Episode Details

#227: Events | In this episode, Dave hosts a live Exit Five session with Zuddl and panelists Stephanie Christensen (Event Marketing Leader) and Kristina DeBrito (Director of Strategic Events at Iterable) to break down how B2B marketers should be thinking about events in 2025. From small VIP dinners to large customer conferences, events are making a big comeback—but without a solid strategy, they can be a massive waste of budget.

Dave, Stephanie, and Kristina cover:

• The key metrics to track to prove event ROI in 2025
• How to get executive and stakeholder buy-in for your event strategy
• What’s working in B2B events right now (and what’s not)
• How to follow up post-event to drive engagement and pipeline

Timestamps

• (00:00) - – Intro to Stephanie and Kristina
• (02:15) - – Why events are making a big comeback in B2B marketing
• (05:42) - – The biggest mistakes marketers make when planning events
• (08:30) - – How to align your event strategy with business goals
• (11:15) - – The key metrics to track for proving event ROI
• (14:27) - – How to get buy-in from executives and key stakeholders
• (17:40) - – What’s working right now in B2B events (and what’s not)
• (21:56) - – The role of micro-events, VIP dinners, and executive meetups
• (25:10) - – Sponsoring vs. hosting your own event — how to decide
• (29:30) - – The importance of post-event follow-up and engagement
• (33:12) - – Virtual events: lessons learned and how they fit into 2025 strategies
• (37:05) - – Live Q&A: Expert answers to audience event strategy questions
• (42:30) - – Final takeaways on making B2B events worth the investment

Join 50,0000 people who get Dave's Newsletter here: https://www.exitfive.com/newsletter

Learn more about Exit Five's private marketing community: https://www.exitfive.com/

***

Brought to you by:

Optimizely - A no-code AI platform where autonomous agents execute marketing work across webpages, email, SEO, and campaigns. Join the next cohort of Opal U, a live 5-day course designed for senior marketing leaders who are ready to ship more with AI, at optimizely.com/exitfive. 

Vector - A contact-level ads platform that lets you build audiences from actual people on your site, clicking your ads, and checking out your competitors. Learn more at vector.co, and get their new MCP server by clicking here. 

Customer.io - An AI powered customer engagement platform that help marketers turn first-party data into engaging customer experiences across email, SMS, and push. Learn more at customer.io/exitfive.

Join us in Stowe, Vermont for Drive 2026 - three days away from your desk to learn what's working in B2B marketing from the people who are actually doing it. Grab your ticket at exitfive.com/drive.

***

Thanks to my friends at hatch.fm for producing this episode and handling