Forrester: Marketeers leaning toward smaller B2B events

After the Covid pandemic lockdown restrictions lifted, there was a surge back to industry events, with a strong demand for face-to-face meeting opportunities.

But a few years on from those dark days of isolation, and the pressure on those organising and attending events has increased, with budgets and questions over format being some of the main headaches.

Research from Forrester, The global state Of B2B events 2025, has highlighted how the past 12 months have seen increased competition for attendees and sponsorships in the events space. For the second consecutive year, budgets have come under pressure, with difficult macroeconomic conditions exacerbating those problems.

It has always been a challenge getting quality attendees through the door and to avoid the tyre kickers who have come for the free pens, but this challenge has increased in the past year. Consequently, trying to overcome the challenges to make events compelling, attract the right audience and deliver value to the sponsors have proved to be difficult, with customer satisfaction levels dropping year on year.

The message for channel marketeers who use in-person shows to present their brand and services is to adapt the approach to focus on attendee needs and to put the emphasis on productivity and to demonstrate the value of the event.

Conrad Mills, principal analyst at Forrester, said that there was pressure to be inventive with events and show the rewards from the outlays involved: “Events remain one of the largest line items in marketing budgets, yet marketeers are under increasing pressure to do more with less. Successful organisations are building attendee-centric event strategies, utilising AI to drive efficiencies, and demonstrating ROI to business leaders.”

One of the results of the desire to show value and meet the needs of those spending the time at an event is for marketeers to concentrate on smaller, more focused activities. The shift to smaller has also been at the expense of being involved with some third-party events.

The trend appears to be using smaller events to improve the chances of attracting the right audience, hitting budgets and rewarding those who choose to spend the time at the event with useful information and connections. Forrester found that smaller hosted events were the fastest-growing event type in 2024, which is likely to remain, with 59% of enterprises planning to run more.

“The shift to smaller hosted events underscores the importance of deeper connection and control over audience engagement,” Mills added. 

Although virtual events remain an option, and marketeers indicated they still intended to run them over the year ahead, the hybrid or online only event has dropped in importance.

Some of the comments made to Forrester and shared in the report revealed that virtual was an option that could be deployed strategically to help users reduce travel and costs, and would continue to be used when the circumstances were beneficial.

Forrester’s report commented on the siloed approach most marketeers took to organising and planning events, with it typically done by a few specialists, which makes it harder to align the activities with the overall business strategy and wider market needs. There were also some suggestions that technology could be better utilised, bringing together disparate platforms and harnessing AI, to make them more effective tools for marketeers.