Event Planning

Events Planning

Overview

Events are the highest-trust channel in B2B. A 60-minute dinner with 10 prospects builds more pipeline than 1,000 cold emails. But events without a system produce expensive parties, not revenue.

This skill covers B2B event planning: format selection, budget, promotion, execution, and the attendee-to-pipeline conversion that makes events pay for themselves.

Authoritative Foundations

• Priya Parker — The Art of Gathering — Start from a specific purpose and a curated guest list; the format follows the purpose, not the venue.
• Paul Graham — Do Things That Don't Scale — Early on, small hand-run events (dinners, meetups) create deeper relationships than large sponsorships.
• Forrester (SiriusDecisions) — Demand Waterfall — Measure events by the pipeline stages they create and accelerate, not by attendance.

When to Use

• "Plan a customer dinner"
• "Host a webinar"
• "Strategy for attending a conference"
• "Run a launch event"
• "Plan our event calendar"
• "Trade show preparation"

Step-by-Step Process

Phase 1: Event Format Selection

Format	Best For	Budget	Pipeline Potential	Effort
Webinar	Education, content, broad reach	$0-500	Medium	Low
VIP Dinner (8-15 people)	Executive relationships, high-ACV	$1-3K	High	Medium
Happy Hour (30-50 people)	Community, prospect mingling	$500-2K	Medium	Medium
Conference Sponsorship	Brand awareness, lead gen	$5-50K	High (if targeted)	Medium
Conference Attendance	Networking, learning, meetings	$1-3K/person	Medium	Low
Trade Show Booth	Lead gen, product demos	$10-100K	Medium-High	High
Owned Conference	Thought leadership, community	$50-500K	Very High	Very High
Workshop / Masterclass	Deep education, product adoption	$500-3K	High	High
Roadshow (multi-city)	Geographic expansion, enterprise	$20-100K	Very High	Very High

Phase 2: Budget Planning

Per-person cost benchmarks:

• Webinar: $0-10/attendee (platform + promotion)
• Dinner: $100-200/person (venue, food, drinks)
• Happy Hour: $30-60/person
• Conference sponsorship: $5-50K (varies wildly)
• Trade show booth: $10-50K (booth + travel + materials)
• Owned event: $100-500/person

Include: venue, F&B, AV/production, travel, materials, promotion, staffing, speaker fees, contingency (15%).

Phase 3: Promotion Timeline

8 weeks out: Announce event. Create landing page. Begin email promotion. 6 weeks out: Social promotion begins. Speaker confirmations finalized. 4 weeks out: Personal outreach to target attendees. Early bird deadline. 2 weeks out: Final push. "Last chance" messaging. Confirm logistics. 1 week out: Send calendar invites, venue details, prep materials. Day before: Final confirmation emails. Speaker run-through. Day of: Social coverage. Real-time posting. Attendee check-in. Post-event (24 hours): Thank-you emails. Content follow-up. Survey. Post-event (1 week): ROI report. Pipeline attribution. Lessons learned.

Phase 4: Attendee-to-Pipeline Conversion

Pre-event:

• Identify target accounts attending. Brief your team on who to meet.
• Schedule 1:1 meetings during the event (don't leave it to chance).
• Prepare specific questions for each target contact.

During event:

• Tag every meaningful conversation in CRM within 24 hours.
• Voice memo or quick note after each conversation (don't trust memory).
• Collect business cards/digital contacts. Add to CRM same day.

Post-event:

• Follow up within 48 hours. Reference the specific conversation.
• "Great meeting you at [event]. Re: what we discussed about [topic] — here's the case study I mentioned."
• Track: meetings booked from event contacts, pipeline generated, revenue attributed. Compare to event cost.

Phase 5: Event ROI Formula

Event ROI = (Pipeline Generated × Average Win Rate × Average Deal Size) ÷ Event Cost

Target: 3:1 ROI minimum for recurring events. First-time events may not hit this — track pipeline over 6-12 months, not 30 days.

Output Format

Event plan with: format selection rationale, budget breakdown, promotion timeline, attendee target list, team briefing document, and post-event ROI tracking template.

Quality Check

• Event format selected based on ICP and goals
• Budget allocated with 15% contingency
• Promotion timeline: 8-week lead for major events
• Target account list identified for 1:1 meetings
• CRM tracking: all conversations logged within 24 hours
• Post-event ROI tracked for 6-12 months

Common Pitfalls

1. Event without pipeline goal. "Let's host a dinner" without a target attendee list and pipeline goal is an expensive meal, not a GTM activity.

2. No post-event follow-up. Conversations at events die without follow-up within 48 hours. The event is the opener, not the close.

3. Sponsoring the wrong conference. A $25K sponsorship where your ICP doesn't attend is $25K wasted. Verify attendee demographics before committing.

4. Webinar as product pitch. Nobody attends a webinar to hear a sales pitch. Teach something valuable. The product is the logical next step, not the topic.

5. Measuring vanity metrics. "200 attendees" means nothing if zero become pipeline. Track conversations → meetings → pipeline → revenue.

Execution Artifacts

• references/framework-notes.md — Named frameworks and reference tables
• templates/output-template.md — Deliverable shell for agent output
• scripts/check-output.py — Lightweight deliverable validator

Related Skills

• marketing-strategy: Event as part of channel mix
• launch-planning: Launch event execution
• content-distribution: Promote event content