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The B2B Marketing Exchange (#B2BMX) 2024 in Scottsdale, Arizona, is shaping up to be an essential event for B2B marketers aiming to revamp their strategies and accelerate growth. With over 80 sessions across five tracks, including Content2Conversion, Demand Gen Summit, Sales Impact Summit, Go-To-Market Strategy, and ABM In Action Live, the event promises a wealth of learning and networking opportunities. Here's how event marketers can make the most of #B2BMX 2024:

Must-attend sessions and speakers

Opening Keynote: "B2B Content Lessons From Taylor Swift: Shake Off Your Old Strategy & Experiment To Engage" by Phyllis Davidson (Forrester)

Nope, you don't have to be a Swiftie to enjoy this one! 

Davidson will explore innovative content strategies, emphasizing personalization and experimentation, drawing inspiration from Taylor Swift's approach to engaging audiences.

Keynote: "Elevating B2B Marketing: Transforming Challenges Into Opportunities With Customer Experience" by Dan Gingiss (The Experience Maker)

Learn how integrating customer experience principles can transform B2B marketing challenges into opportunities, driving significant organizational change.

Keynote: "B2B Buyers Want A Better Purchasing Experience — Get The ABM Framework That Delivers It" by Steve Armenti (Google)

Armenti will discuss using Account-Based Marketing (ABM) to meet the evolving needs of today's B2B buyers, offering a fresh perspective on enhancing the purchasing experience.

"It’s Not A Sales Or Marketing Issue; It’s A Brand Issue: No BS Brand Tactics For B2B Marketing Leaders Who Want To Win" by Kate DiLeo (Brand Trifecta)

This session will focus on no-nonsense brand tactics that B2B marketing leaders can employ to distinguish their brand and achieve market success.

Networking and special events

CMO Mentors Program:

A unique opportunity to connect with seasoned industry veterans, offering guidance and insights to up-and-coming practitioners.

CMO Exchange:

An invite-only event for CMOs to share strategies, challenges, and successes in a confidential setting.

B2B Marketing Exchange Happy Hour:

Join 150 Marketing leaders for drinks and dinner - hosted by Chili Pipper, Navattic, RollWorks and Zuddl!

Making the Most of #B2BMX 2024

• Plan your agenda: With over 80 sessions, prioritize those that align with your strategic goals and challenges. Consider a mix of keynotes, breakouts, and workshops for a comprehensive learning experience.
• Engage actively: Participate in Q&A sessions, workshops, and networking events. The more you engage, the more you'll gain.
• Connect digitally: Use the event's hashtag to share insights, connect with speakers and attendees online, and extend your networking beyond the physical event space.
• Follow up: After the event, reach out to the contacts you've made. A quick LinkedIn message or email can help cement new relationships and open doors to future collaborations.

Have fun!

Every event, pretty much, has three main goals:

1) Get as many relevant folks to attend as possible

2) Drive a dizzying ROI

3) Generate as much original content as possible

... After all, this trifecta determines the success of your event and if it will find favor for its next edition. 

Now, events, whether they are in-person, virtual, or webinars, have the potential to generate content that, if leveraged while the event is still fresh, can help sales and marketing teams create better outreach, convert high-intent leads to opportunities, and increase the shelf life of your event. 

This is important because an event today is no longer just about the live moments; it's also about the afterglow—the conversations, insights, and connections that continue to resonate.

To help event marketers truly tap into the potential of event content, we’ve partnered with Parmonic - and we're super thrilled about it!

Now you'll be able to push high-quality recordings of your event or webinar from Zuddl directly to your Parmonic dashboard - where they can be transformed into key moments, trailers, quotes, gifs, webpages, blogs, social posts - the works!

Here are 3 ways you can leverage this power-packed integration:

Maximize your event’s reach

This collaboration between Zuddl and Parmonic presents a ready solution for B2B marketers looking to extend the life and reach of their event content. 

By quickly turning your event videos into ready transcripts, bite-sized moments, trailers, and blog posts, this integration ensures that the rich insights and highlights from any event are not lost but repurposed for timely and long-term impact.

Streamline your content workflow with AI

The heart of this integration lies in its ability to streamline the content creation process. With Parmonic's AI capabilities, videos processed through Zuddl can be effortlessly transformed into engaging ‘Moments’ - snippets suitable for various marketing channels, as well as a blog post highlighting key points of the video and much more!

This not only slashes the time typically required for such transformations but also proves to be far more cost-effective than engaging an external video production agency.

Enrich sales-and-marketing partnership

A game-changing feature of the Zuddl-Parmonic integration is its direct impact on sales and marketing efforts. The processed videos can be effortlessly pushed to platforms like Salesloft, enabling sales teams to leverage these bite-sized moments in their outbound communications. 

This won’t just enhance the effectiveness of your outreach efforts but will also ensure that your hot prospects are engaged with compelling content at every touchpoint.

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How to get started:

Integrating Parmonic with Zuddl is a straightforward process:

1. Contact Zuddl support with your details:

(Organization Name: Name of your organization in Zuddl, Organization ID: Entered by our CS team)

Using the above details, our customer success team will create a Parmonic account.

2. After this, a "Go to Parmonic" button becomes available in your Zuddl dashboard.

Note: You do not need to manually create a user profile in Parmonic - Zuddl automatically creates a user profile the first time you click the ‘Go to Parmonic’ button. 

3. Once created, you can use the same button to access your Parmonic dashboard anytime.

Learn how to start editing your recordings

As we move forward, this collaboration will undoubtedly serve as a benchmark for how event content is leveraged, ensuring that businesses can make the most out of every moment captured.

Whether you're organizing a corporate conference, a trade show, or an intimate seminar, the success of your event hinges on your ability to engage, connect, and leave a memorable impression. Last week, we spoke to some rockstars in the events industry to gather practical strategies that can transform your events from ordinary to extraordinary.

Here are 5 super-cool takeaways from them:

Use this three-pronged approach to planning your event content strategy

Nailing your event content at the pre-production stage is key to event success and outcomes. Here’s what industry expert, Morgan J Ingram, Founder & CEO, AMP, breaks this down into 3 important steps:

• The first step is pinpointing key individuals for collaboration and crafting an engaging booth experience - crucial for attracting the right audience. 
• Next, plan your content goals: whether it's generating a few months of material or aligning with an upcoming product launch. 
• The final step involves strategically engaging key accounts in your content, targeting not just influencers but also potential high-value clients. 

This three-pronged approach ensures a focused and impactful presence at any event, blending content creation with targeted networking.

Now, when it comes to designing your booth or event space, consider it a storytelling platform. How can it uniquely convey your brand's message? Interactive displays, immersive experiences, or live demonstrations can transform your space into a dynamic environment that not only tells your story but also actively involves your audience in it.

Personalize VIP experiences

“Personalization is integral to the event itself; when you register, we ask what you're interested in, and who you want to talk to.” says Sanjib Kalita, Head of Industry, Fintech Meetup

For VIPs or key accounts, create experiences that go beyond the standard. Tailor these moments to their specific interests. This could mean setting up exclusive meetings with your top executives, offering private tours of your product demos, or even organizing special events within the event. The goal is to make these individuals feel exceptionally valued and provide them with a unique experience that they associate directly with your brand.

Make follow-ups memorable

Transform your event follow-ups into memorable interactions. Instead of generic emails, personalize your messages with specific references to conversations had or experiences shared at the event. If you took a photo with an attendee, include it in your follow-up. This personal touch not only enhances recall but also strengthens the connection made during the event.

Use this three-step framework to repurpose event content

Of course, you can turn keynote speeches into blog posts, panel discussions into podcast episodes, or Q&A sessions into social media content. Morgan deep-dives into this and offers a compelling three-step framework that can revolutionize how we approach events. 

• Firstly, it involves repurposing event content in the sales cycle, such as using customer interviews or expert discussions to directly engage with your audience.
• Secondly, he suggests on-site content creation, like hosting shows or conducting interviews at the event, effectively turning a day's event into a year's worth of content. 
• Lastly, this content can be further leveraged bypo transforming it into various formats, such as LinkedIn posts, to amplify your reach. 

Glean insights and learnings from each event

Each event is a goldmine of insights. Pay close attention to feedback, both direct and indirect. Monitor social media mentions and attendee reviews to gauge the event's reception. Use these insights to refine your approach for future events. Remember, the most impactful lessons often come from unexpected sources or minor details that highlight areas for improvement or innovation.

"You've got to find places where they don't know you're listening so you can get the true feedback."  says Jason Widup, Founder, Peak B2B Marketing.

By incorporating these strategies, you can significantly enhance the impact and success of your events.

2024: The year event marketers get what they need

At Zuddl, we operate with a core belief: event marketers deserve better. It's what drives us every day.

We're all about boosting efficiency, sparking creativity, and ramping up success for event marketers, no matter the size of their event. It's a commitment that led our team to spend 2023 really digging deep into what event marketers truly need.

We weren't brainstorming in a boardroom. We were out engaging with thought leaders, customers, and the wider B2B event marketing community to nail down the features that would make a legit difference from the usual, piecemeal solutions.

So, here we are in 2024, ready to unveil our first big launch of the year.

We’ve tackled the intricacies and unique challenges of modern event management head-on. 

The result? A robust yet user-friendly toolset for ticketing and registration that guarantees a smooth and seamless experience, both for the organizers and the attendees. And this is just the first exciting release to come with more enhancements across our platform.

Registration Flow Builder

Forget spending hours diagramming out registration flows and stressing about the potential for error. The Zuddl Registration Flow Builder simplifies complex processes into manageable, intuitive flows.

Enhance your attendee journey from the first click to the event day. Say goodbye to coding complexities. The no-code, drag-and-drop functionality allows you to visualize, construct, and implement the perfect registration process for each event.

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Features Highlights:

• Drag and drop simplicity: Easily create flexible registration flows by dragging, dropping, previewing, and publishing in just a few clicks.
• Complex, made easy: Effortlessly design and integrate branching in your flows, while adding, removing, or modifying forms and ticket modules with unparalleled ease.
• Embed anywhere: Embed your registration flow on your website or via Zuddl’s landing page builder to keep your audience engaged on your platforms.
• Conditional branching: Customize the registration experience with conditional branching based on ticket types, responses, and more.
• Customization at your fingers: Reflect your brand's identity at every step with control over design elements, including custom CSS and HTML options.

Remember how we said 2024 is the year event marketers get what they need? The registration flow is a commitment to empowering you to create complex ,yet personalized registration experiences without needing extensive technical skills.

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Ticketing Conditions

Ready to redefine your approach to event ticketing? This new addition brings unmatched flexibility and control to your event's ticketing strategy and makes activating different scenarios and discounts a breeze.

‍What's New?

• Any ticket, any event: Customize multi-level ticketing tiers, discounts, and bundling plans for any event type.
• Multiple ticket tiers: Cater to diverse audiences with different ticket tiers for access levels or registration types.
• Customized access control: Define eligibility for specific ticket types, with access restrictions based on domains or a predefined guest list.
• Simplified complex flows: Manage different ticket tiers with ease, incorporating caps, expiry dates, and coupon/promo codes.
• Custom communications: Set up tailored communications for different ticket types, ensuring attendees always have the correct information.
• Promo code management: Simplify promo code management with options like ‘BOGO’ or ‘buy three, get 20% off the fourth’, complemented by bulk creation and detailed analytics.

Ticketing Conditions are designed to simplify and enhance your event ticketing, especially for complex setups, offering the flexibility and control you need to ensure everyone gets the right content and context.

Landing Pages and Widgets

Here are two incredible new features to make your event landing pages not only visually stunning but functionally solid and on brand.

Enhanced Customization for Zuddl Landing Pages:

‍Your event's first impression counts. Zuddl’s landing page builder ensures it's a memorable one. With 100% customizable and brandable options, you can now create landing pages that wow.

• Easy and fast: Create beautiful pages in minutes with the intuitive drag-and-drop builder. No coding required!
• Fully brand-aligned: Customize every aspect, from logos and colors to fonts and creatives, ensuring your landing page is an extension of your brand.
• Performance-driven design: Our landing pages are not only visually appealing but also SEO-friendly and optimized for mobile, ensuring a wider reach.
• Your domain, your control: Host your event landing page on your domain for a cohesive brand experience.

Widgets for Site Pages:

‍Effortlessly keep all your event content updated across platforms with new embeddable widgets.

• Efficient content management: Update your schedule and speaker lineup in one place, and see the changes reflect everywhere – be it your registration page, Zuddl's landing page, or the app.
• Simple embeds, powerful customization: With easy-to-embed codes and CSS customization, you can make these widgets blend seamlessly with your site's unique style.
• One-click updates: Easily add, remove, or edit speaker details, and have them updated instantly across all assets.
• Centralized schedule management: Modify your event schedule in one place and allow attendees to build their schedule right from the widget.

These new features empower you to create landing pages and update time-intensive sections via widgets that not only reflect your brand's identity but also streamline managing event content - ensuring content is fresh and accurate.
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Stay Tuned and Send Your Thoughts

Stay tuned for more Zuddl updates as we work to make event management easier and events more memorable. Your feedback is crucial for improvement. Share your ideas with your CSM or email me at vedha@zuddl.com – I read and value every message.

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How are event marketers reimagining accessibility and inclusivity for 2024? 

Our recent survey revealed that 59.6% of event marketers are prioritizing these aspects.

This change is not just about compliance; it's a deep-seated commitment to inclusivity, reflecting a genuine concern for every attendee's experience. 

Today, we’ll look into some of the strategies shared by event marketers.

Comprehensive accessibility planning

Event marketers are adopting a multifaceted approach to understand and cater to diverse attendee needs. This involves recognizing a spectrum of disabilities and tailoring events to accommodate various needs, such as mobility, visual, hearing, cognitive, and neurodivergent conditions. Strategies extend beyond physical accommodations to include virtual and hybrid event formats, closed captioning, sign language interpreters, and mindful gifting. Marketers are also focusing on multiple language offerings, increased website accessibility, and promoting women in leadership and sustainable businesses to cater to a broader audience.

Registration and on-site experience

The registration process has evolved into a critical touchpoint for inclusivity. Detailed questions about attendees' needs are now standard, setting an inclusive tone from the start. Onsite, ensuring wheelchair accessibility, providing quiet rooms, and accommodating service animals are essential. Event marketers are also adopting flexible scheduling and hosting events at times ideal for various time zones, ensuring diverse speaker lineups, and choosing venues accessible to individuals with disabilities.

Diverse and inclusive attendee representation

Diversity in attendee lists is now a deliberate strategy. Ensuring representation across various demographics is becoming a norm. Engaging with diverse communities, checking for unintended bias in invites, speakers, and hosts, and intentional speaker selection are part of this inclusive approach. Event marketers are utilizing diverse networks and promoting small customer businesses and sustainable businesses as key strategies.

Welcoming environment and communication

Creating a welcoming environment goes beyond logistics. It's about fostering a sense of belonging through networking opportunities for underrepresented groups and implementing clear Codes of Conduct. Simple, clear language in signage and materials, along with staff training on respectful interaction, are vital. Many marketers are working with advocates to ensure accommodations for mental and physical needs and conducting training sessions on inclusivity for organizers and staff.

Venue and technology considerations

Choosing the right venue is critical for accessibility. Venues with accessible features and navigable spaces for all attendees are preferred. Utilizing assistive technology like screen readers and ensuring compatibility with various tools is essential. Designing event websites and materials on platforms that meet accessibility guidelines supports attendees with visual impairments or color vision deficiency.

The integration of inclusivity and accessibility into B2B events is a response to a growing demand for empathetic and responsive events. This approach enriches the event experience for everyone and contributes to a more inclusive and accessible business world.

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Event marketing has evolved significantly, shifting focus from merely attracting crowds to aligning with direct business outcomes.

This evolution has also reshaped the structure and function of event teams. Insights from industry experts Stephanie Pennell, Director of Event Marketing at Zoominfo, Rachel Chinapen, Event Marketing Manager at Zoominfo, and Nick Bennett, CCO & Co-Founder of Tack, provide a fresh perspective on this transformation.

The necessity of being scrappy

For event marketers, being resourceful and efficient is more than a desirable trait; it's a necessity.

Stephanie Pennell emphasizes this, stating, "You need to be scrappy... how do you prove the value of what you're doing and how can you do more with less... they (your leadership team) are always going to want you to say - you can do more with less.”

This mindset encourages innovative solutions that maximize impact without inflating budgets, crucial in times of limited resources.

Specialization within teams

The trend towards smaller, specialized teams is evident in modern event management. In 2023, 75.4% of organizations reported having event teams of 1-5 members, reflecting a strategic shift towards efficiency and adaptability. This approach allows team members to focus on specific aspects of event marketing, such as trade shows or privately hosted events, enhancing efficiency and effectiveness through collaboration and integration with other departments. Stephanie Pennell highlights, "Having those niche areas has been really beneficial... provided they all (her team members) work closely to share best practices... it's integrated with other teams."

Mastering communication across departments

Here's a no-brainer that also cannot be overstated: strong communication is crucial for successful event marketing.

Rachel Chinapen points out, "Especially working in an organization like Zoominfo, being able to communicate across departments is essential. To find out how to report back to the C-Suite on our event success, to make sure our messaging at the event is tied back to the broader campaigns, communication is the first skill you need."

Her insight underlines the importance of strong communication channels and skills within the event team to ensure a cohesive and collaborative effort in every event.

Watch the webinar on-demand

As we step into 2024, we’ve handpicked 4 key features of Zuddl that can be game-changers for your events this year.

Let’s get started.

Event hubs

Easily group and access your events and webinars

Event hubs are your go-to solution for organizing and showcasing a series of events and webinars in one central location. This feature allows you to manage each event or webinar individually, tailoring settings like registrations, venue setup, and communications to your needs. You can create a Landing page or a Hub widget, adding your events and webinars to the Hub for an all-encompassing view for your attendees.

Learn more about event hubs

Parmonic integration

Use Parmonic’s powerful AI tools to edit your session recordings

With Parmonic integrated into Zuddl, you have access to advanced AI tools for editing your event recordings. This feature enables you to push recordings to Parmonic for precise editing. You can trim your recordings to create engaging, concise content and generate accurate transcripts, making your content more engaging and accessible to your audience.

Custom access groups

Group your attendees exactly the way you want 

Custom access groups give you the flexibility to organize your attendees exactly how you want. You can create groups based on specific criteria from registration forms. These groups are perfect for targeted communications and implementing access control restrictions, ensuring a personalized experience for each attendee at your event.

Learn how to create a custom group

Trigger-based communications

Fine-tune your event communications

Trigger-based communications offer you automated and efficient messaging tailored to your event's needs. This feature allows you to set specific triggers for sending communications, ensuring that your messages are timely and relevant to each segment of your audience. The available triggers cover various event scenarios, making your communication process more streamlined and effective.

As you plan your events for 2024, these features will enhance your ability to create memorable and successful events, ensuring a more meaningful experience for both you and your attendees.

When Adi Gorelik, Brand & Communications Manager of EverAfter (a leader in the B2B customer interface platform industry), first took up the challenge of hosting the company’s debut virtual conference titled ‘Happily,’ her goal was simple: make it a fun and impactful experience for everyone.

The conference hit this goal and didn’t stop there, going above and beyond expectations. The results were truly a B2B event marketer’s dream come true, with a high registration, turnout, and engagement rate that contributed to incredible tangible results: 18% more demo bookings and 60% more website traffic.

Here are 3 things that Team EverAfter did that led to this outcome.

Tactic 1:  EverAfter's brand’s personality took center stage 

Easy customization let the team make fonts, colors, buttons, and CTAs across the conference - from landing page to virtual stage - reflect EverAfter's lively, happy branding. The end result truly looked as if it was EverAfter’s own platform. 

This branding capability helped to drive a registration rate of 134% more than was expected.

Tactic 2: Engagement tools kept conference energy up! 

The team used a blend of tools, such as Polls, Chat, Emoji Reactions, the Leaderboard, as well as a Photobooth to create an upbeat and energized atmosphere that attendees enjoyed. 

It worked well. 

63% of the virtual conference attendees stayed until the end.

Tactic 3: Clever use of platform features fuelled full-funnel impact 

1. Photobooth photos shared to LinkedIn boosted reach.

     2. CTAs in the virtual venue let attendees easily book demos.

     3. Polls and Chat intel helped Sales follow-up be more targeted 

The combination of all these elements working together led to a 60% website traffic surge and 18% more demo bookings.

The takeaway:

Extremely thoughtful event planning and execution of the virtual conference, aided by clever use of platform features, translated into real-world gains for EverAfter, evidenced by a substantial 60% surge in website traffic and an 18% increase in demo bookings. 

In crafting this success story, EverAfter has set a benchmark for fun and results-driven virtual conferences.

Read more about EverAfter’s success here.

The curtains have closed on your latest conference, but hold off on that celebratory drink just yet!

The post-conference phase is as critical as the event itself. It's time to roll up your sleeves and dive into the crucial steps that will amplify the impact of your event.

Let’s explore how you can turn your recent user conference into a springboard for future success.

1. On-demand content

Your event's extended life: First up, collaborate with your content and design teams to make recorded sessions available online. This is not just about providing value to attendees who want to revisit sessions or catch up on missed ones; it's about extending your event's reach. By making this content easily accessible and shareable, you turn your conference into a content flywheel, reaching even those who couldn't attend.

2. Data reconciliation and follow-up

Next, it's time for some data magic. Reconcile attendee data, session information, and reports. Share these insights with your sponsors and use them for targeted follow-ups. Remember, the data you've gathered is gold – use it wisely to nurture leads and provide your sales team with actionable insights. The goal here is to convert interest into concrete business opportunities.

You can use this checklist to track your after-event activities

3. Feedback collection and debrief

Now, let's talk feedback. It's not just about collecting opinions; it's about creating a feedback loop that aligns with your event's objectives. Use the insights to understand how well you met your goals and where to improve. Remember, feedback is not just a formality – it's a tool for transformation. Involve your attendees in the process; you'll get more honest, actionable insights.

Here's a framework you can follow:

When it comes to collecting feedback from attendees, involving them in building their experience can significantly impact the quality and honesty of the feedback received. By giving them a sense of ownership in the process, attendees are more likely to provide thoughtful and insightful feedback that can help improve the overall event experience.

Here are sample survey questions to get you started

Take a moment to think through how your organization collects and implements feedback after conferences. Do you have a structured, thorough system that encourages attendees to leave actionable comments? Do you simply do your best to jot down what you hear from attendees during the event? Or, is your organization missing this step altogether?

Collecting constructive feedback from attendees gives your organization the keys it needs to unlock better conferences in the future. For example, you might learn which sessions, speakers, and topics attendees enjoyed the most and even inquire about logistical processes like ticketing. Of course, some feedback will reveal your conference’s weaknesses, allowing you to allocate resources to the right areas of improvement.

In this guide, we’ll explore strategies for collecting insights from attendees and making the most of their feedback. To get started, let’s walk through how and when to ask for feedback from conference attendees.

Collect comprehensive feedback regularly

The best feedback is specific and demonstrates a clear path forward. To get these responses from attendees, you’ll need to ask them the right questions.

Avoid asking questions that are too broad such as, “What did you think of the speakers at the conference?” as well as those that could be answered with a “yes” or “no.” Request that attendees elaborate on their responses (e.g., “Who were your favorite speakers, and what made their presentations engaging/interesting?”). 

Another critical part of collecting quality feedback is knowing when to ask for it. Here are some of the best times to send surveys to attendees:

• Pre-event: While in the planning phase, you might consider sending out surveys to past attendees or, if you are part of an association, to your members. To align the conference with attendees’ expectations, prompt them to tell you what they’d like to see done differently at this conference, which topics they want to hear about, and which speakers they think should be featured.
  
  
• During the event: Most conferences take place over several days, meaning that attendees could have very different experiences from day to day. Give attendees the chance to weigh in on their experiences at the end of each day so your organization has the chance to improve between the first and last days. Additionally, this can help you create more consistent conferences in the future.
  
  
• Post-event: Follow up within a week of the conference ending to get a comprehensive understanding of how the event went. In this survey, you can ask about anything from conference promotion to the registration process to the perceived value of the conference.
  
  
• Ad hoc or quarterly surveys: Occasionally, you may want to track long-term satisfaction trends and identify areas for sustained improvement. In this case, it can be helpful to release regular surveys that cover various aspects of your operations, including conferences. Note that these surveys are best for learning about attendees’ general satisfaction with the conferences rather than small details.

Without feedback that translates into concrete improvements, it can be hard for your organization to move forward. Strategically creating and timing your surveys ensures that you get useful feedback from attendees.

Find the actionable insights

While well-designed survey questions will earn your organization more helpful feedback on average, you’ll likely still receive some comments that you don’t know how to use. This is why it’s essential to understand the difference between actionable insights and those lacking actionable components:

• Actionable insights: These are clear, specific comments or suggestions with obvious next steps, such as “I would enjoy more interactive sessions and workshops at the next conference.” If you receive this feedback, you know that you can improve attendee experiences by diversifying the format of conference sessions and prioritizing engagement.
  
  
• Non-actionable insights: This type of feedback is typically more vague, making it difficult to identify a clear path forward. If you receive feedback that a participant thought the conference generally lacked excitement, for example, you might have to guess about what changes can be made to engage attendees. 

In general, your organization should allocate its time and resources to making changes that don’t involve any guesswork. However, if you see the same comment again and again (e.g., “The conference was not engaging”), consider creating a follow-up survey to dig deeper and uncover the next actions.

Focus on continuous improvement 

As you work to improve your conferences, it may be tempting to dial back your efforts once you overcome the initial, common points of feedback from attendees. However, your organization should keep striving to put participants’ suggestions into action no matter how far its conferences have advanced from the starting line.

Adopt these strategies to promote continuous improvement:

• Cultivating a feedback culture. Communicate that constructive feedback is valued and acted upon. This will encourage survey respondents to leave their honest opinions with the assumption that your organization will genuinely consider them.
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• Creating a feedback implementation plan. To properly allocate your team’s resources, create a plan that lays out criteria for which feedback to implement, how you’ll determine which suggested topics or speakers make it to your conference agenda, and a guide to measuring progress.
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• Getting comfortable with experimentation. You may need to push the boundaries of what your organization is comfortable with to satisfy attendees’ expectations. Foster a culture that welcomes innovation, supports calculated risks to get your team out of its comfort zone, and doesn’t fear failure.

To keep your team motivated, remember to take the time to celebrate your wins along the journey to consistently improving your conferences. To identify these wins, be sure to set up a way to accurately measure the success of the changes you make

Measure the impact of changes

After devoting time and effort to improving an aspect of your conferences, you’ll want to know if that investment paid off. The only way to get a definitive ROI is to measure specific metrics before and after making changes. Make sure to keep any data you collect secure and organized within your organization’s CRM or management system so you can easily reference them at any time.

Some of the key metrics that reveal trends over time include:

• Attendee satisfaction scores which show how satisfied attendees are with the conference on a numeric scale.
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• Marketing metrics such as email campaign open and click-through rates, social media engagement (e.g., likes, comments, shares), and conversion rates.
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• Speaker ratings which reveal satisfaction with individual speakers—you might improve this via speaker coaching.
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• Repeat attendance, or the percentage of attendees who return to subsequent conferences.
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• Revenue metrics such as total revenue, sponsorships earnings, and more that reflect financial trends.

Remember to adjust the metrics you study according to your organization’s current goals and needs. Keep older records on file so you can track long-term trends and compare them to industry benchmarks.

To sum up

While your conferences should bring benefits like increased revenue or membership to your organization, they should serve attendees first and foremost. Implementing their suggestions into future conferences not only creates more positive, engaging experiences but also shows that you greatly value their opinions and satisfaction.

How do you build field marketing events that truly stand out from the rest?

That's exactly what we asked three event marketing experts - Nick Bennett, CCO & Co-Founder at TACK, Rebecca Martins, Revenue Marketing Leader at Jellyfish, and Arthur Castillo, Head of Dark Social & Evangelism at Chili Piper, in our recent edition of Events About Events.

Today, we're excited to share five sharp insights from their conversation, offering a glimpse into the future of field marketing events in 2024

1. Embrace differentiation

In a landscape brimming with similar messages, standing out becomes more crucial than ever. This means thinking beyond the standard pre-event meeting requests.

A more effective strategy involves creating offsite activations. These events offer a refreshing alternative to the usual field marketing event experience, providing an opportunity for attendees to engage in a more relaxed and enjoyable setting. This approach not only differentiates a company from its competitors but also fosters a more personal connection with potential customers.

Arthur suggests that hosting an event with intriguing acts, keynotes, or activities relevant to the attendees' interests can create a more inviting atmosphere by shifting the focus from a direct sales pitch to a valuable and enjoyable experience, which can leave a lasting impression.

Additionally, incorporating unique and fun elements at the booth itself, like offering branded items that start conversations (In Arthur's case with Chili Piper - custom hot sauce :)), can draw people in and spark interest in a more organic way.

2. Sales alignment - a strategic imperative

Aligning with sales teams for field marketing events is essential for several key reasons.

Firstly, it leverages the unique insights and creative mindsets of sales representatives, who often have a deep understanding of customer needs and preferences. Their involvement in marketing initiatives can bring a fresh perspective that enhances the effectiveness of these events.

Secondly, field marketing events like dinners provide an ideal platform for facilitating direct interactions between a company's best customers and their most promising prospects. This setup creates an environment conducive to organic and meaningful conversations, which can significantly influence decision-making processes.

Thirdly, these events can play a pivotal role in advancing deals that are stuck in the pipeline. By providing an informal yet focused setting for discussions, field marketing events can help overcome barriers that might be difficult to address in more formal business contexts.

3. Measuring success - a deeper dive

The importance of quality over quantity in lead generation at field marketing events is a key takeaway.

Relying solely on badge scans at events for lead generation can be ineffective, as it often provides little context or qualification information about the prospects. This approach can result in sales teams receiving a list of contacts without any insight into their relevance or potential interest, making follow-up efforts less efficient and potentially unproductive.

A more effective strategy involves engaging in meaningful conversations with attendees to understand their specific needs and interests. This approach ensures that any follow-up is tailored and relevant, increasing the likelihood of successful engagement. It's crucial to understand the role and challenges of the person you're speaking with, whether they're a marketer, VP of Sales, or Head of Customer Success, to make the interaction as relevant and impactful as possible.

Focusing on booked demos rather than badge scans is a more targeted and meaningful metric for measuring success at trade shows and other events.

4. Creativity over budget

Effective event planning and marketing don't necessarily require a large budget; creativity and resourcefulness can often lead to significant impact. Utilizing available resources can be a cost-effective starting point. Rebecca shares an instance where resourceful and creativity outweighed the budget factor: "I remember my super scrappy days - we just happened to have this like event space in our office building and I think I had like $1,000 dollars to do something in Boston that quarter and I just like scrappily got some drizzly drinks delivered hired a bartender just had some cool music playing and I think I got Whole Foods delivered as well was like under a thousand bucks - we had 50 people there and it was great."

5. The power of collective brainstorming

Collaborative brainstorming sessions are a powerful tool for generating innovative ideas, as they bring together diverse perspectives and experiences. These sessions, which Nick refers to as "Inspo Sessions", involve members from various teams, not just those directly related to the project at hand. This inclusivity is key, as individuals from different backgrounds can offer fresh insights and approaches that might not be considered in a more homogenous group.

Typically, these brainstorming sessions might start slowly, but as ideas begin to flow and participants become more engaged, the quality and creativity of the suggestions improve significantly. Through his years of carrying out such activities, Nick points out that the most productive part of the session occurs after an initial period of warming up, around 35 to 40 minutes in. The outcome of such sessions can be surprisingly effective, with teams frequently finding themselves impressed by the innovative and diverse ideas generated.

Field marketing in the B2B world is evolving, and staying ahead requires a blend of creativity, strategic alignment with sales, thoughtful measurement of success, budget savvy, and collaborative planning. By integrating these insights into your strategy, your field marketing efforts can move beyond the conventional, creating memorable experiences that resonate with your audience and drive tangible business results.

The topic of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) is an increasingly common consideration for organizations of all kinds, including associations. With DEI on the rise, it’s more important now than ever to prioritize inclusivity in your association’s operations. That means offering your members inclusive resources, workshops, and events.

As an association professional, you’re no stranger to hosting conferences, webinars, and even fundraising events to meet your purpose. However, while you may have already established DEI practices for your association’s everyday operations, you may not have tackled the idea of inclusivity for your events yet.

To help you avoid feeling overwhelmed or confused about where to begin, we’ll outline three tips for prioritizing inclusivity at your events. Let’s get started!

What is inclusivity and why is it important?

It’s almost impossible to discuss inclusivity without also discussing diversity and equity. DEI refers to three related values of organizations working to be more supportive of groups from all walks of life. This includes people of different races, ethnicities, religions, abilities, genders, and sexual orientations.

Historically, marginalized groups have not been included or offered the same opportunities as members of the dominant group. That’s what inclusivity aims to address—it refers to the process of providing equal opportunities for individuals who might otherwise be excluded.

Aside from equitably including members from all different backgrounds, inclusivity also brings the following benefits to your association’s events:

• A wider range of perspectives: With attendees and speakers from diverse backgrounds, you’ll have access to a wider range of perspectives. Having these different viewpoints provides attendees with various insights and best practices that they might not otherwise have heard of, thereby increasing the value of your event.
  ‍
• An increase in attendees: If you don’t consider inclusivity in your events, it’s likely that you’ll only attract a small pool of attendees. However, if you thoughtfully implement DEI practices, you’ll make it more accessible for many more individuals to attend.
  ‍
• Inspire change: Prioritizing inclusivity and accessibility at your association’s event allows you to lead by example. Seeing these values in action may inspire attendees to implement inclusivity practices at their organizations and to advocate for equity in their fields.

As an association professional, your goal is to maximize the value your organization offers its members. By prioritizing inclusivity at your events, you’ll also be able to maximize the number of individuals who can attend and benefit from them.

3 tips for making your association’s events more inclusive

Now that you know what inclusivity means and why it’s important for your association, let’s learn more about how you can prioritize it at your association’s events.

1. Incorporate inclusivity in planning

Whether you’re hosting a conference or a fundraising event, inclusivity starts from your planning committee. Before you begin planning your event, ensure that your committee is diverse to gain a wide range of perspectives. This will help you plan an event that is inclusive to all of your members.

Once you start the planning process, consider how you can facilitate inclusivity with your:

• Registration: Make registration more accessible and inclusive by offering a streamlined online registration form. Ensure that it’s mobile-optimized so members can register while on the go.
  ‍
• Ticket prices: When it comes to charging ticket prices, keep in mind that the lower the price, the more inclusive the event will be. While it may not be feasible for you to allow members to attend for free, try to keep ticket prices down if possible so members with limited budgets can attend. Or, offer discounts and scholarships to eligible members to ease the financial burden.
  ‍
• Location: Consider the general demographics of your association to determine where to host your event. For example, if you run an association based in the southeast of the United States, consider having your event in Atlanta, as it is a large city with plenty of transportation options.
  ‍
• Marketing: Luckily, the best practices for inclusivity with marketing are also generally best event marketing practices. To make sure your content reaches your entire member base, promote your event using a multichannel marketing strategy. This means embedding promotional materials into your association’s website, email newsletters, social media posts, and more.

These are just a few of the numerous ways you can be more inclusive during the event planning process. Now, let’s take a look at ways to make your event more inclusive once it kicks off.

2. Consider inclusivity during your event

Incorporating inclusivity at your event usually takes place in the planning stage. However, even after the event has begun, there are steps you can take to be more inclusive. For example:

• Accommodations: Not everyone who attends your event will be as able as everyone else. Be sure to accommodate those with disabilities or other limitations. For example, leverage live transcription software during panels or workshops so individuals who are hard of hearing can easily follow along. Or, be sure that your venue has elevator access and ramps so that individuals with physical disabilities can easily navigate to the activities they wish to attend.
  ‍
• Diverse event programming: Offer a diverse range of programs and activities so that there’s something for everyone. Not everyone learns and processes information the same way, so having a variety of different programs—such as panels, workshops, and networking events—will allow members to craft an event schedule that is tailored to their preferences. You should also prioritize creating a lineup of diverse speakers, presenters, and panelists to allow for more varied and unique perspectives.
  ‍
• Employee and volunteer training: To ensure that your event is inclusive, consider mandating that your employees and volunteers receive inclusivity or DEI training beforehand. That way, they’ll be up to date on the best practices.

Make sure to be transparent about your commitment to promoting inclusivity at your next event, such as highlighting the measures you’re taking in your marketing materials. Your members will appreciate the effort you’re putting in to prioritize DEI.

3. Solicit feedback on inclusivity

After your event ends, you need to thank and reconnect with attendees to steward relationships. One of the ways you can accomplish this and help improve your inclusivity practices is to solicit members’ feedback on how inclusive your event was.

In your follow-up communications, send them a survey with questions such as:

• On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate the inclusivity of our event?
• Did you feel that the event was welcoming and accessible? Why or why not?
• How were your needs properly accommodated? How were they not?
• How did you feel about the diversity of the event’s speakers, presenters, and panelists?
• What do you think we could do better to make our event more inclusive and accessible in the future?

By asking these questions, you’ll show your members that you’re serious about your commitment to inclusion and DEI as a whole. Plus, you’ll be able to crowdsource advice and feedback from those who truly matter. Carefully consider the suggestions made by event attendees and implement them at your next event to show members that their opinions are important.

To sum up

While society has a long way to go with inclusion and DEI as a whole, you need to take small steps to improve and push these values forward. Only by actively prioritizing these values will your association be able to create a more equitable experience for its members and ensure that you give them the value they deserve out of their membership.

As we approach 2024, here’s our round-up of key features that have been instrumental in elevating the experience of event organizers and attendees alike in 2023.

Embeddable widgets

Embed fully customizable speaker and schedule widgets on your landing page.

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Why event marketers love it: Our embeddable widgets are very easy to edit and are responsive across all device types. Create once and use it everywhere!

You can use them on your event pages or embed them on any landing page or third-party website. Customize to display essential information and align with your brand's look and feel using custom CSS.

You can also embed them to your website effortlessly by copying the provided embed code into your website's HTML.

Access control

Customize access across different types of attendees for sessions or zones.

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Why event marketers love it: The Access Control feature simplifies how you manage and control attendee access, ensuring a smooth event experience for everyone.

Whether your event is in person or virtual, you can choose to select specific roles or ticket types and then control their access to specific days, zones or sessions.

It's designed to cater to both ticketed and registration-based events, organizing attendees effectively.

Revenue dashboard

Track and measure your Salesforce Revenue directly inside Zuddl.

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Why event marketers love it: Our integrated dashboard with Salesforce has been a valuable asset for organizers looking to monitor revenue attributable to events.

Available exclusively with Salesforce integration, this revenue dashboard is found in the Analytics section, accessible at both the organization and event levels.

Just enable the integration and sync your data to get started. The system will prompt you if any issues arise with the integration or data synchronization.

The dashboard offers a detailed view of various financial metrics, including Pipelines influenced, Revenue data, Win rate, and more, with filters for Time range, Event type, and List of events.

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Get ready to confer and be confounded! A new year packed full of B2B marketing conferences is just around the corner, which means you're in for a whirlwind of opportunities to 

a) Learn tactics + insights to stay ahead of the curve in the fast-paced world of B2B marketing in 2024

b) Collect more branded pens than you'll ever need

c) Engage in what some might call 'networking' – or as we say 'the art of sharing elevator small talk on repeat'.

But with 100s of conferences lined up for next year, it can take time to wade through all the options. So, once again, we’ve done the legwork for you and curated a list of must-attend events that promise to shape B2B marketing in the year ahead — your guide to getting the most from B2B marketing conferences in 2024.

We’ll keep updating this list as and when more details come in.

<p><a href="#jan-b2b" >January 2024 events</a></p>

<p><a href="#feb-b2b" >February 2024 events</a></p>

<p><a href="#march-b2b" >March 2024 events</a></p>

<p><a href="#april-b2b" >April 2024 events</a></p>

<p><a href="#may-b2b" >May 2024 events</a></p>

<p><a href="#june-b2b" >June 2024 events</a></p>

<p><a href="#aug-b2b" >August 2024 events</a></p>

<p><a href="#sep-b2b" >September 2024 events</a></p>

<p><a href="#oct-b2b" >October 2024 events</a></p>

<p><a href="#nov-b2b" >November 2024 events</a></p>

<p><a href="#dec-b2b" >December 2024 events</a></p>

‍

Add 2024 B2B marketing conferences to your Google Calendar

You can access it here as well.

Simply add it to your personal calendar, and gear up for a year filled with learning, collaboration, and success 🧠 ✨

Now, here's a deeper dive into each of the events we've featured on it.

<span id="jan-b2b"><h2>JANUARY</h2></span>

PCMA Convening Leaders

When: January 7-10

Event type: In-person: San Diego

Why attend: PCMA’s Convening Leaders sounds like precisely what you need to kickstart a new year. The conference aims to challenge you to “think bigger”, bolder, and braver about the boundless potential of your career and the future of the business events industry, and over three days, to equip you with the information and confidence you need to achieve your loftiest career and leadership goals. 

Attendees can look forward to:

• 50+ sessions on event strategy and innovation: Sessions are separated into three tracks to help you think better and plan smarter. Among the numerous topics available, the following ones particularly caught our interest:
  
  (1) ‘Think better about your business event strategy​’ sessions include:
  
  - Storytelling with Event Data: Calculating and Proving the ROI of Your Events
  - When Politics and Values Collide: Navigating Potential Calls to Boycott a Destination
  - Planning, Budgeting and Tracking Cost-Savings or Cost-Neutral Sustainable Event Solutions 
  - When Things Go Wrong: Lessons Learned from Events on Crisis Response and Risk Mitigation
  ‍
  
  ‍(2) ‘Think bolder about your experience design’ sessions include:
  
  - Guiding Principles in Experience Design Lab: Belonging & The Value of Values
  - AI Idea Exchange: Sharing Use Cases in Event Planning
  - Guiding Principles in Experience Design Lab: Exploring Identities & Emotional Data
  ‍
  
  ‍(3) ‘Think bigger about your career and leadership’ sessions include:
  
  - Pitching the C-Suite: Making A Business Case for Additional Resources, New Event Ideas and Other Initiatives
  - How I Got Here: Career Journey Insights from Event Profs at Early, Mid and Senior Career Levels
  - The Art of Difficult Conversations: Strategies for Dealing with Challenging Clients, Toxic Co-Workers, Demanding Bosses and Others
  ‍

• The right kind of people to meet: Meet and mingle with leaders, C-suite executives, and seasoned professionals who can be your source of inspiration, a wealth of knowledge, and essential contacts for your business. Click here to see the profiles of attendees who’ll be at the conference.
  ‍

• Explore San Diego, America’s brightest city: San Diego is not just a convention destination but also a vacation hotspot.  The city is known for its innovation, inspiration, and year-round sunshine that fuels adventurous spirits. Whether you prefer a relaxed beach vibe or a lively downtown scene, it has something for everyone.

Get your tickets here

CES 2024

When: January 9-12

Event type: In-person: Las Vegas, NV

Why attend: CES is the only trade show that showcases the entire tech landscape at one event. So if you’re a) looking to learn from business leaders and pioneering thinkers who address the industry's most relevant issues and b) be the first to get a look at and access innovative event tech that’ll better your life as an event marketer, then this is the place for you.

Attendees can expect:

• Access to breakthrough technology: There are 1000+ startups and 3500+ exhibitors expected at the conference, with products in an incredible variety of categories, including 5G technologies, Quantum Computing, AR/VR/XR, Digital Health, and more.

• Insider insights into the technologies changing our industry: Stay one step ahead of the curve and your competitors by learning about technology that is enabling leading brands to improve the way we live, work, move, and make. Keynote sessions feature heavy-hitters from Siemens, L’Oréal, Walmart, Elevance Health, and Nasdaq, and there are plenty of top executives and government leaders leading the rest of the conference.
  
  Here are a few sessions that we’d love to attend:
  - Your Brain Gaming for Good
  - Help! I Can’t Keep Up with Growing Shopper Expectations
  - Shoppable Videos and Frictionless Checkout
  - Speaking GenZ

Learn more about the conference here.

This one’s well worth your time.

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Traffic & Conversion Summit 

When: January 9 - 11

Event type: In-person: Caesars Forum, Las Vegas

Why attend: The T&C Summit doesn't beat around the bush; the reason you should be at their event is quickly and boldly proclaimed on their website: Because Digital Marketing Changes FAST.  And so, the conference agenda is accordingly planned to ensure that attendees learn what’s new, what’s hot, and what’s working right now in digital marketing.

Attendees can expect:

• Actionable content: Get actionable growth strategies from digital marketing’s best and brightest that you can apply immediately. The summit’s keynote speaker is the world-class business icon, best-selling author, and one of the most influential entrepreneurs of our time - Sir Richard Branson! Plus, learn from 45+ other industry experts like Daymond John, Magic Johnson, Gary Vaynerchuk, Marie Forleo, Dr Robert Cialdini, Martha Stewart, Dave Asprey, Mari Smith, Kevin O’Leary, Donald Miller, Bonin Bough, and many more.
  ‍

• Networking & fun: At the conference, you’ll meet peers who’ve faced the same challenges and overcome the same obstacles and professionals from every industry, vertical, and corner of the globe with whom you can form strategic partnerships.

Get your tickets here.

National Retail Forum

When: January 14-16

Event type: In-person: Caesars Forum, Las Vegas

Why attend: This retail tradeshow brings together more than 6,200 brands from around the globe to New York City for three days of learning, collaboration and discovery. It’s the event to be at if you want to learn about new insights and futuristic tech transforming retail.

Attendees can expect:

• To learn from the who’s who in retail: You can look forward to an incredible lineup of 450 speakers, including
  - Sean Barbour, SVP, Supply Chain Macy's Inc.
  - Megan Black, Vice President, Digital Marketing & Media, Sephora
  - Anusha Couttigane, Head of Advisory, VOGUE Business
  - Samir Desai, Chief Digital and Technology Officer, Abercrombie & Fitch Co.
  - Jane Ewing, Senior Vice President - Sustainability, Walmart
  - Harley Finkelstein, President, Shopify
  - Linda Li, Head of Customer Activation & Marketing, H&M Americas H&M
  - Marc Metrick, CEO, Saks
  - Caleb Pearson, VP, US Customer Engagement McDonald's
  - Cassidy Beadle, Retail Client Innovation Director, Accenture
  
  You’ll be spoiled for choice.
  ‍

• Deep dives on critical and trending topics in retail: The NRF 2024 agenda is still in the works, but here are a couple of sessions you definitely shouldn’t miss:
  
  - Oh, the humanity … is gone: The brand dangers of prioritizing cost over people
  - Deeper learning: How machine and deep learning algorithms can keep the lights on brighter
  - The marvels of a brand: How the “cinematic universe” model is extending itself into every industry
  - Thursday, I’m in love: Debating whether the 4-day work week works for corporate retail 
  - A people’s history of quiet quitting: Why encouraging employee side hustles and entrepreneurship is good for your business
  ‍

• Get more leads: At the Expo, connect with the retail industry's movers and shakers - decision-makers looking to invest in new technology and expand their business and brand like never before.

Honestly, we’d sign up just for the intriguing sessions. But add in the Expo and networking opportunities, and NRF becomes one of the top B2B marketing events in 2024 that you won’t want to miss.

Learn more about the conference here.

Pavilion CEO Summit

When: January 25

Event type: In-person: Scottsdale, Arizona

Why attend: At the CEO Summit, leaders and innovative thinkers from the SaaS world converge for two days to discuss top-of-mind issues for CEOs and Founders, and learn strategies to excel in 2024.

Get more information here.

<span id="feb-b2b"><h2>FEBRUARY</h2></span>

Social Media Marketing World

When: February 18 - 20

Event type: In-person: San Diego, California

Why attend: In what seems to be the anthem of 2024, Social Media Marketing World’s website warns marketers that marketing is changing every day and that you’ve got to embrace change to get ahead. So, the agenda aims to help marketers keep abreast of change, gain more marketing confidence, and discover how to crush marketing goals - but with a particular focus on marketing strategy, organic social marketing, and paid social marketing.

Attendees can expect:

• Deep dives: The conference has an incredible roster of topics and speakers. Here are a few that caught our attention:
  
  - How to Create Your Digital Twin Using AI
  Instructor: Andrew Davis, a bestselling author and speaker
  
  - What's Trending: Understanding The Changing Creator Economy 
  Instructor: Jim Louderback, former CEO and general manager of VidCon
  
  - Advanced Analytics for Marketers: Seven Hidden Gems in Google Analytics 4
  Instructor: Chris Mercer, Co-founder of Measurement Marketing
  
  - LinkedIn Company Pages Decoded: Your Blueprint for Business Growth
  ‍Instructor: Michelle J Raymond, host of the LinkedIn for B2B Growth podcast
  
  - How to Make Referrals Your Most Effective Marketing Channel 
  Instructor: John Jantsch, a bestselling author and TEDx speaker

• Lots of opportunities to meet new people: We’re impressed with the wealth of opportunities to connect. Before the conference, there are Facebook groups you can join and pre-event online orientation and meetups; during the conference, there’s an entire plaza dedicated to networking and dedicated staff to help you make the connections you want to make!

• Enjoy the San Diego waterfront in February: Sun, sand, sweeping sea views, and social media! Need we say more?

Book your tickets here.

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B2B Marketing Exchange

When: February 26-28

Event type: In-person: Scottsdale, Arizona

Why attend:

If you consider yourself a ‘bold marketer’ this conference is for you. 

B2B Marketing Exchange (B2BMX) promises to deliver a roadmap for bold B2B marketers, helping them navigate the industry's unique opportunities and diversify brand, demand, and data-fueled creativity.

Attendees can look forward to:

• 5 tracks covering cutting-edge approaches to ABM, content strategy, demand generation, sales enablement, and more.

• 80+ sessions plus lots of networking breaks and lunches and learns

We’ll share more details on speakers and session topics soon.

<span id="march-b2b"><h2>MARCH</h2></span>

Gartner Data & Analytics Summit

When: March 11-13

Event type: In-person: Orlando, Florida

Why attend: The 2024 agenda delivers the latest technology, strategy, and leadership insights, covering the challenges most critical to CDAOs and D&A senior leaders, such as:

• Artificial Intelligence and Generative AI
• Data and Analytics Governance
• Data Architectures (Data Fabric, Data Mesh, Data Ecosystems)
• Proving the Business Value of Data and Analytics.

Check back here for more details on the sessions you can attend and the complete list of speakers.

Adobe Summit

When: March 26-28

Event type: Hybrid - Las Vegas and virtual

Why attend: Adobe’s conference made it onto our events to attend in 2022 and 2023 list of B2B marketing conferences to attend, and our events in 2024 list would be incomplete without it. It stands out from other B2B conferences because it uniquely combines cutting-edge marketing insights with Adobe's technological expertise, making it a must-attend event for B2B marketers looking to stay at the forefront of their field.

As always, attendees can look forward to really meaty, insightful sessions from visionaries in the industry. Keynote speakers announced for 2024 are 

• Anil Chakravarthy, President of Digital Experience Business at Adobe
• Ed Bastian, CEO of  Delta Air Lines
• Mary Barra - Chair and Chief Executive Officer of General Motors

... with more to come.

You can also choose from 200+ sessions based on your needs and goals. There are tracks dedicated to Content Supply Chain, Customer Journey Management, Customer Data Management and Acquisition, etc., to give you an idea of the variety on offer. Expect to hear from leaders at Nike, Walmart, T Mobile, the Home Depot, the NFL, and Prada.

Bonus: Adobe also hosts a pre-conference a day before the Summit kicks off, during which you can learn more about Adobe Experience Cloud solutions

It’s everything you need to know about B2B marketing in 2024 in one go.

Click here for more info.

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SaaS Open

When: March 28-29

Event type: Austin, Texas

Why attend: SaaS Open bills itself as ‘the largest gathering of SaaS founders in the world’ and with good reason. Attendees can expect to meet 1000+ SaaS leaders at the conference, which consist of at least 70 SaaS Founders with $10m+ in revenues, 618 SaaS Founders with $1m+ in revenues, 215 SaaS Product leaders with 1,000+ paying customers and 310 SaaS Marketing/sales leaders with 100% yoy growth.

The conference is laser-focused on driving value for each attendee, regardless of profile. It has 4 stages built for SaaS founders, CMOs, heads of product, sales, and engineering. Each stage is packed with a variety of sessions: (1) Fast-paced 20-minute keynotes in which top founders reveal tactics, data, and strategies they've never shared before and answer questions (2) Mastery workshops in which you can teach and learn from other founders in 10-person roundtables (3) Sharktank for SaaS Live Watch in which founders try and get a deal done live on stage with 3 buyers/investors.

This one’s a must-attend. Get tickets here.

<span id="april-b2b"><h2>APRIL</h2></span>

Future Digital Finance

When: April 2-3

Event type:  In-person: New Orleans

Why attend: At this conference, join professionals from big banks, fintechs, credit unions, and more to learn how to bring value to your financial organization by remaining innovative and ahead of the curve.

Attendees can look forward to:

• Actionable takeaways from top financial services minds: The conference boasts speakers from some of the largest consumer, commercial, regional, and community banks, as well as credit unions or wealth management organizations. The line-up includes:
  
  - Surendra Reddy Challapalli, Vice President, Citi
  - Jill Moser, SVP Global Loyalty Offers, Mastercard
  - Trish Wethman, Chief Strategy Officer, Best Egg
  - Martin Schrodt, SVP, Director of Market Development, Simmons Bank

• Digital strategies for financial organizations: The conference has four tracks planned to help attendees learn tried-and-true best practices that can be used for their digital journey in the coming year:
  
  - Track 1: AI in Banking Today and What’s On the Horizon
  - Track 2: Advancing the ABCs: Assets, Blockchain and Crypto
  - Track 3: Building Truly Connected and Valuable Experiences
  - Track 4:  Customer Acquisition and Retention

• Unparalleled networking opportunities: As Future Digital Finance is a mid-size event with many planned networking breaks, Q&As, receptions, meetings, and more, attendees have a greater chance of finding and connecting with leaders and like-minded peers (59%  of conference attendees are in an SVP/VP/Director role,24% are in a Head/Lead of/Manager role, while 17% are C-level/President). This, in turn, means better conversations and possibilities for strategic collaboration.

Get more information here.

LeadsCon

When: April 8 - 10

Event type: In-person: Paris Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas

Why attend: LeadsCon is singularly focused on helping conference attendees stay at the forefront of lead generation and customer acquisition. Executive-level speakers will share their strategies and insights in lead gen and performance marketing so that attendees can optimize their approach to nurturing and converting more quality leads.

As the event approaches, we'll update you with all the essential information regarding speakers, sessions, and more.

Experiential Marketing Summit (EMS)

When: April 24 - 26

Event type: In-person: Las Vegas

Why attend: Comfortingly, the EMS website states that it is designed to prepare you for what’s next. During the three-day event, you can commiserate with peers (nothing brings marketers together like shared tales of thwarted campaigns and mysterious Google Analytics spikes), address challenges, and find the solutions you need to lead and thrive in the next era of experiential marketing.

Attendees can expect:

• Insights into the future of experiential marketing: How will the industry thrive in the months ahead? What are the world’s leading brands planning for this year and beyond? How will brand experiences change and adapt to our new reality?

• Guidance on navigating new waters from experts: Senior-level perspectives on the mission-critical trends, best practices, and how-tos available on experiential marketing.

• Deep dives on various topics: DEI, Women in Events, and Event Logistics.

The entire program will be announced in early 2024.

Check back here for more information.

<span id="may-b2b"><h2>MAY</h2></span>

Forrester B2B Summit North America

‍

When: May 5- 8

Event type: Hybrid: Virtual and in-person (Austin)

Why attend: The conference bills itself as “the go-to event professionals trust to deliver the information and insight they need to make bolder, smarter decisions”, and it lives up to this reputation.

In 2023, the conference offered more than 100 role-based sessions aligned to the priorities of B2B marketing and sales professionals, and speakers included  Dara Treseder, CMO, Autodesk, Cheryl Cook, Senior Vice President Global Partner Marketing, Dell Technologies, and Cindy Matos, VP of Transformation and Governance, IBM.

The 2024 agenda and speakers are still a work in progress, but attendees can expect the following:

• Strategic keynotes by Forrester experts and inspiring guest speakers on topics such as driving growth opportunities, transforming revenue generation, and preserving brand values
  ‍
• Session formats are designed for different learning styles, such as analyst presentations, panel discussions, etc.
  ‍
• Marketplace opportunities to help you find the right solutions and networking opportunities to help you expand your community

Check back for more information on the agenda, but this one’s a must-attend.

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<span id="june-b2b"><h2>JUNE</h2></span>

Gartner Marketing Symposium/Xpo

When: June 3-5

Event type: In-person: Denver, CO

Why attend: The Gartner Marketing Symposium/Xpo conference hardly needs an introduction, but for the uninitiated, it’s one of the most anticipated and attended conferences each year, with attendees leaving with the skills and tech they need to achieve more robust performance in their organization’s mission-critical priorities.

At the 2023 edition, attendees explored new research and actionable insights on AI, marketing strategy, multichannel marketing, and brand strategy and learned from industry leaders and Gartner experts.

Details on 2024 speakers and sessions to follow.

2024 ANA Masters of B2B Marketing Conference

When: June 12 - 14

Event type: In-person and virtual

Why attend: The conference serves as a showcase for the ingenious thinking and inspirational strategies employed by the world's foremost CMOs and top-tier brands. These approaches not only meet but exceed customer needs, foster growth, and ignite transformative change. 

Past editions have featured distinguished C-suite leaders from renowned companies such as Google, United Airlines, Verizon, Ford, American Express, AB InBev, P&G, Shell, PepsiCo, and many more.

Stay tuned for more details.

<span id="july-b2b"><h2>JULY</h2></span>

We’ll update this month with event details soon. Check back for updates.

<span id="aug-b2b"><h2>AUGUST</h2></span>

We’ll update this month with event details soon. Check back for updates.

<span id="sep-b2b"><h2>SEPTEMBER</h2></span>

SAASTR ANNUAL 2024

When: September 10-12

Event type:  In-person: SF, Bay Area

Why attend: If we had to describe Saastr in a few words, it would be ‘SXSW meets SaaS.' It’s a melting pot of creative energy, entrepreneurial spirit, and cutting-edge technology. It's where industry pioneers, visionaries, and startups gather to exchange ideas, fuel innovation, and shape the future of SaaS. 

Attendees can look forward to:

• Hear from the best in SaaS: 100+ handcrafted sessions to help you scale. No fluff. No commercials. No boring panels. Last year's sessions were led by marketing leaders from Miro, Zoom, Lattice, Freshworks, Notion, Y Combinator, Monday, Asana, Okta, and more.

• Mentorship and collaboration: 1,000+ 1-on-1 and small group meetings. 25+ AMAs with top industry experts. Plus VC Matchmaking.

• Great parties and networking: Just you and your new SaaS BFFs. New connections every day with evening events and nightly Happy Hours.

We’ll update you when we get more info on this year’s agenda, but we’re excited already.

Get your tickets here.

Marketing AI Conference

When: September 10-12

Event type:  In-person: Cleveland, Ohio

Why attend: The Marketing AI Conference (MAICON) aims to help marketing leaders and practitioners navigate the use of AI to solve problems, achieve goals, and scale more efficiently than with traditional marketing technology solutions.

The main stage will focus on AI vision and innovation, whereas breakout rooms will center on two core tracks: Applied AI and Strategic AI.

• Applied AI sessions will focus on use cases, real-world applications, practical know-how, and tools and technologies.

• Strategic AI sessions will focus on topics relevant to an organization's leaders, with sessions on privacy, ethics, legal, talent and training, and more.

All in all, this conference looks like a hidden gem. And given the preponderance of AI already in marketing in 2023, attending MAICON would be an investment in unlocking unparalleled success in the evolving AI landscape of 2024 and beyond.

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IBC 2024

When: September 13-16

Event type: In-person: Amsterdam, the Netherlands

Why attend: IBC bills itself as ‘the world’s most inspiring content and technology event’, and one glance at the conference website will convince you that they've got the goods to back up that claim.

• The conference agenda, for one, is packed with groundbreaking presentations, panel sessions, workshops, product demos, and technology masterclasses - a must-attend for anyone seeking to stay at the forefront of ever-evolving content and tech fields. Learn about new technologies, future business models, and creative innovations that broaden the horizons of media and entertainment. 

• The speakers at the conference are from all those companies you and your colleagues enthusiastically (or enviously) talk about on Slack and use as references for your work. Just look at this previous lineup of worldwide media content and technology leaders:

<screenshots of the leaders>

• Get in front of industry decision-makers: Exhibitors at the show take advantage of a truly unique gathering of the best and brightest networkers, buyers, innovators and leaders.  <screenshot of IBC 2023 breakdown>

We’ll update this space with updates on sessions and speakers for IBC 2024.

Get more information here.

DMEXCO

When: September 18-19

Event type: In-person: Cologne, Germany

Why attend: 

DMEXCO (Digital Marketing Exposition & Conference) bills itself as the place where ‘tomorrow’s digital business happens today’, thereby inviting attendees to experience the future in present tense, if you will. It’s an exciting and bold vision that’s bound to intrigue marketers of all stripes. 

• The DMEXCO conference agenda is always packed with groundbreaking topics, making it challenging to choose between them. Last year, there were 14 stages, organized by focus, such as e-commerce, media, or agency, helping you to access content that would help you excel in your specific industry niche. Here are some sessions from DMEXCO 2023 to give you an idea of what you can expect in 2024:
  
  - ‘Growing shopper engagement and online revenue with intelligent product discovery’ featured an interesting discussion on how to grow key commerce metrics with intelligent product discovery.
  ‍
  - ‘Privacy meets Technology – Enhancing and Enabling Consumers Interests’ - an international high-level panel of members of technology and privacy fields who discussed and compared the latest trends, developments and policies in Europe, and the USA.
  
  - Truth Beyond the Bots: A People-First Revolution in Digital Marketing - a keynote that dove deep into the essence of genuine human-centricity and advocated championing humanity over machines.
  
  There were 770 speakers at the conference last year, including marketing leaders from Nestle, Deutsche Bank, L’Oreal, Taboola, and Tiktok.

• At the Expo, you can make contact and close deals with decision-makers; according to their website, 77% of DMEXCO attendees have purchasing power, 54% are senior executives, and 23% are C-Level.

Wow. Sign us up!

We’ll update this section with more details on speakers and sessions. 

You can book tickets here.

INBOUND

When: September 18-20

Event type: In-person: Boston, MA

Why attend: This annual conference by Hubspot is a juggernaut, and for good reason, promising to be a place where “careers take off, businesses begin to scale, and community changes us for the better.” 

The 2023 edition saw 11,000 business leaders, industry movers, and shakers worldwide getting together for three days of collaborative learning, networking, and growth. Speakers included producer, actor, and Hello Sunshine founder Reese Witherspoon, Derek Jeter, Baseball Hall of Famer and business leader, and bestselling author, Kim Scott. 

This sets the stage for an equally, if not more, remarkable 2024 edition.

Check back for more information on the agenda and speakers.

<span id="oct-b2b"><h2>OCTOBER</h2></span>

IMEX 2024

When: October 7 - 10

Event type: In-person: Las Vegas, Nevada

Why attend: IMEX is a fixture in most event professionals' calendars - and for good reason. It’s one of the most significant events of the year for event marketers as it brings together thousands of event planners, producers, conference organizers, and event tech enthusiasts to stay on top of the latest event management trends, discover new partnerships, and explore the most recent advancements in event technology.

We attended the conference in 2022 and loved the experience. Click here to read a quick note on our on-ground learnings and tips.

Attendees can look forward to:

• More than 150 educational activities: Explore the latest trends, level up your professional skills, and find solutions to industry challenges. At IMEX 2023, there were 6 tracks; you can expect the same or more next year:
  
  - Technology and innovation
  - Trends and research
  - People and planet
  - Business practices
  - Experience design
  - Event marketing

We recommend catching a couple of sessions in each track to get a well-rounded and insightful experience at IMEX. It can be hard to pick between them, though! Just take a look at some of the 2023 session topics:

• The artist's guide to unlocking innovation: At this session, attendees discovered how the outlook of a poet could empower leaders to unlock the doors to enhanced creativity, collaboration, and competitive advantage.

• The importance of providing safe and resilient spaces at events: In this session, conference attendees learned why safeguarding and support are a leading factor in event design and how to attract broader and more diverse audiences and add to the richness of your event.

• Using tech for digital natives: Attendees learned how technology such as second screen and augmented reality could be used with purpose and intention to create moments that connect.

• Engagement decoded: Using science-based evidence to achieve engagement: In this session, attendees learned about barriers to true audience engagement, and that engagement could and did mean different things to different companies.
  
  You can expect equally intriguing sessions at IMEX 2024. We’ll update this section with specifics on sessions when they’re available.

• More than 150 networking opportunities: You will have plenty of chances to expand your network and mix with the industry’s best and brightest via different activities such as dinners and forums, golf tournaments, and even 5km runs!

• Access to 1000s of buyers and products from North America and worldwide: Exhibiting at IMEX means that you’ll get in front of important buyers, meeting planners and suppliers from every sector of the global meetings industry, which can mean you can get months' worth of business done in just a few days. Just to give you a scale of what’s possible,  IMEX 2023 was attended by 5000+ buyers and led to 80,000+ meetings scheduled. 

All signs point to a highly educational and value-driven experience, that should be one of the top B2B marketing events in 2024 you’d want to attend.

Click here for more information.

Ascent 2024

When: October 28

Event type: In-person: New York

Why attend: This conference is for CEOs, CMOs, CROs, VPs, and Directors of companies ranging from $5 million to $1 billion in revenue, looking for an opportunity to engage in a wealth of insightful learning.

• The roster of speakers is excellent: Ascent 2023 was headlined by the who’s who in SaaS, such as
  - Rand Fishkin, Sparktoro, Co-Founder & CEO
  - Alina Vandenberghe, Chili Piper, Co-Founder & CPO
  - Anthony Kennada, AudiencePlus, CEO
  - Brandee Sanders, Revenue.io, CMO
  - Jason Widup, Peak B2B Founder
  - Olga Andrienko, Semrush VP of Brand Marketing
  - Erin Gunaratna, Chargebee VP of Product Marketing
  So you can look forward to more of the same at Ascent 2024.
  ‍
• The content looks promising: Last year's topics had both breadth and depth. Here’s a quick snapshot of some of the sessions that were held:
  - The End of Marketing Attribution Miracle or Menace?
  - Using Generative AI in Your GTM Strategy
  - What is B2B Community Marketing?
  - Overcoming Adversity Pushes You Beyond Perceived Limitations
  
  And we love the variety in networking: Ascent offers attendees a variety of ways to connect and learn from peers including:
  - 8-Person Workshops: Intimate group conversations facilitated by industry experts
  - 1-on-1 Workshops: Dive deep into specific, timely GTM topics with another executive
  - Content Curated: Presentations from industry-leading subject matter experts
  - Networking Lunch: A buffet-style networking lunch in the middle of the event space.

Get more info on the conference here.

<span id="nov-b2b"><h2>NOVEMBER</h2></span>

We’ll update this month with event details soon. Check back for updates.

<span id="dec-b2b"><h2>DECEMBER</h2></span>

We’ll update this month with event details soon. Check back for updates.

As you plan your association’s annual slate of events, there’s one essential task you shouldn’t overlook: how you’ll involve and engage sponsors. Involving sponsors in the event itself adds value to the event for your association, its members, and the sponsoring business. 

Sponsors not only cover fixed event costs, but they also provide credibility, additional networking opportunities for your members, and open doors to long-term partnerships. They also get exposure to your audience, and your association gets the chance to expand your membership.

Here are four tips for getting them involved.

(1) Plan events collaboratively

Collaborating on a conference, a specific event or even a series of events is a great way to involve your sponsors. If you have a major association sponsor, you might even consider including their name in the event’s title. Be sure to involve their team in the planning process as early as possible to make the event more cohesive and the engagement mutually beneficial.

Start by ensuring everyone has access to planning documents and event management platforms. This keeps everyone on the same page while keeping your teams—and processes—organized and efficient. Cloud tools like Google Drive or Microsoft One Drive are good options to allow team members to work together on documents. You might also consider a joint project management tool. 

Above all, make sure you have regular in-person or virtual meetings to strengthen their involvement and your partnership for the event. These regular touchpoints keep sponsors in the loop about the event’s status and what’s needed from them. For example, you could set up biweekly fifteen-minute Zoom update meetings and a monthly hour-long coffee chat with each sponsor so you have multiple opportunities for making contact. This structure allows sponsors to share their questions, ideas, and concerns so they feel heard and respected.

(2) Include sponsor-hosted sessions

Sponsors want the opportunity to connect with your association’s members, and events are the perfect opportunity for them to do so. When sponsors can build relationships with members, it increases the likelihood that they’ll continue the engagement after the conference is over, boosting value for sponsors and your members.

There are a variety of ways to foster these connections at an conference, such as:

• Hosting a booth at a trade show or conference
• Moderating or participating in a panel discussion at an educational event
• Running a continuing education workshop
• Running an on-course game at a charity golf tournament
• Hosting a happy hour

For example, let’s say your student legal association is sponsored by a local law practice. You could set up an “Ask a Lawyer” segment where students can submit questions ahead of time and learn new insights from seasoned professionals in their field.

Not only do sponsors see valuable exposure in these options, but they also get to interact with your members. Consider allowing sponsors to take the lead in planning their involvement in these types of events. Frequently check in with them leading up to the event day to confirm the details and that it stays consistent with the event’s theme and provides value to members.

(3) Offer tailored sponsorship opportunities

Your association’s sponsors will have specific goals or outcomes in mind when it comes to sponsoring conferences and other events. You can help them meet those goals by working directly with them to create a tailored sponsorship opportunity that’s mutually beneficial and features options for their involvement. 

For example, if you’re hosting a hybrid event, you might craft sponsorship packages that include interactive elements for a sponsor interested in boosting their online presence. Include a live-streamed portion of the event, such as a specific speaker, that they can share through their communication channels. Or, if you’re holding a charity golf outing, for instance, work with the sponsor to see if they want to mingle with golfers before, during, or after the event. 

Whatever the case, it’s essential to keep lines of communication open and not take a one-size-fits-all approach. Be willing to be flexible and design sponsorships that fit everyone’s needs. 

(4) Provide exclusive networking opportunities

Networking is an excellent way for your members and sponsors to get to know one another and build lasting connections. And being able to market something as “exclusive” adds immediate value. Look for ways to build networking opportunities into your conferences. For example, you could host a meet and greet for new members, a post-golf tournament banquet, or a hybrid conference for a select group of members for members and sponsors to talk face-to-face. Ultimately, the goal is to give sponsors a chance to connect with your association’s members meaningfully. 

Sponsors might also be interested in obtaining the contact information of members who participate in an event so they can follow up with those who show interest in their brand, so build this option into your sponsorship offerings. 

Wrapping Up

Treat sponsors like true partners throughout planning and execution and stay on the same page. You’ll be in a good position for not only a successful event but also successful sponsor engagement. With the proper communication cadences and tech stack on your side, you can provide an unbeatable ROI for your sponsors and cultivate long-lasting relationships.

If you’re looking for a tool to strategically engage your members throughout your upcoming event, you’re in luck because you likely already have it in your toolkit: your website. 

Your association’s website serves as an all-in-one marketing, registration, and engagement hub that can help you boost attendee numbers and provide important information once your event kicks off. Plus, sharing compelling website content makes it easy to stay connected with attendees long after your event concludes. 

Let’s explore how you can use your website before, during, and after your event to drive high engagement levels and create a lasting impression on your attendees. 

Before the Event

Your website is a key piece of your association’s event marketing plan. Here’s how you can wield your website into a powerful marketing tool in advance of your event: 

Develop an event landing page

Create a dedicated landing page on your website that covers everything prospective attendees need to know about your event. Specifically, you’ll want to cover:

• The date and time of your event
• The purpose of your event
• Your event schedule
• Event location
• Expected attire
• Registration fee, if applicable

You’ll also want to spotlight the perks of attending your event to pique your members’ interests; for instance, you might bring attention to benefits like networking opportunities or notable speakers who will be in attendance.

For example, the National Association of Biology Teachers created an engaging landing page in advance of their upcoming 2023 conference. Here, they describe logistical details like the date and location, purpose of the event, and registration information. 

They also summarize why members should go, writing: “Join other leaders in biology and life science education for presentations from renowned speakers, interactive workshops, and the special NABT events that you can't get anywhere else.” This kind of emotionally compelling language shows the unique value in attending their conference, helping to drive more registrations. 

To entice prospective attendees even further, the National Association of Biology Teachers lists out special perks like special events and speakers. 

On top of including logistical details, make your event landing page visually appealing to keep members engaged. Follow these best practices to enhance your event landing page design: 

• Infuse your branding: To build trust with your audience and demonstrate that this event is being hosted by your organization, add your branded elements to your landing page. This includes your fonts, color scheme, messaging, and tone. You’ll also want to feature your logo prominently, such as in the top right or left corner, to catch your user’s eye. 
  ‍
• Use engaging visuals: Show pictures from the last event your association hosted or include a video of an association staff member explaining why attending this event is an absolute must. Visuals help to break up the text on your page and grab your readers’ attention. Plus, you can help prospective attendees visualize what attending your event will be like. 
  ‍
• Prioritize accessibility: Everyone who lands on this page should be able to readily access every element, from your text content to your visuals. Offer text alternatives so individuals with visual impairments can engage with your non-text content and use color contrast between your foreground and background so your text is easy to read.

Taking a look at the National Association of Biology Teachers’ event landing page again, you can see that they’ve incorporated their brand colors of green and blue, used an engaging design of a bridge and lobster related to Baltimore to grab users’ attention, and incorporated ample white space to create a clean and professional look.

Once you launch your event landing page, share it widely with your members through email, social media, and direct mail with a QR code. This will help to get the word out about your event and encourage members to sign up. 

Create inspiring blog content

Not all members will be regularly checking your website for new landing pages, but they might consistently read your blog, especially if you mention new posts in your email newsletter. A blog post about your event can help to boost awareness and spark members’ interests. 

For example, you can generate blog content about how your event will help members progress in their professional careers, provide a sneak peek of an engaging workshop, or ask members who attended this event in the past to author a post about their experience and why others should come. 

Offer a seamless registration experience

Rather than directing prospective attendees to an external website to sign up, centralize the entire registration process by embedding a registration form in your event landing page. This way, members can register as soon as they feel inspired by your content. 

Make sure to limit the number of prompts on your registration form so members can register for your event in just a few moments and have a positive user experience. For example, only require members to fill out their name, contact information, and billing information if they’ll need to pay for a ticket. Other prompts, like asking people how they found out about this event, can be made optional. 

During the Event

Your event has officially kicked off! To keep your members engaged and dialed into everything that’s happening, leverage your website to provide key event information. For instance, you might: 

• Share your program agenda on your website so members know what to expect each hour or day of your event.
  ‍
• Offer a directory of members in attendance or the contact information for your speakers so attendees can easily get connected with one another and network.
  ‍
• Create a discussion forum so members can jump into thoughtful discussions on your website between workshops and programs.

While attendees will have access to this information on your virtual event platform, it helps for members to know that there is a more familiar source of information available to them, too. 

To make this information exclusive to your attendees on your website, consider using a membership website builder that enables you to create a private intranet. Here, attendees can readily access a dashboard with information about your event. Let registered participants know in advance of your event how to log in to these private pages and stay looped into your event updates at all times. 

After the Event

Congratulations, you’ve wrapped up another amazing event! But, your hard work isn’t finished just yet. Post-event follow-up is a critical part of keeping participants engaged and eager to stay connected to your association, and a strong digital strategy can help. Use your website in the following key ways after your event: 

• Collect event feedback from members. It’s recommended to share a survey on your virtual event platform immediately after your event ends, but if members haven’t completed it, a survey can be triggered for them on your website after they log in. Ask attendees questions like “How would you rate your engagement on a scale from 1-10?” and “How could our events be improved in the future?” This will give you invaluable insight into how you can better tailor your events to meet your members’ interests. Plus, this shows attendees that you value their opinions and are committed to creating memorable event experiences.  
  ‍
• Share blog content with event highlights to allow attendees to relive the moment and pique prospective members’ interests. This is a great way to market the value of your association and encourage people to sign up for future events. Plus, you can keep your blog fresh—without any extra effort—by repurposing content from your event such as photos and videos. 
  ‍
• Post event archives like recordings from your workshops or transcripts from speakers’ presentations in your exclusive member resources. By doing so, attendees can revisit event insights. And, members who weren’t able to attend will have the chance to learn something new and derive value from your organization. 

You might also share a message on your event landing page that thanks members for attending and summarizes the key takeaways from your event. Make sure to also send personalized email communications that show appreciation so you can form strong connections with your attendees. 

Wrapping Up

From pre-event planning to post-event follow-up, your website can take your event strategy to the next level. Remember to keep your audience’s interests and expectations in mind as you roll out content so you can encourage them to register, follow your event updates, and stay connected to your organization long after the event.

While the average person might see a conference badge as just a name tag, to a conference organizer, it's an unsung hero, a networking cornerstone, a conversation catalyst, and an important factor in building a great event. Its importance in the conference world is second only to the Wi-Fi password.

In other words, a lot is riding on this unassuming piece of rectangle.

But there’s more than meets the eye to getting it right. It’s not just about slapping a name on a piece of plastic –  conference badge design is a delicate balance of art and functionality. 

In this piece, we’ll delve into how to design a conference badge that helps make the attendee experience a great one.

First, let’s get the basics out of the way. Follow the following best-practices to create a fun and functional conference badge.‍

5 commandments of conference badge design

1. ‍Attendee names: the bigger, the better
   
   By which we mean it should be readable from a distance of 15 feet. People should not need to put on their reading glasses to read the badge.

2. ‍And it should be easily readable
   
   In other words, please do not use all CAPS.
   ‍‍
3. De-emphasize the conference name
   
   You can assume that everyone already knows what conference they’re at.
   ‍
4. Give everyone another reason to look at the badge
   
   Extra details like interests or one’s hometown make for great conversation starters.
   ‍‍
5. Lean into the event theme
   
   Incorporate theme colors, symbols, or slogans to make it distinctive. Remember that attendees often keep badges as mementos.

If you use the commandments mentioned above, you should be able to create a great-looking badge.

But there’s still more you can do to elevate your conference badge. Read on.

Designing badges that drive dialogue

Just follow these tips:‍

1) Include ‘Ask me about ____’ or another talking point

Let attendees add a little personality to their badges by including a couple of topics of interest or areas of expertise where they're open to collaboration. This lets other attendees get a glimpse into their passions and these serve as potential conversation starters. 

The questions can be professional and/or fun, such as ‘My hidden talent is…’, ‘The emoji that best describes me is…’ or ‘My go-to karaoke song is…’ making it easier for attendees to ask a follow-up question or respond in kind.

But if you don’t have enough space on your badge or need to prioritize other information, you can simply make other smaller badges with this prompt that attendees can wear alongside your official badge.

2) Let attendees add flair

Let attendees add items or objects to badges that employ visual cues, with color coding being especially effective. This approach allows attendees to be swiftly sorted into interest groups, making it easy for them to spot and connect with like-minded individuals.

For instance, badge ribbons can be used to highlight the individual’s role at the conference - as an attendee, guest speaker, sponsor or organizer. These can help attendees quickly identify and connect with the people they’re looking for.

Different ribbon colors can also be used to show how many years an attendee has been to the conference, providing an easy segue into discussing their conference history and experiences. If you're new to the conference and spot a fellow newbie's ribbon, it's a natural conversation starter, making introductions less daunting. On the flip side, if you notice a seasoned attendee's ribbon, it's an opportunity to delve into their wealth of past experiences and get valuable insights into the event.

Stackable stickers are another great option to add to badges too.

3) Incorporate a QR code

A QR code badge simplifies the check-in process (it took only 90 Mins for all of the 672 attendees at Catalyst by Partnership Leaderships to check-in + get their badges) and it can be programmed to include quite a lot of extra attendee information. Details such as social media handles or a link to a company website can be easily exchanged via the QR code, boosting networking opportunities and engagement at the event.

Not to mention, using a QR code allows you to provide more information without taking up space on the design of your badge.

4) Don’t forget about the flip side of the badge 

All too often, badges flip around when you're walking around the venue, which can lead to missed opportunities for connections and conversations. To maximize engagement, consider printing relevant information on the backside of the badge, ensuring that details remain visible from any angle.

Or at the least, use it to share the conference agenda or the layout of the venue.

To sum up

Don't underestimate the power of a well-designed badge. It's the small touch that can lead to big connections and make your event truly memorable.

You may have some assumptions about your customer base due to the nature of your product or service or your interactions with customers at events over the years. However, the best way to target current and potential customers is through data.

Data provides a concrete way to assess your customers’ needs, interests, and preferences. In turn, you can build comprehensive customer profiles that guide your event marketing efforts.

In this article, we’ll review five strategies for building your customer profiles so you can take a data-driven approach to event marketing. Whether you’re creating customer profiles for the first time or enhancing your existing information, these tips will help you uncover powerful insights about your customers.

1. Assess the current state of your customer data

Take a look at your current customer database. What data do you already have on them? Do you have the same data points for each customer, or are there some that have more or less data?

After taking stock of the data you have, determine what data you still need to learn more about your customers and better market your events to them. For example, B2B organizations may know the industry of the companies they work with but not the size of each company. This information could be useful because it would allow B2B organizations to personalize their event messaging and outreach based on the nature of each company.

This is also a good time to assess how you’re storing data. Is it in a spreadsheet, physical forms, a customer relationship management platform (CRM), or a combination of different methods? For easier analysis, migrate all data to the same place—preferably a customer relationship management (CRM) system or other platform intended for data storage.

When you have a better, more complete understanding of your customer base overall, you’ll be able to identify the major attributes of different types of customers and add those to your customer profiles for more targeted event marketing. 

2. Conduct a data append

While auditing your customer database, you may notice you’re missing key data from your customers. To fill in the gaps in your database, conduct a data append. During a data append, data providers solicit information from third-party sources to supplement your customer database.

Considering that businesses that use data-driven marketing have a return on investment (ROI) that’s five to eight times higher than businesses that don’t, appending data should be a top priority to elevate your event marketing strategy.

Depending on the data provider that you work with, you can append the following information:

• Age
• Income
• Marital status
• Level of education
• Lifestyle attributes, such as hobbies and interests
• Buying behaviors, such as online product purchases
• Phone numbers
• Email addresses
• Mailing addresses

Additionally, B2B organizations may want to append firmographic data, such as industry, company size, and location. With this information, you can put data at the forefront of your customer profiles. For instance, when you know that certain customers like to buy your products online while others like to make in-store purchases, you can tailor your profiles for each group accordingly.

3. Segment your customers

Once you have all the data you need, you can segment customers based on shared characteristics, including demographics, buying preferences, and purchase history.

Segmenting your customer base will help you organize your data and create event marketing campaigns that align with their unique preferences. This approach can also save time and resources by only reaching out to customers likely to be interested in certain events. 

For example, if you’re hosting an event that would interest CEOs and other high-level business executives, you can create an appropriate segment and only reach out to that group. As a result, you’ll see a higher ROI than if you were to contact every customer in your database.

After segmenting your customers into different groups, you can create profiles within each segment that further specify your customer base. In the CEO segment, you may have a profile for a younger CEO looking for networking opportunities and one for an older CEO interested in attending events about keeping up with emerging technology.

4. Send a survey

Even though you can source most of the data you need for your profiles from a data append, reaching out to customers for feedback can enhance your profiles even further. With the qualitative information elicited in surveys, you can expand upon the data points you have and focus your event messaging for each segment.

Some of the most useful pieces of information you can obtain from surveys are customer challenges or pain points. When you ask customers what they’re looking to accomplish by using your product or service, you can ensure your solution addresses their needs and tailor your event messaging to touch upon those pain points.

For example, business executives looking for software might indicate that their company is quickly growing, and they need a platform that can keep up. As a result, the software company can note this as a pain point in their customer profiles and emphasize the scalability of their product when hosting events for this segment.

You can also send out surveys after events and campaigns to determine their effectiveness in addressing your customers’ needs. The feedback may help you uncover new pain points or other customer information that you can add to your customer profiles.

5. Create customer personas

If you want to take your customer profiles a step further, create customer personas. Customer personas are similar to customer profiles, except they include a fictional representation of each profile type. 

Continuing with the CEO segment example, customer personas may include a young CEO named Lauren Smith who wants to increase brand awareness and an older CEO named Emmett Thompson who wants to expand his company’s product into new markets.

When you attach personal attributes to your customer profiles, it’s easier to picture your customers as real people and market your events to them accordingly. Customer Profile #37 may effectively guide your event marketing efforts, but thinking about Lauren Smith’s pain points and interests is a more tangible way of incorporating customer data into your next event marketing campaign.

To sum up...

When data is at the forefront of your customer profiles, you’ll make better, more informed decisions about your event marketing efforts. As a result, you can reach customers in each of your segments and provide them with an individualized experience that addresses their needs and preferences.