Forrester’s B2B Summit EMEA returns as a hybrid event this year, offering demand and account-based marketers the opportunity to attend in person or virtually while also having access to all of the great content on demand for 90 days post-event. There are over 30 sessions for B2B sales and marketing leaders to choose from. Here, I’ll highlight three sessions for demand leaders to prioritise as they think about planning and executing their 2023 plans.

  • Smarter Demand, Scalable ABM: B2B Marketing’s Next Evolution. The differences between demand and ABM have narrowed as demand marketers are tasked to introduce greater personalisation into their programs and ABM marketers have sought to scale their efforts. Indeed, 41% of respondents in our recent 2022 State Of ABM Survey stated that the two functions were already broadly aligned. In contrast, 58% of respondents identified the significant synergies that could be realized through a converged function. In this Summit session, Nicky Briggs and I will look at the four limitations marketers must address to achieve these synergies. We’ll also provide practical advice on how to move towards convergence.
  • Building An Event Mix To Drive Audience Engagement And Deliver Environmental Sustainability. The B2B event sector has undergone the most profound change imaginable over the past two years as first virtual events and then hybrid came to the fore. And while virtual events are now clearly a fixture in the marketing mix, in-person events have come back strongly this year due to latent demand and the unique engagement opportunities they offer. Marketers are also increasingly considering environmental sustainability as a factor in their event strategy. In our Q2 2022 Global B2B Event Sustainability Survey, 48% of respondents indicated that environmental sustainability was a factor when planning and executing events. Moving forward, marketers need to be driven by audience needs and take a considered approach to build a mix encompassing all three event formats. In this session, I’ll share recent primary research findings and demo a new tool to help marketers with their B2B event selection strategy.
  • Shining A Light On Shadow Marketing: Don’t Make Field Marketing Go Rogue! All too often, we see a disconnect between marketing leadership and their field teams. Indeed, in Forrester’s Marketing Survey, 2022, 43% of senior managers told us that “coordinating across marketing silos” was their top challenge. To bring global and field teams together, we recommend leaders focus on four key areas: developing a shared mission, building an aligned plan, having adaptive programme processes, and crucially, ensuring there is trust across all levels of the team. In this session, we’ll discuss how to make field marketing a more proactive influence in the marketing planning process and share guidance on how to build trust between global and field teams.

Join hundreds of your demand and ABM peers at the Forrester’s B2B Summit, October 11–12 at the O2 Intercontinental London as we share the content I’ve highlighted above alongside lots of other ground-breaking research, models, and framework — all designed to help you drive measurable impact inside your organisation. I look forward to meeting you there!