Events Are Back. The Booth Is Not.
Here is where you should spend your event budget if you want ROI.
This year I am doubling down on events.
But, I am picky - those are targeted, ROI-focused events.
Disclaimer: Events are not for everyone, it really depends on your company, ICP, LTV, and so many other factors. This newsletter is focused on companies with a B2B focus, and deals of at least 5-figures.
That means, it works for: Enterprise clients, Agencies selling to medium or big companies, and as always, I speak more about SaaS & Tech :)
A quick story
A few months ago, I used my budget, to put one of our AEs into a mini football tournament.
Sounds crazy right?
No… it was a channel partner organizing it, with two other partner organizations participating, three prospects and two active deals in the pipeline.
The price for participation seemed high, almost as if I had pay to develop the lead initially. But, that’s multiple touchpoints for you, pipeline acceleration is important.
That’s part of our ABM play, read how to think about your ABM framework here.
Budgets are back
This was part of my “Trust” category, in my 2026 predictions: companies moving budgets into smaller events.
Dinners, unconferences, VIP rooms.
I was right about the direction and wrong about why. It is not that people got tired of conferences. It is that everything else stopped working.
Forrester’s Q1 2025 events survey showed budgets were flat or down for two thirds of organisations, for the second consecutive year.
From Forrester’s Q1 2026 survey found a reversal of the trend:
37% of organisations increased their event budget, up from 29% in 2025. First positive move in two years
31% still saw declines, the same share as last year, but the cuts were smaller
Add the wider picture. 83% of B2B marketing decision makers expect marketing investment to grow this year, 40% of them by 5% or more.
Event Marketer found 93% of B2B event marketers expected their event budget to grow in 2026.
Vendelux puts 80% of organisations at maintaining or expanding sponsorship commitments.
Why now?
Content slop reduces trust, in-person increases it. Too much AI slop everywhere, people are tired to be online. I wrote about this in The New Competitive Moat: Effort, events offer a moat where you need a budget and being presented, it avoids the automations.
Outreach is being saturated. Again with the AI slop and automation-maxing. Inboxes are full, email filters stronger, and LinkedIn DMs full…
Buyers stopped talking to sales. Around 80% of B2B buyers complete their evaluation before they contact a rep (eMarketer). The average deal now runs through close to seven stakeholders, and your content reaches one or two of them. This is also in part because many do primary research with AI, especially in the Tech Sector and CTOs/CIOs/CISOs.
Attribution is dying. Regulations, new channels, private communities, and dark social are growing.
Digital channels got saturated and harder to attribute.
Where is the money?
People are tired of being bombarded online, it’s a blitzkrieg of AI messages at DMs, Comments, and Emails out there.
Here is where you will actually find your prospects:
Local meetups
Community Slack/Discord groups
Roundtables
Workshops
Unconferences
Breakfast/coffee briefings
Curated dinners (8–25 people)
Executive briefings (4–12 people)
Side events of major conferences
Advisory boards / customer councils
P.S.: I am both paying to sponsor some of the above, and organizing my own dinner & GTM meet-up starting on September, that’s how much I believe it works, and putting my money and effort on it.
But, here is a better way to view events and how to structure them:
Smaller rooms convert
You might assume that big budget events are better, but, in reality, big shows, booths, and events are better for brand awareness rather than sales.
You will never be able to attribute a good ROI to those events.
Not that they are not going to be successful, but rather they will not bring enough sales to justify their budget (if it’s a one-off thing).
Smaller, more personal events are what will bring the sales in.
My rule of thumb though?
50% of small, personal events convert to a good ROI. There is too much depended on luck, who will show, their budget timing, your AEs’ charms, your product, your pitch… not everything will land.
What to avoid
These things will not work, it’s just bloat in your CRM and probably creates more trash than leads.
Scanning everyone’s badge
Testeless swag
500 person “networking mixers”
Sponsoring events just to use your budget
Sending SDRs to a dinner
Events with more vendors than clients
Still on vacation-mode?
Honestly, stop hustling on August and trying to make that chart look good. Take a breather, September is high-season, and you should not get into it tired.
Use August to recharge and prepare.
I wrote about the summer-low season.
If you are reading this on your vacations, know that I double-appreciate it, and if you like this newsletter, please share with your network!
P.S.: What are your bets for the rest of this year, I am always open to DMs with fellow marketers to discuss, drop me a line on LinkedIn (or here).