard" — in how we prepare, how we train, how we hold ourselves accountable. We punch above our weight and go head-to-head with agencies multiple times our size. Our clients stay because the work speaks, the relationship delivers, and three decades later, there's still nobody in the room that cares more than we do.
We're headquartered in Chicago and can be anywhere in the world within a day. When the pressure is on and the stakes are highest — the career-defining SKO, the incentive trip the CEO is attending, the conference that has to land — we're the team to call. Not because we're the loudest in the room. Because we're the most prepared and have the framework ready for you.
I am not a planner so I was reluctant to disrupt the event campaign we had in place. But now that we are on the other side of your design process, I can’t imagine approaching events like we used to. You guys fill every touchpoint with insight and value. Thanks for having my back in a big way and for making this part of my job fun again.
CMO, Real Estate
I am not a planner so I was reluctant to disrupt the event campaign we had in place. But now that we are on the other side of your design process, I can’t imagine approaching events like we used to. You guys fill every touchpoint with insight and value. Thanks for having my back in a big way and for making this part of my job fun again.
CMO, Real Estate
I am not a planner so I was reluctant to disrupt the event campaign we had in place. But now that we are on the other side of your design process, I can’t imagine approaching events like we used to. You guys fill every touchpoint with insight and value. Thanks for having my back in a big way and for making this part of my job fun again.