B2B Conference season is right around the corner, and if you’re planning on showing up and gathering leads, you’re already leaving money on the table. Last year, we shared 7 Conference Marketing Tips in one of our most popular podcast episodes.
I am in the middle of planning for an event next month in which I will attend to represent one of my clients, so let's take planning an extra step and dive into the planning process I do with all my clients.
Side Note: If you're reading because you already know you need to get more out of your events, let's get straight to it. Chat with me for 15 minutes and I'll give you at least one free tip. Grab time here.
This isn’t just about meeting new people and collecting business cards. It’s about walking into the event with a plan and leaving with real pipeline opportunities that drive revenue.
If you're attending conferences in 2025, this is your playbook.
What You’ll Get in This Post
How to plan a conference strategy that aligns with your CEO’s goals
How to balance sales and marketing efforts before, during, and after the event
How to leverage partnerships to amplify your impact
The biggest mistakes I see companies make, and how to avoid them
A look back at last year’s podcast episode on conference marketing (worth a re-listen!)
Before we start, a quick client success story. Or, if you already know I've got chops and you trust me, go ahead and skip to the good stuff.
I was contracted by a client who had a solid sales process and conferences were a big part of their lead generation tactics. But they weren't getting the results they wanted. A quick review showed some opportunities for improvement.
Even though they had been attending some events for 10 years +/-, attendees still had very basic questions like "who are you?"
There was a lot of buzz around events and the sales folks came away with leads and a ton of positive energy. But a couple of months later, usually none of those leads closed.
In short, kryptonite for revenue growth! So I set out to making some foundational changes.
Every year, the event calendar is up for scrutiny. If we didn't close leads form the event, we didn't go again.
We send a scout as an attendee to events before deciding to sponsor.
We got much more strategic about pre, mid, and post-show sales and marketing tactics.
We got a lot more creative about our sponsorship and booth strategies.
The results:
People came to the booth not just knowing who we were, but they already knew which service option they wanted to explore. No more intros at events, we were having discovery conversations.
Without increasing event budget, we significantly increased event ROI. We started closing deals in the same month as the event, which is no small feat for a SaaS product!
The CEO is now beating his year-over-year growth goals.
Let's explore how you can up your conference game in 2025:
It All Starts with Strategy, Not Swag(ger)
Before I sign up for the event, book a flight, plan booth giveaways, or schedule a single meeting, I align with the CEO on what we’re actually trying to achieve at this event.
Every conference has a primary objective:
Are we generating new leads?
Are we looking for strategic partners?
Are we strengthening relationships with existing clients?
It’s usually a mix, but one objective always takes priority.
Once I’m clear on the objectives, I go deeper:
Who will be attending? If we have an attendee list, I analyze it. If not, I pull the previous year’s list so I can reach out to potential attendees.
Who is also sponsoring? If we have a list of sponsor attendees, great. If not, the event website will have logos and I'll DM heads of sales or marketing on LinkedIn.
What roles do they hold? Are they decision-makers, influencers, or end-users? Fastest way to do this is to load the list into an AI model and ask it to research for you.
What motivates them? Understanding what makes them tick helps tailor my approach. Your buyer persona should have this intel.
Pro Tip: Waiting for the event to introduce yourself is a missed opportunity. If you’re serious about ROI, you should be booking meetings before you even step onto the expo floor. And "we don't have the list of attendees" is a lousy excuse.
Speaking of SWAG, You should have a strategy
A popular booth raffle prize is a $100 Amazon card, which everyone can use. But here's why I don't ever do that. Event week is busy and you're competing with all the other sponsors for their attention. And in order to earn their visit you have to differentiate.
The comment that made me pivot from the event plan I inherited was "I make a lot of money, what makes you think I want to waste my time for a chance at $100?" Ouch, New Yorkers right?!?
After I gain understanding of your objectives and the people we need to attract, I get creative on a booth prize. If those people were a close colleague or friend, what would we get them for their birthday?
Depending on the event, raffle prizes that have performed well for me are:
Luxury watches for execs who appreciate craftsmanship
High-end pen sets that feel like a power move in meetings
Designer handbags (yes, really, because even in B2B, some events draw a heavily female crowd)
When you show you know your audience, you don’t just draw them in, you start the conversation with a great first impression.
Sales & Marketing Need to Work Together. Before the Event Even Starts
A great conference strategy isn’t just about showing up, it’s about what you do before, during, and after the event.
Pre-Event Marketing & Outreach
Website & Social Presence – Marketing manages event pages, social posts, and public-facing promotions.
Sales Outreach – Sales takes the lead on direct outreach: calls, emails, and DMs to key prospects and partners.
Messaging & Materials – We collaborate on talking points, booth giveaways, and any special materials that help us reach our event goals.
Enticing Meetings – We ask: What’s in it for them? Do they get exclusive insights? A sneak peek at a product? A free consultation? Make it worth their time.
Pro Tip: Don't just pay for the lowest level of sponsorship. Call the event coordinator in advance and negotiate some extras in return for an increased investment. One of my clients was able to leverage this tactic to get speaking slots.
Mid-Event Marketing
Pro Tip: Don't let your marketing efforts stop when the event starts. Events are expensive, let's squeeze every last drop of ROI out of them!
If Marketing is back at the office, you need your sales folks to act as marketing envoys. As a corporate VP of Sales, I heard all the excuses from my team - they didn't have time to do social media, they didn't know what to post.
So I created a "sales guy proof" guide and made it very easy for them. I now create customized guides for each client, based on my tried and true tactics. Want to borrow them? Head over to the Forum.
Post-Event Marketing and Outreach
I will sync up with marketing during downtime at the event or usually at the airport on the way home. Give them the takeaways and decide what comes next.
A blog about the learnings?
A social media post thanking the host?
A highlight reel on social media?
There's always email marketing.
Pro Tip: Segment the attendee list into people who stopped by the booth and people who didn't. It's a big miss to send a "it was great seeing you" email to someone who didn't take the time to see your booth. I always remember who I talked to... their swag and business cards are in my luggage!
Leveraging Partnerships for a Bigger Impact
A lot of companies underutilize partnerships at conferences. Generally the main objective is to get leads that could sell. However, there's no reason to ignore the other sponsors. One of my clients improved their partner lead generation efforts after they took my recommendation to let sponsors participate in their booth raffle.
Here’s how I approach partnerships at events:
Align with closely-related partners – If we have strong relationships with other sponsors, we find ways to collaborate. Can we co-host a dinner? Share a booth game? Do joint follow-up? Market a package deal?
Connect with new potential partners – If forming new partnerships is a goal, I proactively reach out to other sponsors to schedule meetings. These conversations often lead to future marketing collaborations, cross-selling opportunities, and referrals. And while it's challenging to book time with an attendee, many of whom try to ignore sponsors altogether, it's pretty easy to book time with a sponsor. Good sales folks are always open to a conversation!
A strong partner network expands your event impact beyond just your own booth traffic.
Pro Tip: One of my clients was planning to sponsor an event and after learning that his objective was find find new partners, I recommended that he send someone as an attendee. Lower cost = higher ROI potential.
The Sales Process Doesn’t Start (or Stop) at the Booth
For all of my clients, I aim for a continued conversation at the booth. We don't want to explain 100 times who we are and what we do. We want discovery calls with someone who already knows us and has an inkling of what they want.
Here’s how to structure your sales process before, during, and after the event:
Before the Event:
Pre-event outreach to book meetings – Don’t leave it to chance or tell people to stop by the booth. Your sales folks need to have meetings scheduled before they get there.
Use AI to personalize outreach – If I don’t know a contact, I use AI tools to help craft personalized messages. They're preparing to be out of pocket for a week, let's help make them as efficient as possible.
Make it easy for prospects to schedule – Provide clear meeting times and calendar links to reduce friction.
During the Event:
Prioritize scheduled meetings over random booth walk-ups – Booth traffic is great, but planned meetings drive revenue. If I have a booth buddy, we tag-team. If I'm working the booth alone, I schedule meetings during sessions - there's always a session that is less compelling.
Start follow-up conversations immediately – I don’t wait until after the event. You can send quick messages during the show.
Pull out your phone – While I have someone in front of me and in a "yes" mood, I have them pencil in the follow-up meeting and then the calendar invite right then and there.
Hand off leads to the right team members while still on-site – If another team member will own the deal, introduce them via email at the event.
Do what you can – Some of my clients don't have huge budgets to throw a party or host a big dinner, so we look for other ways to connect. Conference food is so-so at best, invite someone to breakfast, lunch, or coffee. Get them one-on-one.
After the Event:
Prioritize follow-up with hot leads within one week – The sooner, the better.
Follow-up with missed connections within two weeks – Even if they didn’t stop by, follow up.
Ongoing nurture campaigns for colder leads – Not every lead is ready now. Keep the conversation going.
Pro Tip: Instead of waiting until the event ends, start your follow-up while you’re still there. A quick email with a link to your e-brochure will make sure they remember you even if they leave all the swag in their hotel room. Not that I've ever done that.
The Two Biggest Mistakes I See at Conferences
I've seen a few conferences, as a corporate VP and now as a fractional CRO. Funny story - one especially busy year I had to look at the room service menu to remember what city I woke up in. Grits for breakfast? Oh yeah, the event in Nashville!
Avoid these most common mistakes and you're ahead of most of your colleagues:
Mistake #1: Failing to Market & Sell Before the Event
Too many companies treat conferences like a game of chance. They show up, hope for foot traffic, and collect business cards like Pokémon.
Reality: You should be selling before the event—warming up prospects, setting meetings, and making your presence known.
Mistake #2: Failing to Follow Up After the Event
An event is frankly a waste of money if you don’t convert your leads into revenue. You'd think this one is obvious, but I've seen the attending rep fail to turn over leads that weren't in their territory, failure to follow-up with leads that weren't ready to buy, and oddly enough some folks get so busy doing their catchup work after being out a week that they don't call the business cards they brought home.
If your team doesn’t have a structured post-event follow-up process, you’re throwing away ROI.
If your leads aren’t hearing from you within a week, they've forgotten all about you
Rookie Mistakes to Avoid
Since I've seen a few conferences, here are some rookie mistake you'll want to make sure your newer reps don't make.
Partying too hard. You would think you don't have to remind fully grown adults about this, but here we are. Your sales folks should be encouraged to socialize and get to know people when their guard is down. But dancing on tables and hooking up? That behavior needed to stay in college.
Sticking to work only. The flip side of that coin is the hard working rep who spends the evening eating room service and catching up on emails. A huge missed opportunity to establish know-like-trust with other attendees.
Only talking to people you already know. You won’t maximize your ROI if your sales folks hang out with each other or the attendees they already know. I will always allow dinner with current clients, but that can't be all they do socially.
Focusing only on gathering leads. Current clients and partners shouldn't be ignored, this is a great opportunity for your folks to deepen the relationships they already have.
Pro Tip: Your sales folks won't know unless you tell them. My clients get a conference guide that has these rules in there. HR will thank you if it comes to that.
A New Tactic I’m Testing This Year
The conference I'm attending with a client? I've done this show at least a dozen times, so I know what works and I'm not recommending a new playbook this year, even though it's my first time going with this client.
However, you should know that my least favorite thing is "the way we've always done it". One thing I’m going to suggest, that's borrowed directly from the recommendations in last year's podcast. I am going to ask marketing for something we can email to people. Maybe a no-follow web page written just for this conference, linked in HubSpot so we know who's visiting. Actually, thinking out loud, I think we need two:
One for partners
One for prospects
These would provide additional info and allow me to start the follow-up while still at the event, rather than waiting until I get back. And I know you're expected to have fliers and brochures at the booth, but this is the 1980s - who actually keeps those?
However you should also know that I will tell the CMO my idea and let her know my objective, and see if she comes up with something even better. Hint: she usually does. It's important for sales and marketing to work in tandem in order to achieve the organizational goals set forth by the CEO.
Want More Conference Marketing Insights? Listen to the Podcast Episode
Last year’s episode on 7 Conference Marketing Tips was one of our most popular. I've been doing events for many years and thought I had a good event game, but even I learned a few new tricks. If you’re heading into conference season, it’s worth a re-listen. Listen here, also available on Apple, Spotify or wherever else you get your podcasts.
What's Next? Let’s Talk About Your B2B Conference Season Strategy
If you’re looking for a smarter way to drive revenue at events, let’s chat about how to align your sales & marketing strategy for maximum impact. Talk to me for 15 minutes and I'll give you at least one free tip on how you could elevate your conference experience. Book time here.
Rise of Us is a practice run by Summer Poletti, specializing in revenue growth: sales, strategic partnerships, customer success, marketing alignment. We generally work with financial services and SaaS companies from $3MM - $10MM ARR and help them plan and execute for their next stage of revenue growth. We concentrate on strategy, coaching, and organizational alignment.
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