When and How Will B2B SaaS In-Person Conferences Return?

Let’s be honest about B2B SaaS conferences.

They were addictive and seductive creatures for marketers.

Conferences were an easy way to generate “leads” and conversations.

In a pay-per-play world, they could buy meetings with prospects and get their executives on panels and keynotes.

And don’t tell anyone but you could buy best-of-show awards for the right price.

Then, conferences disappeared. Boom. Gone.

Rather than brute force (aka money), marketers had to use creativity, agility, authenticity, and high-quality content to spark leads and conversations.

In some respects, it made marketers better because they couldn’t buy leads.

As COVID is wrestled to the ground, in-person conferences are slowly returning.

Will B2B companies jump right back into conferences or will they take new approaches.

One B2B marketer suggested that when some companies reviewed their conference activity, they discovered that 20% of the conferences they attended generated 80% of their leads.

Maybe less will be more.

What do you think?