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Events
Events and trade shows let us connect with the industry, showcase FlowFuse in action, gather feedback, and build relationships that online calls can't replicate. They require significant investment and coordinated team effort.
Event Strategy
We treat trade shows as comprehensive marketing platforms with three goals:
- Thought Leadership — establish FlowFuse as an industry authority through scheduled talks, roundtables, and demos. Every booth team member should be able to deliver a consistent, well-crafted pitch.
- Highly Qualified Leads — run targeted pre-event campaigns for our ICP, drive advance registrations, and enable meeting bookings before the event starts.
- Sales and POC Opportunities — convert qualified leads into sales conversations and proof-of-concept engagements.
Partner Strategy
Partners can dilute our brand. If included, their participation must be structured:
- Cost model: Partners sponsor daily content featuring FlowFuse case studies, at no cost to us.
- Content scope: Limited to case studies or roundtable participation.
- Booth concept: FlowFuse-only stand with an amphitheater setup.
KPIs
Quality over quantity:
- Booth/event registrations
- Generated leads with phone numbers
- Follow-up sales conversations
Booth and Demo Principles
The demo should be interactive and visual, creating immediate cause-and-effect moments (e.g., a flow-controlled coffee dispenser). Our narrative around the demo should connect a cause and value for the individual user - e.g. you want the best coffee possible, and the value of FlowFuse is getting there as efficiently as possible.
Exhibitor Planning Timeline
Planning should begin at least six months before the event. Budget is set by the CEO and tracked in HubSpot Campaigns. All logistics (hotel details, travel times, team assignments) go in the relevant Drive folder under Fairs.
Team
The CEO and CTO propose the on-site team. For a 4–5 person team, aim for:
- Two sales or customer success reps
- One technical member for demo setup and teardown
- One additional member for support or learning
Create a Slack channel named #proj-[event-name]-[year] (e.g. #proj-hannover-25) for all event comms.
Six Months Out
- Confirm team availability
- Book accommodation (near the venue, breakfast included if possible)
- Most team members arrive the day before the event; the demo lead arrives two days early and leaves one day after
Four Months Out
Logistics: Begin booth vendor search (get at least three quotes). Share the vendor list. Prefer vendors near the venue. Handle invoices per the vendor handbook. Order booth services (electricity, wi-fi, leads app) as early as possible.
Demo: The demo owner - typically either a domain expert or a marketing leader - leads demo planning and shares specs with the booth vendor by this deadline.
Marketing: Create a landing page under /events/ with: what's being showcased, a video, a contact form, free pass links (if available), booth location, giveaways, contests, and special events. Begin posting on social media once a week. Research attendee and exhibitor lists and share with sales for outreach.
Three Months Out
Marketing/Sales: Define booth messaging with sales and marketing. Use this to brief design on taglines, artwork, and handout content.
Design: Following the vendor's specs and the confirmed messaging, produce booth artwork.
Two Months Out
Logistics: Order giveaways and marketing materials (flyers, business cards, branded attire). Typical vendors: Vistaprint, Stickermule. Confirm whether delivery to venue or hotel is possible; otherwise coordinate with the nearest team member. Create the booth schedule.
Marketing: Led with marketing content designed to generate booth interest and attract in-person conversation. Define the leads strategy with sales, defining success metrics, the general approach, and a long-term follow-up plan.
Team: Plan and book travel based on the booth schedule.
One Month Out
- Prepare a social media content plan covering pre-event, live, and post-event content
- Assign a DRI for on-site content creation
- Finalize and deliver all print materials to production
- Update the video loop for booth screens (logos, taglines, upcoming events)
Two Weeks Out
- Event owner creates the retrospective document and sets the structure for note taking at event
- Hold a team briefing and distribute the event checklist
- Sales sends personal (non-newsletter) emails to contacts who redeemed free tickets, inviting them to book meetings
- Each rep does outbound to target accounts; goal is meetings booked before the event
- Team members practice and record their pitch; share to the Slack channel
During the Event
The team follows the booth schedule, leads strategy, and booth messaging. Professional etiquette applies — see ESN's dos and don'ts for reference.
The on-site team must include at least one marketing team member to own content capture and lead follow-up alignment.
As ideas, issues, or concerns come up, make sure you document immediately in the retrospective document. Ideas are ephemeral and will vanish into thin air if you don't write them down, so write them down.
After the Event
Sales and marketing follow up with leads per the pre-defined strategy. Hold the retrospective the week after.
Attending as a Visitor
Prepare before you go. Review the exhibitor list, note who you want to visit, and order your stops by booth location to avoid unnecessary backtracking. Bring business cards.
At each stand: Know who you want to talk to and what you want from the conversation. Keep your phone in your pocket and give the person your full attention.
Exchange cards: When you hand one out, ask for one in return.
After the event: Follow up with every contact you met. Thank them for the conversation, offer to answer any outstanding questions, and consider adding them to HubSpot.
