Workflow · Conference prep · Calculator

What does it actually take to win a conference?

Plan the full motion in three phases: pre-event outreach, on-the-floor capacity, post-event follow-up. With dated timeline anchors so you know exactly when to start.

Talk to usSee the full workflow →
Quick presets
Event basics
3 days
30%

What fraction of attendees match your ideal customer? Tighter conferences run 50–80%, broad conferences 15–30%.

Team on the floor
2
8

6–8 is realistic with a booth. 10+ requires back-to-back scheduling.

Pre-event outreach
28 days

Sweet spot is 21–28 days. Earlier = warmup time. Later = rushed.

1
2
3

0 = LinkedIn-only pre-event.

Post-event follow-up
21 days

Most conference pipelines die after 30 days of silence.

3
2
Conversion rates (advanced)
45%

Conference outreach: 40–55% vs 25–35% cold (shared event context boosts acceptance).

20%

First DM after accept. Conference context: 18–25%.

12%
7%
40%

Pre-event subject lines that mention the conference open at 40–50%.

5%
45%

What % of pre-event replies turn into a booked in-person meeting? 40–55% is typical.

50%
20%
Why pre-event outreach wins

Conference outreach gets 2–3× higher reply rates than cold prospecting. “Saw you're going to SaaStr, let's meet at booth 412” has built-in context, mutual relevance, and a near-term reason to respond. Most teams under-fund this and lose deals to competitors who don't. Reach out now — every day past today is reach you can't buy back.

Total pipeline impact
48meetings→3closed-won
From 450 ICP-matched attendees over 52 days of orchestrated outreach.
Timeline · key dates
Jun 12
Start warming domains
3 weeks of warmup before first send.
Jul 3
Start outreach to attendees
LinkedIn + email sequence kicks off.
Jul 31
Event starts
3-day window. 48 meetings possible across your team.
Aug 2
Event ends
Begin same-day follow-up. Wait 48 hrs and reply rates drop ~40%.
Aug 23
Post-event follow-up ends
By this point most pipeline that will close has touched a CRM.
Phase 1 · Pre-event outreach
Jul 3 → Jul 31
Prospects reached
450
of 450 ICP-matched
Replies
60
13% LI · 6% email
Meetings booked
27
45% of replies
LinkedIn reach cap
800
1 account over 28 days
Phase 2 · At the event
Jul 31 → Aug 2
Meeting capacity
48
2 × 8 × 3 days
Pre-booked
27
from pre-event outreach
Floor walk-ups
21
opportunistic capacity
Overflow
0
well-balanced
Phase 3 · Post-event follow-up
Aug 2 → Aug 23
Warm prospects
81
met on the floor + warm pre-event
Replies
27
warmer context = higher rates
Discovery calls
14
50% of replies
Closed-won
3
20% of calls
Post-event email infra
Inboxes
1
Domains
1
Sends / day
17
Skip the build
We'll run the conference motion for you.

Pre-event prospect list, ICP scoring, multi-touch sequence, on-the-floor scheduling, and post-event follow-up. Same playbook we've run for Series A companies at SaaStr, AWS re:Invent, and HubSpot INBOUND.

Book a call →
In production

How it looks in production.

Case 01 · AI infrastructure company entering the US market

Closed 9 deals at SaaStr in 12 weeks.

Problem.

Eight weeks out from SaaStr 2026. 1,481 attendees, no US presence, no CRM hygiene, founding team still based overseas. Sponsorship was already paid for; the calendar was empty.

What we did.

Pre-event ICP scoring on 1,481 attendees. 45-person shortlist surfaced with intent signals. Two Allston Labs engineers on the SaaStr floor for three days running in-Slack triage with the founder. Nightly debriefs. Post-event sequencing for 90 days off the badge-scan list.

112
Qualified demos
9
Closed-won · 90 days
“Our US revenue went from zero to seven figures in a quarter. They were the team that made it happen.”— Founder & CEO
Case 02 · Series B healthcare platform at HLTH

Booked the booth solid four weeks out.

Problem.

HLTH was eight weeks away. Last year they had walked the floor with no plan and left with 14 badge scans, none of which converted. Marketing wanted to skip the year; founder said no.

What we did.

Attendee list pulled and segmented by buying committee. 320-person ICP shortlist scored against their closed-won data. LinkedIn-led sequence with a SaaStr-style "meet at booth 412" CTA. Calendar invites went out on the third touch. Onsite engineer ran the schedule from Slack.

47
Booked meetings
$2.1M
Pipeline · 60 days
“We walked into HLTH with our calendar full. Last year we walked in cold. Same conference, completely different week.”— Head of Growth
Case 03 · Dev tools startup at AWS re:Invent

From walk-up booth to scheduled enterprise pipeline.

Problem.

re:Invent. 65,000 attendees, an impossibly broad ICP, and a tiny booth in the back of the expo hall. Without a plan, the team would have gotten lost in the noise.

What we did.

Filtered re:Invent's attendee list down to 280 ICP targets. Personalized cold sequence three weeks pre-event, layered on a LinkedIn warm-intro path through their advisors. Booked 38 conversations across the four days. Post-event nurture for accounts that didn't convert to demos that week.

38
Onsite meetings
11
Active enterprise pipeline
“We stopped trying to win re:Invent by being loud. We won by being scheduled.”— Founder
Let's talk

We'll run your next conference for you.

Pre-event prospect list, ICP scoring, multi-touch sequence, on-the-floor scheduling, post-event follow-up. Same playbook we've run at SaaStr, AWS re:Invent, HubSpot INBOUND.

Book a call →
Or email phillip@allstonlabs.com