If you’re in the cybersecurity sector, you’ve probably debated whether events are worth the investment. Whether they are the best way to build brand awareness, meet the right people, and generate leads? In short, events remain a critical part of a cybersecurity PR strategy, but the way vendors approach them is evolving.
The power of face-to-face or screen-to-screen
Cybersecurity vendors know that engagement is everything. Whether it’s securing funding, attracting customers, or building partnerships, events provide a unique opportunity to connect directly with key audiences. Despite the rise of digital interactions, in-person events still hold massive appeal.
According to our latest research, 75% of cybersecurity professionals see networking receptions, executive summits and c-level forums as the most valuable and popular types of events for cybersecurity goals. That means the traditional, in-person, handshake-driven approach is far from dead, it’s just becoming more strategic.
At the same time, cybersecurity professionals are prioritising events that offer industry trend insights and competitor analysis (89%), brand visibility and exposure (88%), showcasing new products and services (86%) and relationship-building opportunities (86%).
While it might seem like all events serve the same purpose, the reality is that different formats work best for different goals.
Security conferences were ranked highest (23%) for securing funding or investments and highlighting the need to take a more streamlined approach where financial input is required. In fact, security conferences rank in the top 3 as being the most beneficial for building strategic partnerships and relationships, knowledge-sharing and thought leadership, recruiting cybersecurity talent, networking with regulators and policy experts, improving incident response and recovery strategies and exploring emerging technologies.
Pairing events with cybersecurity goals
Not all events are created equal and whether you’re aiming to boost brand awareness, build partnerships, or recruit top talent, choosing the right format is crucial. Here’s how cybersecurity vendors are leveraging different types of events:
• For brand visibility: Industry trade shows (26%) and networking receptions (25%) take the lead.
• For thought leadership: Executive summits (22%) and security conferences (22%) are the top choices.
• For showcasing new solutions: Product launch events (23%) and industry trade shows (22%) shine.
• For strategic partnerships: C-level forums (29%) and networking receptions (24%) dominate.
Virtual events are also still hugely beneficial, particularly for scalability (81%) and data analytics on attendee engagement (81%). That means vendors who get creative with hybrid strategies, mixing in-person networking with virtual content delivery, will likely see the best results. In 2021, reputation (82%) and brand visibility (75%) were more important in the virtual world, demonstrating the challenges of the COVID era and the need to simply be seen.
What’s changing?
While the value of events remains high, attitudes toward them are shifting. Interestingly, when looking at what matters most to attendees by ‘extremely important’ alone, respondents place the highest importance on reputation of the event as being most important (56%) and the least importance on flexibility with time and attendance (for virtual events) (35%) or expected number of attendees (35%).
Surprisingly, when looking at the varying types of events overall, the reputation of the event came in second place (88%) to the ability to research industry trends and competitors (89%) with both ranking higher than cost (71%) or even the number of attendees (35%), showing that quality beats quantity.
Interestingly, in 2021, when asked about the importance or unimportance in driving decisions about which trade events to attend/exhibit at, the highest criteria were sales and lead opportunities (77%) and the calibre of companies attending (77%). Additionally, when asked about attitudes towards in-person events in 2021 (post-COVID), over 40% noted that they had become less appealing, with 23% saying they were unnecessary. This year’s findings clearly show that attitudes are changing.
For cybersecurity vendors, this means being more selective about where and how they show up. It’s not just about attending; it’s about being an important part of the conversation.
With cybersecurity threats growing and competition increasing, brands that invest in well-planned event strategies will continue to stand out. Whether it’s networking over coffee, showcasing solutions at a trade show, or leading the discussion at a C-level forum.