Sales Event Effectiveness

I do dozens of interviews with top CMOs every year. I always ask what the best performing marketing channel is. And right now everyone is saying events. Post COVID events are back, but also now in an AI world, I think there's a stronger appetite to get out and connect with real people vs. just getting answers from ChatGPT. But: like anything in marketing, running events just because everyone else is doing them is a great way to set money on fire (and still not drive any incremental business). Whether it's a booth at a trade show. A VIP dinner. A 500-person conference. They can all work. They can all flop. The difference: having a real plan and strategy for that event going in. Why do it in the first place? (which continues to be the most important lesson in marketing - what's in it for me? what's the hook? why should people come to our thing?) We talked to two event experts on the Exit Five pod recently Stephanie Christensen and Kristina DeBrito — and here are 5 keys they shared for B2B event success: 1. Pick the right format. Not all events do the same job. Big splash? Go flagship. Want pipeline? Try VIP roundtables. Tiny budget? Host micro-events around existing conferences. Set real goals. 2. “Leads” are not enough anymore. Are you driving awareness? Accelerating deals? Generating pipeline? Define this upfront—or you’ll waste time measuring the wrong stuff. There are more metrics than just "did we get leads from this event" and in today's world leads are tablestalkes. 3. Align your team, bro. Sales and marketing must move in lockstep. Slack alerts for registrations. Sales meeting updates. Leaderboards. It all matters. This is a team effort. 4. Make it memorable. People forget panels. They remember custom pancakes and great venues. Was the food good? Did the WiFi work? Did Oprah show up? Just kidding. Making sure you'r reading. But think surprise and delight, not branded frisbees. 5. Put the work in on the follow up. Events don't close deals - follow-up does. Segment attendees. Create custom offers. Babysit the handoff to sales like your job depends on it. Because it does. You just went shopping and got all these fresh groceries - dont let them spoil. B2B buyers want real connection again. Events can create that. Are you feeling this desire for events? Are you doing events in your business right now? Let me know...

Are you an Old‑School Event Marketer or a New‑School Event Marketer? Old‑School: - “Bigger booth, bigger budget” = strategy - Swag splurges & steak‑house dinners with zero ROI math - Measures success by registrations instead of pipeline - Treats the conference as a one‑day stunt, then closes the spreadsheet - No persona segmentation, same agenda for prospects, customers, & partners - Relies on badge scans, fishbowls, and luck for lead capture - Ignores virtual or hybrid formats (“We’re an in‑person company!”) - Engagement stops when the lights go off, no post‑event nurture track - Decisions made on gut feel, not unit economics or understanding the P&L New‑School: - Begins with ICP clarity and a revenue‑backwards event brief - Maps the entire attendee journey: pre‑event teasers → in‑event moments → post‑event campaigns - Uses AI for smart matchmaking, personalized agendas, on‑site coaching, and post‑show enrichment - Integrates every touch into CRM & RevOps dashboards: CAC, payback, influenced ARR, CLTV - Collaborates with Sales & CS to find expansion opps with customers, not just hand-offs - Blends formats: micro‑webinars, community roundtables, regional pop‑ups, to lower CAC and widen reach - Scores success on quality meetings, pipeline velocity, and expansion revenue - Runs Calendar & Capacity tests to right‑size staffing before adding headcount - Partners with the CFO, budget tied to strategic KPIs, not vanity metrics - Knows why the event hit (or missed) the number and evolves assumptions quarter‑to‑quarter Event marketers can’t win on their own. The best know how to involve each team throughout the process. It’s not just execution. It’s communication, evaluation, and impact. In conclusion, new-school event marketers are strategy partners. Not task rabbits. New-School event marketers pick modern event tech. Check out Accelevents --> https://hubs.la/Q03fjrP30

Let’s be honest — most teams treat events as vanity projects. Big booths. Branded swag. Badge scans that never convert. We don’t play that game. We run events the way we run sales: With a clear target list, mapped sales stages, and defined deal movement goals. At two recent industry events, Versatile generated nearly 30x ROI. That wasn’t a marketing win — it was a sales win. Built on execution, not exposure. Here’s how we actually make events close deals: 1. Have deeper conversations with fewer people We don’t chase random conversations. We work to fill our calendars with people already in our pipeline three to four weeks ahead of the event. The goal: surface urgency, unblock friction, and get to next steps. 2. Send closers We send people who are their move their own deals forward. 3. Accelerate relationship velocity Dinners, whiteboards, late-night deal shaping — whatever it takes to deepen trust. Relationships don’t get built through booth traffic. They get built in real conversations. 4. Follow up like it’s a pipeline obligation — because it is Every interaction is logged. Next steps go in CRM. Follow-up isn’t optional or delayed — it’s immediate, specific, and tracked to close. If you're still measuring event success in badge scans and brand impressions, you're doing it wrong. Events can be one of your highest-ROI sales channels, it is for Versatile, because we treat them as sales plays.

How One Event Marketer Got a Promotion—While Another Lost Budget (and Credibility) What if your event budget was cut in half? Or better yet—what if it doubled? Lisa and Mark, both experienced event marketers, had very different experiences when it came time to justify their event investments. Lisa’s Story: Data Saved Her Career Lisa managed her company’s annual customer summit, and this year, she decided to do something different—she built her event strategy around metrics that actually mattered to leadership. Instead of just focusing on registration numbers, she tracked: 1. Pre-event engagement: How many high-value accounts interacted with event promotions? 2. Customer retention impact: Did attendance correlate with renewal rates? 3. Session value: Which topics led to the most follow-up meetings with sales? Her report showed clear business impact: 1. 40% of attendees were existing customers, and 75% of them renewed within six months 2. 30% of net-new pipeline was influenced by event-sourced leads 3. Post-event surveys revealed that keynote sessions drove a 50% increase in product demo requests Her leadership team didn’t just approve next year’s event—they increased her budget and asked her to build an event strategy for the entire company. Mark’s Story: A Harsh Reality Check Mark also ran a high-end executive dinner for top prospects. The venue was stunning, the guest list exclusive, and the feedback was glowing. But when his leadership team asked about measurable outcomes, Mark could only say: “The energy in the room was amazing.” “We had great pictures for social media.” What he didn’t track: How many attendees actually followed up with sales Whether the event influenced renewals, upsells, or new deals If the dinner actually moved the needle on business objectives Without data, his budget was cut in half, and leadership questioned whether events were worth the investment at all. Your leadership team doesn’t just want to hear that your event “felt great.” They want proof that it drove real business results. If you’re not tracking both business impact (pipeline, retention, customer growth) and emotional engagement (brand sentiment, product perception), you risk losing not just your budget—but your credibility. -------------------- Hi, I'm Jay Designing experiences for events that drive ROI for our clients. #business #branding #sales #marketing #eventprofs 

I've done128 podcast episodes, had hundreds of conversations with event marketers, executed 1000's of tradeshow booths and events, and one theme is sticking out as to why some companies have tradeshow and event success... Executive / leadership buy in and alignment. When companies have buy in and alignment from execs and leadership, I am seeing a trend of performance; pipeline, roi, progressing company initiatives, customer engagement, lead generation, brand awareness building, etc. The event program is on average 20-25% of the total marketing budget. This is a big number and line item on the books. If events are not driving pipeline, roi, company initiatives, leads and customer engagement, then what are they doing and why are we spending 20-25% of the marketing budget? Here are some telling signs that you have exec and leadership buy in and alignment: ✅ Reasonable budgets. ✅ Clarity on what success looks like. ✅ Ability to clearly define goals of each event. ✅ Support and partnership in sales and mkg. ✅ The event is viewed as a sales & mkg channel vs as a cost of doing business. ✅ Reasonable resources to drive the results needed. ✅ Someone owns the strategy and results of events. Getting exec buy in and alignment if you do not have it is difficult. It's something I have been asked a lot and something event marketers talk a lot about on our live shows and in the chats. I think there are some key things you can do: ✅ Find an advocate in leadership, particularly sales and mkg. Sometimes all it takes is one to listen and then help you build a case for change, particularly when it benefits them. ✅ Be the person to raise the flag. " We are spending x, and what are we really generating or producing?" ✅ Track, measure and report data to show what is going on. "Here is the data, here is how I think we can do better and why it matters to the company." ✅ Go to key stakeholders individually and ask them what success looks like for a single event or event program as a whole. Gather answers and see how aligned expectations are or are not. Show it back to them and ask for alignment. All this being said. It is a tough position for an event manager or event marketer to be in. It would be natural to not want to shine a light on a potential negative in your realm of the business. However, if you do some of the things listed above, and get no reasonable or good response from leadership, its clear you are in the wrong place and the clock is ticking. Time to look for a better role. Last thought, raising the flag, wanting alignment, wanting buy in, and wanting a better approach and legit success at events elevates your stature at the company. At the company, you will be viewed as someone who gets it and not someone who is just executing for the sake of it.

Steal our event playbook to drive a 7x ROI on events. Events are a critical part of our GTM at Brij. Why? They cut through the noise, and are an efficient way to see and build credibility with multiple stakeholders in your business. If I were to guess, National Retail Federation will dramatically outpace that average. What works so well? 1. Preparation is critical We’re starting outreach weeks if not months before the events. We’re pulling lists and scraping LinkedIn to see who is speaking and who is attending. Outreach comes from every channel, email & LinkedIn…but especially LinkedIn. 2. Connect with Partners We’re pinging all of our partners to understand who is attending, who is hosting, and how we can collaborate. Partners are such a rich part of this ecosystem and building those relationships is critically important to our success. 3. Host something around the event This time, it was a coffee. Sometimes we do dinners. Other times we’re being a bit more creative. Hosting an event allows you to extend an invite to prospects where you can “give”… instead of just effectively asking to let them sell to you. I can’t stress enough how important it is to lead with giving. 4. Schedule check ins with customers Events are just as important to meet with and strengthen relationships with existing customers. This is a great opportunity to find out what is next for them, get any feedback, and 5. Take detailed notes You are meeting hundreds of people in such a short period of time. It’s easy for conversations to slip you mind. I’m taking detailed notes of every conversation in my apple notes - and pairing it with a selfie that I take with someone. 6. Rigorous follow up This is absolutely key. All of those amazing conversations are meaningless without follow up. And don’t stop at just one ping - people are busy catching up on their jobs. Follow up immediately…and then follow up again. The TLDR: - Prepare  - Outreach - Host - Follow up This has been such a successful playbook for us. A few highlights from NRF: Catching up with friends, founders, customers, partners & investors: Rachel ten Brink, Grace Gould, Michael Ludwig, Nate Rosen, Nancy Gurd, Jess Cervellon, Shane Pittson, Michael True, Andy Cloyd, Zena A., Laura Colagrande, Conner Sherline, Neal Goyal, Aman Advani Megan Blissick Theresa Cowing Meredith Glansberg, Gina Lombardo, Arturo Rodriguez, Rishabh Jain, Sarah Nesheim, Jeff Magill PS - check out the behind the scenes snap 📷 of our every own Sarah Davidson being interviewed. Being honored for the RETHINK Retail award & celebrating alongside some incredible individuals in the industry — special shout outs to Melissa Minkow, David Polinchock, Melissa Tatoris, Nancy Rhodes, Laura Meyer, Dianna Antlocer #NRF #Events

"Events don't work for us." I hear this a lot, and when I dig into the why, I find a few common themes: ❌ Company A just spent lots of $$$ on a booth at a big industry show and failed to realize that their target persona is not actually the one that visits the booth & they have no plan on how to get meetings with the decision-maker ❌ Company B is doing smaller in-person dinners but they aren't putting the right people in the room; ex: CMOs don't want to go to a 'CMO dinner' w/a bunch of AEs or mktg managers (no offense) ❌ Company C is doing virtual wine nights or cooking classes but when you join the event, it's just an extended sales pitch, not a chance to chat w/peers facing similar challenges ❌ Company D doesn't have any process in place for pre-event and post-event communication, and the event is disorganized If you want events to 'work for you,' do this instead: ✅ Rethink large events - instead of having a booth, would you get more ROI out of renting out nearby restaurant space and setting up a lounge for meetings or even hosting a workshop? ✅ Get the right people in the room at the event: from your side & the attendee's side. If you're hosting a CMO dinner - fill the room with CMOs! ✅ Stop pitch slapping! Instead, invite your customers to attend the dinner, virtual event, etc, and if they are happy customers, trust me, they will naturally end up doing the talking for you. ✅ If it's in person, make it easy for people to get there & find the event. Bonus points if you send a car to pick them up & bring them to the event! ✅ Focus on creating unique & memorable experiences instead of the same fancy steak dinner (not that I don't love a great steak).... more on ideas for unique events in a follow-up post ✅ Communicate consistently beforehand to attendees so the no-show rate is low & customize your follow-up post-event When done right, events will accelerate pipeline, bring in a renewal early, lead to a larger expansion, and build brand awareness 💥