Your team will shake hundreds of hands this fall. How many of those conversations will you be able to turn into proof?
Event season runs from September through December, and it's the busiest stretch of the year for customer and product marketers. Booths, breakout sessions, and user groups put you in front of customers when they're most engaged. Then everyone flies home, and that goodwill easily fades into a follow-up email nobody answers.
The challenge? That goodwill is customer proof, and it's one of the most important parts of your go-to-market (GTM) strategy, especially if you're selling an AI solution.
G2's recent 2026 AI Agents Report found that 86% of B2B software buyers purchased AI agent software in the past year, and that they hold those vendors to a higher standard of evidence than traditional software. Fresh customer reviews not only help you build trust—they help you show up in AI answers and land on the buyer's shortlist. The opportunities to collect them are everywhere, but many teams wait too long to ask, or ask in ways customers skip.
Events solve both problems, and they're one of the best places to get proof: customers are already engaged and in the room, so you can ask right away and in person. But events have their own proof problem.
In a HockeyStack survey of 170 B2B marketers, 58% said they struggle to measure event results, and 67% said events are among the first things they would cut when budgets tighten.
The reviews and feedback you collect in the room double as evidence of what the event was worth. So here's our checklist for collecting customer reviews beyond email and proving your events' value, along with how G2's Self-Serve Events pages can help.
Badge scans and meeting counts tell you who showed up. They rarely tell you what the event was worth. Pick one or two proof metrics before the event starts, such as verified customer reviews, new references, or product feedback, and set a target for each.
The pipeline potential is real. HockeyStack's event study of 198 B2B SaaS companies found that events convert created deals to qualified opportunities at higher rates than other channels (5.50% for live events, versus 4.82%). A clear target turns "was the event worth it?" into a number you can report.
G2's Self-Serve Events builds the target into the setup. In my.G2, you choose your product, up to three target categories, your event dates, and a review goal, which tracks progress on your landing page and doesn't affect cost.
Events are crowded. Attendees are juggling sessions, meetings, and a phone full of notifications, so any ask that requires a detour gets skipped. The best event programs put the ask along paths people already walk: the booth, the closing slide of a session, the line for coffee.
That also makes events one of the simplest ways to collect customer reviews beyond email: a quick scan replaces another message in an inbox. Each scan that becomes a review is proof that the event reached customers who care.
When you schedule a Self-Serve Events campaign, G2 generates a QR code and a vanity URL and emails you both. You can also download the code from the Review Campaign Dashboard. Print it on booth signage, table tents, and badge inserts, and add it to session slides and demo stations.
Anyone who scans before the event starts sees a countdown page, so promote the URL early in your event app and attendee emails.
Timing matters. A customer who just watched a demo land, or left a session they loved, has something to say right now. An hour later, they're busy thinking about the flight home. Brief everyone staffing your event to listen for those moments and make one clear ask.
A single, well-timed ask also addresses a common worry among customer marketers: over-asking. You're inviting feedback in person, at a moment when they already care. Make sure your staff can explain the incentive and the no-login option up front. Reviews written on the spot are proof tied directly to the event.
Every extra step costs you responses. Creating an account on a phone, in a loud hall, with a coffee in the other hand, is the kind of step people abandon. Fewer steps mean more completed reviews, and more completed reviews mean a bigger number to show for the event.
G2's delayed login does this for reviews. Attendees who write a review without a G2 account enter an email address and marketing consent, then receive an email afterward with options to verify via LinkedIn, Google, or a G2 account. They have 30 days to verify, and only verified reviews that pass G2's standard moderation are published and rewarded. Ask people to tap that email before they leave the venue.
Most event reporting happens a month later, when it can't change anything. Checking progress mid-event gives you time to adjust: move the signage or send staff to a busier area. HockeyStack's study notes that events often look weak in attribution models, which makes in-the-moment evidence more valuable.
Your live review tracker in my.G2 tracks review counts as they come in, through the submission and approval funnel, along with verification status, incentives issued, and budget remaining. Plan your incentive budget about 30% above what you expect to spend. Those numbers become the first draft of your post-event report.
The week after an event is when attention and goodwill are highest, and it's also when everyone is buried in email. Build your follow-up plan before you leave.
Treat event reviews as a fast feedback loop. When the event ends, the landing page switches to an event-has-ended message, so use the following week to put the reviews to work. Send product feedback to your product team, pull quotes for sales enablement, and add fresh proof to your next launch. Verified reviews also contribute to your G2 ratings, badges, and category placement.
Add one line to your post-event recap: verified reviews collected against your goal. Product marketers get a metric they own, and customer marketers get a clear way to show what the event produced.
Event season rewards teams that can prove their events worked, and the best proof is customer reviews captured while customers are in the room. Decide what proof you want, put the ask where people already are, time it well, make it easy, watch it live, and follow up fast. The tools matter less than the habit.
Heading to an event this fall? Build your Self-Serve Events page in my.G2 and start collecting reviews on day one. Or learn how G2 Review Managed Services can collect a steady stream of fresh reviews for you.
Live events are one of the strongest because customers are present, engaged, and can respond on the spot. A QR code on booth signage, session slides, and badge inserts takes them to a review page in seconds. Other options include in-product prompts, customer communities, and managed collection when your team is short on time.
Continuously, with bursts around moments when customers are engaged, like events. Reviews are the trust signal buyers look for: in G2's 2026 AI Search Insight Report, 45% of B2B software buyers said a review-site citation is the most confidence-inspiring signal in an AI answer. G2 also builds recency into its scoring through review decay: a review's weight fades gradually over its first 90 days, stays relatively strong for about 18 months, and drops to roughly 3% of its original weight after about three years. Verified reviews that pass G2's moderation count toward your ratings, badges, and category placement.
No. With delayed login, attendees write a review, enter an email address and marketing consent, and verify afterward through LinkedIn, Google, or a G2 account. They have 30 days to verify, and only verified reviews that pass G2's moderation are published and rewarded.
At least a week before the event. The page goes live at midnight on the event's start date, and after that, you can only raise the budget cap. Share the URL early, since anyone who scans before the start sees a countdown page.