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Event ROI becomes easier to defend when every investment begins with a specific job, target-account logic, shared sales commitments, and measures connected to that job. Charles Groome, Jamie Gier, and Lorie Coulombe describe a portfolio approach that balances discovery, memorable experiences, deal progression, listening, and disciplined follow-up instead of treating all booths as equivalent investments.
The booth is one part of an event strategy. The larger question is what business job the event is there to accomplish.
In a CMO Huddles Studio conversation, Charles Groome of Insightful, Jamie Gier, and Lorie Coulombe explored how event selection, experience design, sales preparation, and follow-up affect ROI.
Their discussion points toward a portfolio approach. A major conference, regional meetup, customer advisory board, and executive dinner serve different purposes. Each earns its place through a goal and measurement model suited to that purpose.
Jamie frames events around three possible jobs: Help the company get discovered, create a memorable experience, or advance deals.
That distinction makes the investment easier to evaluate. A discovery event may be measured through qualified audience engagement and subsequent interest. A deal-focused event may be evaluated through target-account meetings, opportunity movement, and revenue influence.
Trying to make every event accomplish all three can create vague objectives and equally vague reporting.
For Charles, the decision also comes down to concentration. A larger event may offer more traffic, but a smaller gathering may create deeper access to the accounts that matter.
“You need to brute force this if you're taking an account-based approach. I could be going to five events with a hit rate of 10/100, or I could be going to two big events with a hit rate of 30/100.”
Event planning becomes more precise when audience quality comes before event prestige.
Charles described using smaller field meetups as a listening circuit. These gatherings can reveal regional differences, deepen customer relationships, and create focused account-based opportunities.
Lorie discussed evaluating the audience, geography, and business goal before committing. A well-known event may attract attention without attracting the right buyers. A smaller regional opportunity, partner event, or customer gathering may deliver more relevant conversations.
A practical portfolio can include:
A crowded exhibit hall gives buyers hundreds of competing signals. A larger booth does not automatically create a more memorable one.
“The human psychology behind how you engage is super important. You are competing with hundreds, sometimes thousands of other vendors vying for the attention of these buyers.”
Jamie’s approach connects the experience to the event’s job. Customer speakers can create credibility. A clear theme can help attendees understand the story. A relevant news hook can give the organization a reason to be part of the conversation.
Memorability is not limited to spectacle. It can come from a useful conversation, a strong customer story, an unexpected format, or an experience tied closely to the audience’s priorities.
The value of an event is often determined before the doors open.
Sales and marketing can agree on named accounts, meeting goals, ownership, and follow-up expectations during the planning stage. Jamie described organizing teams into pods around priority accounts with shared measures. Lorie emphasized building commitment early.
“The earlier they're aware of the plan and expectations, the more they're on board with it.”
The preparation can remain simple:
This turns event participation into a coordinated revenue activity rather than a marketing handoff.
A single ROI formula cannot explain every type of event. The measurement model becomes more credible when it reflects the event’s original job.
For discovery, useful signals may include target-audience reach, qualified engagement, branded search, or new account activity.
For customer and community events, the signals may include participation, advocacy, retention, expansion conversations, or executive access.
For deal progression, the focus can shift to target-account meetings, opportunity movement, buying-group engagement, pipeline influence, and revenue.
The common thread is consistency. The objective, audience, plan, and measurement remain connected from selection through follow-up.
Start with the event’s business objective, then connect measurement to target-account engagement, opportunity movement, customer outcomes, or another relevant result.
A calendar lists appearances. A strategy explains why each event exists, which audience it serves, and how its contribution will be evaluated.
Shared account lists, assigned owners, meeting goals, and scheduled post-event reviews make accountability visible before the event begins.
They can be. Smaller gatherings often provide clearer audience focus, deeper conversations, and more direct visibility into account-level outcomes.
Want to hear more? Listen to the full conversation with Charles Groome, Jamie Gier, and Lorie Coulombe.
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