For startups, marketing is like a many-headed monster — a problem that only grows more complex as you dive in. Thankfully, there is one avenue founders can take to pare down much of that complexity into a manageable, focused and efficient series of steps: events. In this founder’s guide to event strategy, we explore how notably, 81% of marketers recognize live events as a high-performing channel, especially for nurturing vital personal connections.
But how do you go about spending the correct amount of time and money on events? For starters, a strategic plan that aligns with your goals is essential. You must think beyond having run-of-the-mill booths, and find ways to precisely target quality leads, cultivate a loyal audience and connect with investors.
In the article below, I explain the best practices for:
- Identifying the right kind of event for your startup;
- Budgeting for events;
- Balancing what kinds of events to pursue;
- Going international;
- Buying booths;
- Optimizing returns; and
- Measuring performance.
Let’s build you a winning event strategy.
Define your “why” and understand event types
Start by setting clear, measurable, yearly goals for events. Events can range from large-scale industry exhibitions and tech conferences, to focused niche gatherings and local meetups — and all of these offer unique opportunities. Different events achieve different things, so choose what’s right for you, and define your Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) right away.
Clearly defined, measurable objectives when matched with an understanding of event types will serve as your compass for strategic event selection and performance evaluation.
Let’s take a look at how Seed and Series A startups can strategically use various kinds of events to meet early-stage goals.
Exhibitions and Trade Shows
- Key Focus: Client acquisition, direct sales, MQL/SQL generation.
- Key Metrics: Number of MQLs captured; MQL-to-SQL conversion rate; Cost Per Acquisition (CPA) from event leads; direct revenue attributed.
Exhibitions and trade shows are excellent for B2B lead generation — in fact, 77% of marketers favor such events for getting high-quality leads. They are often industry-specific, so you can gather a high concentration of your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP). That tight focus, in turn, makes such events ideal for showcasing products, conducting demos, generating a significant volume of qualified leads, and directly building your sales pipeline.
Major Tech Events and Large Conferences
- Key Focus: Brand visibility, media engagement, investor access, and peer networking.
- Key Metrics: Social media mentions and reach; website traffic spikes; media coverage; number and quality of investor meetings; strategic partnerships explored.
Participation in prominent tech events (e.g., Web Summit, Slush) or large industry conferences can significantly elevate your startup’s visibility, attract media attention, and offer crucial networking opportunities. While you can generate leads, the primary impact is often broader brand building and high-level networking.
Niche and Local Events (Including Meetups & Targeted Workshops)
- Key Focus: Scouting talent, community engagement, specialized knowledge sharing, focused networking, and building a local presence.
- Key Metrics: New talent leads; quality of network connections; partnerships with local entities; and actionable feedback.
Smaller, niche industry events, local meetups, and targeted workshops are often more informal, and thus invaluable for finding specialized talent, building a strong peer network, and gaining early traction or user feedback within a focused community. They are amazing for deeper, honest and more personalized interactions.
Fundraising
- Key Focus: Connecting with relevant investors, and pitching opportunities.
- Key Metrics: Number of investor meetings secured; investor profile alignment (focus, funding stage, portfolio); follow-up engagement rates; funding rounds influenced by event connections.
There’s no single type of event that’s great for securing funding. Instead, it’s a strategic objective that you have to pursue across various well-selected events. Founders should prioritize dedicated investor-focused gatherings, and also strategically leverage major tech events and even relevant trade shows where investors are known to scout for opportunities. Preparation and targeted outreach are key.
Budget smart
Startup budgets are small, and therefore demand laser focus. Understand where your event money is going:
Account for booth costs
Booth costs can vary wildly based on the size of the event, location within the venue (aisle vs. corner; proximity to key areas), and the size of your booth. Research pricing tiers and negotiate where possible.
Think about travel and accommodation costs
Have a decent budget for accommodation — you should avoid shared rooms if possible, as events are exhausting and your team needs time to themselves. Also book travel in advance, and explore group discounts. Don’t forget to set aside some money for your team’s daily allowance.
What about marketing materials?
Budget for high-quality but cost-effective brochures, digital displays, and memorable (but not extravagant) giveaways.
Staffing and time investment
Account for the time your team spends planning, attending and following up. This is a real cost that founders underestimate very often.
Pro tip: Create a detailed budget before committing to any event, and track expenses meticulously to inform future decisions and ROI calculations.
A framework for selecting the right events
Now that you understand which events are right for you and have a budget in mind, it’s time to identify the events that align with your objectives and Ideal Customer Profile. Utilize these resources strategically:
Targeted research
To be efficient, think beyond broad search terms and use specific keywords like “[your industry] startup conferences Europe,” or “[your tech niche] trade shows US.”
Analyze the search results for relevant conferences, trade shows, and specialized events. Look for information on past attendee demographics, speaker lineups (are they relevant thought leaders or potential partners?), and exhibitor lists (are your competitors or potential collaborators attending?).
Industry-specific powerhouses
Every sector has a website for important events. These are often a source of deeper insights into attendee profiles, speaker credibility, and can even surface potential networking opportunities within your vertical.
At Sesamers, we offer startups valuable data points for evaluating event relevance and potential ROI. As a plus, we also provide free tickets and discounts.
Pro tip: Implement the scoring framework below to take a data-driven approach to compare events.
| Criteria | Event A Score (1-5) | Event B Score (1-5) | Weighted Score A | Weighted Score B |
| Strategic Alignment | ||||
| Cost Efficiency | ||||
| Target Audience Presence | ||||
| Market Opportunity | ||||
| Total Score |
Balancing time and money
An effective event strategy involves attending various kinds of events to achieve different goals and maximize impact:
1 or 2 tech events
Participation in prominent, often technology-centric events can significantly elevate your startup’s visibility in the broader industry landscape. Web Summit is a great example of one such event.
1 to 2 industry-focused trade shows
Trade shows are excellent for connecting with industry leaders, potential strategic partners, and generating qualified leads within your specific sector. They often also provide opportunities for product demonstrations and direct engagement with a highly relevant audience.
As an example: for food and beverage startups, SIAL Paris is a leading food innovation exhibition that attracts key decision-makers and buyers in the food and beverage industry.
Startups should analyze the exhibitor and attendee lists at such events to identify if the event will see your target customers in attendance or feature potential partners.
3 to 4 small or niche events that target your ICP
Smaller, more focused events let you optimize your networking by surfacing highly relevant audiences, significantly increasing the potential for lead generation.
Startups should research attendee job titles, company sizes, and those who have expressed interest in attending to ensure strong concentration of your ICP.
This blend will ensure broad brand exposure while maintaining a strong focus on acquiring valuable leads for sustainable growth. Talk about this with your PR firm (or reach out to Sesamers) to get some help on your event strategy.
Internationalization strategy
As your startup expands internationally, your existing event strategy can be adapted and scaled to meet your new needs.
While the fundamental principles of data-driven selection and objective-oriented participation will remain, your evaluation framework’s “Market Opportunity” criterion will now take precedence, necessitating thorough, market-specific analysis.
To make international events worth the time and effort, avoid copying the approach you used for domestic events. Instead, do in-depth market research to identify significant industry events, trade fairs, and startup communities in your chosen international markets. Evaluate these events by analyzing attendee demographics, relevant industry developments, and the competitive environment. Make sure to account for language, cultural sensitivities, and standard local business practices in your planning.
Start by sending a small team to learn about the market and establish connections. As your business grows internationally and you gain a deeper understanding of the market, consider expanding your events strategy. This could involve buying larger booths, organizing your own events, or attending bigger, more influential international conferences.
Your KPIs for international events should initially prioritize lead generation in the new market and creating brand awareness with your new audience. As your presence grows, incorporate additional KPIs such as partnership development, regional media coverage, and eventually, revenue from leads captured at these events.
Remember: It’s crucial to monitor the cost of participating in global events to accurately evaluate each new market’s ROI.
Let’s explore this strategy with an example: A German SaaS startup might start by attending key German tech conferences. But upon deciding to expand to the U.S., they should research prominent American SaaS events, considering factors like the concentration of their ICP and the potential for establishing partnerships. The startup could begin with a smaller presence at a key U.S. event to test the waters before committing to a larger booth or dedicated activities in subsequent years.
Considerations for renting booths
Renting booth space will take up a significant portion of your event budget, so it’s crucial to approach this armed with good data. While a budget of €3,500 could serve as a basic benchmark for startups, the actual cost is highly variable and demands granular consideration based on several key factors. Let’s take a look at what goes into this math:
Event tier and scale
Premier, high-profile events with large audiences and media attention command the highest booth rates, while smaller, regional or niche events offer more affordable options.
Startups should research historical pricing and exhibitor information to understand the costs associated with your target events.
For example, a standard 2×2 booth at a major international trade show in a prominent location can cost between €8,000 and €25,000, or even more. At the same time, a similar space at a regional conference might range from €1,500 to €5,000.
Location within the venue
Booth placement significantly affects visibility and attendee traffic, and so it reflects the cost. Prime spots near entrances, main stages or busy aisles are typically more expensive.
Review the event’s floor plan and ask organizers about traffic patterns before choosing a location. A corner booth or one near a well-known exhibitor might be worth the higher price.
Booth size and configuration
The size of your booth directly influences the cost as well. Carefully consider your requirements for staffing, product demonstrations, meeting areas, and overall brand presence to determine the ideal booth size.
Find out whether an in-line, corner, or island booth best aligns with your goals and budget.
Included services and additional costs
It’s important to understand what’s included in the base booth price (e.g., basic electricity, carpeting), and what will incur extra charges (e.g., furniture rental, advanced electrical setup, internet). Be sure to factor these additional costs into your overall budget.
Early bird discounts and sponsorship packages
Many event organizers provide discounts for registering a booth early. Explore sponsorship opportunities, too, as they often include better booth locations, speaking slots, and branding exposure.
Assess the overall value of these packages according to your objectives.
Strategic allocation
Instead of viewing booth cost as a fixed expense, consider it an investment directly tied to potential ROI. For an event where you will focus on lead generation, a strategically located but moderately sized booth might be more effective than a large, poorly positioned one.
Similarly, for generating brand awareness, a visually impactful booth, even if it’s smaller, could work well.
Analyze exhibitor lists of the past editions of an event to gauge the typical booth size of successful startups in your industry.
Pro tip: Develop a matrix comparing booth costs across your target events against their potential reach, ICP concentration, and your objectives. This will enable a data-driven decision-making process for booth investment.
Pro tip 2: Strategize around 6 to 10 events. Analyze the return on investment (ROI) for each and focus on the top performers. Eliminate the two least effective events and experiment with two new ones.
Budgeting for optimal returns
An annual events budget of approximately €15,000 can be a good starting point. But it’s imperative to distribute these resources across various event categories strategically.
An effective budget will go beyond simple expense tracking to encompass the impactful allocation of funds across a diversified event portfolio, resulting in sustained engagement and knowledge acquisition.
Here’s a solid starting point for allocating your budget:
Tiered investment approach
Allocate the largest portion of your budget (about 40% to 50%) to one or two high-impact brand awareness events and key industry-focused conferences. These will present prime opportunities for generating significant leads and building your brand.
Prioritize booth location upgrades, quality marketing materials, and staff training to optimize engagement.
Consistent engagement with your niche
Dedicate a significant part of your budget (about 30% to 40%) to participating in three or four events that target your ICP throughout the year.
These events might cost less, but their cumulative impact on qualified lead generation can be substantial. Focus on creating personalized experiences and targeted messaging for these audiences.
Reserve for emerging opportunities
Allocate a contingency fund (about 10% to 20%) to capitalize on unexpected high-potential events that may arise throughout the year. This gives you the flexibility to react to new market trends or valuable networking opportunities.
Think beyond booth fees
Remember that your budget should account for more than just securing a booth. Factor in travel, accommodation, pre- and post-event marketing (including email campaigns, social media promotion, and targeted outreach), and the cost of your team’s time.
Optimize with data
Track the ROI of each type of event that you attended meticulously. Analyze which events yielded the highest quality leads, strongest brand lift, or most valuable investor connections relative to the investment.
This data will inform future budgeting decisions, letting you allocate resources more effectively and optimize your overall event strategy.
Pro tip: Perform quarterly budget reviews to assess event performance and adjust your allocation strategy. If niche events consistently deliver higher quality leads at lower cost per acquisition (CPA), consider allocating a larger portion of your budget towards those opportunities. Conversely, if a high-profile brand event yields significant media coverage and website traffic, but fewer direct leads, evaluate the value of long-term brand-building against the cost.
Common pitfalls
Startups often allocate their entire event budget to a single large event, drawn by the promise of significant visibility. But this singular approach is often less effective and sustainable than a consistent engagement strategy across a carefully chosen mix of events.
Don’t rely on one major event
Concentrating all your event marketing resources on one big event makes for a risky “one-hit wonder” strategy. This approach creates immense pressure, as the entire year’s success hinges on the performance of a single undertaking.
A full year of work could end up being largely unfruitful if this event fails to generate the expected leads or connections. Furthermore, such a narrow focus will overlook the benefits of continuous engagement, iterative learning and fostering lasting relationships.
Isolated large-scale events are inefficient
Participating solely in large-scale events can be very costly, and the high price of premium booths and substantial additional expenses often outweigh the benefits.
Spreading a similar amount of money across several smaller, more focused events will often be more effective in generating well-suited leads and more valuable engagement.
Big events won’t let you engage with your niche
Startups that focus solely on major events overlook valuable chances to connect with highly targeted groups at smaller, specialized industry events.
Niche gatherings by nature will often have a higher density of their ICP in attendance, and can be considerably more productive for generating leads and cultivating strong connections within particular sectors.
Be consistent with your brand presence
Sporadic participation hinders a startup’s ability to create a strong and recognizable brand within the industry. Regularly participating in these events helps establish your startup as a consistent market player over time, building your credibility and brand presence.
Indeed, startups can grow up to 20% faster due to consistent participation in events — likely due to sustained lead generation and brand development (Internal Industry Benchmarks).
Build a strategy
Instead of looking for a single “silver bullet” event, develop a consistent, targeted participation strategy. Attend at least one event per quarter, and align each with specific, measurable objectives.
This lets you learn regularly, nurture relationships, and ensures a more predictable flow of leads and brand-building opportunities throughout the year.
Pro tip: After every event, evaluate its performance against your defined KPIs. An iterative process will help you refine your event selection criteria and optimize your engagement strategy over time, ensuring that your event marketing efforts consistently contribute to your startup’s growth.
Measure your performance
There’s no way past tracking KPIs rigorously and doing comprehensive ROI calculations if you want to ensure your event strategy is driving tangible results and justifying the investment.
Founders must move beyond superficial metrics and delve into actionable data:
Assess engagement quality
It’s not just about how many people visited your booth. Use qualification questions or demo requests (using lead scanning with tagging) to collect precise engagement metrics. Also measure engagement duration by tracking how long people spent at your booth or interacted with you. You should also measure presentation attendance, Q&A engagement, and post-event follow-up requests.
Measure lead generation and qualification
Measure the number of leads captured from scanners and forms. Implement a CRM lead scoring system to assess lead quality based on job title, company size, and interest. Monitor the proportion of event leads who meet your marketing qualified leads (MQLs) criteria.
Track lead conversion rates and sales pipeline impact
Track the conversion of event-generated MQLs to SQLs and the number of closed deals in your CRM tools. Analyze the average deal size and sales cycle length of event leads versus other channels, and calculate the revenue directly generated from event participation.
Leads from events often have a higher closing rate (up to 28%), thanks to in-person interaction and relationship building.
Quantify social media impact
Calculate your brand reach and resonance by monitoring event-specific hashtag usage, brand mentions, and social media sentiment. Track changes in followers and engagement, and analyze the reach of your content as well as impressions. Use social listening to identify key influencers.
Track changes in website traffic
Events can drive significant digital engagement. Track website traffic spikes during and after events, specifically to event-related landing pages or product/service pages mentioned at the event. Analyze bounce rates and time spent on these pages, and monitor downloads of event-specific content (e.g., whitepapers, case studies). Lastly, track the leads generated via these downloads.
Calculate customer acquisition cost (CAC) and return on investment (ROI)
Measure the success of your participation using the Customer Acquisition Cost formula: (Total event expenses) / (New customers acquired at the event).
The Return on Investment formula looks like this: ((Revenue from event customers – Total event cost) / Total event cost) * 100%.
Compare your CAC and ROI to overall marketing metrics to assess an event’s effectiveness.
Track customer retention and lifetime value (LTV)
To quantify the impact of your event, see how much existing customers engaged with your startup at events; post-event activity (product use, upsells); and changes in churn rate or LTV compared to non-attendees.
Net Promoter Score (NPS) and satisfaction
Use post-event surveys with NPS questions and ask for open feedback to measure attendee satisfaction and see how likely they are to recommend you. Segment NPS by attendee type (leads, customers, partners) for deeper insights and improvement.
KPIs should be assessed by adjusting the metrics you’re tracking based on each event’s objectives (e.g., leads or brand awareness).
Key learnings and action plan
- Set clear objectives: Define clear, measurable objectives that align with your business goals. Utilize the SMART framework (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound) for effective tracking and evaluation.
- Manage your budget: Develop a realistic and detailed event budget that breaks your spending down to specific categories. Regularly review spending against how much was allocated, and analyze the cost-effectiveness of each event element.
- Select events wisely: Employ a structured framework to identify and evaluate potential events, weighting criteria based on your current business priorities and target audience. Continuously refine this framework using data from past events.
- Balance your event strategy: Create a balanced strategy that strategically prioritizes brand building, lead generation and networking opportunities over the year. Regularly assess the performance of each event type.
- Change as you need to: When entering international markets, adapt your event strategy by conducting thorough research and tailoring your approach to cultural nuances and regional business practices. Track the ROI of international events separately.
- Analyze cost and ROI rigorously: Keeping industry benchmarks for event costs in mind, do in-depth research on the specific pricing and potential ROI of the events you’re targeting. Negotiate with organizers when possible.
- Prioritize consistent engagement: Participate in a series of targeted events to build a sustained brand presence and foster long-term relationships. Analyze the cumulative impact of this approach.
- Measure, measure, measure: Track the performance and ROI of every event. Utilize CRM, marketing automation platforms, and event-specific analytics tools to gather comprehensive data and generate actionable insights.
“Our participation at SIAL Paris 2024, facilitated by Sesamers, resulted in over €1M in generated leads, including significant interest from major global retailers. Their ability to connect us with the relevant audience, pre-event preparation, and on-site support were critical to our success and exceeded our expectations.” — Florian Baud, CEO, La Fabrique à Nuage
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