A pre/during/post system for turning events into pipeline.
Most teams attend events and generate nothing. They collect cards, send a LinkedIn connection request, and the relationship goes cold. This playbook treats events as a channel with three distinct phases, each with specific actions and timing requirements.
- ICP documented so you can identify which events your buyers actually attend
- One-sentence description of what you do, tested on someone outside your industry
- Message documented with the problem statement in buyer language (recommended)
- CRM set up with a place to log conversation notes
- A curated list of target events for the next quarter
- An event brief for each event: priority targets, opening lines, context-specific pitch
- A pre-event outreach sequence (sends before you arrive)
- A during-event conversation framework
- A post-event follow-up sequence (launches within 48 hours of returning)
- A tracking system for conversations, meetings, and pipeline opened per event
1. Identify the right events
Where does your ICP actually attend? Not which events are biggest, but which ones your specific buyer type goes to.
Methods:
- Ask your best current clients: "What events do you attend in your industry?"
- Check association websites, industry newsletters, and LinkedIn event listings for your ICP category
- Search "[industry] conference 2026" and "[industry] meetup [city]" on LinkedIn Events and Luma
- Look at who your target companies have sponsored or attended in the past (press releases, LinkedIn posts)
2. Get the attendee list
If the event list is public (Luma, Eventbrite, LinkedIn event page):
- Download or screenshot the list before it disappears
- Cross-reference against your prospect database
If there is no public list:
- Research the organizer and their typical audience profile
- Look at past event photos and tagged LinkedIn posts
- Research peer group membership if the event is industry-specific
3. Build your target list for the event
Identify 10-20 specific people you want to meet. Score each one:
- Priority targets: strong ICP match, likely to have budget and authority
- Secondary: adjacent fit, good for future pipeline or referrals
- Skip: not relevant to your ICP
For your top 5-10 targets, run a prospect brief before arriving. Know their company situation, likely pain points, and a specific opening line. Arrive prepared, not curious.
4. Send pre-event outreach (5-7 days before)
Use the pre-event template. Reference the specific event. Keep it short -- two to three sentences.
Goal: book 3-5 brief conversations before you arrive. Pre-booked meetings are warmer than cold floor introductions.
5. Prepare your conversation setup
Prepare three things before arriving:
- Your one-sentence description, tested on a non-industry friend
- A natural opening question that moves toward your ICP's situation: "What's bringing you to this one?" or "What are you hoping to get out of it?"
- Your qualifying question: one question that, if they answer yes, confirms they match your ICP. If they answer no, you can exit gracefully.
Your goal is conversations, not cards.
A business card without a conversation is worth nothing. A conversation without a follow-up plan is worth almost nothing. Focus on fewer, deeper interactions rather than maximizing the number of people you meet.
Conversation framework:
- Open naturally. Ask about them, not about yourself. "What's your focus here?" opens more doors than "let me tell you what I do."
- Listen for signals. Listen for mentions of the problem your ICP has. Do not force it.
- When the signal appears, name it back: "That sounds like [problem in their words]. Is that accurate?"
- If yes: "That's exactly what we work on. Worth a quick call after the event to see if there's a fit?"
- Before ending the conversation: confirm a specific next step. Not "let's stay in touch" -- that means nothing. "Can I send you a quick note this week?" is a real commitment.
What to capture during the event:
- Name, company, and one specific thing they mentioned (not just "had a good conversation")
- One detail you can reference in the follow-up: a project they mentioned, a challenge, a comment about their current situation
- The agreed next step: call, email, intro, send them something specific
Tools:
- Notes app on your phone. Whatever you will actually use.
- Transfer notes to CRM within 24 hours while context is fresh. After 48 hours, memory degrades fast.
Event brief format (prepare this before arriving):
EVENT: [Name] -- [Date] -- [Location]
Type: [Meetup / Dinner / Conference / Peer Group]
Expected audience: [description]
YOUR OBJECTIVES
1. [Primary: e.g., "Meet 3 owners in the MSP space"]
2. [Secondary: e.g., "Get 1 warm intro to the peer group organizer"]
3. [Tertiary: e.g., "Identify 1 potential referral partner"]
PRIORITY TARGETS
1. [Name] -- [Company] -- [Why they matter] -- [Opening line]
2. [Name] -- [Company] -- [Why they matter] -- [Opening line]
3. [Name] -- [Company] -- [Why they matter] -- [Opening line]
YOUR PITCH FOR THIS CROWD
[Context-specific version of your one-liner for this audience type]
CONVERSATION STARTERS
- [Relevant to event theme]
- [Relevant to audience profile]
- [Interesting data point from your research]
AFTER THE EVENT
- Send follow-ups within 24 hours
- Post on LinkedIn about the event (tagging people you met)
- Log all conversations in CRM with notes
The follow-up window is 48 hours. After 48 hours, context fades and the connection goes cold fast. After a week, most people have forgotten the conversation.
Day 1 post-event:
- Send personalized follow-up emails to everyone you had a substantive conversation with. Use the post-event template.
- Reference the specific thing they mentioned. Do not send a generic "great to meet you" email.
- Send LinkedIn connections to everyone you met, with a personalized note referencing the conversation.
- Add all contacts to CRM with notes from the event, tagged with the event name.
Day 3-5 post-event:
- For people who did not reply to the first follow-up, send a short second touch.
- For people who replied positively, confirm the next step (call, meeting, introduction).
Ongoing:
- Contacts from events who do not convert immediately go into your quarterly follow-up cadence, not a cold list. They already know you. Treat them differently from cold outbound.
- Reference the event in future outreach: "We met at [event] in [month]" reactivates the context.
- Pre-event outreach -- Short sequence to book conversations before the event
- Post-event follow-up -- Personalized follow-up that references the conversation
| Metric | What it tells you | Target |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-booked conversations | Did you execute the pre-event plan? | 3-5 per event |
| Conversations at event | Did you meet the right people? | 5-10 substantive |
| Follow-ups sent within 48 hrs | Did you capture and follow up? | 100% of substantive convos |
| Meetings booked post-event | Is the audience matched to your ICP? | 1-3 per event |
| Deals opened per event | Is the event converting to pipeline? | 1 per 2-3 events |
| Cost per meeting opened | Is this event worth attending again? | Calculate after 3 events |
An event where you have 10 surface-level conversations and no follow-up plan is worth less than one where you have 3 deep conversations, all followed up within 24 hours.
Attending without a target list. If you do not know who you want to meet before you arrive, you are networking randomly. Identify your top 10 targets before every event.
Collecting cards without a next step. A card without a specific committed next step is a future cold contact. Always end the conversation with something confirmed: "I'll send you a note Thursday."
Sending generic follow-ups. "Great to meet you at [event]" is forgettable. Reference the specific thing they said. One specific detail is worth more than three paragraphs of generic follow-up.
Waiting more than 48 hours to follow up. After 48 hours, the context fades quickly. People are at the next event or back in the rhythm of their work. The window is short.
Treating event contacts the same as cold outbound. Someone you met in person has already warmed to you. A different follow-up cadence and tone is appropriate.
Not posting about the event on LinkedIn. Tagging people you met reinforces the connection, creates visibility with their network, and gives them a reason to engage with your content.
Measuring cost of attendance against one event. Most event conversions happen over multiple touchpoints. A contact you meet in January may convert in March after consistent follow-up and content visibility.