Event-led growth
Make events your best source of new business.
Events Authority helps B2B teams plan trade shows, sponsorships and company events that bring in customers, and then count what came back. You get the plan, the tools and hands-on help.
It's free. One conversation about your events. No slide deck.
Tracie Crites founded Events Authority after more than fifteen years in the IT channel, buying sponsorships as a Chief Channel Officer and owning a festival's sponsor relationships. CRN 2025 Channel Chief and Woman of the Channel.
This is one page of the plan. See all five chapters
Services
What we do
Events Authority is an event-led growth consultancy. We work with B2B teams in any industry that exhibit at, sponsor, host or attend events, starting with the IT channel, where Tracie built her record. We also work with conference, festival and association teams that sell sponsorships. We do trade show consulting, corporate event planning, event production, event strategy, event marketing, sponsorship program design, and partner and channel events.
- Trade show consultingPick the shows worth the money, and bring back leads sales can use.
- Corporate event planningCustomer dinners, partner days and launches, planned backwards from the result you want.
- Event productionThe room, the run of show and the stage, built so your story lands.
- Event strategyDecide which events to buy across the year, and what each one has to return.
- Event marketingFill the booth before the doors open, and follow up while it still counts.
- Sponsorship program designTiers and benefits sponsors can point to, priced to sell and easy to renew.
- Partner and channel eventsSummits, kickoffs and partner days that give partners a reason to show up.
1 · Before events season
Your event problem probably isn't the booth.
Most of the money is spent months earlier, in a budget meeting, on a list of shows nobody questioned. Start there.
Why is each show on the list?
"We went last year" and "our competitor goes" are habits, not reasons.
Where do your buyers have time to talk?
Look at who actually attends, what the sessions are about, and when you'd get real time with them.
What counts as a lead?
Agree it with sales before you book anything. If you count different things, no show will ever look like it worked.
Both sides of the sponsorship table.
Tracie Crites ran Breach Secure Now's trade show and channel event program for five years: VP of Sales & Marketing (2020–2023), then Chief Channel Officer (2023–2025). The calendar ran $1M to $2M a year and had to be justified every year. Tracie Crites has owned the sponsor relationships on the Town of Frederick's festivals for six years and built their tiered sponsor program. CRN named her a 2025 Channel Chief and a 2025 Woman of the Channel.
More about TracieAbout 20%
of event attendance came back as qualified warm leads, across the program
100%
sponsor retention, six years running, on the town festivals whose sponsor relationships Tracie Crites owns
Tracie Crites ran Breach Secure Now's trade show and channel event program from 2020 to 2025, first as VP of Sales & Marketing and then as Chief Channel Officer.
2 · Before the show
The show is won before the doors open.
By the time the hall opens, the best meetings are already booked. The only question is whether you booked them.
Meetings before flights.
Start about twelve weeks out, with a list of the people you most want to see. Book them first, then the travel.
Three touches before day one.
An invitation, a reason, a reminder. Nobody should meet you for the first time at the booth.
One sentence for the whole team.
The one thing every visitor should leave remembering. If the team cannot say it, the booth cannot either.
3 · At the show
Every show has the same six people.
There are a lot of ways for an event to go wrong. Most of them have a name.
Three walk up to your booth
Two of them will take your time and your swag. Build the plan for the third.
The Swag Bagger
Visits every booth. Leaves with four tote bags and no idea what you sell.
The Tire Kicker
Looks exactly like a buyer. Friendly, curious, no budget, no deadline. There go twenty minutes of your best rep.
The Real Buyer
Has a problem, a budget and eleven minutes between sessions. Will walk straight past a booth that looks like the others.
This is who the plan is for
Three are wearing your logo
This half is the part you control. It is also the half nobody trains for.
The Badge Scanner
Scans anything that moves. Comes home with 600 "leads" and no conversations.
The Booth Sitter
Behind the table, on the phone. The most expensive chair in the building.
The Monday CFO
Wasn't at the show. Has one question when you get back: what did we get for that?
This is who the plan has to answer
A good event plan has an answer for all six.
Get your event assessment4 · The week after
Most event money is lost the week after.
A good conversation stays warm for days, not weeks. That is the week most teams spend unpacking, catching up on email, and sending sales a spreadsheet.
Write the follow-up before you fly.
On Monday morning it only needs a name and one line about what you talked about.
A short list, not a spreadsheet.
Ten names with notes get called. Six hundred badge scans get filed.
Leads first. Big ideas second.
Everyone comes home with big ideas. They will still be good ideas next week.
5 · Back at the office
Give every show one number.
What it cost and what came back. The shows that paid get more budget. The rest get cut. Then budget season comes round again, and you start at the top with better answers.
Count at 30, 60 and 90 days.
Deals from a show rarely close in the week after it. Count again when they have had time to.
Answer finance before finance asks.
"What did we get for that?" is a fair question. It deserves a number, not a story.
Let the numbers pick next year.
This is where chapter one gets easy.
Does it work?
Here is what we can show you.
Real numbers from real shows, with where each one came from. The full stories are in the case studies.
941
booth visitors became paying partners at one IT Nation Connect
Tracie Crites ran Breach Secure Now's trade show and channel event program from 2020 to 2025, first as VP of Sales & Marketing and then as Chief Channel Officer.
About 20%
of event attendance came back as qualified warm leads, across the program
Tracie Crites ran Breach Secure Now's trade show and channel event program from 2020 to 2025, first as VP of Sales & Marketing and then as Chief Channel Officer.
3,600
branded toy cars went into attendee swag bags at IT Nation Connect 2025, for the racetrack at the booth
Breach Secure Now engaged Tracie Crites, through SALT Strategies, for this program.
"I want to hire you to help me with our event strategy including shoe selection and budgeting for next year."
Robert J. ScottCEO & Co-Founder, Monjur
See it on LinkedIn"Tracie Crites - you did an amazing job! The booth, the breakout session and tons of engagement. Thank you so much for all the effort you put in to make us successful! SALT Strategies definitely delivered!"
Art GrossCEO, Breach Secure Now
Breach Secure Now engaged Tracie Crites, through SALT Strategies, for this program.
See it on LinkedIn"Best booth at the conference."
Monique R.on LinkedIn, about IT Nation Connect 2025
See it on LinkedIn
Want it done with you?
Events Authority works alongside your team, from the plan to the count.
Find out what your events should be returning.
Tell us what you spend on events and what you get back. You will get a straight read on what is working, what is not, and what to fix first.