B2B events have undergone the most profound change imaginable over the past three years. Marketers now need to manage a much more complex event landscape, planning and executing a range of events across in-person, virtual, and hybrid formats. Selecting the right B2B event management technology provider is a critical part of this process but one that has become more complex, as the event tech landscape has changed at pace over the past three years. We define B2B event management technology as “technology that successfully executes engaging and distinctive B2B in-person, virtual, and hybrid events that build awareness, drive demand, capture data, and engage employees.”

In this blog, we look at three of the questions B2B marketers should be asking themselves when evaluating their B2B event management infrastructure.

  1. Can you consolidate event management technology providers? Pre-pandemic, event technology was often managed in silos. Event teams used a variety of point solutions to plan and execute their in-person events, while demand marketing teams were typically responsible for managing webinar technology. Post-pandemic, teams are more aligned, and with event management technology providers supporting a wider variety of use cases, leaders should look for consolidation opportunities. Doing so will deliver operational efficiencies and provide the chance to deliver more personalized attendee experiences, as well.
  2. Do you have a clear strategy to maximize the value of your event data? With the imminent demise of third-party cookies, B2B events represent one of the best opportunities to capture zero- and first-party data. Indeed, three-quarters of marketers recognized that the ability to “seamlessly collect data about event attendees” was very important or essential (according to Forrester’s Q3 2021 B2B Enterprise Marketing Events Trends Survey). Marketers must prioritize event management technology that enables them to consistently capture a wide variety of engagement data across all three event phases and build rich attendee profiles.
  3. How well does your event tech integrate with your existing sales and marketing ecosystem? Forrester data from earlier this year shows that just over half of marketing organizations have still not integrated their event management technology with their marketing automation platform (MAP) and/or customer relationship management (CRM). To maximize the value that event data can bring, leaders need to prioritize event management solutions that support deep, bilateral integrations. This enables the delivery of personalized MAP emails and real-time revenue development rep (RDR) and sales follow-up.

Forrester clients can check out The B2B Event Management Technology Landscape, Q4 2022 report, which covers these questions. Clients can also use the landscape report to understand the value they can expect from an event tech provider, learn how the vendors differ, and get help with vendor selection based on required functionality and event use case.