Think about the last big purchase your team made. By the time anyone spoke to a salesperson, an AI assistant had probably explained the category, compared the main players and sketched out the business case.
That’s the reality for B2B buyers today, and it’s rewriting the role of events. When AI can explain your product faster than your keynote, education alone is no longer a reason to show up. Buyers now want someone to check AI’s homework.
That’s where events have found their new purpose: as the place where buyers validate what they’ve learned, and where Sales spots deals much earlier in the cycle. Far from making events less relevant, AI is making them more important than ever.
The research has moved, but trust hasn’t
Forrester’s survey of nearly 18,000 business buyers found that 94% used AI during their buying process. By the time they reach out to a sales team, much of the work in choosing a solution has already been done. In fact, 6sense found that buying groups spend roughly 60% of a 10-month buying cycle weighing options before contacting a seller, and the vendor they favor before that first call wins 82% of the time.
But relying on AI isn’t the same as trusting it. According to TrustRadius, 94% of buyers who used AI to research a purchase fact-checked what it told them. And while 67% of B2B buyers would prefer a rep-free buying experience, Gartner found that 69% still turn to sales reps to validate AI-generated insights.
Buyers don’t want to be sold to, but they do want to know if what they’ve learned is right. That means putting a hard question to an expert, comparing notes with a peer or trying the product. In other words, it happens in the room, not on a screen.
From the edge of the buying journey to its center
For years, too many organizations saw events as a way to build awareness and collect badge scans, before handing buyers over to digital. AI is turning that on its head. As research moves onto a screen, time with real people becomes more valuable. Events are moving to the center of the buying journey, and that’s good news for anyone who designs them well.
Buyer expectations have shifted, too. Attendees want to participate, not just consume content, and they come to test what AI told them against experts, peers and the product. Events are no longer just where the journey starts. They’re where buyers make up their minds.
As I see it, that gives every B2B experience three jobs: education that goes deeper than AI can, validation, and opening opportunities for sales.
It means shifting the primary objective of events from net-new leads—which is still the case for over half of organizations—to deal identification. When buyers arrive with a favorite in mind and a buying group of 13 internal stakeholders and nine external influencers, a list of new names tells sales very little.
It’s far more helpful for them to know where accounts are in their decision-making process. Which companies in the room are close to a decision? Who asked the hard technical question at the demo? Which three people from the same account joined the security workshop?
Put real experts where buyers ask questions, in formats that reveal intent, and events change from being a nice-to-have to the places where trust is built, decisions are confirmed and real opportunities surface.
Here are five formats doing that especially well:
1. Curated, intimate formats
With executive roundtables, dinners and invitation-only discussions being built for validation and opening opportunities, smaller formats allow better targeting with fewer resources. Most event teams plan more intimate events of under 200 attendees, while just 18% plan more large, hosted events.
You can even create intimate moments at bigger events. Mobile World Congress in Barcelona can be hectic, so we helped ServiceNow give executives somewhere quiet: a 900-square-meter garden off the show floor, with demo cabins, private meeting rooms and an executive lounge. It welcomed 35 senior executives over three days, giving ServiceNow time with the leaders it most wanted to meet.
2. Hands-on product labs and showcases
Think of Apple’s Genius Bar: try the product, then ask an expert. Pop-up labs and showcases bring that idea to B2B, letting buyers confirm first-hand what AI has told them. Buyers increasingly insist on it, with more than 60% now using some form of trial before they commit.
We helped Meta create The Place of Impossible Things, which swapped keynotes for four interactive zones where nearly 1,000 visitors tested Meta AI. Similarly, at the Paris 2024 Olympics, we helped Alibaba Cloud build La Rivière, where visitors kayaked down a virtual Seine and chatted with Cloud Bao, an AI mascot. It drew more than 10,000 visitors and 500+ qualified leads.
3. Participatory working formats
Workshops, hackathons and structured networking turn audiences into participants for education and peer validation. As one event leader told Forrester, if you’re at an in-person event “and feel like you’re watching TV, then what’s the point?” Yet only 23% of attendees said their last in-person event “featured plenty of interactive sessions”.
A well-designed workshop puts a buyer’s own problems on the table to work through with experts and peers in real time, something no AI summary can do.
4. Festival-style brand worlds
Some events are built for belonging rather than presentation, letting customers and prospects validate each other. Organizers agree, with 83% saying B2B conferences are the most effective way to build community.
For customers who’ve done their research, an event built for conversation is where decisions get made. For Zendesk’s customer showcase in London, we took inspiration from the Edinburgh Fringe: an anthemic main stage, distinct breakout zones, partner pop-ups and room to socialize. It drew 388 attendees and delivered 200% year-on-year growth.
5. Events as media engines
Creator-led formats and real-time content teams turn the experience into media that travels well beyond the room. With PR goals for events jumping from 25% to 53% among B2B marketers, coverage is now a core objective. In Paris, Alibaba Cloud’s real-time content team helped generate more than 27 million impressions and 70+ media placements against a target of 20.
https://www.forrester.com/blogs/the-next-era-of-b2b-events-eight-data-backed-shifts-defining-2026/https://www.forrester.com/press-newsroom/forrester-2026-the-state-of-business-buying/https://welcome.bizzabo.com/hubfs/Q125_BenchmarkingReport_2.18.pdf
Fewer, better events
With two-thirds of organizations facing flat or declining event budgets, nearly 70% are running fewer events while protecting the attendee experience. That’s the right instinct. Before planning your next event, ask which job it’s doing, where buyers will test what AI told them, and how Sales will spot the accounts ready to move.
AI has changed how buyers research, but big decisions are still made by people who want to see, touch and talk before they commit. The brands that win will design events as places where buyers become sure of their decision, not stages for telling them what they already know.
Want your next event to do more than fill a room? From intimate executive dinners to full brand worlds, we’d love to help you design an experience that educates, validates and opens real opportunities. Get in touch.
