This yeaR's Agenda

The CyberMarketingCon
2026 Agenda

Please note that session times and dates may change.

High Level Schedule: When should I arrive?
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To experience the whole conference, plan to arrive in the late morning on Sunday, November 15 and leave late afternoon on Wednesday, November 18 (or stay over to Thursday if you would like or are attending our CEO-Founder-Investor Dinner!)

Sunday - 11/15

Sunday will be a day of workshops and our opening night reception! Plan to arrive around in the late morning or early afternoon if you don't want to miss our 3 hands-on workshops, which start at 1pm CT. Opening night reception starts around 7pm CT.


Monday - 11/16

We kickoff with a keynote at 8:45am CT. Sessions, workshops, and networking throughout the day, including our GovCon Summit. We end the day with a group outing!


Tuesday - 11/17

Today we have sessions, workshops, and networking, plus our CyberCMO Summit; the day kicks off at 9am CT. Tonight we will have multiple activities and dinners.


Wednesday - 11/18

Our final keynote will kick off at 9am CT. Today we will have a three-quarters day of sessions, workshops, and our closing remarks end at 3:30pm CT. Founders, CEOs, and Investors may attend our CyberCEO Dinner at 5:30pm CT.

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8:00am
9:00pm
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Note on event times

Event times are subject to change and may not reflect the most up-to-date schedule. Please refer to the conference event app VirtualPro for the latest and most accurate times.

Sunday

Registration Desk Open!

Stop by the Registration Desk on the 2nd Floor Foyer and pick up your badge, swag bag, official conference notebook, and official conference t-shirt!

Explore the Expo Hall, the Fun Station, and join one of the workshops that we have set up on Sunday!

12:00 pm
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12:45 pm
CT
Expo Hall (Moontower Hall)
Workshop

Claude Beginner Workshop

Curious about Claude but not quite sure what to do beyond opening a chat and asking it questions? This hands-on beginner workshop is for you.

Designed specifically for cybersecurity marketers at CyberMarketingCon, this session will help you get comfortable using Claude for real marketing work — without requiring any technical or AI expertise.

We’ll cover the basics of how to work with Claude effectively, how to give it the context and direction it needs, and how to start using it across everyday workflows like research, campaign planning, content development, messaging, analysis, and more.

You’ll work through practical examples alongside other cybersecurity marketers and leave with ideas you can put to work immediately.

Bring your laptop and your corporate or personal Claude account. No AI expertise required!

1:00 pm
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2:00 pm
CT
Expo Hall (Moontower Hall)
Workshop

Claude Intermediate Workshop

Ready to move beyond one-off chats and start building repeatable AI workflows?

This hands-on workshop is designed for cybersecurity marketers at CyberMarketingCon who already use Claude and want to take the next step: turning the work you do repeatedly into reusable systems.

We’ll focus heavily on Claude Skills—what they are, when to use them, and how to build them around real cybersecurity marketing workflows. We’ll also explore more advanced ways to structure Claude around your work, connect context and resources, and create repeatable processes that can help you and your team work faster and more consistently.

Rather than spending the session perfecting individual prompts, we’ll think bigger: How do you teach Claude how you work once, then reuse that knowledge again and again?

Bring your laptop, your personal or corporate Claude account, and come ready to build!

2:10 pm
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3:00 pm
CT
Expo Hall (Moontower Hall)
Workshop

Points for Creativity: A Roller Derby Workshop for Cybersecurity Marketers

Cybersecurity marketing is defined by constraint: dense jargon, complex concepts, and audiences who demand precision. The challenge isn’t a lack of creativity; it’s finding space to play, experiment, and make ideas feel truly memorable inside those constraints. This workshop is designed as a creative reset for marketers whose brains have been on “perform under pressure” for a little too long… or those who know they are over-relying on AI for tasks that used to feel fun.

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Using the bold, irreverent naming culture of roller derby as our playground—think Penelope Bruise, Hermione Danger, Momentum Mori—we’ll explore what happens when you step away from AI and lean back pure sporting instinct. We’ll treat derby naming as a proxy for branding; names must instantly signal identity, tell a mini-story, and provoke a reaction, just like the best campaigns.

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The workshop starts with a short individual warm-up to get people out of polished marketing mode and into free thinking. Attendees will quickly jot down the words, frustrations, and ideas that feel most “stuck” or overused in their day-to-day work—terms they’re tired of, value props that feel flat, or product areas that feel impossible to make exciting. This becomes our raw material.

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From there, we’ll move into guided prompts such as:* “If this product or problem were a derby skater, what kind of troublemaker would they be?”* “If you could lean into FUD as a joke, what would you really call this thing?”Participants will then work in small teams, remixing their raw material into surprising combinations: pairing technical jargon with unexpected metaphors, fusing emotional states with security concepts, and bending industry clichés until they become something stranger and more interesting. The focus is less on “getting it right” and more on seeing how far they can stretch a concept without compromising accuracy. Teams will, for example: - Take a word from someone else’s list and combine it with their own to create a new character or brand.- Build a “family” of three related derby names that could all be features of the same product.
Additional playful constraints will push their creativity further: limiting word counts, forcing a quick pivot from serious to absurd, or asking teams to defend a ridiculous name as if it were going into a boardroom deck. Each round builds on the last, moving from silly and safe to sharper and more deliberate.

As the workshop progresses, teams will converge on a brand concept and tagline born from this chaos—something that still nods to the original cybersecurity idea but now feels alive, specific, and ideally, fun to scream out loud.

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Throughout, we’ll surface the meta-lessons: how constraints can unlock creativity instead of shutting it down, and how embracing a bit of discomfort or a “bad idea” often leads to better ones.

Attendees won’t leave with a rigid framework or a perfect campaign. They’ll leave with at least one absurd-but-delightful concept, a renewed sense of creative confidence, and a reminder that even in a jargon-heavy, high-stakes industry, there’s room to play for points.

3:15 pm
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4:15 pm
CT
Expo Hall (Moontower Hall)
Workshop

Workshop: Business Networking Pickup Lines

There will be NO NAPPING during this workshop, where everyone will stand up, talk, move around, and learn how to be a professional business “flirt.” We challenge both extroverts and introverts to come to this session and learn how to make in-person cold connections, find *the* person in the room you need to talk to, and qualify someone for a potential business relationship. Check out this video from our workshop at Cyber Marketing Con 2023. If you attended the 2023 workshop, come back again! This brand new workshop is loaded with new exercises.

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4:30 pm
-
5:30 pm
CT
Expo Hall (Moontower Hall)

Opening Night Welcome Reception

CyberMarketingCon 2026 Welcome Reception: Choose Your Own Character

Every adventure starts with a character. Who will you be?

We’re kicking off CyberMarketingCon 2026 and our theme, Create Your Own Adventure, by inviting you to dress as your favorite character—from literally anything. Anything!

Here's some ideas: Indiana Jones, a medieval knight, an enterprising elf, Taylor Swift, the CISO at the last company that you sold into, Steve Jobs, Skyrim guards, a boxer, or someone entirely of your own creation.

Go all out or come as yourself (if you’re your own favorite character, that's totally fine)!

Join us to meet fellow adventurers, reconnect with friends, and get the CyberMarketingCon conference started!

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7:00 pm
-
9:30 pm
CT
Moontower Hall - Expo

Monday

Single Speaker

From Slop to Story: Scaling Your Brand Voice with AI

The promise of AI is speed and scale, but without guardrails, it becomes a free‑for‑all where every department speaks its own version of the brand. Everyone has it, but no one owns it. So your identity becomes a patchwork of inconsistent messages and AI-generated noise.

In this session, you’ll learn how to build a shared AI system - regardless of which tools you use - that solidifies your brand voice across every touchpoint. Content Workshop will also share findings of where cybersecurity companies map to the AI Marketing Maturity Model and share insights on how members can level up to keep pace with their contemporaries.

1:15 pm
-
1:55 pm
CT
Waller AB Breakout Room (Virtual Room 2)
Multi-Speaker Session

Read the Room: An Interactive Game Show

How well do you really know your fellow cybersecurity marketers? Find out in “Read the Room,” a fast-paced, interactive game show where the audience—and their opinions—take center stage. Using their smartphones, attendees will answer 10 thought-provoking questions about cybersecurity marketing trends, challenges, strategies, and preferences. Three randomly selected contestants will compete to predict the most popular response to each question, earning points for successfully “reading the room.” Along the way, we’ll reveal fascinating insights into what cybersecurity marketers really think about lead generation, content, webinars, AI, job satisfaction, and more. Come ready to vote, cheer on the contestants, compare your opinions with your peers, and discover whether you really know what makes today’s cybersecurity marketers tick. Bragging rights—and prizes—are on the line!

1:15 pm
-
2:00 pm
CT
Waller CD General Session (Virtual Room 1)
Single Speaker

Proof Over Positioning: Six Years, One Deployment, Zero Major Incidents

Most cybersecurity firms compete on the same claims: advanced detection, rapid response, superior technology. The result is a market where every vendor sounds identical and differentiation lives almost entirely in marketing spend. I built a different kind of firm.

Data Defenders serves municipalities, counties, nonprofits, and healthcare organizations, the organizations most cybersecurity vendors do not pursue. Six years ago, I entered into a managed security engagement with a mid-size Illinois city. I designed the governance architecture, managed dual IT and OT operations, and ran the program from implementation through sustained operations. That engagement produced 35,331 threats detected and mitigated, 351 high-severity threats eliminated, zero major security incidents declared, and operating costs 77% below what an equivalent in-house Security Operations Center would have required.

Those are not marketing claims. They are documented operational outcomes, and they have produced the thing most cybersecurity firms spend their entire marketing budget trying to manufacture: proof.

This session examines what six years of operating in the market nobody builds for teaches about firm positioning, client delivery, and the strategic value of doing the work before writing the case study.

2:05 pm
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2:35 pm
CT
Waterloo 4 Summit Room
Single Speaker

Go, Kill, Return, and Go Again: A Rogue Heroes Playbook for Building Growth Teams

During WWII, David Stirling walked into British Army HQ with a one-page memo and bold claim: a team of 60 men could destroy more enemy aircraft than the entire Air Force. BBC's series the Rogue Heroes follows what happened next - which turns out to be the most accurate description of how to build an empowered growth team that I've ever seen. This talk maps the SAS founding story chapter by chapter onto the real experience of building a growth team at my previous position at BitNinja: starting from a culture where nothing shipped on Friday, customer work got thrown away at 4pm, and releases were avoided so nothing would break - and ending with a team the rest of the company modeled itself after, weekly sprints, churn cut in half, and trial-to-paid conversion doubled. Executive alignment, 'stealing equipment', the first catastrophic failure, thwarting the negative voices, friendly competition, leading from the front - it's all there. History doesn't repeat, but it rhymes, and so do playbooks.

2:05 pm
-
2:35 pm
CT
Waller CD General Session (Virtual Room 1)
Single Speaker

From Cost Center to Growth Engine: Turning Alliances, Events, and Marketing into Revenue

Most cybersecurity companies treat marketing, events, and alliances as support functions. That’s the mistake.

In high-performing MSSPs, these functions are not overhead, they are revenue-driving, customer-facing engines that directly influence pipeline, deal velocity, and trust.

This session breaks down how to operationalize a true commercial strategy model where alliances, marketing, and events are aligned around shared revenue outcomes, not vanity metrics.

Drawing from real-world experience scaling over $10M in new cybersecurity revenue and building Microsoft-aligned partner ecosystems, I will walk through how to:

• Turn alliances into a net-new logo engine through build-with and sell-with motions• Use events as confidence accelerators that shorten sales cycles• Reframe marketing from impressions to pipeline influence• Align everything with RevOps to measure what actually drives growth

This is not theory. It’s a practical blueprint for leaders who want to move from fragmented GTM efforts to a unified system that produces measurable revenue.

2:05 pm
-
2:35 pm
CT
Waterloo 3 Breakout Room
Single Speaker

Behind the Rebrand: Leading Through Chaos, Conviction, and Cat Herding

Rebranding a cybersecurity company isn’t just about logos or taglines—it’s a full-on overhaul that demands focus, cross-functional alignment, and, frankly, a whole lot of grit. In this session, I’ll take you behind the scenes of what it takes to lead a company through a successful rebrand—especially when it sometimes feels like your actual job is herding cats and managing executive egos. I recently led this process at Silverfort, where we reimagined the brand from the ground up. One of the toughest challenges? Getting a room full of smart, passionate execs to let go of legacy messaging and rally around a single, focused brand strategy. (Tl;DR: it required some hard conversations, resetting expectations around timelines, and constantly keeping scope creep in check.) I'll take you through some of most critical lessons I learned along the way—from setting realistic timelines and resourcing the work properly, to navigating internal dynamics and spotting red flags in agency contracts.

2:05 pm
-
2:35 pm
CT
Waller EF Breakout Room (Virtual Room 3)
Single Speaker

Architecting Unique First-Party Signals: The Demand Gen Layer Nobody's Talking About

Let me tell you about the one thing that got me most excited this past year: the signals-based GTM conversation hit an all-time high. Marketers are talking about it, building toward it, posting about it, and that makes my demand-gen soul so happy. But most of that conversation is still happening at the layer of capture: which signals to collect, which platforms to use, how to score and correlate them.

So now let me tell you about one thing I’m shocked to not see more of this past year: The layer underneath, aka how you actually architect the first-party signals themselves. And it's the layer that determines whether your signal-based GTM engine is interchangeable with every competitor's, or genuinely unique to your brand and your product.

I like to call this part the intersection of taste and strategy when it comes to building a signal-based GTM engine. The signals you design are downstream of the use cases you choose to lead with, the language you choose to use, the formats you choose to publish in, the moments you choose to build around. A team with strong brand instinct and strong PMM partnership will design a completely different signal arsenal than a team next door, even if they're selling into the same ICP.

This session is a practitioner's walkthrough of how to architect first-party signals at the source, in a way that's genuinely yours. We'll walk through how to architect first-party signals across paid media, content, and launch motions, all anchored in the PMM positioning and use cases that make every signal legible to sales.

The payoff is two engines running in parallel: an evergreen GTM engine that continuously surfaces accounts in-market, and a launch engine you can activate around specific moments with surgical precision.

The math checks out:

(Custom-designed first-party signals with intention and taste) + (second and third-party signals) = high-fidelity, multi-stage detections of high-intent accounts.

The kind of intent that actually warrants action, whether that's sales follow-up or a use-case-specific event invite that lands because you already know exactly what that account cares about.

Don't worry, I'll come with receipts: how I built these demand gen engines from scratch, multiple times across cybersecurity startups, including real campaign architectures and correlation logic.

And what do you walk away with? The architecture and framework to design a signal-based GTM engine that's uniquely yours, because you designed the first-party signals flowing into it from the ground up.

2:05 pm
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2:35 pm
CT
Waller AB Breakout Room (Virtual Room 2)
Speed Session

Do This, Not That. How to Win at AI Search

AI search has become a real acquisition channel, and cybersecurity companies are competing for a spot in the answer. Some of the strategies we're seeing will compound over time. Others will work for a bit and then stop. In this session, Scott Johnson, Founder of Amplifyed, walks through what cybersecurity marketers should be doing, what they should stop doing, and how to stop helping your competitors' AI visibility.

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2:05 pm
-
2:20 pm
CT
Expo Hall (Moontower Hall)

Partner, Channel & Alliances Mixer (Sponsored by Introw)

Find your people at CyberMarketingCon. Held in our dedicated lounge in the Expo Hall aka Marketing Land, these hosted mixers bring together attendees with shared roles, challenges, and interests. Your host will help spark introductions and conversation, making it easy to form meaningful connections within your corner of the cyber marketing community.

For the marketers turning partnerships and ecosystem plays into real business impact. Meet fellow partner, channel, and alliances marketers to exchange ideas, compare notes, and talk candidly about everything from partner alignment and event strategy to attribution and proving ROI.

The Partner, Channel & Alliances Mixer is Sponsored by Introw! Introw helps B2B companies manage partner relationships and collaborate with resellers, distributors, and referral partners through a partner portal connected to their CRM. Keep partners engaged, share resources, and track deals in one place.

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Website: introw.io

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2:30 pm
-
3:15 pm
CT
Mixer Space in Expo Hall (Moontower Hall)

Tuesday

Book Your Complimentary Extras & Activities

Make the most of your CyberMarketingCon experience with these complimentary experiences. Reserve your spot in advance—or stop by to see if a walk-in time is available.

Podcast Studio

Record a podcast, interview, or video in a private, professional studio. Four microphones and an AV technician are included, so all you need to bring is your idea. Walk-ins are welcome when the studio is available.

One-on-One Expert Consultations

Get complimentary, personalized advice from experienced professionals—including cybersecurity industry analysts. Book a session to discuss marketing, channel strategy, graphic design, career strategy, your LinkedIn presence, or the cybersecurity market.

Professional Headshot

Refresh your LinkedIn photo, speaker profile, or professional bio with a polished new headshot. Visit the headshot studio in the Expo Hall, located behind the Fornix Marketing booth. Walk-ins are welcome when space is available.

Fun Station & Postcards

Add some personality to your conference badge with stickers, supplies, and badge ribbons—or write and mail a postcard to someone back home. Stop by the Fun Station in the Expo Hall aka Marketing Land whenever you’re ready for a creative break.

7:30 am
-
8:15 am
CT
Expo Hall (Moontower Hall)

Registration Desk Open!

Stop by the Registration Desk on the 2nd Floor Foyer and pick up your badge, swag bag, official conference notebook, and official conference t-shirt!

8:00 am
-
8:45 am
CT
Expo Hall (Moontower Hall)

Complimentary Coffee, Breakfast & Expo Hall (Marketing Land) Open!

Good morning, CyberMarketingCon! Join us at 8:00 AM for complimentary coffee and breakfast, catch up with fellow attendees, and explore the booths in the Expo Hall, aka Marketing Land!

We’ll have a set number of breakfasts ready to welcome you, available first come, first served while supplies last.

There’s plenty to explore: send a postcard from our fun station, drop in for a fresh headshot, catch content on the Expo Hall stage, or settle into a seat for networking and meetings. Come grab a bite and start the day with us!

8:00 am
-
9:00 am
CT
Waller CD General Session
Keynote

What the AI-Cyber Future Holds: A Conversation on the Market with Joseph Blankenship

Where will AI create real demand, and where could the hype outpace the opportunity? How will security buyers’ priorities evolve? And what should cybersecurity marketers be paying attention to now to avoid building tomorrow’s strategy around yesterday’s assumptions?

Joseph brings both an analyst’s view of the cybersecurity market and firsthand experience in cybersecurity marketing leadership. Together, he and Gianna will connect the big-picture questions to the decisions you’re making about positioning, messaging, and go-to-market strategy.

This session lets you step back and examine the market your campaigns need to succeed in. Expect a conversation about emerging opportunities, buyer expectations, and what it takes to tell a credible, differentiated story about AI.

We hope you start your day with a sharper view of what’s ahead and perspective on your company's next move.

9:00 am
-
9:35 am
CT
Waller CD General Session (Virtual Room 1)
Workshop

Crack the Case: AI‑Powered Win/Loss Analysis to Fuel Your Modern GTM Strategy

Most organizations think they understand why they win and lose deals until the data tells a different story. This session walks through multiple real-world case studies where GTM teams moved from anecdotal assumptions to an evidence‑driven win/loss program that reshaped their targeting, messaging, and enablement strategy through embodying a detective mindset.

This session shares the frameworks, workflows, lessons learned, and how GTM teams can replicate the approach.

9:55 am
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10:20 am
CT
Waterloo 3 Breakout Room
Speed Session

Cybersecurity Marketing: Where Everything Is Important and Nothing Stands Out

Cybersecurity marketing is at a familiar point.Everyone is secure.Everyone is compliant.Everyone has AI.

And, yes ! Everyone sounds the same.

Buyers are overwhelmed, vendors blur together, and AI is making it easier than ever to produce content that looks good but doesn’t actually move anything forward. More activity, less clarity.

This session explores how to cut through that noise, not just by standing out, but by building a marketing engine that actually performs.

Drawing from hands-on experience in GRC and compliance marketing (where buyers are often thinking, “I probably need this… I just don’t know why yet”), we’ll focus on what works when the product is complex, the stakes are high, and differentiation is hard.

Key takeaways:- How to simplify complex cybersecurity messaging into something buyers actually understand (and act on)How to align marketing, sales, and customer success so the story holds up beyond the first touch

- How to use modern tools and AI to automate manual work, increase speed, and scale output, without sounding like everyone else using AI

-How to inject creativity in a crowded market to elevate brand and create real recall

- How to connect strong positioning to pipeline, turning clarity into a repeatable, higher-performing marketing system

This won’t be a theory-heavy session or a “10-step framework.”

Just practical lessons on how to operate in an AI-driven market where the goal isn’t more content.

9:55 am
-
10:05 am
CT
Waller CD General Session (Virtual Room 1)

Wednesday

Virtual Networking

Connect with fellow virtual attendees from around the world! Grab your favorite beverage, turn on your camera, and join an interactive networking session designed to make meeting new people easy.

Swap marketing ideas, discuss your favorite conference takeaways, and build lasting relationships with peers who understand the world of cybersecurity marketing and GTM.

12:00 pm
-
1:15 pm
CT
Virtual Conference

Lunch + Birds of a Feather Tables

Refuel, connect, and keep the energy flowing! Lunch will be served in the Expo Hall, giving you time to explore the booths, meet sponsors, catch up with new connections, and continue the search for your conference buddy.

Looking for people who share your interests? Grab a seat at one of our Birds of a Feather tables, organized around specific topics and areas of interest. It’s an easy, informal way to exchange ideas and enjoy lunch with even more folks who truly “get” your world.

12:00 pm
-
1:15 pm
CT
Moontower Hall - Expo

Lunch & Free Time

Refuel, connect, and keep the energy flowing! Lunch will be served in the Expo Hall, giving you time to explore the booths, meet sponsors, catch up with new connections, and continue the search for your conference buddy.

12:00 pm
-
1:15 pm
CT
Expo Hall (Moontower Hall)

Lunch for 60 minutes

12:00 pm
-
1:15 pm
CT
Waller CD General Session (Virtual Room 1)
Workshop

Positioning & Messaging Workshop for Cyber Founders

[Lunch will be served during this workshop]

Struggling to explain what makes your company different? Strong positioning gives your business a clear place in the market—and strong messaging turns that position into a story customers, investors, partners, and employees can understand and remember.

In this interactive workshop, cybersecurity founders will learn how to define their ideal audience, identify the problems they solve, clarify their unique value, and distinguish their companies from competitors. Participants will examine how positioning shapes every aspect of communication, from a homepage headline and sales pitch to investor conversations, media interviews, and thought leadership.

Through guided exercises and practical frameworks, attendees will begin translating complex products and technical capabilities into clear, audience-focused messages. They will also learn how to connect their company positioning with their founder brand, creating a consistent narrative that builds credibility and trust.

Founders will leave with a sharper market position, a stronger messaging foundation, and practical language they can apply across marketing, sales, fundraising, recruiting, and media.

12:25 pm
-
1:15 pm
CT
Waterloo 4 Summit Room
Speed Session

Workshop: Every Event Is a Content Studio: How to Reach Beyond the Show Floor

Your company just spent $30,000 on a conference and you sent three people to the show. They worked the booth for two days, scanned a couple hundred leads, and came home with one blurry photo and a LinkedIn post no one saw.

After the event, the only people who knew you were there were the ones who happened to walk past your booth. Your conference presence doesn't have to end on the show floor.

Instead, picture this: every event you attend is a packed content studio. The conversations are flowing, the energy is electric, the candid moments are plentiful, and the community is engaged. If you’re walking out of it empty-handed, you’re leaving value on the table.

Event content drives higher engagement and more follower growth than almost any other content type on LinkedIn. The opportunity is sitting right there, but most teams just don't have a system to capture it.

In this session, you'll learn how to build a field content engine that turns every event you attend into weeks of high-performing organic content, without a dedicated media team or production budget. We'll cover how to plan your content before you leave, what to capture on the show floor, how to turn it into multiple pieces of content, and how to activate your team's personal profiles to maximize your reach.

You'll leave with a process your team can run at the next event on your calendar, and a way to measure how far your presence actually extended past the show floor.

1:15 pm
-
2:15 pm
CT
Waller AB Breakout Room (Virtual Room 2)

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