Best Practices for Tech Event Planning

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...

What's the difference between mature and immature event strategy? *Note: This isn't about the number of events hosted or years of experience. 1. GOALS. Immature: Attendance numbers, registrations, ticket sales. Mature: Engagement quality, attendee satisfaction, and long-term relationship building. 2. FOCUS. Immature: One-off events with short-term hype. Mature: Integrated event series that build momentum over time. 3. EVENT PLANNING. Immature: - Trying to cram in every trendy gimmick or activity. - Switching plans reactively based on last-minute ideas. - Overloading the schedule with no clear purpose. - Scattered efforts with inconsistent execution. Mature: - Mastering a few key event formats designed for your audience. - Creating repeatable frameworks for planning and execution. - Consistent, purpose-driven events aligned with broader goals. 4. EVALUATING SUCCESS. Immature: Counting heads or social media mentions. Mature: - Measuring attendee feedback, behavior change, and downstream impact (e.g., loyalty or referrals). - Partnering with Marketing Ops to design an attribution model. 5. EVENT STRATEGY. Immature: - Focus on flashy promotion and filling seats. - Broad, undefined audience targeting. Mature: - Deep understanding of their ideal attendees. - Designing experiences that guide attendees through a meaningful journey. - Tapping partners for promotion and cost-sharing. 6. TOOLS & TECH. Immature: - Buying without trying. Failing to test the attendee experience. Most event platforms don't have a free trial motion. Accelevents does. - Duct taped together tools forcing attendees to have multiple accounts Mature: - Defining processes first, then selecting tools to enhance them. - Starting with lean, cost-effective solutions that scale with need. 7. TEAM COLLABORATION. Immature: Disconnected teams (e.g., marketing, logistics, content) working in silos with misaligned priorities. Mature: Teams aligned on shared objectives, with regular check-ins and joint planning sessions. 8. EVENT TEAM. Immature: - Hiring a large team with vague roles (e.g., “event coordinator”) and expecting instant results. - Throwing people at tasks without clear direction. Mature: - Communicating the goal of the event to every involved. - Starting with a small, focused team. - Building core event frameworks first. -------------- It comes down to this. Events are not just for "leads" Events are how you build trust. --- Mature event platforms run on Accelevents. Learn More --> https://hubs.la/Q03dHgb00 ---

Over the next 3 months, I’m hosting 4 major events in France, UK, USA and KSA. Beforehand, I want to share my top tips on how to get the best out of networking. 1. Set Clear Targets Action: Make a hit list of the top 10 companies or people you need to meet. Research what they care about—know their wins, pain points, & what they’re hunting for before you walk through the door. Outcome: These conversations won’t just happen by chance. By doing your homework, you’ll turn a five-minute chat into a deal-building moment. Schedule meetings in advance, & after the event, send a tailored follow-up email that shows you were listening. 2. Take the Stage (Literally) Action: Get on the agenda. Whether it’s a keynote, panel, or fireside chat, nothing says “I’m the one to watch” like holding the mic. Use this time to address the industry’s biggest challenges & position yourself—& your company—as the answer. Outcome: Speaking builds instant credibility. It’s not just exposure; it’s authority. Post-event, share the highlights on LinkedIn & invite attendees to continue the conversation, turning an audience into a lead pipeline. 3. Own the Floor Action: Don’t just lurk—work the room. Engage with key exhibitors, ask questions, & position yourself as a resource, not just another pitch. Be direct but curious: “What’s your biggest challenge this year?” and “How can I help?” are powerful openers. Outcome: You’ll stand out as someone who listens. Take notes during conversations, & follow up within 48 hours with a personalised message. Not a generic “great meeting you”—send actionable insights or specific ideas that move the ball forward. 4. Host the Inner Circle Action: People bond better in a more relaxed setting than over Wi-Fi. Organise an exclusive dinner, roundtable, or cocktail event for a curated group of heavy hitters. Keep it intimate—this is about building relationships, not just showing off. Go easy on the heavy sell. Outcome: People remember who brought them value & connections, not who handed out free pens. Post-event, share any key takeaways & book one-on-one follow-ups to solidify what you started over drinks. 5. Hack the Tech Action: Use every tool at your disposal—event apps, LinkedIn, QR codes. Pre-event, reach out to attendees & book meetings. At the event, swap contacts digitally to keep things seamless, & use a CRM to track every interaction. Outcome: You’ll leave the event with an organised roadmap of leads, not just a stack of business cards destined for a desk drawer. Follow up strategically with segmented, value-driven emails & keep the momentum alive. The Bottom Line: Trade fairs & exhibitions aren’t just networking. Preparation, presence, & follow-up separate those who close deals from those who just collect swag bags. Be human. Don’t think of this as just a branding exercise but an opportunity for long term partnerships. Be genuine - your new contacts will become close contacts, if not friends. Make it count! #revenuegrowth

I just got off a call with partners at South Summit about how to better support moderators on their major event stages. First, it is so cool that the event programming team cares about setting people up to succeed on their stages. In the past, they have created best practice videos with the amazing speaker coach Chris Roe, and now want to share things like AI tips to help take it a step further. If you’re hosting a fireside or panel soon, add these quick checks to your prep: > Issue: We research the person and forget the company context. Be sure to do a “Last 90 days" scan - on funding, partnerships, product launches, leadership changes, etc. (This is the info often not on the guest’s LinkedIn!) > Customer lens: who they sell to now and what pain they’re solving this quarter (press releases, case studies, product blog). > Signals from hiring: open roles = priorities; job postings reveal roadmaps and problems to ask about. > Competitive context: what a top competitor just shipped - and how your guest would respond. > Regulatory/market moves: any new rule, outage, or sector shock that changes the conversation today. > Changelog / release notes: find a real feature change you can anchor to (“Last week you shipped X - why now?”). > Recent interviews: find language you can quote to push for specifics. > Community/support threads: what users are celebrating or struggling with right now. The community voice can be extremely telling. Hot Tip: Create yourself a reusable LLM prompt to pull all of these inputs before every interview. And to those who are already pro level in moderation skills, I ask you: What’s one prep move you rely on that most people miss? -------------------------------------------- Booking into 2026. If you’re planning a tech/innovation event and want a host/moderator who keeps human connection at the center, I’d love to hear about it. DM me. #EventHosting #Moderation #TechEvents

If I were planning a GTM for next year for a B2B SaaS, I'd put events right at the top as a core channel: Events are generally underrated in GTM strategies. But now they matter more than ever. When everyone's inbox is drowning in AI-generated outreach, showing up in person is the one place you can't fake it. Real conversations happen.  Real trust gets built. When thinking about an event strategy, I would think about these four buckets: [𝟭] 𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗮𝗸 𝗮𝘁 Events provide an opportunity for content marketing at its finest. It's an opportunity to establish expertise, authority, and trust quickly through Q&A and real-time engagement. [𝟮] 𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗲𝘅𝗵𝗶𝗯𝗶𝘁 𝗮𝘁 Think about high ICP-density conferences where buyers actively search for solutions. We've driven six-figure pipelines from just 2 events this year. [𝟯] 𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗵𝗼𝘀𝘁 Own the room with smaller, focused gatherings. We recently ran 6 meetups across the globe with groups of 15-20. These intimate chats led to expansion opportunities that ballooned some ACVs by 2-3x. Pro tip: run micro-events or satellite meetups on the side when you attend large industry conferences to benefit from the traction. [𝟰] 𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝘂𝗽𝘀𝗸𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗮𝘁 Send leaders to relevant events to learn what's next, not what's now. For example, Inbound is my personal fave where I learn a lot about GTM, AI, and marketing. (I'll drop a prompt in the comments to help with this) Do events work? According to Splash's 2025 Outlook on Events, "event leads convert 31% higher than leads from other channels." But, obviously, not if you do them the wrong way. Picking the right events, preparing a month in advance, having a strong POV, and choosing the right field marketers make all the difference. Happy to share a more detailed do-not list in a future post if there's interest. Attached is a handy Event Strategy Canvas that can help you plan your approach if you're budgeting for 2026.

Are your conference teams actually aligned? Today I hit a wall at a conference. Wasn’t registered under the company. Security did their job. I stood outside. That small admin miss revealed a bigger system problem. Event alignment is not logistics. It is brand risk management. If your people cannot get into the room, your brand is not really in the room. Here is what this surfaced for me: 1) Treat event access as part of your go to market system Who gets registered, under what role, and with which company details signals intent. If sales is listed but product and customer teams are “informal attendees,” you are designing for leads, not learning. Align your registration list with your actual strategy for the event. 2) Make one owner accountable for every event Shared ownership sounds nice, but it hides gaps. Assign a single event owner who is accountable for: access, registration, on site roles, debrief. Everyone else is a contributor. This simple clarity cuts confusion and last minute scrambling. 3) Pre define “moves” for each type of attendee Executives, practitioners, partners, operators. Each group should know why they are there and what decisions they can make in the room. When people know their lane, they can improvise inside it without putting the brand at risk. 4) Close the loop within 24 hours If an access issue happens, write it up like an incident. What broke in the system? Where did handoffs fail? What do we change before the next event? A light postmortem turns one awkward moment into durable process. Core takeaway: Conferences are not about presence. They are about prepared alignment. #EventStrategy, #B2BMarketing, #BrandOperations, #RevenueLeadership, #RefreshWithRyza

The Event Professionals Network Leadership Summit confirmed what we already knew: #eventprofessionals are hungry for more education around strategy. I’m calling it now - this will continue to be a trending topic in 2026. In its simplest form, #eventstrategy is the bridge between doing events and driving business impact. For those new to this work, here are four simple ways to become more strategic with your events: 1️⃣ The So What Test: Strategy starts with a "Why," not a floor plan. A floor plan is NOT a strategy. Ask your stakeholders: "If we didn't do this event, what business goal would actually suffer?" If the answer is vague, you're planning a party, not a business engine. 2️⃣ Think Program Not Project: Stop treating events as one-offs. A strategic activation is just one part of a larger story. Don't just ask for the date of the next event. Instead, ask "How does this Q1 roadshow warm up the audience for our Q3 flagship event?" Aim to build a narrative where every touchpoint increases intent to buy. 3️⃣ Move From Logistics to Logic: Logistics is the "What," but Logic is the "How." You need to reframe your thinking to stop checking boxes and start engineering outcomes. 🚫 The What: We need a venue and lunch for 500 people so they network. ✅ The How: We use the environment as a conversion engine. By seating prospects by shared pain points and facilitating moderated table-talks, we transform a passive meal into a high value discovery session. 4️⃣ Data Should Be Directional, Not Passive: Stop using data as a historical record. If your metrics don't tell you where to go next, they’re just "vanity math." 🚫 The Passive Metric: We had 1,000 registrations. ✅ The Directional Insight: 60% of our target accounts spent 20+ minutes at the AI hub. This insight gives us direction for our next sales campaign. 💡 My Final Thought: Strategy isn't about making a single event great; it’s about ensuring your events aren't silos. "Pull the thread" through to your larger campaigns and your entire event portfolio to create one cohesive customer journey. Real impact happens when every event works in tandem as a powerhouse ecosystem to drive results. Event leaders, what else would you add to my starter list? #EventStrategy #EventProfs #BusinessImpact #EventMarketing

One Event. Three Audiences. Three Different Journeys. One of the most common mistakes in event planning? Designing a single experience and expecting it to work for everyone in the room. But great events aren’t one-dimensional. They’re multi-layered experiences — built for three distinct audiences: 1. The Host Organization (CEOs, Comms Directors, Internal Teams) This group funds the vision and puts their brand on the line. They’re focused on: ↪Brand positioning ↪Strategic visibility ↪High-impact partnerships ↪Narrative control Success looks like: media coverage, reputation lift, and long-tail industry impact. 📊 Example: Internal teams using post-event surveys and stakeholder interviews are 2.7x more likely to report higher ROI and audience satisfaction. It’s not just about what happened on stage — it’s about how well it served the brand's strategic goals. 2. Sponsors & Exhibitors They’re not passive supporters — they’re investors looking for a return. They care about: ↪High-value foot traffic ↪Lead generation ↪Brand activation ↪Measurable visibility Success looks like: new business, expanded reach, and reason to renew. 📈 Example: Coca‑Cola invested €20M to sponsor the Paris 2024 Olympic Torch Relay — with mobile villages, branded concerts, and 15M+ touchpoints. They weren’t just showing up. They were calculating brand lift, audience reach, and conversion potential. 3. Attendees They are the heart of the room — and they come for a personal experience. They want to: ↪Learn ↪Connect ↪Be inspired ↪Feel part of something bigger Success looks like: new relationships, valuable insights, and a sense of meaning. 💬 Example: Top-tier event planners use detailed post-event surveys to measure NPS, content relevance, and emotional resonance — because that’s what drives return attendance and word-of-mouth. ✅ The mistake? Trying to give all three audiences the same experience. ✅ The opportunity? Designing tailored, parallel journeys — each aligned to what those groups value most — under one cohesive brand story. If you're only designing for attendees, you're missing two-thirds of the strategy. If you're only focused on logistics, you're missing the why that makes it all matter. I work with CEOs and comms leads to turn events into growth engines — aligning stakeholders, sponsors, and story around a clear vision of success. If you have an event on the horizon, let’s talk about how to map your stakeholders, define the right KPIs, and build an experience that actually moves the needle. This is how events stop being forgettable — and start being unstoppable.

There is such a thing as a “good problem” in events. For example, when many of your guests arrive hours before the scheduled start time. Logistically, it creates pressure, but it also reveals something important: the event clearly matters to them. You may be tempted to start earlier than announced. However, that can disrupt speaker schedules, affect international participants in different time zones, and create an awkward situation for guests who arrive at the official time. Broadcast teams covering the event may also be working with fixed timelines. So how do you protect the official start time while managing the energy in the room thoughtfully? That is where careful planning and a skilled Master of Ceremonies make a real difference. Here are 10 ways a team can prepare for this kind of “good problem”: 1. Design a pre-event experience, not just a waiting period. Music, light and intentional ambience should immediately set the tone for every attendee. 2. Create a networking lounge or cocktail area. A networking area with light refreshments naturally encourages early attendees to connect and start conversations. 3. Curate visual storytelling. Screens can run short films about the organisation, sponsor showcases, impact stories or highlights from previous editions, that keep audience engaged. 4. Do soft welcomes. From time to time, the MC can warmly welcome guests, appreciate their punctuality, and remind them of the official start time. 5. The MC can facilitate guided networking. A simple prompt from the MC such as “please meet two people you did not come with today” can turn waiting time into valuable connections. 6. Activate sponsor or exhibition spaces early. Encourage the guests to visit the exhibition booths and engage with exhibitors. 7. Capture content while the energy is fresh. Short guest interviews, expectation clips and social media moments can be recorded before the programme begins. 8. Create visual interaction points. Photo walls, poweful quotes, red carpets and branded installations and give guests something to engage with. 9. The MC can facilitate pre-event audience engagement. The MC can ask a few quick questions or invite short responses that keep the room lively such as “What are your expectations for the event?” 10. Protect the energy of the room. From start to finish, ensure that the energy of the event doesn’t diminish and that the entire experience is worth the time of your guests. Remember, when people show up early, it usually means one thing: they believe the event is worth their time. This is one of the best “problems” any event organiser can have. Did you enjoy reading this? Let me know. I remain your Presidential Host, Temi Badru #temibadru #presidentialhost #eventhost #mc #event #events