Finding your first customers is one of the most challenging phases of building a B2B product. While digital marketing can create awareness, specialized B2B events offer direct access to early adopters—the innovation-hungry professionals who will test your product, provide critical feedback, and become your first champions. Unlike broad conferences, niche industry events concentrate your exact target audience in one place, creating unmatched opportunities to generate early adopters at B2B events who can validate your product-market fit and fuel initial growth. Why Specialized B2B Events Are Early Adopter Goldmines Early adopters attend specialized conferences for a reason: they’re actively seeking innovations that solve their specific problems. These aren’t passive attendees—they’re professionals who attend niche events precisely because they want to discover new solutions before competitors do. The psychology works in your favor. At a broad tech conference, your sales automation tool competes with hundreds of vendors. At a specialized sales enablement summit, you’re speaking directly to sales leaders actively evaluating new technologies. The context matters enormously. Specialized events also attract attendees with budget authority and decision-making power. Unlike mass-market conferences filled with junior employees, vertical-specific gatherings draw senior practitioners who can immediately commit to testing your product. This audience quality dramatically improves your conversion rates from demo to signed user. Identifying the Right Specialized Events for Early Adopters Not all B2B events attract early adopters. The key is identifying conferences where innovation-focused professionals congregate: Vertical-Specific Industry Conferences: Events focused on specific industries (healthcare IT, legal tech, construction tech, HR technology) attract practitioners actively seeking category innovations. SaaStr for SaaS operators, HR Tech Conference for talent leaders, and FinovateEurope for fintech innovators exemplify this category. Role-Based Professional Summits: Conferences targeting specific job functions—like Chief Revenue Officer summits, CMO conferences, or Developer Week—concentrate decision-makers who control budgets and can champion new tools within their organizations. Innovation-Focused Tech Events: Some conferences explicitly attract early adopters through their positioning. Events like Collision’s “alpha” area, TechCrunch Disrupt’s startup alley, and Web Summit’s beta zone are designed for companies seeking early users willing to test unproven products. Regional Tech Meetups and Summits: Local tech communities often host smaller, more intimate events where early relationship-building happens naturally. These gatherings may lack the scale of major conferences but offer higher-quality engagement with innovation-minded locals. Pre-Event Strategies to Attract Early Adopters Generating early adopters at B2B events begins weeks before the conference opens. Strategic preparation multiplies your success rate: Leverage Event Attendee Lists: Most specialized conferences publish attendee lists or offer networking apps. Research attendees matching your ideal early adopter profile—job titles, company sizes, industries. Reach out with personalized invitations to see your demo, positioning it as exclusive early access rather than a sales pitch. Secure Speaking or Workshop Slots: Early adopters trust thought leaders. If you can present educational content—whether on a main stage, breakout session, or workshop—you position yourself as an expert rather than a vendor. This dramatically increases receptivity to trying your product. Create “Founders’ Preview” Experiences: Offer exclusive pre-event access to conference attendees. Send emails offering “early adopter pricing available only to [Conference Name] attendees” or “exclusive beta access for the first 50 people who book a demo at our booth.” Scarcity and exclusivity resonate powerfully with early adopter psychology. Partner with Event Organizers: Some specialized conferences offer startup programs, innovation showcases, or “emerging vendor” tracks. These provide credibility stamps that signal you’re vetted by the event organizers, lowering adoption barriers. On-Site Tactics for Converting Attendees to Early Users Your booth, demo strategy, and conversations determine whether conference attendees become committed early adopters: Lead with the Problem, Not Features: Early adopters attend specialized events because they have acute pain points. Start conversations by asking about their challenges rather than launching into product demonstrations. When you demonstrate genuine understanding of their problems, they’ll ask about your solution—creating organic interest rather than salesy pushback. Offer Hands-On Testing: Don’t just show your product—let attendees use it. Bring laptops, tablets, or create live accounts they can access immediately. Early adopters want to experience products, not watch PowerPoints. The tactile experience creates ownership and commitment that passive demos cannot achieve. Make Sign-Up Frictionless: Have a one-page signup form ready—ideally a QR code linking to instant account creation. Remove every barrier between interest and activation. The longer the process, the more attendees who say “I’ll sign up later” and never do. Capture Specific Use Cases: Don’t just collect email addresses. During conversations, note each person’s specific use case, pain point, and desired outcome. This information becomes invaluable for personalized follow-up and for understanding which features matter most to your early adopter segment. Create Booth Experiences That Generate Word-of-Mouth: Early adopters talk to other early adopters. Design booth experiences—whether unique demos, compelling visuals, or memorable interactions—that make attendees tell colleagues “you need to see this.” Word-of-mouth within the conference amplifies your reach exponentially. The Early Adopter Offer: Making It Irresistible Early adopters take risks on unproven products, so your offer must acknowledge this and provide appropriate value: Extended Free Trials: Instead of 14-day trials, offer conference attendees 60 or 90 days. This demonstrates confidence in your product and gives early adopters time to properly test, integrate, and see value before committing budget. Lifetime “Founder Pricing”: Lock in special pricing that never increases. This creates strong incentives for early commitment and rewards those who believed in you first. It’s also marketing gold when you grow—those early adopters become case studies showcasing long-term value. Co-Development Opportunities: Offer to build features specifically for them or give early adopters input into your product roadmap. This transforms them from customers into partners, dramatically increasing engagement and reducing churn. Recognition and Status: Early adopters often value recognition. Offer “Founding Member” status, feature them in case studies, or create an advisory board for early users. The psychological reward of being “first” and “insider” appeals strongly to this audience. Post-Event Follow-Up: Converting Interest Into Active Users The conference ends, but early adopter generation continues through strategic follow-up: Immediate Outreach: Contact interested attendees within 24 hours. Reference specific conversations, pain points […]

For tech startups seeking investment, credibility is currency. Tech fundraising credibility B2B events have emerged as critical platforms where founders can demonstrate traction, build investor relationships, and establish legitimacy in competitive markets. While pitch decks and financial projections matter, nothing replaces the trust built through face-to-face interactions at industry conferences, trade shows, and investor-focused tech events. In fact, 78% of organizers identify in-person events as their organization’s most impactful marketing channel—a principle that applies equally to B2B events tech fundraising strategies. Why Tech Fundraising Credibility Matters at B2B Events Venture capitalists and angel investors attend tech conferences not just to discover deals, but to evaluate founders in real-world scenarios. Your ability to articulate vision, demonstrate product capabilities, and engage with industry peers signals readiness for investment better than any pitch deck. The numbers reinforce this reality: 31% of B2B buyers attend industry events as part of their purchase process, and the same principle applies to investors evaluating potential portfolio companies. Events like TechCrunch Disrupt, Web Summit, Collision, and vertical-specific conferences provide the credibility infrastructure that early-stage companies desperately need. When investors see your team presenting on stage, your product demonstrated at a booth, or your company featured in event media coverage, it validates that you’re a serious player worthy of consideration. This third-party validation from event organizers, media outlets, and industry associations carries weight that self-promotion cannot achieve. Strategic B2B Tech Events for Startup Fundraising Major Tech Conferences: Events like TechCrunch Disrupt, Web Summit, and Collision attract hundreds of active investors. These conferences offer structured pitch competitions, investor matchmaking, and high-visibility speaking opportunities that position your startup as an emerging leader. Demo Days and Pitch Events: Accelerator demo days (Y Combinator, Techstars, 500 Startups) and standalone pitch competitions provide concentrated investor exposure. Success at these events can trigger immediate funding conversations and create FOMO among investor networks. Vertical-Specific Industry Events: For B2B SaaS, fintech, or cybersecurity startups, attending niche conferences like SaaStr Annual, Money20/20, or RSA Conference demonstrates deep industry knowledge and provides access to strategic investors focused on your sector. Regional Tech Ecosystems: Silicon Valley conferences, NYC Tech Week, Austin’s SXSW, and Boston tech summits offer access to local investor communities and regional venture capital firms that understand your geographic market dynamics. Building Investor Credibility Through Event Participation Credibility at tech ecosystem fundraising events isn’t built through passive attendance—it requires strategic participation that demonstrates thought leadership and market traction. Secure Speaking Opportunities: Conference presentations position founders as industry experts. 71% of attendees believe in-person conferences offer the most effective way to learn about new products or services. When investors see you on stage educating audiences, it signals authority and expertise that casual networking cannot convey. Win Pitch Competitions: Competition wins and finalist positions provide immediate credibility stamps. These awards appear in press releases, investor decks, and company bios, creating momentum that attracts additional investor interest. Generate Media Coverage: Event-based media coverage amplifies credibility beyond the conference floor. 80% of respondents say in-person events are the most trusted marketing channel. When tech journalists cover your product launch or profile your founder, it creates the social proof investors seek before taking meetings. Facilitate Strategic Introductions: According to Isaac Morehouse, CMO of Reveal: “They have trust with people where you don’t and vice versa, so you get to expand your reach.” Partner relationships developed at events lead to warm investor introductions that convert at significantly higher rates than cold outreach. Maximizing Investor Engagement at Tech Conferences The ROI from event participation compounds: companies experience 10x the ROI from attendees versus non-attendees. To maximize investor engagement during B2B events tech fundraising efforts: Pre-Event Targeting: Research which VCs and angels are attending. Use LinkedIn, event apps, and investor databases to identify targets and schedule meetings before arriving. Don’t rely on serendipitous booth conversations—strategic founders book investor calendars weeks in advance. Booth Demonstrations: If exhibiting, design booth experiences that demonstrate traction. Live dashboards showing user growth, customer testimonials, and product capabilities provide tangible evidence that validates investment thesis. Host Private Events: Side events, VIP dinners, and exclusive roundtables during major conferences create intimate settings for deeper investor conversations. 50% of attendees agree that in-person conferences provide the best networking opportunities—smaller gatherings within larger events multiply this advantage. Leverage Social Proof: Document your event participation extensively. Photos with industry leaders, speaking slot announcements, and booth traffic videos create FOMO and credibility signals that can be repurposed across investor communications. Measuring Fundraising Impact from Tech Events For 95% of events teams, demonstrating event ROI is the top priority. For fundraising-focused startups, track these critical metrics: Common Mistakes That Damage Fundraising Credibility While events offer tremendous upside, poor execution damages credibility more than staying home. Avoid these pitfalls: Unprofessional Booth Presence: Poorly designed booths, disengaged team members, or non-functional demos signal operational immaturity that repels investors. Overpromising Capabilities: Exaggerating product capabilities or traction during event demonstrations creates credibility gaps when investors conduct due diligence. Ignoring Follow-Up: According to Kat Tooley from HubSpot, response rates plummet when follow-up isn’t immediate. Investors who expressed interest at events expect outreach within 24-48 hours. Delayed follow-up signals disorganization and missed opportunities. Attending Wrong Events: Not all conferences attract active investors. Research attendee lists and past investment activity before committing significant budgets to event participation. The Long-Term Credibility Compound Effect Strategic event participation creates compound credibility that extends far beyond individual conferences. 80% of organizers believe in-person conferences will become increasingly critical to their organization’s success, and 65.8% plan to maintain or increase event participation in 2025. For tech startups, a consistent presence at industry events builds recognition within investor networks. When VCs see your company at multiple conferences, witness your growth trajectory across quarters, and observe your expanding industry relationships, it creates the pattern recognition that triggers investment conversations. Media coverage from events lives permanently online, strengthening SEO and providing evergreen credibility signals. Speaking slots lead to additional speaking invitations, creating a virtuous cycle of visibility and authority. Start Building Your Tech Fundraising Credibility Today Building tech fundraising credibility through B2B […]

Congratulations—you’ve just closed your seed or Series A round. Now comes the crucial question: how do you transform that capital injection into market momentum? Smart founders recognize that the months immediately following a fundraising close represent a golden window for building visibility, attracting customers, and positioning for the next funding milestone. B2B events offer the fastest path to achieving all three simultaneously. The numbers tell a compelling story. According to Bizzabo’s 2025 State of Events report, 78% of B2B event organizers say in-person conferences are their most impactful marketing channel, while 40% of attendees secure new business relationships at events. For freshly-funded startups, this concentration of decision-makers, potential customers, and media represents an efficiency multiplier that digital marketing simply cannot match. When you’re competing for attention in a market where AI companies captured 37% of all 2024 venture funding and deal activity hit its lowest point since 2016, strategic event participation isn’t optional—it’s essential infrastructure for growth. Why the Post-Fundraising Window Matters for Event Strategy The six months after closing your round create unique advantages that evaporate quickly. Your funding announcement generates temporary market attention that you must capitalize on before competitors occupy mindshare. You have fresh capital to invest in booth presence, speaking opportunities, and travel that bootstrapped competitors cannot afford. Most importantly, you can demonstrate momentum through hiring announcements, product launches, and customer wins that make your event presence newsworthy rather than forgettable. Sarah Du, Co-founder of Alloy Automation, emphasized this principle at TechCrunch Disrupt: “Sharing your thoughts, your thought leadership, the work you’re doing and letting that lead is more important” than traditional marketing. Events amplify thought leadership in ways social media cannot replicate because 80% of attendees say in-person events provide the most trustworthy information—a 5% increase from previous years that reflects growing skepticism toward purely digital engagement. The competitive landscape reinforces urgency. With 85% of seed-stage startups failing to raise Series A and median time from seed to Series A stretching to 28 months (double the 2014 timeline), your post-funding sprint must build the traction metrics and market recognition that secure your next round. Events provide the three ingredients success requires: customer validation, competitive intelligence, and investor relationships you’ll need 18-24 months from now. Your 90-Day Action Plan: From Funding Announcement to Event Domination Weeks 1-4: Strategic Event Selection and Preparation Action 1: Identify your top 3 events for the next 12 months. Focus on gatherings where your target customers, partners, and future investors concentrate. For B2B SaaS startups, prioritize SaaStr Annual (San Francisco), SaaStock (multiple locations), or Collision (Toronto). For industry-specific plays, choose vertical conferences where you can dominate a niche—Money 20/20 for fintech, HIMSS for healthcare, or NRF for retail technology. Action 2: Secure speaking slots 4-6 months in advance. Stephanie Heckman, Senior Account Director at Stern Strategy Group with 20 years of conference programming experience, advises: “No one wants to hear a sales pitch. We focus on aligning our clients’ expertise with the themes and issues that shape a program. This means working with the client to identify the issue they can address and/or the problems they can help solve.” Submit panel proposals that address industry challenges rather than product pitches. Your recent funding announcement makes you newsworthy—leverage it. Action 3: Research attendees and create personalized outreach lists. Most major conferences publish attendee lists or have apps that reveal participants. Use these to identify your top 50 prospects—potential customers, strategic partners, and investors. Create personalized outreach explaining why you specifically want to meet them, referencing their recent work or portfolio companies. One Platma founder explained: “If you wait until right before the event, your chances are slim. We used the Web Summit app to research investors ahead of time, scheduled meetings pre-event, and leveraged LinkedIn for warm introductions.” Weeks 5-8: Building Your Event Presence Action 4: Design a booth experience that demonstrates product value, not just describes it. Supademo conducted 200+ live product demonstrations at Collision 2023, converting 6% of demos into 12 paying customers. Their success illustrates a critical principle: show, don’t tell. Create a 3-minute demo that highlights one specific problem you solve, not your entire feature set. Train booth staff to ask qualifying questions before launching into pitches. Action 5: Prepare three versions of your pitch. You need a 30-second elevator version for chance encounters, a 2-3 minute booth conversation version, and a 15-minute deep-dive for scheduled meetings. Guy Kawasaki captures the reality: “People are going to make an instant decision about your pitch. They’re not going to want to see your entire background, they’re not going to want to get to know you, they don’t want to be your friend. You are either hot or not, interesting or not. It’s that quick.” Lead with your strongest proof point—a customer win, a unique insight, or a surprising metric—not company history. Action 6: Create event-specific content and announcements. Time product launches, customer announcements, or partnership reveals to coincide with major events. This gives media and attendees reasons to visit your booth beyond curiosity. Issue press releases that mention your event presence, and coordinate with your PR team to arrange journalist meetings during the conference. Weeks 9-12: Execution and Follow-Up Systems Action 7: Build a follow-up infrastructure before the event. Create email templates for different conversation types (qualified prospects, early-stage leads, partnership opportunities, investor relationships). Assign team members specific follow-up responsibilities so leads don’t fall through cracks when everyone returns exhausted. Schedule a post-event debrief for the day after you return to capture insights while fresh. Action 8: Track meaningful metrics, not vanity metrics. Don’t just count booth visitors or business cards collected. Track qualified demos completed, meetings scheduled for post-event, partnership discussions initiated, and media conversations conducted. Research shows 40% of in-person meetings result in new customer relationships and 65% of closed deals stem from face-to-face interactions—set targets that reflect these conversion expectations. Maximizing ROI: What Top Performers Do Differently The startups that extract maximum value from events follow patterns you can replicate. Web Summit’s data shows that 171 […]

Launching a new technology product in today’s crowded market requires more than digital campaigns. B2B tech events product launch strategies have become essential for technology companies seeking to unveil innovations to media and decision-makers. Industry conferences, trade shows, and tech events remain the most powerful platforms for demonstrating your technology and converting prospects into customers. From CES to niche SaaS conferences, these B2B tech events offer unparalleled opportunities for successful product launches. Why B2B Tech Events Drive Product Launch Success The statistics are compelling. 77% of marketers say events are the most effective marketing channel for their company, and 78% of organizers identify in-person events as their organization’s most impactful marketing channel. For technology companies, conferences provide the perfect stage to showcase innovations in action—something digital channels struggle to replicate. The ROI speaks volumes: companies experience ten times the ROI from attendees compared to non-attendees. With 31% of B2B buyers attending industry events as part of their purchase process, tech conferences and trade shows are essential touchpoints in the modern buyer’s journey. The Media Magnet Effect of Tech Events Technology journalists flock to major events searching for breakthrough stories. 80% of respondents say in-person events are the most trusted marketing channel, which translates directly to credible media coverage. Events like CES, RSA Conference, and AWS re:Invent serve as news epicenters where product announcements gain immediate traction. Reporters attend specifically to discover innovations, interview executives, and witness live demonstrations—giving your launch the third-party validation that resonates with enterprise prospects. Unlike press releases buried in inboxes, booth demonstrations or keynote presentations put your technology directly in front of journalists who experience it firsthand and craft compelling narratives for their audiences. Strategic B2B Event Types for Product Launch Major Industry Trade Shows: CES, RSA Conference, and Mobile World Congress attract thousands of qualified attendees, media representatives, and analysts. The scale creates buzz and signals market credibility. These venues work best for products with broad appeal. Vertical-Specific Conferences: For B2B tech companies targeting specific sectors like SaaS (SaaStr), cybersecurity (Black Hat), or cloud infrastructure (KubeCon), niche conferences provide direct access to qualified prospects actively seeking solutions. Company-Hosted Conferences: Following Salesforce’s Dreamforce or HubSpot’s INBOUND model, hosting your own conference positions your company as a thought leader while controlling the product launch narrative. Regional Tech Events: Multi-city roadshows build local relationships while generating regional media coverage in innovation hubs like San Francisco, New York, Austin, and Seattle. Expert Perspective on Tech Event Marketing According to Isaac Morehouse, CMO of Reveal, strategic partnerships amplify event presence: “They have trust with people where you don’t and vice versa, so you get to expand your reach.” Co-exhibiting with integration partners or complementary vendors can dramatically expand visibility and credibility. Maximizing Media Coverage at Product Launch Events Secure Speaking Opportunities: Conference presentations position executives as experts. 71% of attendees believe in-person conferences offer the most effective way to learn about new products or services, making keynote slots invaluable. Create Demo-Worthy Experiences: Technology must be seen in action. Interactive demonstrations, hands-on labs, and live use-cases give media and prospects experiential understanding that spec sheets cannot convey. Offer Exclusive Briefings: Tech journalists appreciate embargoed briefings before major announcements, allowing them to prepare in-depth coverage that launches with your product. Leverage Analyst Relations: Major conferences attract Gartner, Forrester, and IDC analysts. Scheduling analyst briefings can result in research mentions and market validation influencing enterprise decisions. Engineer Social Media Moments: Design demonstrations, interviews, and booth activities for social shareability, extending reach beyond the physical event space. Converting Tech Event Attendees Into Pipeline 49% of US B2B marketers use events to generate leads, and for tech companies, these are typically high-quality leads with genuine purchase intent. Successful companies use event attendee lists and LinkedIn targeting to identify key prospects and schedule booth meetings in advance, ensuring connections with decision-makers rather than relying on random traffic. Live demonstrations create “wow moments” that static presentations cannot achieve. Whether showcasing AI capabilities, security features, or integrations, seeing technology work in real-time builds confidence and desire. Follow-up timing matters critically. According to Kat Tooley from HubSpot, survey responses increase when sent within the first hour after events. Contact prospects within 24-48 hours while your demonstration remains fresh. Measuring Product Launch ROI at B2B Events For 95% of events teams, demonstrating event ROI is the top priority. Track these critical metrics: The Tech Industry’s Commitment to Event Marketing Despite digital transformation, tech companies continue investing in physical gatherings. 80% of organizers believe in-person conferences will become increasingly critical to their organization’s success, and 65.8% plan to maintain or increase the number of in-person events in 2025. This trend presents a clear opportunity. As attention fragments across digital channels, tech conferences offer concentrated access to decision-makers actively seeking solutions. 50% of attendees agree that in-person conferences provide the best networking opportunities, and these connections often translate directly into sales conversations. Preparing Your Tech Product for Event Launch Before committing to a trade show launch, ensure you have a working prototype for hands-on experience. This clear differentiation stands out on crowded floors, enabling sales for booth staff handling technical questions, providing follow-up infrastructure including lead capture processes, and establishing measurement frameworks to track success. Your B2B Tech Events Product Launch Strategy Tech conferences, trade shows, and industry events offer unmatched opportunities to launch products with impact. By combining live demonstrations, strategic media outreach, and face-to-face engagement, technology companies generate the awareness, credibility, and pipeline that digital-only launches struggle to achieve. As competition intensifies, winning companies recognize events aren’t just marketing tactics—they’re strategic platforms where innovations gain traction, media attention is earned, and customer relationships begin. In a world where trust matters more than ever, there’s no substitute for putting your technology in front of prospects and letting them experience its value firsthand. To maximize your event ROI, you can sign up on app.sesamers.com and use our AI Agent for event selection. About the Data: Statistics in this article are sourced from recent industry research including Splash’s 2024 Event Marketing Statistics, […]

Last week, I spent three days at Bits and Pretzels in Munich — a startup-focused event with a distinctly Bavarian flavor. Think Oktoberfest meets startup conference, complete with dirndls, lederhosen, and more beer than you might expect. As someone building an AI-powered event platform, I went in with a specific mission: Observe how startups actually market themselves at events. Here’s what I discovered: GoodBytz: The power of good demos What they did: Robotics startup GoodBytz set up a booth where its robots prepared kaiserschmarrn (a traditional German dessert) all day long. Why it worked: Nothing beats seeing a product in action. While other booths had brochures and demos, GoodBytz’s robots were actually cooking. The smell, the movement and the end result stirred together an experience that people will remember and talk about. The lesson: If you have a physical product, show it in action. The old writing adage generalizes well: Show, don’t tell.  Let people see, hear and touch the product. WeRoad: The bathroom hack What they did: Posted “Missing Investor” flyers in bathroom stalls with QR codes pointing to their website. Why it worked: Pure genius. Every startup at the event was looking for investors, but the “Missing Investor” headline, while a bit on the nose, proved irresistible. Plus, bathroom stalls are one of the few places where people have 30 seconds to actually read something. The lesson: Think about where your target audience’s attention will remain undivided. Sometimes, the most effective marketing leverages the most unexpected places. Emqopter: Visual impact matters What they did: Designed a bright orange booth that displayed their drone prominently. Why it worked: In a sea of grey, white, beige and brown, Emqopter’s bright orange booth was impossible to overlook. The drone was real, too, and proved a real conversation starter. The lesson: Your booth is competing with hundreds of others. Make it visually distinctive and ensure your product is the hero. Quests: Community building using the product What they did: Created a busy, branded booth with accessories (toy car, traffic cones, a bulletin board) and used their anti-loneliness app to build communities among founders at the event. Why it worked: Quests used their product to solve a real problem right at the event, and the busy booth design generated energy and curiosity. The lesson: Use your product to solve a problem at the event — if it’s possible, of course. Demonstrate your value in real time. Dyno: Event-themed marketing What they did: Distributed branded electrolyte packs with the tagline “Your hangover ends. Your pension lasts – with Dyno.” Why it worked: Dyno aligned its messaging perfectly with the Oktoberfest theme. Every attendee was thinking about beer and hangovers, so Dyno’s goodies were quite relevant. The tagline was clever, memorable, and directly addressed a pain point most people at the event might have to deal with later. The lesson: Tailor your marketing to the event’s theme and culture. The more you tie your messaging and product to the context, the more memorable you become. So, what did I learn? Event marketing is about more than just showing up and setting up a booth; you have to understand your audience and create experiences that people will remember. Here’s what really struck me: most startups and even big companies don’t know how to leverage events properly. They book the booth, show up and hope for the best; maybe they bring some branded pens and a pop-up banner. Then they’ll go back home and wonder why they spent €5,000 in exchange for 50 business cards that never convert. The startups that stood out at Bits and Pretzels understand something fundamental: event ROI isn’t about booth size or location; it’s about strategy, creativity and planning. None of the startups above improvised on-site, or planned something the night before the event in their hotel rooms. They laid everything out 4-6 weeks before the event. A solid pre-event strategy is what separates successful event marketing from expensive booth rental.  But what matters most for early-stage startups is that you don’t need a massive budget to stand out. WeRoad’s bathroom stall hack probably cost €50 to print the flyers. A standard booth package at Bits and Pretzels would go for €3,000 to €5,500. The ROI difference is staggering when you compare the cost per meaningful conversation. That’s the difference between simply spending money and investing smartly. Building Sesamers has taught me that helping startups find the right events is only half the equation. The other half is helping them understand how to maximize ROI once they’re there. Good props aren’t a marketing expense; they’re opportunities to meet customers, investors and partners, and strike up engaging conversations.

Lios Group, the Irish startup behind SoundBounce, was a winner of JEC Composites Startup Booster 2018, and has been making significant strides since taking home the award.

Tree Composites aims to accelerate the energy transition with innovative composite joints.

The best pavilions don’t just house startups; they create ecosystems where meaningful connections happen naturally. This isn’t just about pretty signage or strategic booth placement — it involves understanding how people navigate events and engage with spaces.

Perseus Materials has moved fast since its JEC Startup Booster win, landing its first VC round, doubling its team, and advancing critical customer negotiations—all while planning a major facility expansion.

At Sesamers, we’re always looking to be the first to learn about the latest trends in the startup and tech events space. That’s why it feels like a privilege that Sesamers was invited by Olivia Hervy, chief ecosystem officer of VivaTech, to the exclusive kick-off VivaTech 2026, alongside key partners.  As Europe’s largest startup and tech event prepares for its 10th anniversary, scheduled for June 17-20, 2026 in Paris, being part of this circle of industry professionals gives us early insight into what promises to be VivaTech’s most ambitious edition yet, with significant expansions and new experiences that reflect a decade of growth and evolution. Major infrastructure expansions After calling Hall 1 and 2 at Porte de Versailles home for a decade, VivaTech 2026 is relocating to Hall 7, a new three-floor building that the event will occupy fully. The venue now features 30% more exhibition space across three floors; upgraded infrastructure; excellent internet connectivity, and a much larger business center. The building has 12 dedicated restaurant areas, providing ample dining options to better accommodate the growing crowds. The centerpiece is a brand new, 2,200-seat main stage where the event’s most significant announcements and keynotes will be held. Greater business focus Building on 2025’s  success (180,000 attendees, 14,000 startups), VivaTech 2026 introduces several business-focused improvements: Doubled innovation showcase The “Garden of Innovators” concept has been expanded upon, with organizers promising to double startup participation, product announcements, and exhibition surface area compared to previous editions.  Located on the first floor, the welcome area will showcase exemplars of innovation through the centuries to remind attendees of humanity’s continuous drive to invent and create. Germany takes center stage For 2026, Germany has been selected as the “Country of the Year,” and VivaTech will highlight the nation’s contributions to the European tech ecosystem with an eye towards strengthening Franco-German technological cooperation. Thematic villages  VivaTech 2026 introduces a new organizational approach: We have four dedicated thematic arenas, each of which features its own startup village and specialized programming: Each thematic village will feature startups building in those sectors, creating focused ecosystems where attendees can explore innovations that cross-pollinate within a concentrated area. Every theme features its own dedicated stage, which will host talks, panels, and presentations tailored to that sector. An additional Executive Arena will cater specifically to marketing and tech leaders, providing a hub for C-level discussions and strategic content. “Revolutions in Progress” VivaTech2026’s theme emphasizes ongoing technological revolutions, with particular focus on: Special anniversary experiences To mark the event’s 10th anniversary, VivaTech 2026 will feature several special events: Looking forward With its tagline, “VIVA LA REVOLUTION,” VivaTech 2026 positions itself not just as a retrospective celebration, but as the launch pad for the next decade of European tech innovation. The expanded format and new experiences point to how the event is evolving from a showcase into an increasingly sophisticated business platform for the global tech community. VivaTech 2026 builds on last year’s impressive satisfaction metrics (92% of exhibitors satisfied, 82% of attendees planning to return) while substantially expanding capacity and capabilities to serve the growing European tech ecosystem.

Europe recorded €108 billion from exhibitions and events in 2024, according to UFI’s latest data. The continent welcomed 102 million visitors to over 2,000 certified exhibitions across 17 countries; Web Summit Lisbon set a record with 71,528 attendees in November 2024, making it the largest edition to date; and Stockholm’s Techarena secured just over €1 million from VC firm BackingMinds to expand internationally. By any reasonable measure, Europe’s events space has absolutely crushed the events game. End of story. Fin. However, from where I’m sitting, the elephant is still lurking quite comfortably in the room. At the risk of being ostracized, I’ll go ahead and ask the question: Why are some of the most innovative companies on the planet still schlepping to Austin for SXSW to make their biggest announcements (Salt Lick and Stubbs BBQ’s aside)? The room vs. the world Looking at the numbers: Europe’s events spark more meaningful connections per square meter than anywhere else on Earth. In 2025, VivaTech set records with 180,000 visitors, a 10% increase from a year earlier. MWC Barcelona authoritatively anchors a circuit stretching from Kigali to Las Vegas. The continent plays host to an estimated 32,000 exhibitions annually, generating 4.3 million full-time equivalent jobs. These are numbers you cannot take lightly. But walk into any European tech conference and you’ll witness something that should make every one of us reach for the Advil: major announcements received by something akin to a boisterous golf clap from 500 or so people. And that’s it. Those announcements then usually disintegrate into the digital ether, seemingly never to be heard of again. Meanwhile, across the pond, a throwaway tweet about the same topic has the potential to garner upwards of 50,000 shares and three podcast invitations faster than you can drink your morning coffee. But data and numbers don’t lie, and when it comes to events, they’re frankly embarrassing. Europe’s events sector processes roughly €108 billion, and is  extraordinarily efficient in bringing decision makers together in the same space.  European startups consistently struggle with what should be the easier bit: translating those promising conversations into sustained media coverage, investor attention and market validation. The great muppet caper Picture this scene playing out roughly 847 times per week across Europe: Monday: A Finnish startup leveraging AI presents a true breakthrough in supply chain management/optimization/operations to 200 logistics executives at a specialized track. The demo is genuinely impressive. The potential is genuinely massive. The audience is the very definition of target market. All the right pieces are in all the right places. Tuesday: Three tech publications publish brief summaries, perhaps even covering the entire conference, and not just the logistics breakthrough. The fledgling company’s LinkedIn post gets 47 likes (including the founders’ mothers, university mates, and the intern). A single podcast interview is scheduled for three weeks later. It may or may not happen. Wednesday: The story is now less alive than disco was on July 13, 1979. Look that one up, kids. Now let’s compare the same actions to the American playbook, which, if I’m honest, makes me simultaneously impressed and nauseous. The same company makes the announcement at a Bay Area-based event (yep, you know it as well as I do). It generates immediate response across a variety of channels from some  truly influential voices and some noise makers, but enough to garner the attention of major media (print, podcast, and pulp) outlets within 48 hours. It then spawns derivative content, and creates a sustained conversation that drives real, true, business development for the startup for weeks. The difference here isn’t the quality of the innovation; it’s how the messaging was amplified. Folks, you can hate me for saying this, but this is where Europe is getting schooled. There is no stopping in the Red Zone Take one look at today’s media landscape, and you’ll leave with a rather morbid impression. The problem isn’t structural fragmentation; it’s an endemic contraction. Leon may be growing, but European tech media is shrinking,  at precisely the wrong moment. A brief reminder: TechCrunch, long the go-to outlet for European startup coverage, quietly shut down its entire European operation in 2025 when private equity firm Regent LP acquired the publication.  Digital Frontier, the London-based tech publication that launched in early 2024 with a team of 20, “paused” operations just a few months ago, making all 16 staff members redundant.  Business Insider cut 21% of its staff in 2025, citing “extreme traffic drops” and AI disruption. Just days ago, we all found out that The Next Web, once one of Europe’s flagship tech conferences and media brands, was shutting down its events and media operations after nearly 20 years. The Financial Times, which bought TNW in 2019, confirmed it was winding down the business by the end of September following a “strategic review.” Conference attendance had dropped to 4,500 in 2025, less than half of pre-pandemic levels. The failure to capture content The folks at Black Unicorn PR earlier this year put together a guide that reveals something anyone working in European tech media already knows but pretends isn’t true: “Unlike the U.S., which has a few dominant tech media outlets and an emerging class of star indie writers, Europe hasn’t yet consolidated its practitioners’ knowledge in one place.” Stop and think about what that really means for a second. Sure, we’ve got strong regional players, and I salute Sifted, EU-Startups, and Tech.eu doing the do. But the lack of a unified amplification machinery, by definition, puts Europe at a disadvantage over Silicon Valley stories that are destined to be heard in Phuket faster than you can finish reading this sentence. To put it bluntly, European tech events suffer from content capture failure. The most valuable insights surface within conversations, at roundtable discussions, and networking sessions that generate no permanent content.  Unlike American events, which increasingly operate as content factories designed for social media amplification, European conferences optimize to create value in the room rather than post-event content distribution. All that […]

Winning the JEC Startup Booster’s 2025 Sustainability Award transformed Strong by Form from a ‘promising startup’ into a serious player with industrial credibility.