Event organizers are facing an unprecedented challenge in 2025. The traditional model of selling booth space and expecting exhibitors to be satisfied with basic lead collection is no longer sufficient.
Market pressures are mounting from all directions: exhibitors demand measurable ROI beyond simple lead counts, competition emerges from AI-enabled newcomers launching events with minimal barriers, and buyers complete 80% of their purchase journey before ever contacting a vendor.
The solution is not incremental improvements to existing offerings; it is a fundamental transformation from landlord to strategic marketing partner through what industry experts are calling "Surround Sound Marketing."
Understanding the Paradigm Shift
I recently presented to the Society of Independent Show Organizers (SISO) Marketing Special Interest Group on this revolutionary approach. We have developed a concept of Surround Sound Marketing, which represents "a year-round data-driven marketing program that allows your customers to deliver the right message to the right audience at the right time in the right channel." This is not simply about adding digital components to existing events. It is about recognizing that you own the audience, something your exhibitors desperately need access to but cannot obtain independently. This audience ownership creates what I call the "halo effect," where trusted introductions carry exponentially more weight than cold outreach.
The global events industry, valued at over $1.8 trillion and projected to reach $2.5 trillion by 2035, is experiencing a fundamental shift in buyer expectations and competitive dynamics. Event marketing budgets are surging, with 74% of event marketers expecting increases in 2025, but traditional ROI measurement approaches are failing to demonstrate value effectively.
Market Forces Driving the Transformation
Several converging market pressures make surround sound marketing not just advantageous, but essential for survival:
ROI Accountability Crisis: The demand for proof of ROI has intensified beyond simple lead generation. Exhibitors now require detailed analytics showing how leads progress through sales funnels, conversion rates to closed deals, and attribution across multiple touchpoints. Research shows that 38.2% of organizers still report difficulty demonstrating ROI for B2B conferences, though this has improved from 45.4% in 2023.
Democratized Competition: AI has lowered barriers to entry across the events industry. Traditional competitors like IBM and Salesforce are creating their own branded experiences, while new entrants can launch events and communities with minimal upfront investment. Event organizers must differentiate through audience access and engagement quality rather than logistics alone.
Evolved Buyer Journey: The nonlinear, complex buyer journey now involves multiple decision-makers, extensive digital research, and cross-channel information gathering. Buyers increasingly rely on peer reviews, comparison platforms, LinkedIn content, and industry publications rather than traditional vendor presentations. Event organizers who insert themselves strategically into this journey become indispensable resources rather than periodic touchpoints.
Community Expectations: Audiences demand year-round value and engagement. The expectation that valuable industry insights and networking opportunities should be available continuously, not just during event dates, creates pressure for 365-day programming and community building.
Implementation Strategy: From Table Stakes to Strategic Investments
Successful surround sound marketing implementation follows a maturity progression across three event phases:
Pre-Event Opportunities
- Table Stakes: Digital inventory monetization through newsletter advertising, website banner placements, and sponsor microsites.
- Quick Wins: Content marketing partnerships, pre-event webinar sponsorships, and enhanced show planner advertising with AI-powered recommendations.
- Strategic Builders: AI-powered matchmaking systems, product discovery marketplaces, and intent data monetization programs.
- Long-term Investments: Natural language search platforms, automated Account-Based Marketing (ABM) campaigns, and comprehensive year-round digital community platforms.
During-Event Enhancement
Beyond traditional booth placement, modern events incorporate curated networking experiences, AI-powered traffic alerts, and real-time lead analytics that provide conversational insights rather than basic contact information.
Post-Event Extension
The most significant opportunity lies in extending engagement beyond event dates through strategic follow-up programming, lookalike audience creation, and performance analytics that help exhibitors optimize their marketing strategies year-round.
First-Party Data Network Effects and Intent Data Integration
Event organizers possess a unique advantage in first-party data collection that becomes exponentially more valuable when strategically combined with third-party intent data sources. Unlike purchased data or standalone insights, directly collected audience information benefits from network effects: the more data collected, the more valuable it becomes.
When this proprietary audience data is fused with external buying signals, it creates comprehensive buyer intelligence that drives measurable value.
AI Implementation Realities
While AI adoption in event marketing is accelerating with 50% of professionals planning integration and 85% of brands expecting significant sales increases, successful implementation requires alignment with existing data infrastructure.
Organizations using AI-powered personalization see 35% higher lead conversion rates, while those implementing AI for real-time analytics achieve significant improvements in attendee engagement and exhibitor satisfaction.
Privacy and Personalization Balance
All data collection and personalization must be permission-based with clear value propositions. Successful programs position data usage as value-added services that enhance attendee experiences through optimized navigation, priority treatment, and relevant connections rather than invasive tracking.
Revenue Impact and Business Transformation
Event organizers implementing surround sound strategies typically see significant improvements across key metrics:
- Customer satisfaction and renewal rates
- Competitive differentiation
Industry examples demonstrate the potential impact. Organizations implementing event-led growth strategies were 75% more likely to see growth rates over 50% in 2023 and 140% more likely to achieve over 50% growth compared to traditional approaches.
The Competitive Imperative
The transformation to surround sound marketing is not optional; it is a competitive necessity. Event organizers who continue to focus on selling real estate on the show floor will find themselves increasingly marginalized as exhibitors seek strategic marketing partners who can deliver measurable business outcomes across multiple customer touch points and channels.
As the events industry continues evolving toward a $2.5 trillion market, success will belong to organizations that recognize their true value proposition: exclusive access to highly coveted, pre-qualified industry audiences combined with the marketing expertise to connect those audiences with exhibitor solutions at precisely the right moments with exactly the right messages.
From Strategy to Execution: Join RevvedUP 2026
The evolution toward data-driven event strategies and surround sound marketing aligns perfectly with the insights and discussions that will define RevvedUP 2026, happening March 23–24, 2026 at The Vinoy, St. Petersburg, FL. This exclusive event brings together CEOs and their revenue-critical C-Suite teams from across the information and data economy to explore how digital, data, and AI are transforming revenue operations and enterprise value creation.
Co-hosted by H2K Labs and Outsell, Inc., RevvedUP unites the leadership of Heather Holst-Knudsen and Anthea Stratigos to deliver a unique growth platform that fuses market intelligence with execution. If your organization is ready to move beyond incremental improvement and lead the transformation toward intelligent, measurable growth, RevvedUP 2026 is where strategy meets execution.
👉 Secure your seat today:
Register for RevvedUP 2026 
