Calculate the true cost-per-opportunity from trade shows and sponsored events. Includes badge scan attribution, pipeline matching, and a go/no-go framework for future sponsorships.
Most companies dramatically undercount event costs. Capture the real number.
| Direct Costs | |
|---|---|
| Sponsorship / booth fee | $ |
| Booth design, shipping, setup, teardown | $ |
| Swag and printed materials | $ |
| Lead retrieval / badge scanning tech | $ |
| Travel & People | |
| Flights | $ |
| Hotels | $ |
| Meals and entertainment | $ |
| Hidden Costs (the ones most teams skip) | |
| Staff time: pre-event prep (___hrs × $___/hr) | $ |
| Staff time: on-site (___days × ___people × $___/day) | $ |
| Staff time: post-event follow-up (___hrs × $___/hr) | $ |
| Total Event Investment | $ |
For most HR Tech companies, the people cost exceeds the sponsorship cost. If your team spent 120 hours at $75/hr loaded rate, that's $9,000 in labor alone — on top of everything else.
Raw badge scans are not leads. At most HR Tech conferences, 40-60% of scans are vendors, competitors, and students.
| Filter | Passes | Fails |
|---|---|---|
| HR buyer title (HR Director+, HRIS Mgr, VP People, CHRO) | ||
| Company size fits ICP | ||
| Has a use case you can solve | ||
| Not existing customer or active opportunity |
Total badge scans: Qualified leads: Qualification rate: %
Report sourced and accelerated separately. Combining them inflates value and leads to bad sponsorship decisions.
| Metric | 30-day check | 90-day check |
|---|---|---|
| Event-sourced opportunities | ||
| Event-sourced pipeline value | $ | $ |
| Event-accelerated opportunities | ||
| Closed-won from event leads | — | $ |
| Metric | Calculation | Result | Benchmark |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost per badge scan | Total invest ÷ raw scans | $ | — |
| Cost per qualified lead | Total invest ÷ qual. leads | $ | Under $500 |
| Cost per opportunity | Total invest ÷ sourced opps | $ | Under $2,000 |
| Pipeline-to-investment ratio | Sourced pipeline ÷ total invest | x | 5x+ |
| Revenue-to-investment (90-day) | Closed-won ÷ total invest | x | 1.5x+ |
| Action | Target | Actual |
|---|---|---|
| Badge scans uploaded to CRM | Within 24 hrs | |
| Personalized follow-up to hot leads | Within 48 hrs | |
| Sales notified with context | Within 48 hrs | |
| Nurture email to all scans | Within 5 days |
| Dimension | Score (1-5) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Audience fit — attendees are HR buyers in ICP | ||
| Pipeline quality — leads convert like other channels | ||
| Unit economics — competitive with digital | ||
| Brand visibility — awareness with target accounts | ||
| Competitive presence — would absence be noticed | ||
| Total | /25 |
20-25: Renew/upgrade 15-19: Renew, fix weak areas 10-14: Downgrade Below 10: Cut it
☐ Renew and upgrade ☐ Renew at same level ☐ Downgrade to attendee-only ☐ Cut — reallocate to ___________
Need more than a template?
Fractional CMO leadership for HR Tech companies.
Email: christen@cgm-marketing.com | cazimimarketing.com/contact-me