Several days of intensive networking, dozens of new connections – and almost no tangible business outcomes. Sounds familiar? Today, simply attending a conference is no longer enough. In the iGaming industry, events have become part of the routine: everyone meets, socializes, and promises to stay in touch. However, only those who set clear objectives and know how to transform introductions into business opportunities achieve measurable results. In a new edition of Point of View, Tanya Pisarchuk, Senior Sales Manager at Already Media, and Maria Babrouskaya, PR, Event & Production Team Lead at N1 Partners, share their insights into conference participation and discuss strategies for maximizing the value of industry events.
Everyone goes to conferences to do deals. Networking and meeting old partners are also important, of course, but they’re more of a bonus. You can communicate via messengers too, but the real question is whether those conversations convert into sales. That’s why I start preparing for every trip about three to four weeks before the event. I study the attendee list, assess who I definitely need to meet, plan meetings and strengthen my PR. Before the event, I check how full my schedule is. If I have at least one free hour during the day, I use that time flexibly. For example, I might walk around the booths of interesting companies to see if I can make spontaneous contact.
Conference preparation is also a sales process. People who are not familiar with this field often think that our main weapon is how we talk. However, smart partner research and a properly filled CRM matter much more. It is essential to understand in advance who you are meeting, what their business is, where your interests may align, and why you are sitting at the same table in the first place. Without this knowledge, a conference can easily turn into an expensive walk between booths.
The most important stage of every deal is closing it. The atmosphere at conferences can often be misleading, with the endorphins from great conversations creating the illusion of success. Don’t count a new win as yours until the partnership has been officially confirmed. Closing a deal means reaching a specific agreement on the terms here and now, which are then recorded in a chat or email.
I don’t want to sound like your mum, but my top life tip is to avoid destroying yourself with alcohol, cigarettes and late-night afterparties. A conference is not a vacation — it’s several days of intense work with other people. To stay alert and able to think clearly, the basics are simple: sleep well, eat healthily, and avoid overstimulating your nervous system. For example, I go to the gym every morning before a conference. It may sound contradictory, but physical activity really helps me avoid feeling tired during the day.
How has the industry’s attitude toward conferences changed? Are they still a sales channel or a tool for brand awareness? Conferences are effective for both sales and brand awareness. Don’t expect to simply smile, tell a couple of jokes, hand out business cards and walk away with a suitcase full of deals. People value live contact. When a partner sees you in person rather than messaging an avatar in a chat, it becomes much easier and faster to build a connection and reach an agreement.
Salespeople always have their own tricks. One way to stand out is through catchy appearance: your hairstyle, clothes, or communication style. Alternatively, you can stand out through original approaches and the way you speak. Indeed, it often feels a bit like going on a date: you need to listen to the other person, remember the details and use that information to show the lead that you genuinely want to solve their problem.
The answer is simple: either they did not close any deals, or their product was not attractive enough. The two weeks after the event are the best time for honest reflection. Who did not engage? Where did discussions of terms stall? Why did I fail to spark interest? The answers often show that you sometimes need to change your sales approach. Other times, you need to admit that the problem lies with the offer itself, not sales.
I would give three pieces of advice:
And most importantly, genuinely enjoy your work and communication. This will protect you from burnout.
Many people assume that preparation starts with designing the exhibition booth. For us, it begins much earlier with defining objectives and developing the overall concept. The first step is determining why we are attending the exhibition and what value we want to bring to the market. Once that foundation is established, every other element naturally follows: key messaging, booth design, merch, and engagement activities. From that point, multiple teams begin working simultaneously, including Design, Events, Production, Public Relations, and Social Media Marketing. The earlier this process starts, the more time we have to focus on creating meaningful experiences rather than resolving last-minute operational issues. This year, preparation is particularly significant because we are launching N1 Duality. Rather than being developed for a single exhibition, it is a long-term creative concept that will continue evolving across multiple industry events.
Our objective extends far beyond simply organizing an exhibition. We strive to create an environment where affiliate managers, PR specialists, and the content team can perform at their highest level. For this reason, we prepare every element that can be anticipated in advance: logistics, booth operations, promotional materials, and merch. If our team has to deal with external organizational challenges on-site, it means something was overlooked during the planning stage. Following every conference, we conduct a thorough post-event review to identify those gaps and ensure they are addressed before the next event. Ideally, all of this work remains invisible to attendees. The less noticeable the operational side is, the more time our teams can dedicate to the very reason we attended the exhibition in the first place – building meaningful business relationships.
In my opinion, effective branded merchandise is something people genuinely want to keep. This way it continues promoting the brand long after the exhibition has ended. For example, we have established a tradition of releasing collectible toys. We introduce a new figure at almost every conference, and many of our partners actively collect the entire series. At some point, they stopped being ordinary promotional merch and became an integral part of our brand identity.
For iGB London, we created an exclusive limited-edition collection in collaboration with Yoomoota, an award-winning artist recognized by both the A’ Design Award and the Good Design Award. With the launch of the N1 Duality concept, we completely reimagined our approach to branded merch. Instead of producing separate promotional items for each exhibition, we are building a continuously evolving collection that grows alongside our brand. This is why, for the first time, we partnered with British artist Klím Evernden, whose portfolio includes collaborations with luxury brands such as Hermès, Louis Vuitton, and Rolls-Royce. Our goal was to transform merch into collectible designer pieces rather than producing another standard promotional giveaway. The best merch is the kind that people do not leave behind in their hotel rooms after the conference.
I would not say that savings should come from a specific budget category. Instead, companies should eliminate anything that does not directly contribute to achieving the exhibition’s objectives. We constantly ask ourselves one question: does this create additional value, or does it simply increase the budget? In many cases, one powerful idea delivers significantly greater impact than ten additional activities implemented merely for the sake of having them. However, there are certain areas where cutting costs is never advisable. These include the creative concept, booth location, production quality, branded merchandise, and exclusive partner engagement activities. These are the elements people remember, and they ultimately shape the overall perception of the brand after the event.
No matter how many months you spend preparing, something will inevitably change at the last minute. Even when planning begins well in advance, certain factors remain outside your control: delayed deliveries, local contractor practices, changes introduced by event organizers, or unexpected schedule adjustments. That is why successful event management is not only about meticulous planning, it is equally about preparing contingency plans for virtually every stage of the project. Over time, you realize that a successful conference is determined less by the absence of problems and more by how quickly they are resolved. The more experienced the team, the more confidently it adapts to unexpected changes.
The classic nightmare for any event manager is arriving at the venue only to discover that something critical has gone wrong: the exhibition booth has been delayed, the merch has not arrived, or a contractor has suddenly become unreachable. Situations like these are entirely possible, which is why we always prepare backup plans. The most important thing is to remain calm and make decisions quickly. If neither the team nor our partners notice that anything went wrong, then we know we have done our job well.
The best feedback we can receive is people asking about our next exhibition before it has even begun. That is exactly what happened with our collectible toys. We realised that visitors were looking forward to every new release and returning from one exhibition to the next specifically to add another figure to their collection. That experience demonstrated that merch can become far more than a promotional giveaway; it can evolve into a meaningful part of a brand’s long-term story.
You could hold dozens of meetings, hand out all your merch and get into every photo recap, yet still return without securing a single deal. Conferences often create the feeling of momentum, but activity alone never guarantees results. Real partnerships are not born from random small talk, but from a system involving clear preparation, a strong offers and the ability to steer the conversation towards a concrete agreement.