diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 7f1d55b..8700267 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -9,5 +9,5 @@ edition = "2018"
 [dependencies]
 rmp = "0.8.9"
 rmp-serde = "0.14.4"
-serde = "1.0.117"
+serde = {version = "1.0.117", features = ["serde_derive"]}
 byteorder = "1.3.4"
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/event.rs b/src/event.rs
index 50830e1..ac6b325 100644
--- a/src/event.rs
+++ b/src/event.rs
@@ -1,18 +1,40 @@
-use serde::{Serialize};
+use serde::{Serialize, Deserialize};
 use crate::result::{VentedResult, VentedError};
 use byteorder::{BigEndian, ByteOrder, ReadBytesExt};
 use std::io::Read;
 use serde::de::DeserializeOwned;
 
+#[derive(Clone, Serialize, Deserialize)]
+pub struct EmptyPayload {}
+
 /// A single event that has a name and payload.
 /// The payload is encoded with message pack
 #[derive(Clone, Debug)]
 pub struct Event<T> {
-    event_name: String,
-    payload: T,
+    pub name: String,
+    pub payload: T,
+}
+
+impl Event<EmptyPayload> {
+    /// Creates a new Event with an empty payload
+    pub fn new(name: String) -> Self {
+        Self  {
+            name,
+            payload: EmptyPayload {}
+        }
+    }
 }
 
 impl<T> Event<T> where T: Serialize + DeserializeOwned {
+
+    /// Creates a new Event with a payload
+    pub fn with_payload(name: String, payload: T) -> Self {
+        Self {
+            name,
+            payload,
+        }
+    }
+
     /// Returns the byte representation for the message
     /// the format is
     /// `name-length`: `u16`,
@@ -21,7 +43,7 @@ impl<T> Event<T> where T: Serialize + DeserializeOwned {
     /// `payload`: `payload-length`,
     pub fn to_bytes(&self) -> VentedResult<Vec<u8>> {
         let mut payload_raw = rmp_serde::to_vec(&self.payload)?;
-        let mut name_raw = self.event_name.as_bytes().to_vec();
+        let mut name_raw = self.name.as_bytes().to_vec();
 
         let name_length = name_raw.len();
         let mut name_length_raw = [0u8; 2];
@@ -53,7 +75,7 @@ impl<T> Event<T> where T: Serialize + DeserializeOwned {
         let payload = rmp_serde::from_read(bytes.take(payload_length))?;
 
         Ok(Self {
-            event_name,
+            name: event_name,
             payload,
         })
     }
diff --git a/src/lib.rs b/src/lib.rs
index ace3ff1..20e32d2 100644
--- a/src/lib.rs
+++ b/src/lib.rs
@@ -3,8 +3,44 @@ pub mod result;
 
 #[cfg(test)]
 mod tests {
+
+    use serde::{Deserialize, Serialize};
+    use crate::event::Event;
+
+    #[derive(PartialEq, Serialize, Deserialize, Clone, Debug)]
+    pub struct SimplePayload {
+        string: String,
+        number: u32,
+        float: f32
+    }
+
     #[test]
-    fn it_works() {
-        assert_eq!(2 + 2, 4);
+    fn it_serializes_events() {
+        let payload = SimplePayload {
+            string: "test".to_string(),
+            number: 7,
+            float: 2.1
+        };
+        let payload_raw = rmp_serde::to_vec(&payload).unwrap();
+        let event = Event::with_payload("test".to_string(), payload);
+        let event_bytes = event.to_bytes().unwrap();
+
+        assert_eq!(event_bytes[0..2], [0x00, 0x04]);
+        assert_eq!(event_bytes[6..14], payload_raw.len().to_be_bytes());
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn it_deserializes_events() {
+        let payload = SimplePayload {
+            string: "test".to_string(),
+            number: 7,
+            float: 2.1
+        };
+        let event = Event::with_payload("test".to_string(), payload.clone());
+        let event_bytes = event.to_bytes().unwrap();
+
+        let deserialized_event = Event::<SimplePayload>::from_bytes(&mut event_bytes.as_slice()).unwrap();
+        assert_eq!(deserialized_event.name, "test".to_string());
+        assert_eq!(deserialized_event.payload, payload);
     }
 }
diff --git a/src/result.rs b/src/result.rs
index 92923b3..72ad54e 100644
--- a/src/result.rs
+++ b/src/result.rs
@@ -1,7 +1,9 @@
 use std::{fmt, io};
+use std::error::Error;
 
 pub type VentedResult<T> = Result<T, VentedError>;
 
+#[derive(Debug)]
 pub enum VentedError {
     NameDecodingError,
     IOError(io::Error),
@@ -20,6 +22,8 @@ impl fmt::Display for VentedError {
     }
 }
 
+impl Error for VentedError {}
+
 impl From<io::Error> for VentedError {
     fn from(other: io::Error) -> Self {
         Self::IOError(other)