Event Outreach Glossary

Pre-Event Outreach

Outbound contact initiated before a conference or event, targeting confirmed attendees to arrange meetings or conversations at the event itself. Converts passive attendance into a structured series of face-to-face meetings. Produces significantly more conversations per event than floor networking alone.

Attendee List

A curated set of confirmed event registrants, sourced from official registration data, conference networking apps, LinkedIn event pages, or third-party research. Outreach to confirmed attendees converts at higher rates than general ICP outreach because the shared event creates an immediate conversation hook.

Event ICP Filter

The criteria applied to an attendee list to identify which registrants match the target buyer profile and are worth prioritising for pre-event outreach. Not every attendee is a prospect. Filtering by role, seniority, company size, and industry before outreach begins avoids wasting the limited pre-event outreach window on poor-fit contacts.

Meeting Pre-Booking

Securing a confirmed meeting slot with a target prospect before the event begins, either through an official event meeting scheduler or directly via email or LinkedIn. Pre-booked meetings produce higher conversion to pipeline than spontaneous conversations because both parties have committed time and the prospect has context before arriving.

Pre-Event Sequence

A short outreach cadence of two to three touches sent in the weeks before an event, referencing the event as the reason for contact and asking for a brief meeting. Shorter and more direct than a standard cold sequence because the shared event context does the warm-up work that multiple outreach steps would otherwise need to accomplish.

Speaker Outreach

Pre-event outreach targeting confirmed session speakers rather than general attendees. Speakers are high-value contacts because they typically hold senior positions, are publicly identified by role, and are reachable through content published in advance of the event. Referencing their session topic creates a specific and relevant conversation opener.

Floor Networking

Spontaneous conversations initiated during the event itself, at exhibitor stands, in session breaks, or at social functions. Less predictable than pre-booked meetings but still a primary source of new contacts at events. Floor networking produces more value when combined with pre-event research that allows the SDR to recognise and approach target contacts by name.

Booth Meeting

A meeting held at a vendor's exhibition stand during a trade show or conference. Booth meetings range from a two-minute introduction to a structured 30-minute demonstration depending on the event format. Qualifying booth visitors quickly by role and company before investing time in a longer conversation is a core event SDR skill.

Contact Capture

The process of recording contact details and conversation notes during or immediately after an at-event interaction. Business card scanning, event app badge scans, and manual CRM entry are all contact capture methods. Notes captured within minutes of a conversation are significantly more useful for follow-up than notes written hours or days later from memory.

Meeting Quality Rating

An internal score assigned to each event meeting at the time of contact capture, rating the conversation by ICP fit, interest level, and next step clarity. Allows the follow-up team to prioritise high-quality contacts for immediate post-event outreach rather than following up with every contact at equal priority.

At-Event Qualification

The practice of applying basic qualification criteria during a booth or floor conversation to determine whether a contact is worth investing in a formal follow-up meeting. Confirming role, company size, and a relevant problem in the first two minutes of a conversation prevents wasted follow-up time on contacts who were never genuine prospects.

Post-Event Follow-Up Sequence

A structured outreach cadence sent to contacts met at an event, typically within 48 to 72 hours of the event ending while recall is high. An effective post-event sequence references the specific conversation, moves quickly to a next step, and is short because both parties are processing a high volume of similar follow-ups simultaneously.

Follow-Up Window

The optimal time period for initiating post-event contact. For most B2B events, the follow-up window is 24 to 72 hours after the event ends. Contacts reached within this window convert at higher rates because the conversation is still fresh. Following up more than a week after the event requires re-establishing context from scratch.

Re-Engagement Campaign

A follow-up sequence sent to event contacts who did not respond to the initial post-event outreach. Sent two to four weeks after the first follow-up attempt, with a different angle that does not reference the event directly. Used to capture pipeline from contacts who were interested at the event but got distracted before replying.

Event-Sourced Pipeline

Sales opportunities that originated from conversations at a specific event, tracked from initial contact through to active opportunity in the CRM. The primary metric for calculating event ROI. Without structured post-event follow-up and attribution tracking, event-sourced pipeline is systematically underreported.

Event ROI

The commercial return from an event relative to total attendance cost including registration, travel, accommodation, and staff time. Measured by pipeline sourced from event conversations and deals closed from event-originated meetings. Without pre-event and post-event outreach, most event spend generates awareness rather than measurable pipeline.

Cost Per Event Meeting

Total event spend divided by the number of qualified meetings held at or originated from the event. Allows direct comparison between events and between event outreach and other outbound channels. Provides the data needed to decide which events are worth repeating and which are not producing commercial return.

Attendee-to-Meeting Rate

The percentage of targeted event attendees who convert to a confirmed pre-booked or post-event meeting. The primary conversion metric for pre-event outreach effectiveness. A higher rate indicates that the event attendee list quality, outreach messaging, and meeting ask are well aligned.