Plan for success

How marketers can get more value from their 2027 event programme

As marketers review 2026 and begin planning for 2027 they’re probably thinking ‘How do we get more value from the activities we're already investing in?’

For many organisations, events are one of the largest investments in their marketing budget. Exhibition stands, sponsorships, travel, accommodation, speaking opportunities, customer hospitality, and staff time quickly add up. Yet after the event ends, much of that investment disappears with it.

The meetings happen. The conversations happen. The expertise is shared. Relationships are strengthened. And then everyone goes home.

Organisations achieving greater ROI from their event programmes are taking a different approach. They’re treating events not just as opportunities to meet people, but as opportunities to create content that continues building relationships long after the event ends.

This is why I advocate for the content engine approach, where you deliberately plan to capture long-term content during short-term events.

Your next event is probably your biggest untapped content opportunity.

Hosting an event?

If you’re hosting a conference or trade show, think about the expertise gathered in one place during the event:

·       Your leadership team

·       Industry experts

·       Customers

·       Partners

·       Technical specialists

·       Subject matter experts

For a few days, they're all together and that combination is incredibly difficult and expensive to recreate. Yet many organisations leave events with little more than a few photographs and a short blurb for their LinkedIn page. What the comms and marketing team could be doing is capturing:

·       Thought leadership videos from executives

·       Customer success interviews

·       Industry trend discussions

·       Speaker insights

·       Behind-the-scenes content

·       Recruitment content

·       Sales enablement content

Suddenly, a three-day event can fuel months of marketing activity.

Sponsoring an event?

If you’re sponsoring or exhibiting at an event or trade show, you’ve got one chance to capture your team in action. If you plan to capture it, you could come away with:

·       Customer feedback

·       Product demonstrations

·       Delegates interacting with your team

·       Sector leaders’ insights and observations

Basically a raft of sales and marketing material you can share with customers (and prospective customers) who weren’t able to attend.

Better ROI doesn't always require a bigger budget

So as you think ahead to 2027, consider what tangible assets you collected at this years events and think what you could do differently next year. In these tight economic times many of us are under pressure to deliver more with the same (or smaller) budget.

The good news is that increasing ROI doesn't necessarily mean adding more events. Sometimes it means extracting more value from the events you're already attending.

If you're already investing thousands to bring your people and customers together, capturing content can help extend the impact of that investment across LinkedIn, your website, email marketing, sales conversations and future campaigns.

I’m a fan of video because it’s memorable and gets cut-through, but in reality the opportunities are endless. You just have to plan to capture them.

I will do it. Just not today.

I will do it. Just not today.

That’s what a lot of professionals say about using video to reach their audiences. We know video is one of the most engaging ways to share a brand or message, but most people are still reluctant to get in front of a camera in their professional life.

Perhaps they think they need to be super polished.

But the good news is, they don’t.

LinkedIn's research project The Art & Science of Video Storytelling found that human-centred stories and authentic presenters perform better than overly polished corporate content. In other words, you don’t need an autocue or a formal studio set up to make your videos work.

With LinkedIn videos being shared far more often than standard posts, and 4 out of 5 LinkedIn members able to influence business decisions within their organisations, I think the “I will do it. Just not today.” excuses are weakening.

That’s why, whenever I see static photos of trade stands at conferences or expos, I see missed opportunities for creating authentic stories. A photo of a beautifully set up (but empty) trade stand does nothing to convince customers you offer a superior product or end-to-end customer service.

It tells me you know how to set a table. It doesn’t tell me what’s on the menu.

Last weekend I attended the Wellington Home & Garden Show and captured comments from exhibitors and their potential customers. I got genuine comments about why a product or service was valued, how it was going to help people, and why they were interested in it. From smoke alarms to pre-purchase property inspections. From kitchen designs to multi-generational living options. The potential customers were happy and their comments were gold.

So get videoing. Capture yourself, your people, and your customers – and let us get to know you.

What are you here for?

It’s not enough to just turn up

If you're sponsoring or exhibiting at a conference, chances are you've invested thousands of dollars for a few short hours of face-to-face time with potential customers. Unfortunately many exhibitors make the same mistake - they focus on being seen rather than being remembered.

Banners, bowls of lollies, branded giveaways, interactive games, and stacks of brochures might attract attention, but attention alone doesn't build trust, create opportunities, or generate sales. If you want to maximise your investment, every aspect of your conference presence needs to be deliberate, strategic, and aligned to a clear business objective.

Why most exhibition stands miss the mark

Walk through any exhibition hall and you'll see a similar pattern:

• Sales staff waiting for visitors to approach

• Branded merchandise and giveaways

• Competition entries and prize draws designed to attract delegates.

These tactics create interest, but they don't build trust or create results. So you have to ask yourself - are you getting the most out of your exhibition stand? Is this the best use of your sales and marketing budget?

The problem is that most exhibition stands are designed to get people to stop. They aren't designed to help people understand how you can help them and why they should trust you to do so.

A free pen won't solve a customer's problem and a spinning wheel won't demonstrate your expertise.

Unfortunately, what I find is that most delegates leave events with a bag full of branded goodies, but very little recollection of who they spoke to or why it mattered.

The cost of confusion

Conference attendees are already overloaded with information. By their very nature, conferences are packed full of people sharing their latest research, predictions, results, case studies… so imagine how the delegates feel when they step out of the conference room, only to be overloaded with a score of exhibitor stands screaming ‘look at me!’.

When your stand presents multiple messages and disconnected activities, visitors have to work too hard to understand who you are and what value you provide. If your message isn't clear, your stand is adding to the confusion rather than generating opportunities.

What high-performing exhibitors do differently

Successful exhibitors ask themselves ‘What is the one thing we want delegates to understand and remember about us?’ and they plan their stand from there. Their booth design, their team talk track, their demonstrations, activities and handouts all align and reinforce their chosen ‘one thing’. Rather than trying to tell delegates everything, they focus on communicating the one thing that matters most. That is, the one key takeaway you want delegates to remember when they think of you and your brand.

Make deliberate choices

Every part of your exhibition stand should help attendees understand your organisation and how you can help them, so it’s helpful to ask yourself:

• What is our key message? (if you don’t know, delegates definitely won’t!)

• Does this activity/giveaway/brochure support our key message?

• What’s the one thing we want delegates to remember/know/do after we’ve spoken to them?

• Does this experience build confidence in our expertise and/or product?

And one of the most important questions ‘How will we know if we’ve been successful at this conference?’.

• Are we shooting for brand recognition? If so, how do we know we’ve built it?

• Or… are we looking for sales leads? If so, are we set up to capture these?

At the end of the day, successful exhibiting isn't about attracting the biggest crowd. It's about creating the conversations that help you achieve your strategic goals.