Industry Insights

Why every CRO & sales leader should be attending in-person events in 2025

Discover why sales leaders must prioritize live events to boost engagement, close more deals, and stay ahead this year.

Shrivarshini Somasekhar

Last Updated:

March 26, 2026

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AI Summary

In-person events remain one of the highest-ROI activities for CROs and sales leaders — they accelerate relationship building, deal progression, and market intelligence gathering
The shift back to in-person post-pandemic is driven by buyer preference: enterprise buyers want face-to-face interactions for high-stakes purchase decisions
Events serve triple duty: pipeline generation (meeting prospects), competitive intelligence (seeing what rivals are saying), and team building (aligning distributed teams)
Leaders who attend events consistently build stronger networks, gain earlier access to market shifts, and close larger deals than those who rely solely on digital channels
Pairing event attendance with AI-powered follow-up tools ensures that the relationships and insights gained are captured and activated, not lost after the conference

In-person events remain one of the highest-ROI activities for CROs and sales leaders — they accelerate relationship building, deal progression, and market intelligence gathering
The shift back to in-person post-pandemic is driven by buyer preference: enterprise buyers want face-to-face interactions for high-stakes purchase decisions
Events serve triple duty: pipeline generation (meeting prospects), competitive intelligence (seeing what rivals are saying), and team building (aligning distributed teams)
Leaders who attend events consistently build stronger networks, gain earlier access to market shifts, and close larger deals than those who rely solely on digital channels
Pairing event attendance with AI-powered follow-up tools ensures that the relationships and insights gained are captured and activated, not lost after the conference

Remember back in 2020, when we thought digital events would be the norm for the next decade? Turns out, we were wrong.

Sure, participants have more options with virtual events – you could join the live stream, just watch highlights, or skim the recap – but nothing compares to the energy of being in the room where real connections spark.

Since COVID, the resurgence of in-person events has been nothing short of extraordinary. It’s as if leaders were just waiting to break out of digital jail to get back into the spaces where real business happens face-to-face, and conversations are more likely to turn into opportunities.

While virtual events offer advantages like cost savings, time efficiency, and global reach, they can’t replace the dynamic interactions of being in the room. In this blog, we’ll dive into why attending in-person events should be a non-negotiable part of sales and presales leaders’ 2025 strategy, whether you’re an industry leader staying ahead of sales and presales trends or a seller maximizing every opportunity (because let’s be honest, a great salesperson is always selling).

Why in-person events are a game-changer in 2025

1. Unfiltered conversations

Nothing beats real-time interactions. A five-minute face-to-face chat carries more weight than a dozen virtual meetings – no muted mics, no screen fatigue, just direct, candid exchanges that lead to breakthroughs.

2. Direct access to industry leaders & experts

In-person events attract the minds shaping the industry. Whether it’s a keynote speaker, a panelist, or a fellow attendee, connecting in the right room can open doors you never saw coming.

3. Competition evaluation

The top vendors you’re evaluating will likely be at the same industry event. This is your chance to see their latest innovations, assess their positioning, and make a decision in real time.

4. Market insights & emerging trends

Conferences give you firsthand exposure to cutting-edge trends, disruptive technologies, and competitor strategies, keeping you ahead of the curve.

5. Personalized learning & hands-on experience

Unlike virtual sessions, in-person workshops, product demos, and Q&As provide a deeper level of engagement, allowing you to absorb insights in a way that sticks.

6. Selling never stops

Deals don’t just happen in meeting rooms, they happen in hallways, over coffee, and during networking sessions. The right conversation at the right moment could turn into your next big opportunity.

How to maximize your in-person event experience

Attending an event without a strategy is like showing up to a meeting unprepared, it’s a missed opportunity. Here’s how to make sure you get the most out of every event you attend:

Build out your agenda

There are often 2-3 sessions going on at the same time at big conferences, so it’s important to take the time to build your agenda before you go. Figure out what sessions you need to attend to get maximum value out of the event, and prep any questions you might have in advance.

Conduct sponsor research ahead of time

Major events like Dreamforce, SaaStr, and the Gartner Sales Summit have hundreds of sponsors and exhibitor booths. You won’t have time to visit them all, so do some research ahead of time. Make a shortlist of companies you want to connect with and explore their solutions live.

Network, network & network

Events are packed with industry leaders, potential partners, and future clients. Make note of key speakers and executives attending the event and try to block time with those you want to meet. Even a short conversation can be the start of something big. (Bonus: It’s also great content for your social media!)

Pack your essentials

While smaller industry events can be casual and wrap up in just a couple of hours, large-scale conferences are a whole different game. These events are packed with back-to-back sessions, networking opportunities, and exhibitor visits that can stretch from early morning to late evening – so make sure you have a portable charger and comfortable shoes on.

The bottom line is that in-person interactions whether a sales meeting, a casual industry dinner, or a marquee conference build trust faster, spark unfiltered conversations, and create opportunities that virtual interactions simply can’t replicate. In a world driven by relationships, showing up isn’t just an option, it’s a competitive advantage. Make 2025 the year you show up and stand out. Check out the top events sales and presales leaders can’t afford to miss in H1 2025.

Why do in-person events remain valuable for sales leaders in a digital-first world?

In-person events create relationship depth that digital channels cannot replicate. The serendipitous hallway conversation, the shared meal context, and the sustained face time over two days generate trust and relationship acceleration that months of email and video calls can’t match. For CROs and sales leaders, the ROI of events comes not just from formal sessions but from the informal conversations that open doors, surface intelligence, and build the network density that drives enterprise deal access.

What types of events deliver the most value for sales leaders?

The highest-ROI events for sales leaders are: customer conferences where your buyers congregate (where you learn buyer priorities directly from buyer conversations), industry analyst conferences that shape the narrative your buyers will encounter, peer CRO and VP forums that provide competitive intelligence through candid colleague conversations, and your own company’s customer and prospect events where you control the agenda and the relationship. Attendance at events where you’re surrounded by your ideal buyer profile consistently produces more pipeline than paid digital channels at comparable investment.

How should a CRO measure the ROI of attending industry events?

Measure event ROI through: conversations that advance active opportunities (quantified by stage progression post-event), new connections that enter the pipeline within 90 days of the event, competitor intelligence gathered from peer conversations, and customer relationship depth assessed through qualitative surveys. The mistake is measuring only deal-specific ROI and missing the strategic intelligence value of understanding market direction, buyer priorities, and competitive positioning shifts that only emerge in candid peer conversation.

How have in-person events evolved in value since the pandemic?

Post-pandemic, in-person events have become scarcer and therefore more valuable. The abundance of virtual connections has created a stronger differentiation signal for in-person relationship investment. Buyers who meet vendors at events and experience genuine personal engagement remember it—and those relationships survive competitive evaluation processes where purely virtual relationships don’t. Sales leaders who show up consistently at the events their buyers attend build brand presence that compounds over multiple years of attendance.

What should a CRO prioritize during their time at an event?

The most valuable use of event time is: scheduled conversations with key customer and prospect contacts (don’t leave networking to chance—book meetings in advance), facilitated peer-to-peer customer conversations that deepen reference relationships, competitor intelligence gathering through candid conversations with peers who have evaluated similar options, and building relationships with analysts and influencers who shape buyer decision frameworks. Attending sessions without deliberate relationship goals is the least effective use of expensive event time.

How should sales teams capture and act on intelligence gathered at events?

Event intelligence requires a structured capture process: a shared channel or document where conversations are logged within hours (before context fades), clear tagging by deal relevance, competitive intelligence category, and buyer priority theme, and a follow-up workflow that triggers within 24 hours of each conversation. The competitive intelligence gathered at events—pricing adjustments, roadmap hints, customer dissatisfaction signals—should flow directly into battlecard updates and pipeline reviews to ensure it influences active deals.

What is the strategic value of CRO visibility at industry events?

CRO visibility at events signals organizational commitment and stability to buyers who are evaluating risk before making significant software investments. When the executive team shows up consistently at industry forums, it communicates that the company is here to stay, invested in the customer community, and led by people who understand the domain. For companies competing against larger incumbents, this visible executive presence is a key trust-building lever that pure digital marketing cannot replicate.

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