Ran Zookin, CEM, is the founder and managing member of ESM Pros. With his leadership and operational expertise, the company’s success had an impact on the events industry.
While staffing is its core organizational service, ESM Pros positions itself as an all-encompassing, solutions-oriented staffing and staff management partner across all phases of event delivery.
Measuring Each Day
His definition of a successful day is whether he was able to put a smile on a client’s or team member’s face. Zookin’s “why” is to bring people joy. His name, spelled with an “a” but pronounced in English as “Ron,” means joyful. With nearly 20 years in the industry, the smiles and high fives he has received from countless event attendees are what make all the sleepless nights, both in pre-planning and during an event, worth it.
When not on-site, he starts his day with a cup of coffee, reviews his calendar, and quickly assesses which emails and messages have come in overnight that need to be prioritized. On show days, his second cup is enjoyed only after everything has been completed, and only after ensuring staff have arrived and deployed, event activations have kicked off, and other priorities have been addressed.
“I find it important to self-reflect when things go well and, more importantly, when my intended outcomes are not achieved,” says Zookin. “I determine why objectives were not met and what I need to do better to ensure continued growth to meet those objectives in the future.”
Steps to the Goal
As a leader, balancing the big-picture strategy with day-to-day execution takes discipline and benefits clients by ensuring seamless event delivery. “Every day, I take a moment to step back and look at the big picture. I consider my ‘why’ and my end goal. I review the steps I need to take to get our team there and our projects on point. Only then do I dive deeper into the day-to-day. The best way to balance between the big picture and day-to-day is to rely on my team. Each team member has their own key responsibilities. They know I am here to provide overall guidance and support, but I trust them to do what needs to be done to ensure we have happy event attendees, happy external associates and happy clients.”
His main concepts for building and managing high-performing event teams include trust, servant leadership, and a shared understanding of the common goal.
Zookin is on-site at conventions and tradeshows, wearing multiple hats all the time. His roles include on-site staffing manager, associate supervisor, logistics lead, brand ambassador, account manager, owner, and agency lead. These roles may involve working with his clients to devise and execute a plan to load thousands of attendees into a keynote room in a safe, yet fun, manner. It may translate into helping with registration and assisting attendees with receiving their event credentials so they may proceed to the activities that await. Or, it may translate into ‘simply’ ensuring all staffing plans are executed as expected and/or quickly pivoting when last-minute needs arise.
“Ultimately, however, I have a simple job: to craft and ensure a positive attendee experience.”
A Trusted Leader
Building long-term partnerships is based on trust, proper communication, setting realistic expectations, working through challenges and being open and honest about it all. As for consistently delivering exceptional customer experiences, he explains that, “setting proper expectations and having the tough and uncomfortable conversations to ensure realignment, if needed, is key. I’ve been on both sides of difficult conversations with clients and team members. It’s the mutual respect, built on proper communication and trust, that allows us to address concerns and work on solutions that benefit all of us for the long term.”
Sometimes even the best contingency planning underestimates a real-time situation. When such occurrences do occur, Zookin works with those affected to find a resolution that yields the best possible outcome. The key is to assess how the encounter affects the end goal quickly. He asks, “Does a potential resolution provide a better experience for our event attendees or does it potentially detract from it?” He learns from the incident, takes notes, and takes appropriate action to ensure everyone can better prepare for such incidents in the future.
Focusing on the Future
As for his future, Zookin addresses concerns about AI and robotics. “While AI and robotics are powerful tools that may make certain processes more efficient, the reason people attend conventions is that we are social creatures. If the pandemic taught us anything, it’s that we, as humans, need to connect. Maybe the future will entail a robot assisting in registration, or an AI-powered robot capable of communicating in any language. However, it is the human factor and real energy which will yield a healthy mindset and balanced event.”
ESM Pros fills both traditional on-site associate and specialized brand ambassador roles, as well as pre-planning and logistics-level positions for the events industry. Zookin, as the founder and managing member, brings his leadership goals and qualities to both his company and the tradeshow industry. For more information, visit esmpros.com.
This story originally appeared in the Q3 2026 issue of Exhibit City News, with the original magazine layout available here.
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