We ran 32 events in our second year as a company. No two were the same.
Every event required reinventing the process:
- What venue should we use?
- How do we invite people?
- What content should we present?
- How do we follow up?
I'd sit in planning meetings with regional sales teams, debating the same questions we'd answered three weeks earlier for a different city. "Should we do a dinner or a roundtable?" "What's the invite strategy?" "Who sends the emails?"
We wasted hours debating the same questions for every event. Execution was slow. Quality was inconsistent. ROI was unpredictable.
Our regional sales directors complained: "We need events faster. Your process takes 6 weeks to plan a dinner that should take 1 week."
They were right. I'd become a bottleneck. Every event required my involvement because we had no standardized process. No templates. No playbooks. Just tribal knowledge in my head.
So I spent a month building field and event marketing playbooks—templatized processes for every event type we run.
The result:
- Event planning time: 6 weeks → 2 weeks
- Execution consistency: 6.2/10 → 8.8/10
- Average event ROI: 420% → 1,028%
- Regional teams empowered to run events independently
Same team. Same budget. Completely different execution model.
Here's the complete playbook we use for field and event marketing.
The Event Selection Framework
The first playbook: How to decide which events to run.
The problem before playbooks:
Sales would say: "We should do an event in Chicago."
Me: "What kind of event? Who should attend? What's the goal?"
Sales: "I don't know, just something to generate pipeline."
Me: "Okay, but are we trying to create new opportunities or accelerate existing deals?"
Sales: "Both?"
This vague request led to poorly planned events that tried to do everything and achieved nothing. We'd invite a mix of prospects and customers, deliver generic content that didn't resonate with anyone, and wonder why ROI was terrible.
I needed a framework that forced us to get specific before committing budget and time.
The event selection playbook:
Step 1: Define the objective
Every event must have one primary objective:
Objective A: Net-new pipeline generation
- Target: Prospects we've never engaged
- Format: Webinars, larger roundtables, trade shows
- Success metric: New opportunities created
Objective B: Deal acceleration
- Target: Active opportunities in pipeline
- Format: Executive dinners, private demos, account-based events
- Success metric: Deal stage progression or close
Objective C: Customer expansion
- Target: Existing customers with expansion potential
- Format: Customer dinners, roadmap sessions, user groups
- Success metric: Expansion pipeline created
Objective D: Retention/engagement
- Target: At-risk customers or key accounts
- Format: Executive briefings, VIP experiences, advisory councils
- Success metric: Renewal commitment or NPS improvement
Step 2: Match objective to event type
Once objective is clear, the playbook maps to recommended event formats:
For net-new pipeline:
- Webinars (high volume, low cost)
- Regional roundtables (mid volume, targeted)
- Trade show booth (high cost, brand presence)
For deal acceleration:
- Executive dinners (intimate, high-touch)
- Private product sessions (customized demos)
- Peer reference calls (customer validation)
For customer expansion:
- Customer roundtables (peer learning)
- Product roadmap sessions (future value)
- Executive briefings (strategic alignment)
For retention:
- VIP dinners (relationship building)
- Advisory board (influence + engagement)
- Customer appreciation events (community)
Step 3: Resource allocation check
The playbook includes a resource requirement matrix:
Event Type: Executive Dinner
- Time to plan: 2-3 weeks
- Budget required: $2,000-3,500
- Team time: 20 hours
- Sales involvement: High (must attend, must help invite)
Event Type: Webinar
- Time to plan: 3-4 weeks
- Budget required: $4,000-6,000 (with paid promotion)
- Team time: 40 hours
- Sales involvement: Low (optional attendance)
This prevents us from committing to events we don't have capacity for.
The result: Every event request now goes through this framework. Clear objective → Appropriate format → Resource commitment.
No more vague "let's do something" requests.
The Pre-Event Playbook
The second playbook: What happens before the event.
The 4-week pre-event checklist:
Before playbooks, I'd scramble to plan events in 2 weeks and wonder why attendance was low. The playbook forces us to start 4 weeks out.
Week 4 (T-4 weeks): Confirm venue, date, budget. Sales provides target account list. Create event brief document that defines objective, format, and success metrics.
Week 3 (T-3 weeks): Finalize invite list with sales input. Design invitations using approved templates. Prepare content outline based on event type. Sales begins personal outreach to top-tier invites.
Week 2 (T-2 weeks): Send invitations (mix of personal from sales and marketing emails). Set up registration tracking. Finalize content and talking points. Sales follows up with key accounts who haven't responded.
Week 1 (T-1 week): Send reminder emails to registered attendees. Confirm final logistics with venue. Print materials if in-person event. Sales makes final confirmation calls to high-priority attendees and briefs team on who's coming and what they care about.
Day Before: Send final reminder email with logistics. Confirm headcount with venue. Load presentation and test AV/platform.
The playbook includes templates for: Invitation emails (personal, marketing, and reminder versions), event landing pages, content outlines by event type, and 3-email follow-up sequences.
The result: Regional teams can execute this 4-week process independently without my involvement every step.
The During-Event Playbook
The third playbook: Execution on event day.
The playbook differs by event type:
Executive Dinner Playbook:
Our first executive dinners were disasters. Awkward silences. Sales reps clustering together instead of engaging prospects. No structure.
The playbook fixes this:
60 min before: Arrive early, confirm seating arrangement (alternating customers and prospects—no sales clustering), brief the team on facilitation approach, test any AV.
0-15 min (Arrivals): Greet each attendee personally at the door. Introduce attendees to each other—don't let people stand awkwardly alone. Facilitate early conversations.
15-30 min (Introductions): Facilitator welcomes everyone, explains format. Quick round of intros: name, company, biggest challenge right now. Set expectations—this is peer discussion, Chatham House Rule applies.
30-75 min (Discussion): Facilitator guides discussion through 3 pre-defined topics based on attendee challenges. Ensures everyone participates, not just the loudest voices.
75-90 min (Wrap-up): Synthesize key themes from discussion. Offer to make peer connections. Thank everyone for participating.
Post-event (same evening): Send thank-you email to all attendees. Schedule follow-up calls with qualified prospects. Log detailed notes in CRM about who attended, key insights shared, and next steps.
Webinar Playbook:
30 min before: Join platform as presenter. Test audio, video, screen share. Load presentation. Assign roles (presenter, moderator, chat monitor).
0-5 min: Welcome attendees, set expectations for format and Q&A timing. Encourage interaction through polls and chat questions.
5-40 min: Present content/framework. Run engagement polls every 10 minutes. Monitor chat for questions.
40-55 min: Live Q&A addressing submitted questions and common themes.
55-60 min: Recap key takeaways, clear CTA (download resource, book call), thank attendees.
Post-webinar (within 2 hours): Send thank-you email with recording link and template download. Tag highly engaged attendees for sales follow-up.
The playbook includes: Role assignments for each team member, time-blocking to prevent over-running, engagement tactics like polls and breakouts, and technical troubleshooting guides for common issues.
The Post-Event Playbook
The fourth playbook: What happens after the event.
This is where most events fail. Great execution during the event, terrible follow-up.
The post-event playbook:
Day 0 (Same day as event): Send thank-you email to all attendees within 2 hours while the event is still fresh in their minds. Tag highly engaged attendees in CRM. Send discussion summary for dinners/roundtables. Update event attendance in tracking sheet.
Day 1: Sales sends personal follow-up email to target accounts who attended. Must reference specific conversation from the event—generic follow-up doesn't work. Propose clear next step: call, demo, or meeting.
Day 3: Event organizer sends value-add email to all attendees. This is not a sales pitch—it's genuine value related to the event topic (resource, case study, implementation guide).
Day 7: Sales follows up with non-responders, offering additional value or offering to connect them with another attendee for peer networking.
Day 14: Final nurture email from event organizer inviting to future event or sharing on-demand content. Move non-responders to general nurture sequence.
The playbook includes: Follow-up email templates (3 versions for different scenarios), CRM tagging criteria (highly engaged, qualified, nurture only), sales handoff process defining when marketing passes leads to sales, and measurement templates tracking attendance, pipeline influenced, and ROI.
The Sales Enablement Playbook
The fifth playbook: How to enable sales to run events independently.
The problem: Sales wants to run local events but doesn't have event marketing expertise.
The solution: Give sales playbooks and templates they can execute themselves.
The sales-led event playbook:
Event types sales can run independently: Executive dinners, small roundtables, account-based private sessions.
The playbook provides: Budget guidelines ($150-250/person for dinners), venue recommendations by city, invite templates, discussion guides by vertical, and follow-up templates.
Approval process: Sales runs events independently if budget <$3,500, attendees confirmed in CRM, and event aligns with territory plan. Marketing approval needed for budgets >$3,500 or new event formats.
The result: Sales ran 18 local events last quarter using playbooks (vs. 4 before playbooks).
The Measurement Framework
The sixth playbook: How to measure event success.
The problem: Inconsistent measurement. Some events tracked attendance, others tracked pipeline, others tracked nothing.
The standardized measurement framework:
For every event, we track:
Tier 1 (Activity): Registered, attended, no-show rate, sales attendance
Tier 2 (Engagement): Questions asked, resources downloaded, satisfaction score
Tier 3 (Pipeline): Qualified leads, opportunities created, cost per opportunity
Tier 4 (Revenue): Deals closed within 90 days, revenue attributed, ROI
Every event gets a standard dashboard showing performance vs. benchmarks, pipeline contribution, and ROI calculation. This standardized measurement makes event comparison and budget optimization easy.
What Actually Works for Event Marketing Playbooks
After building our complete playbook system, here's what works:
Templatize everything. Invite emails, discussion guides, follow-up sequences. Don't reinvent for every event.
Create playbooks by event type. Executive dinners need different playbooks than webinars. One-size-fits-all doesn't work.
Enable regional sales to execute independently. Provide templates, budget guidelines, and approval criteria. Empower local execution.
Standardize measurement. Same metrics for every event. Makes performance comparison and optimization possible.
Include pre, during, and post playbooks. Most events fail in follow-up, not execution.
Use checklists, not paragraphs. Busy sales reps need checklists they can follow, not essays to read.
Update quarterly. Playbooks aren't static. Incorporate learnings and optimize templates.
Before playbooks:
- Event planning time: 6 weeks
- Events run per quarter: 8
- Execution consistency: 6.2/10
- Average ROI: 420%
- Regional sales dependency: High (needed marketing for every event)
After playbooks:
- Event planning time: 2 weeks
- Events run per quarter: 22 (marketing: 8, sales-led: 14)
- Execution consistency: 8.8/10
- Average ROI: 1,028%
- Regional sales independence: High (14 of 22 events run by sales using playbooks)
Field marketing transformed from bottleneck to enablement engine.
The uncomfortable truth: Most event marketing teams operate reactively without systems.
Every event feels like starting from scratch. Planning takes too long. Quality is inconsistent. Regional teams are dependent on central marketing.
Stop reinventing the wheel for every event.
Build playbooks. Templatize everything. Enable regional execution. Measure consistently. Optimize continuously.
Your events will scale, quality will improve, and ROI will increase.
That's what playbooks do.