Your event didn’t end when the room emptied

Most B2B teams measure event ROI by what happens in the room. The leads collected, the conversations had, the hands shaken. They rarely measure what happens next. That is where the real value is, and where most of it gets lost.

In this episode of The Outreach Fix, Kit Smith sits down with Lynn Lester, SVP, Events and Marketing at The Drum, Sopro’s B2B partner, to dig into where events actually fit in the modern B2B marketing mix. They cover why first-party event data is some of the most valuable data you can collect, why most teams waste it, and what a genuinely joined-up approach to events and outreach looks like in practice.

What you’ll learn:

• Why events work best as part of a joined-up strategy, not a standalone moment
• How to use the first-party data you collect at events before it goes cold
• Why the follow-up determines the ROI, not the event itself
• How events fit alongside outreach in a longer, more complex B2B buying journey

Key takeaways:

Your event ROI lives in the follow-up. First-party intent data from events is gold. Most teams collect it and do nothing useful with it.

95% of B2B buyers are not ready to buy right now. Events are not just about closing deals in the room. They are about building the relationships that make the other 95% choose you when they are ready.

Ten brilliant leads beat a thousand average ones. Quality over quantity is not a nice idea. It is the only approach that actually converts.

Brand building and demand generation need to work together. 84% of people are more likely to respond to outreach from a company they have already heard of. Events build the familiarity that makes everything else work harder.

In an age of AI, the human connection matters more, not less. No technology replaces looking someone in the eye and building genuine trust.