I've run campaigns across 47 industries with $350M+ in managed spend, so I've seen what works when you're competing for attention during major industry events. The biggest mistake I see is trying to out-shout everyone at the main venue--you end up burning budget on the same tired reception everyone else is throwing. What's worked consistently: intimate breakfast roundtables at boutique hotels within walking distance, capped at 8-10 people, invitation-only for pre-qualified accounts. We ran one for a SaaS client during a fintech conference where the invite copy led with "Off the record: What actually breaks in your stack during Q4" and included a real agenda with named discussion leaders. 42% acceptance rate, and three of those conversations turned into POCs within 60 days because we focused on peer problem-solving instead of pitching. The detail that moved deals was the follow-up cadence: we sent a summary doc within 24 hours highlighting anonymous quotes from the discussion and specific pain points raised, then used that as context for every subsequent sales touch. It positioned our outreach as continuing a conversation instead of starting cold, which cut our typical sales cycle by almost a third for those accounts.