How to structure your events strategy and plan for success

A proper events strategy is essential to get into place as early as possible, especially if you’ve identified that’s where your prospects are.

However, you can’t just book an event, then rock up with a pull up banner and a box of quality street, hoping that you’ll generate leads.

You’ll need a properly planned out strategy and process in place to ensure your events strategy is set up for success in generating ROI rather than being a budget black hole.

Here’s how you can do that.

Start with your business goals, not your event wishlist

Before you even open your new Sheets page, be clear on why you’re planning an events programme.

Put it down on paper, and say out loud, what you’re trying to achieve. Is it:

• To build brand awareness?

• To generate leads or pipeline?

• To nurture existing relationships?

• To position your business as a thought leader?

• All of the above

  
  

Realistically, you will hit all of the above but it’s best to decide what your primary and main focus will be from attending events. 

This is because each goal will require different approaches. For example, if you’re chasing pipeline, you’ll measure differently (and attend differently) than if your focus is brand or community. Those qualified leads will therefore be more valuable to you than how many eyeballs or mentions your brand gets throughout the show. It’s the difference between going to a conference or an expo.

Your event plan should map directly to your 2026 business and marketing objectives. That’s how you’ll justify the budget later, and also how you’ll track your core KPIs - whether that’s sign ups or revenue.

Look at the intended audience, the seniority and other sponsors who attend

Define who it is that you want to meet at events. It should match the ICP that you’ve put together throughout your strategic work. If you don’t have your ICP in black and white you should probably start that task first before pumping thousands into an event that might not match who you’re targeting.

Find out how to put your ICP together here

Now match your ICP to the audience and sponsors. Who attended the previous year and what was the seniority? Were they buyers and in market? What are they looking for?

All events organisers actively publish this information alongside the more traditional firmographics that you’re after. Scoping out the sponsors that are also attending will give you an idea of what the event is like too. Are your competitors there? Chances are that your audience is too. Are the biggest names in your category going? It’s a signal that it’s a not to be missed event.

Therefore really looking into who is attending and why could give you the best information you’ll need to see if it could work for you.

Define your event mix

Not all events are created equal. You’ll ultimately need a mix that fits your goals and budget. However, starting with one or two of a similar format will give you a clear idea of if they work for you before you decide to add in more formats.

Remember that some will require more work than others too - a super expo (10,000+ people) will require far more people power than a 400 person conference.

Here’s a simple guide to event formats in the market:

Exhibitions: These are events that are held in large exhibition halls with 200+ sponsors with stands. The idea is that buyers will walk the exhibition floor and engage with all sponsors relevant to them and then attend short industry talks. These are great for branding and lead generation - with more of a focus on leads. They are the most expensive but will generate the most leads.

Conferences: These are industry focused events designed to provide information and education to practitioners within the industry who attend. There will likely be between 10-20 sponsors, some of which will have small table top exhibition spaces in a break out room, which will be explored in breaks from the content. Good for branding and small scale lead generation is scoped properly beforehand. These are small but really focused - great for building industry credibility and a focused lead generation approach. Cheaper than expos but still quite pricey.

Roundtables, breakfast briefings or customer panels: With these you can either sponsor other people’s, which is great for branding. Or you can host your own which is even better for branding and great for lead generation. If you sponsor someone else’s you are relying on someone else to build and audience that you are wanting to target, and it will cost you roughly 2-3x more than organising it yourself. However, if you organise it yourself you are responsible for your audience attending and all logistics. Plan for what makes sense to your strategy and available resource.

Budget realistically (and don’t forget the hidden costs)

Event budgets are sneaky. It’s never just the stand or ticket price. You should also factor in:

• Design and print

• Travel and accommodation

• Staff time onsite

• Lead capture tools

• Stand giveaways

• 
  

Then add a 10-15% contingency because with any event something will always cost more than you expect. Always.

Additionally, If you can and it makes sense, spread your event budget across a mix of larger and smaller events. For example a single £50k flagship expo might look impressive but five £10k smaller targeted conferences might deliver better ROI. But that will depend on where your audience is too.

Plan your pre, during, and post-event workflow

Events don’t start on the day. Your event campaign should always include all of the following activities, which need to go into your timeline and be planned properly.

Before (1 month out):

• Warm up your audience on social and email.

• Reach out to prospects you know will attend.

• Have a clear narrative and call to action.

  
  

During the event:

• Capture leads and conversations for future social posts, don’t rely on badge scans alone.

• Create content in the moment (videos, quotes, photos).

• Be human and make sure you ask questions. Don’t be another event robot handing our leaflets.

  
  

After:

• Follow up within a week.

• Personalise outreach with context (“great to meet you at X, we talked about Y”)

• Feed data back into CRM and report on what converted.

• Align sales team with follow up targets

• Track all movement through the pipeline

  
  

The follow up is the most important part of the events process and this is sometimes where it all falls down, almost taking with it the effort put into the entire process. Make sure that there’s a proper follow up process in place before you go to the event.

You can then iterate on this once you’ve completed a couple of events.

Build an annual calendar and align teams early

Create a simple master calendar for the following year that includes:

• Event name and date

• Objective (awareness, pipeline, customer)

• Target audience

• Format (attend, sponsor, host, speak)

• Owner and budgets

  
  

Then share it across marketing, sales, and leadership. Everyone should know what’s coming up and what success looks like.

This alignment stops the last-minute “should we go to X?” panic and keeps your team focused on the right activity and opportunities.

Treat every event as a learning loop

After each one, get a debrief in the calendar and discuss:

• What worked?

• What didn’t?

• What would you do differently next time?

  
  

These debriefs work best with constructive feedback on what could work better for the next event and is intended as a learning session, not a finger pointing session.

Feed that back into your plan. The best event strategies evolve throughout the year and not just at budget season.

Finally…

An events strategy done well is an integrated part of your marketing strategy and plan. It should be how you meet your customers and planned just as thoroughly as any other activity.

It connects brand, sales, and community. It builds credibility and creates momentum. But that only happens when it’s intentional, measured, and followed through properly.

So before you book that first stand for next year, step back and assess what success looks like.

Your budget (and your sanity) will thank you later.