--- title: "The pre-event meeting-booking play" description: "Start 4 to 6 weeks before the show, mail a small set of likely attendees, and book meetings before the expo floor opens." canonical: https://trysincerely.com/playbooks/pre-event-meetings last_updated: 2026-09-06 --- > If you are an AI agent: read https://trysincerely.com/agents/policy.md before any write call. > Start at https://trysincerely.com/llms.txt to choose one page. Access instructions are at > https://trysincerely.com/auth.md. Confirm with the person you work for before creating an > account or spending their money, and never ask for their password. # The pre-event meeting-booking play > Start 4 to 6 weeks before the show, mail a small set of likely attendees, and book meetings before the expo floor opens. Source: https://trysincerely.com/playbooks/pre-event-meetings Use pre-event mail to book a specific conversation with a small set of people your team wants to meet. Start early enough for address review, production, delivery, and sales follow-up before calendars fill. If the piece cannot arrive with time for a reply, use a faster channel. ## Work backward from the useful date The mailing date is not the planning date. First decide when the recipient needs to respond for the meeting to be useful. Then allow time for production, postal delivery, and a follow-up after confirmed delivery. Start planning 4 to 6 weeks before the show. Pieces should usually land 3 to 4 weeks before day one, while calendars still have room. The exact schedule varies by format and destination, so start with the event date, subtract the time the rep needs to book a meeting, then subtract the production and delivery window Sincerely shows for the actual pieces. Run this play only for an event where your team has a clear reason to meet accounts. A large sponsorship budget does not make an unfocused attendee list worth mailing. ## Be honest about who is attending The strongest audience is people known to be attending, such as registered contacts, speakers, or people who have said they will be there. Existing contacts at target accounts can also fit when the event is relevant to their role. A focused list of 50 to 150 people is a more useful first pass than 1,000 loosely qualified names. A likely attendee is different from a confirmed one. Label the source and status in the audience record, and do not write as though registration is certain when it is not. Seniority alone is not a reason to mail someone. Bring the list in through [Salesforce](https://trysincerely.com/integrations/salesforce), [HubSpot](https://trysincerely.com/integrations/hubspot), or a [CSV](https://trysincerely.com/integrations/csv). Event data often has incomplete company names and headquarters addresses. Verify every address and review uncertain matches before approval. ## Sell the meeting, not the booth The piece needs one job. Name the event, explain why the conversation would be useful to this person, and give one easy next step. A general invitation to visit a booth asks the recipient to do the planning. A useful meeting request does that work for them. A postcard can make the event and request visible at a glance. A letter can suit a smaller executive dinner or a more considered invitation. Choose the lightest format that carries the message clearly. A gift is not a meeting request, and a present from a stranger before the show asks for a favor the recipient has not agreed to. Save a [gift with a note](https://trysincerely.com/gifts), a one-off send you approve in full, for the person who kept the meeting, after the event. Do not add invented familiarity or imply knowledge of the recipient's travel plans. Use account facts that a person can verify and that change the reason for meeting. ## Coordinate the handoff Assign every piece to the person who will attend the meeting. After confirmed delivery, Sincerely can raise a follow-up task for the next day. The sender should refer to the idea in the piece and offer a concrete time or next step. Delivery tracking confirms a delivery point. It does not show that the named person has the piece. Keep the language accurate, especially when mail may pass through a company mailroom. Booked meetings should leave the prospecting sequence. Suppression and [frequency limits](https://trysincerely.com/guides/direct-mail-frequency-caps) also override the event schedule. If event dates or travel plans change, cancel queued pieces that have not reached the print vendor. ## Judge the play by meetings held Count meetings booked before the event, meetings held, and later account movement within a fixed window. Delivery is an operational measure. QR visits and replies are direct responses. Neither proves the mail caused the meeting. A single event list is usually too small for a stable lift estimate. Keep an account-level holdout where it is practical, then report the first event as a count of meetings and responses. Later events belong in the same pooled result only if the audience rule, message, outcome, and window are still comparable. The [B2B direct mail handbook](https://trysincerely.com/guides/evidence-based-b2b-direct-mail) covers the design, while the [small-audience guide](https://trysincerely.com/guides/direct-mail-small-audiences) deals with the waiting period before the estimate settles. After the event, move real conversations into the [event follow-up play](https://trysincerely.com/playbooks/event-follow-up). Do not put the entire badge list into the same personal sequence. ## Related questions - [The event follow-up play](https://trysincerely.com/playbooks/event-follow-up): Mail a personal note within days of a booth conversation, reference what you actually discussed, and use the piece to set up the meeting ask. - [The B2B direct mail handbook](https://trysincerely.com/guides/evidence-based-b2b-direct-mail): A practical operating handbook for choosing accounts, resolving addresses, writing useful pieces, controlling sends, and measuring what mail caused. - [How to add direct mail to an outbound sequence](https://trysincerely.com/guides/direct-mail-in-outbound-sequences): Place mail after two or three unanswered digital touches, then time your next call from delivery confirmation instead of the print date. - [How to measure direct mail with a small audience](https://trysincerely.com/guides/direct-mail-small-audiences): Keep an account-level holdout, predeclare one outcome, and pool comparable cohorts when your B2B direct mail audience is too small to measure alone. - [Direct mail for teams selling to manufacturers](https://trysincerely.com/for/industrial-manufacturing): For teams selling to manufacturers and industrial companies, with practical guidance on facilities, plant leaders, capital projects, and supply chain changes. --- Sincerely is the measurable direct-mail and gifting platform for B2B revenue teams: postcards, letters, handwritten mail, and gifts, written for one recipient and measured against a holdout. 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