Attendee acquisition is becoming less about volume and velocity and more about relevance, intention, and fit. As economic uncertainty, AI disruption, and changing work patterns reshape how people decide where to spend their time, event marketers are being forced to rethink not just how they promote events, but who they prioritize and why.

In this roundtable discussion, Kimberly Hardcastle, Chief Strategist at Freeman, will explore several emerging shifts influencing how audiences decide to attend (and return!) grounded in Freeman research and current industry observation. The conversation will focus on how evolving expectations should be reflected in more strategic, selective approaches to acquisition. Topics will include:

• Strategic selectivity in who we invite and how we invite them. As budgets tighten and audiences face more friction, organizers must be more intentional about prioritizing high-value attendees and aligning outreach strategies accordingly. This includes rethinking audience segmentation, messaging relevance and the signals we send about who an event is truly for.
• Using AI to support smarter, more personalized acquisition. Rather than scaling one-size-fits-all campaigns, AI can help marketers tailor messaging, channels and timing to better reflect audience needs – creating experiences that feel personal before someone ever registers.
• Hospitality as an acquisition lever. What corporate events get right about comfort, care and intentional experience design and how these can be applied to B2B shows to influence who attends, how long they stay and whether they return.
• Post-event engagement as the start of retention. Why the most overlooked phase of the attendee journey is often the most powerful and how thoughtful post-show communication, content, and community-building reduce the need to “re-acquire” the same audience every year.

Rather than focusing on tactics alone, this session invites organizers to step back and examine how external pressures and rising audience expectations are reshaping what effective acquisition looks like. The goal is not “more marketing” but more intentional marketing, aligned with the audiences most likely to engage, attend and come back.