Marketers are no strangers to disruption, and looking ahead, it’s likely that marketing, demand gen, and event leaders will continue to face uncertainty, especially when it comes to planning events. That’s why the BDI team gathered members of the ABM commu nity on September 17th to discuss event successes, failures, experiments, and plans for 2022.

At Planning in an Uncertain World: Building a Game Plan for 2022 we invited B2B marketing executive Joe Staples to speak at a short fireside chat, followed by b reakout room discussions chalk-full of peer-to-peer networking and thought sharing.

Here are some of the best ideas that came out of the discussion:

1. There’s value in being the first to try something new.

“You need to be a leader, not a laggard, when it c omes to events,” said Joe Staples at the beginning of the conversation. He pointed to March 2020 as an example, when the organizations that quickly pivoted to virtual events were the ones that saw the most success with their event strategy.

With safety be ing top of mind, he recommended being one of the first to shift back to in-person events, rather than falling victim to inevitable event fatigue.”

2. Embrace the differences of virtual vs in-person

Trying to recreate an in-person event virtually is a “losing proposition,” claimed attendee Murph Krajewski, CMO of Sharpen.

When it comes to planning virtual events, participants are more focused on content and idea sharing. “The fact that I can throw around ideas... and jot down half a page of notes... that’s time well spent, and I don’t have a lot of it,” he said.

3. Creativing is essential.

“People are webinar’d out,” said Joe regarding virtual programs. When it comes to in-person events, “you need to look at different formats and different things that will attract [prospects].”

It’s no longer enough to offer up weekly webinars and cookie cutter in-person events. Incentives, alternative formats, and exciting venues are key to getting attendees to sign up, show up, and get the most out of your events.

4. Incentivize att endees to decrease attrition rates

There are so many virtual events for your prospects to choose from, and event marketers need to be at the top of their game to guarantee their registrants show up.

Stephanie Pereira Lima, VP of Growth at BDI, shared that our team has started doing experiential events in hopes that sending attendees a kit or package to their home would motivate them to log into the virtual program on event day.

5. Leverage digital content for no-shows and cancellations

If one of your prospects can’t commit to a 45-minute event, send them shorter video clips after the event highlighting all of the amazing content they missed.

“Getting them to consume three- and four-minute snippets that show a really powerful point” is a great way to showcase the value of the panel (and your organization’s thought leadership) without needing someone in the (virtual or in-person) room during the conversation, Joe argued.

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