Conference marketing · Marketing
We sent two people to the conference and nobody can say who we met.
A conference puts the people you want to meet in one building for a day or two. But a ticket alone does not get you a conversation. The work happens before the doors open and in the week after they close.
Scope, fee, reporting and term are agreed in writing after we have read your brief and spoken to you.
In one paragraph
Conference marketing treats a conference as a source of buyers: which ones to attend, speak at or sponsor, the session proposal, meetings booked before the day, the table plan, lead capture and follow-up. GullySales prepares each of those with your team and records every conversation against the enquiry or order it led to.
GullySales starts with the choice of conference, because a wrong choice cannot be rescued by a good table. Then it prepares the speaker proposal, the shortlist of people to meet, the capture form and the follow-up. Your people do the talking.
This page is for conferences you attend, speak at or sponsor. Exhibitions with a built stall sit under event and trade show marketing, online sessions under webinar content and promotion, and your own event under workshop and seminar marketing.
Who it is for
This is written for you if these sound familiar.
- Software and IT services firms deciding between a speaking slot and a sponsor package
- Consultants, law firms and accountancy practices who win work through reputation in a room
- Manufacturers and device makers attending an industry conference to meet buyers and specifiers
- Healthcare suppliers and education providers reaching professionals at their own association meetings
Not for
It is not the right fit if.
- Your buyers do not attend conferences, and a call list or advertising reaches them more directly
- You want an exhibition stall designed and built, which is the contractor's job and a different page
- Nobody on your team will go, speak or make the follow-up calls afterwards
The problem
Does this sound like your business?
Common situations this work addresses.
“We say yes to every invitation”
Without a rule for what a good conference looks like, the calendar fills with whatever arrives first. Money goes on rooms your buyers never entered.
“Our speaker proposal was turned down”
Programme committees pick sessions that fit their theme and teach the audience something. A proposal that describes your company instead of the audience's problem goes to the bottom.
“We stood at the table and nobody came”
Attendees decide whom to meet before they arrive. If you have not asked anyone in advance, you wait for people to walk past.
What we do
The work we can include.
Each deliverable and the purpose it serves. Your written scope confirms what is included, who is responsible, and what it costs.
Conference shortlist and fit note
A comparison of the conferences you are considering, using the prospectus, past speaker lists and attendee mix, plus a written list of questions for the organiser. Each is marked attend, speak, sponsor or skip.
Speaker and session proposal
A title, abstract and speaker biography written to the call for proposals and its word limit. Your speaker checks every claim and approves what is submitted.
Pre-event meeting list and invitations
People and companies you want to meet, built from the speaker list and event app. Short LinkedIn, email and WhatsApp invitations carry a reason and a time. You approve every recipient.
Table or sponsor plan
A one-page plan: who stands at the table, when each person takes a break, and where meetings happen. The organiser or your contractor handles anything physical.
Lead capture form
A phone form or organiser scanner record holding the name, company, requirement, timing and the colleague who spoke to them. It includes a consent line for follow-up messages that your adviser has reviewed.
Follow-up messages and call list
Draft messages that refer to the actual conversation, and a call list that names the salesperson and the next step. Records go into your CRM or sheet with the conference as the source.
Conference cost and result record
Ticket, travel, sponsor fee and staff time set against the enquiries, quotations and orders traced to the conference. You check the costs before the record is used to decide on next year.
How the result is measured
- Meetings accepted before the conference, against invitations sent
- Conversations recorded with a stated requirement
- Qualified opportunities accepted by sales
- Speaker proposals submitted and accepted
- Quotations and orders traced to the conference
Recorded as a baseline before work starts, so every later report has an honest comparison.
Before you decide
Agree the work. Know how to judge it.
Conference marketing: use these checks to prepare, choose the scope, and review what changes.
Bring the right evidence
Bring a recent won order and an enquiry that went nowhere. Trace how each buyer found you, what they asked, and who handled the next step. A channel list alone will not explain the difference.
Make the scope clear
Choose one offer and one buyer group first. Agree which part needs attention: being found, getting a useful enquiry, or turning an enquiry into an order. Separate recommendations from the work required to carry them out.
Check the work in use
A useful plan names the first change, its owner, the evidence behind it, and the number that will show whether it worked. Ask what has deliberately been left out and why.
Know when to change course
If your team cannot answer the enquiries it already receives, improve that handover before buying more traffic. If the offer itself is unclear, test it with buyers before adding channels.
These are discussion points, not a fixed package. GullySales confirms the deliverables, responsibilities, fee, and term in writing after reading your brief and speaking with you.
How it works
How the conference marketing work runs
The work itself, in order. How an engagement starts, from your brief to a written scope, is set out on our method page.
- 1
Buyers and purpose
You name the buyers you want to meet and what a good conference would give you. We read your requirements brief and agree which conferences are worth looking at.
- 2
Conference choice
We compare the shortlist against the prospectus and the organiser's answers. You decide whether to attend, speak, sponsor or skip each one.
- 3
Proposal and meetings
The session proposal goes to your speaker for approval before submission. Invitations to the people on your meeting list follow once you have cleared the recipients.
- 4
Table plan and capture test
Your team tests the capture form on a sample conversation. We agree what counts as a priority lead and who reviews incomplete entries.
- 5
Follow-up and review
Records are checked and assigned, and approved messages go out. Afterwards we sit with you over the cost record and write down whether to return.
Before you hire anyone
Do this first yourself.
Before you pay for a ticket or a sponsor package, find out whether your buyers will be in the room.
- Write down the five job titles and company types you most want to meet.
- Ask the organiser for the prospectus, last year's speaker list and a breakdown of who attended.
- Look at past customers and lost deals and note which conferences those people attended or spoke at.
- Read the call for proposals and its word limit, and draft a title and abstract about the audience's problem.
- Decide who from your team goes, who speaks and who makes the follow-up calls, and put those names in writing.
Judge any provider
What to ask any provider of this service.
Useful whoever you choose, including us.
- How do you decide whether we should attend, speak, sponsor or skip a conference?
- Can I see a speaker proposal you wrote, and what did the programme committee ask for?
- How will we record a conversation so a salesperson can act on it?
- How do you handle consent for follow-up messages to people we meet?
- Who sends the meeting invitations, and do I approve each recipient?
- How will you show which orders came from the conference?
Where this fits
Three pieces of sales work, in this order.
This work sits inside sales process design, at stage 0, foundation. The audit comes before it, and sales management keeps it running.
Step 1
Sales audit
Find where deals are being lost and what to fix first.
Start here if you cannot say where orders are lost.
Step 2 · you are here
Sales process design
One written way to sell, from first enquiry to repeat order.
Start here if every salesperson sells differently.
Step 3
Sales management
A target, a review routine and someone who owns the number.
Start here if the team has targets and no routine.
FAQ
Questions owners ask before they call.
Not here? More answers, or ask on WhatsApp.
Should we sponsor, speak or just attend?
Can you get us a speaking slot?
Do you attend the conference for us?
Can we message everyone whose badge we scan?
What is the difference between this and event and trade show marketing?
What does it cost, and what happens first?
How long is the contract?
How soon will we see results?
Who will actually do the work?
What do you need from us?
By industry
Conference marketing, written for your industry.
Related services
Often bought with this, or instead of it.
Your next practical step
Tell us what you are trying to grow, and we will read it before we call.
Eight short steps, mostly taps. Skip anything you would rather answer on the call.