So we use SaaStr itself as a lab for a lot of learnings, including just what folks want from field marketing and events. The theme for 2023 is clear: leads and pipeline. Brand marketing, meeting with customers, and pipeline influence have fallen down the list.
So we modified things to focus on qualified leads.
The result? The average sponsor got 153.5% of the qualified leads of the prior year.
Folks do have to be qualified. Now how many will convert? A number of deals already have, but the reality is pipeline, opportunities and leads from field events just take longer to convert than hot in-bound leads. And in general, everything is just harder. We all may have to work 53% harder just to do as well as a year ago! But still interesting to see.
SaaStr Europa 2023 also had our highest “attendance rate” of any SaaStr event ever as a % of registered ticket holders. That probably helped with the leads. More folks showed up, and we had a record number of attendees.