The short version
A badge scan is a contact, not an opportunity. When an event hands you hundreds of names, the first job isn’t outreach, it’s subtraction. Define the ICP, score each attendee on fit, seniority and signals, and let the list shrink until a sales team can work it.
Most teams do the opposite: they load the full list into a sequence and wonder why the replies are thin. A small number of well-chosen, well-researched accounts will outperform a large list every time, because the sales team’s capacity is the real constraint, not the size of the list.
Scoring the list in an hour
Clean the attendee file first: merge duplicates, standardise company names and strip personal email domains. Then add three scores. Fit scores the company from 0 to 5 using type, geography and business model. Seniority scores the person from 0 to 3. Signals scores recent evidence from 0 to 3, such as speaking on a panel, hiring, or a visit to your site.
Add them, then set tiers by threshold: priority at 9 or more, qualified at 6 to 8, parked below 6. Check the first twenty names in each tier by hand. If you disagree with more than three, fix the weights before applying them to the full list.
Outreach by tier
Priority accounts get one-to-one, researched messages and, if possible, a call. Example pre-event note: “I saw your team is presenting on lending automation on day two. I’m at the venue both days; could we take twenty minutes on Tuesday after your session?” It references a verifiable fact and proposes a specific slot.
Qualified accounts get a short templated message with one account-specific line inserted. Parked contacts receive no outreach, but are tagged in CRM with event source so they can be revisited later when signals change. Parking is a decision, not neglect, and it protects sender reputation.
Using the event itself well
Before arriving, book as many priority meetings as possible and print a one-page briefing per account: who they are, what they said, one question to ask. Use the floor for the conversations that need a room, such as introducing a second stakeholder or discussing something sensitive.
Capture notes within an hour of each conversation, using a fixed format: topic, next step, date agreed. Details fade fast. A voice memo transcribed later is better than nothing, and a shared sheet lets the colleague who covers the follow-up send a message that references the actual chat.
The first 48 hours and the first fortnight
Send follow-ups for priority meetings within 48 hours, with the specific commitment you made: “As promised, here is the two-page note on settlement reconciliation; shall we set thirty minutes next Thursday?” For people you did not meet, send a different message, since claiming a conversation that did not happen damages trust.
At day 7, check who replied. At day 14, send a value-adding second touch to non-responders in the qualified tier, and then stop. Report the result as meetings held and opportunities created from the event, not scans or opens.
Worked example (illustrative)
A hypothetical team receives an attendee list of 500 names after a conference and compares loading everything into a sequence with tiering first.
What changed: Working fewer accounts properly produced three times the meetings in less time. The hours saved by parking the tail went into research on the priority tier, which drove the reply rate.
Do it: the steps
Tick them off as you go. Your progress stays on this device.
Traps to avoid
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Judging an event by badge scans. A thousand scans is a vanity number; a dozen booked, qualified meetings is a result.
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Sending the same follow-up to people you met and people you did not. Conversation-based and cold messages need different wording and different expectations.
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Not recording the event as a source in CRM. Without it, later opportunities cannot be traced and next year’s budget argument starts from anecdote.
What to track
- Priority-to-meeting rate
- meetings held divided by priority accounts, a common planning range is 20 to 35%.
- Follow-up speed
- share of priority contacts messaged within 48 hours; target 100%.
- Event-sourced opportunities
- opportunities created within 90 days tagged to the event, divided by event cost.
Benchmarks are typical planning ranges, not guarantees. Calibrate to your own data.
Questions people ask
What if the organiser will not share the attendee list?
Build one from public sources: speaker and sponsor pages, exhibitor lists, social posts using the event hashtag and registration widgets. You will get a partial list, but it is often the more engaged part. Also ask sponsors’ teams and your own contacts who is attending.
How soon after an event should I stop following up?
Run a defined window of about two to three weeks: first message in 48 hours, a second touch at a week, a final value-led note at two weeks. After that, move non-responders into longer-term nurture or park them. Endless follow-up damages reputation and wastes capacity better spent on accounts with signals.