The average B2B company spends $276,000 on trade shows annually, yet 82% cannot measure ROI effectively. Most treat events like lottery tickets—book a booth, show up with brochures, and hope the right people walk by.
Gong took a different approach at Dreamforce 2023. They didn't hope for booth traffic; they engineered it. They didn't collect random business cards; they captured 1,200 qualified leads with pre-scheduled meetings and systematic follow-up.
The result: $2.3M in qualified pipeline from a single event, with 42% of leads becoming opportunities within 60 days.
This article breaks down their exact playbook—from the landing page built six weeks before the event to the multi-threaded follow-up strategy that kept deals moving. Every tactic is repeatable, regardless of your company size or budget.
Why This Case Study Matters
Gong's Dreamforce strategy represents a fundamental shift in B2B trade show marketing. They built a data-driven system that started weeks before the event and continued for months after, making trade shows predictable instead of random.
The approach is repeatable. Gong didn't win because of brand recognition or unlimited budget. They applied a methodical framework: pre-event intelligence, scheduled meetings, personalized interactions, and systematic follow-up. Any B2B company can replicate this.
The strategy is measurable. Every tactic had clear metrics: 600 pre-booked meetings, 1,200 qualified leads, 42% opportunity conversion, $2.3M pipeline. This wasn't guesswork—it was precision execution.
Most importantly, it solves trade show marketing's biggest pain point: you don't know who will attend until it's too late. By the time attendee lists are available, high-value prospects have already filled their calendars. Gong created their own attendee intelligence through targeted pre-event outreach.
Pro Tip: The average B2B company spends 80% of event budget on booth design and logistics, only 20% on pre-show marketing. Gong flipped this ratio, investing heavily in audience intelligence and pre-event engagement—which is why they generated pipeline while others collected business cards.
Context: Why Gong's Strategy Fits Their Business
Gong is a revenue intelligence platform that analyzes sales calls using AI. Their ideal customer: VP of Sales or Revenue Operations leader at B2B companies with 100+ employees. Average deal size ranges from $50K (mid-market) to $300K+ (enterprise), with 60-120 day sales cycles.
This context matters because their trade show strategy optimized for quality over quantity. They couldn't generate ROI from high-volume, low-touch leads. They needed qualified conversations with decision-makers who had budget authority and active buying intent. Finding these people among 40,000+ Dreamforce attendees would be impossible through walk-up traffic alone.
That's why pre-event targeting became their cornerstone.
Phase 1: Pre-Show Strategy (6 Weeks Before)
Gong's pre-show goal: fill their calendar with qualified meetings before doors opened. They treated Dreamforce as an execution opportunity, not a discovery one—a chance to have conversations they'd already scheduled with prospects they'd already qualified.
The "Meet Us at Dreamforce" Landing Page
Six weeks out, Gong launched a dedicated landing page with one offer: schedule a 30-minute booth meeting, receive Gong-branded AirPods (retail: $249). This wasn't a raffle—you only got AirPods if you attended your scheduled meeting.
The page included four critical elements that made it work:
Value-focused headline: "See how revenue leaders capture $2M+ in previously invisible pipeline"—speaking directly to their buyer's core metric, not product features.
Calendar integration: Prospects booked specific 30-minute slots directly from the page. Each rep had assigned blocks, and the system auto-sent calendar invites with booth location and rep contact information.
Social proof: "Join 3,000+ revenue teams using Gong to increase win rates by 20%"—specific numbers made claims credible.
Qualification form: Three questions before booking: company size, current solution, decision-making authority. This filtered out tire-kickers and ensured rep time was spent with qualified prospects.
Results: 820 meeting requests over six weeks. After qualification, 600 meetings were confirmed—that's 50% of total qualified leads locked in before the event started.
Pro Tip: Gong's calendar invite included Google Maps link to exact booth location, rep's cell number, and rep photo. This reduced no-show rate from typical 40% to just 18%.
Direct Mail to Target Accounts
While the landing page captured inbound interest, direct mail targeted 300 specific high-value accounts: B2B companies with 200+ employees, existing sales tech stack, and budget for revenue intelligence.
Each package included a personalized event map with Gong's booth highlighted, a handwritten note addressing a specific pain point relevant to their company, a Gong-branded portable charger (useful at multi-day events), and a one-pager case study from a company in their industry.
Results: 18% booked meetings (54 of 300), another 12% stopped by without scheduling. Cost per meeting: $180. With average deal sizes of $50K-$300K, this ROI was exceptional.
Pre-Event Webinar
Three weeks before Dreamforce, Gong hosted a webinar: "What We're Launching at Dreamforce: AI-Powered Deal Intelligence." This accomplished three goals simultaneously: generated 1,400 qualified leads even from non-attendees, created urgency to visit their booth ("see it first"), and warmed cold outbound (reps could reference webinar registration in their outreach).
The webinar focused on customer outcomes, not features—two customers discussing how they improved forecast accuracy and coached underperforming reps using conversation intelligence.
Phase 2: During-Show Execution
With 600 meetings pre-booked, Gong's booth strategy focused on two priorities: exceptional experiences for scheduled meetings and efficient capture of walk-up traffic.
Booth Design: Three Strategic Zones
Zone 1: Meeting Rooms (40% of space). Six private rooms with frosted glass, comfortable seating, 32" monitors. Scheduled meetings only—no walk-ups. Reps arrived 5 minutes early; a coordinator ensured seamless handoffs.
Zone 2: Interactive Demo Zone (35% of space). Four demo stations with the ROI calculator experience. Walk-ups could engage hands-on without interrupting meetings. Eight-to-twelve-minute interactions—short enough to maintain interest, long enough to capture quality data.
Zone 3: Networking Lounge (25% of space). Charging stations, coffee bar, high-top tables. Kept visitors in the booth longer and provided waiting area for early arrivals.
The design communicated one thing: we value your time. No aggressive booth staffers, no pressure. Scheduled meetings received VIP treatment; walk-ups could self-serve or request help.
The Live ROI Calculator
This was Gong's secret weapon for qualifying walk-ups. Instead of standard demos, reps asked prospects to participate in a 10-minute ROI calculation based on their business metrics.
The rep asked five questions on an iPad: number of sales reps, average deal size, current win rate, calls per week, percentage of calls recorded. As prospects answered, the calculator displayed real-time projections: "Based on a 5% win rate improvement—conservative based on our customer data—your team could generate an additional $2.4M annually."
The calculation showed cost per rep ($1,200/year), total investment, and ROI (typically 15-20x). Prospects left with a printable PDF showing these numbers with their company name.
Why this worked: It was personalized (their specific numbers), fast (10 minutes), created a shareable asset (PDF for internal business case), and qualified leads automatically (if they wouldn't share basic metrics, they weren't serious).
Gong ran 380 ROI calculations over three days. Of those, 220 became qualified leads (58% qualification rate), and 94 scheduled follow-up meetings within 30 days.
Pro Tip: Gong displayed a digital screen at booth entrance showing "Next Available Meeting Slots." This converted walk-up traffic into scheduled meetings later that day or the next day, ensuring quality interactions instead of rushed pitches.
Phase 3: Post-Show Follow-Up (Within 72 Hours)
Most companies lose at trade shows during follow-up. Leads sit in inboxes while reps "catch up." By the time outreach happens, prospects have moved on. Gong treated follow-up with the same precision as pre-show planning.
24-Hour Personalized Emails
Every scheduled meeting attendee received a personalized email within 24 hours. Not a template—a custom email referencing specific conversation points.
Reps took notes during meetings using a standardized template: pain points, current tools, buying timeline, stakeholders, agreed next steps. Immediately after the event, they used these notes to craft follow-ups.
Structure: Subject line referenced specific topic discussed. Opening thanked them and mentioned a specific challenge. Body delivered value (attached ROI calculation). Clear next step (calendar link to schedule custom demo). Low-pressure close.
Results: 64% open rate, 28% click-through on calendar link, 41% scheduled follow-up demo within two weeks.
Pro Tip: Reps recorded voice memo summaries immediately after each meeting while details were fresh. This made writing personalized follow-ups fast and accurate—3-4 hours the evening of the event, emails sent next morning before prospects' inboxes filled.
Segmented Walk-Up Follow-Up
Walk-ups received different treatment based on engagement level:
High-intent (completed ROI calculator or demo): Personalized email within 48 hours, similar to scheduled meetings.
Medium-intent (5+ minute engagement, gave contact info): Three-email nurture over two weeks with case study, demo video, and calendar link.
Low-intent (brief conversation): 30-day nurture with educational content, no hard sell.
This segmentation prevented wasting rep time on low-intent leads while staying engaged with high-intent prospects who weren't immediately ready.
Multi-Threaded Outreach
For enterprise accounts, SDRs reached out to additional stakeholders beyond the booth visitor. If a VP of Sales met with Gong, an SDR contacted the Director of RevOps: "I saw [VP name] stopped by our booth. We discussed forecast accuracy—this typically impacts RevOps too. Open to a 15-minute call?"
This approach accelerated deal cycles by engaging multiple decision-makers early instead of waiting for the initial contact to loop others in.
Results: 34% of enterprise leads had 2+ contacts engaged within 30 days. These multi-threaded accounts had 58% higher close rates than single-threaded accounts.
The Repeatable Framework
Traditional ApproachGong's Systematic ApproachHope for booth trafficPre-book 50% of meetings 6 weeks beforeGeneric demos for everyonePersonalized ROI calculations with their dataCollect business cardsCapture qualified leads with engagement scoringFollow up "next week"Personalized emails within 24 hoursSingle-threaded outreachMulti-threaded account engagementMeasure "booth visitors"Measure pipeline generated and close rateWing it based on who shows upExecute predetermined strategy with scheduled calendar
Your Timeline:
6-8 Weeks Before: Create landing page with meeting scheduler and qualification. Launch direct mail to 100-300 target accounts. Set up tracking for all campaigns.
3-4 Weeks Before: Host pre-event webinar. Launch LinkedIn ads to attendees. Email existing prospects: "Let's meet at [Event]."
1-2 Weeks Before: Send meeting confirmations with booth map and rep photo. Prepare note-taking templates. Build interactive booth experiences.
During Event: Honor scheduled meetings—no interruptions. Offer value-creating interactive experiences. Take detailed notes using standardized template. Score lead engagement in real-time.
Within 24-48 Hours After: Send personalized follow-ups to scheduled meetings. Send segmented follow-ups to walk-ups. Begin multi-threaded outreach to additional stakeholders.
2-4 Weeks After: Continue nurture sequences. Track leads converting to opportunities. Calculate event ROI. Document lessons for next event.
The Metrics That Mattered
Gong didn't measure vanity metrics like booth traffic. They tracked revenue-connected metrics:
Pre-Event: 24% landing page conversion (820 requests from 3,400 visitors). 82% meeting show rate (492 of 600 scheduled). 18% direct mail response.
During-Event: 4,200 booth visitors. 536 interactive experiences completed. 1,200 qualified leads. 58% qualification rate.
Post-Event: 64% follow-up open rate. 41% demo scheduling within two weeks. 42% lead-to-opportunity conversion within 60 days (504 opportunities). $2.3M pipeline. 12x event ROI.
The standout: 42% of leads became opportunities within 60 days. Most B2B companies see 5-10% conversion. Gong achieved 4-8x that rate through aggressive pre-qualification and systematic follow-up.
Pro Tip: Track "time to opportunity." Gong's median was 18 days—fast for enterprise B2B. This happened because follow-up kept conversations moving instead of letting deals go cold.
The Real Unlock: Pre-Event Intelligence
Gong's biggest advantage at Dreamforce was knowing who would be there before it started. This enabled everything: targeted outreach, pre-booked meetings, personalized conversations, fast follow-up.
Most companies don't get attendee lists until it's too late—or never. By the time you know who's attending, top prospects have already scheduled meetings with competitors who planned better.
Gong solved this through manual research: LinkedIn scraping, monitoring event hashtags, purchasing partial data, analyzing customer data. This took 40+ hours for a single event and still left gaps.
When you know your top 100 target accounts will attend, you can pre-book meetings 6 weeks in advance, send personalized direct mail referencing their attendance, staff your booth with reps covering those accounts, prepare customized demos for known pain points, and follow up within 24 hours because you already researched them.
This is the difference between trade shows as gambling and trade shows as predictable growth channels.
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Conclusion
Gong generated $2.3M from Dreamforce not with the flashiest booth or best swag. They won by treating trade shows like a predictable revenue channel with measurable inputs and outputs.
Their playbook is simple: target the right people before the event, deliver personalized value during, and follow up systematically after. None of these tactics require massive budgets or famous brands. They require planning, discipline, and data.
Before your next $50K+ trade show investment, ask: Do we have a Gong-level system? Can we name 100 specific people we want to talk to? Can we reach them before they arrive? Can we measure pipeline in 60 days?
If any answer is no, you're gambling—not executing strategy. Take a page from Gong's playbook and turn your next event into a pipeline-generation machine.
