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September 30, 2025The future of content management is headless. Let me walk you through how I built a fast, flexible CMS for event platforms—using real lessons from our recent PCGS show migration.
Why Headless CMS? The Shift from Monolithic to API-First
Traditional platforms like WordPress work fine for brochure sites. But show management? That’s a different beast.
At PCGS, we needed to coordinate:
- Web and mobile updates
- Real-time parking validation
- Vendor communications
- Last-minute schedule changes
A headless CMS gave us what we needed: complete separation between our content (the “body”) and presentation (the “head”). This simple change unlocked:
- Freedom to use React, Vue, or any frontend tool
- Lightning-fast Jamstack delivery
- Easy connections to ticketing and mapping APIs
- Flexible content types for shows, vendors, and pricing
- One source of truth for all digital touchpoints
Our case study? Moving the Long Beach coin show to the new PCGS Irvine CA Show (Oct 22-24, 2025). No room for error. Zero downtime required.
Choosing the Right Headless CMS: Contentful vs. Strapi vs. Sanity.io
Each option has strengths. Here’s what worked (and didn’t) for our team:
1. Contentful: Enterprise Muscle
Perfect for structured content at scale. We loved the built-in tools for global events.
- What worked: Localization, webhooks, GraphQL API
- Trade-off: Can get pricey at high traffic; some field limitations
For the Irvine show, we created a ShowEvent type with dates, location, vendors, and access levels. The Content Delivery API fed data to our Next.js app with incremental static regeneration.
// Fetch show details with ISR (Next.js)
export async function getStaticProps() {
const res = await fetch(
`https://cdn.contentful.com/spaces/${space}/entries?access_token=${token}&content_type=showEvent&fields.id=Irvine2025`
);
const data = await res.json();
return { props: { data }, revalidate: 3600 };
}2. Strapi: Total Control
When you need to own your infrastructure, Strapi shines. Essential for keeping PCGS attendee data private.
- What worked: Open-source, self-hosted, custom plugins
- Trade-off: Needs DevOps support; scaling isn’t automatic
We used Dynamic Zones to build flexible blocks for FAQs and parking updates. The $15-$55 rate table became a reusable component we could update in minutes.
// Strapi content model for 'ParkingInfo'
{
"collectionName": "parking_infos",
"info": { "name": "Parking Info" },
"attributes": {
"type": { "type": "enumeration", "enum": ["valet", "on-site", "free-mall"] },
"rate": { "type": "decimal" },
"validation": { "type": "text" },
"location": { "type": "string" }
}
}3. Sanity.io: Real-Time Magic
Sanity’s Real-Time Studio saved our team countless hours. Ticket limit changes? Table count updates? Visible instantly everywhere.
- What worked: Live previews, custom inputs, strong GraphQL
- Trade-off: Steeper learning curve; fewer templates
We built a custom drag-and-drop interface for the ShowSchedule field. Organizers could move sessions around and get conflict warnings in real time.
Jamstack Architecture: Next.js, Gatsby, and Static Site Generators
With our CMS ready, we went full Jamstack. No PHP servers. No database queries during visits. Just pre-built pages and smart updates.
Next.js: Best of Both Worlds
For the main show site, Next.js gave us static speed with dynamic flexibility. ISR meant pages built at deploy time but refreshed in the background every 5 minutes.
// Next.js page with ISR
export async function getStaticPaths() {
return { paths: [{ params: { id: 'Irvine2025' } }], fallback: 'blocking' };
}
export async function getStaticProps({ params }) {
const data = await fetchShowFromCMS(params.id);
return { props: { data }, revalidate: 300 }; // Update every 5 min
}Gatsby: Static Perfection
For marketing pages like “About PCGS” and “Why Attend,” Gatsby delivered:
- Pages that work without JavaScript
- Built-in image optimization
We pulled CMS data through Gatsby’s Source Nodes. In 25 seconds, we generated over 100 pages—ready for launch.
// Gatsby source CMS nodes
exports.sourceNodes = async ({ actions }) => {
const { createNode } = actions;
const shows = await fetchCMS('/shows');
shows.forEach(show => {
createNode({
...show,
internal: { type: 'ShowEvent' },
});
});
};API-First Content: Building for Flexibility
Headless shines when you treat content as data. Every show date, parking rate, and vendor name lived in our APIs—ready for any device or service.
Real Example: Parking Validation
Attendees needed instant parking validation. Our solution:
- Pull latest rates from CMS
- Check ticket status with PCGS API
- Email QR code for valet access
// Lambda: validateParking.js
exports.handler = async (event) => {
const { ticketId } = JSON.parse(event.body);
const parkingData = await fetchCMS('/parking?validated=true');
const isValid = await pcgsApi.validateTicket(ticketId);
if (isValid) {
await sendQRCode(ticketId);
return { statusCode: 200, body: JSON.stringify(parkingData) };
}
return { statusCode: 403, body: 'Invalid ticket' };
};One Content Source, Many Uses
Our CMS data powered:
- Email campaigns (SendGrid integration)
- Mobile apps (React Native)
- Venue kiosks (web views)
- Chatbots (Dialogflow webhooks)
Actionable Takeaways
Lessons from our journey you can use today:
- Map your content first Shows, vendors, tickets—get these relationships clear before picking a CMS
- Static sites can be dynamic ISR gives you fast pages that update in the background
- Build APIs for everything Make content accessible to web, mobile, IoT, and AR
- Real-time matters For live events, webhooks and live previews keep teams aligned
- Mobile is critical Over 60% of our traffic came from phones; responsive design is non-negotiable
Conclusion: The Headless Advantage for Event Platforms
The PCGS Irvine show wasn’t just a technology project. It was about people:
- Attendees got fast, reliable information
- Organizers updated content without calling IT
- Our team connected workflows without custom code
The formula for modern event platforms? Headless CMS + Jamstack + API-first design. You get speed, flexibility, and scalability—without the headaches of old-school CMS platforms.
When the Long Beach era ends, the new shows will run on this architecture. And as a CMS developer? That’s exactly where I want to be—helping teams build better experiences, one show at a time.
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