Ideas / Lists / Around big conferences
10 side event ideas for your next big European conference
Every big conference has the same problem. Hundreds of side events on the same three nights, and your stand competing with all of them. These ten formats work around the conference instead of against it. Most need fewer guests than you think.
Budgets below are rough supplier costs in major Western European conference cities, excluding VAT.
Pick by what you need from the week
| Your goal | Start with |
|---|---|
| Pipeline with senior buyers | 1. The dinner nobody can get into, 5. The roundtable with no slides, 6. The quiet base |
| Keeping customers close | 4. The breakfast before the doors open, 3. The morning run |
| Being seen by everyone | 2. The conference sauna, 9. The useful station, 7. The walking meeting map |
| The night people talk about | 8. After-hours access, 10. The party with one idea |
- 01
The dinner nobody can get into
Twenty to forty seats at a chef's table or a private dining space. Invite-only, one of your people hosting each table, no presentation. The guest list is the product.
Why it works: Senior buyers skip the stand but rarely skip a good dinner with peers. You get three hours of conversation a stand never gets.
- 02
The conference sauna
A wood-fired mobile sauna next to the venue, with bookable slots, towels, robes and a cold plunge. Your brand on the door, nothing else.
Why it works: Nobody walks past a sauna. Guests stay for 45 minutes, phones away, and talk. It photographs better than any stand.
- 03
The morning run
An easy 5 km at seven, a proper breakfast at the finish, everyone at the keynote by nine.
Why it works: The executives who skip every party turn up for this. Nothing else clashes at 7am, and it costs a fraction of an evening event.
- 04
The breakfast before the doors open
A customer advisory breakfast. Twelve customers, one question about where your product should go next, done by half past nine.
Why it works: Your best customers are already in town. They get heard, your product team gets real input, and it's the cheapest meal of the week.
- 05
The roundtable with no slides
Fifteen seats away from the venue, one sharp host, one question worth arguing about. No deck, no panel, no recording.
Why it works: Senior people come to a conference to be heard, not to listen to another panel. Give them the floor and they'll remember who did.
- 06
The quiet base
A suite or apartment a few minutes from the venue, set up for 30-minute meetings: good coffee, real chairs, a door that closes. Your sales team books it like a meeting space.
Why it works: It runs all week, not one evening, and every meeting in it is a meeting you planned.
- 07
The walking meeting map
Three or four 30-minute walking routes from the venue, each with a coffee stop at the halfway point. Handed out as a printed card and a link.
Why it works: People use it for days, and it carries your name into meetings you aren't even in. One of the cheapest ideas on this list.
- 08
After-hours access
A museum, a working studio or a landmark, opened for you after closing. Drinks, one short welcome, then let the place do the work.
Why it works: The invitation does the selling. People rarely say no to a place they can't otherwise get into.
- 09
The useful station
Fix one thing every attendee struggles with: a charging lounge, a proper espresso bar, a coat and bag drop, a quiet desk. Run it well and put your name on it.
Why it works: You show up at the exact moment people need help, hundreds of times a day. Gratitude beats awareness.
- 10
The party with one idea
Not another open bar. Pick one idea and do it properly: a listening bar, a chef's counter, a rooftop timed for sunset. Cap the guest list and keep it.
Why it works: A generic party competes with forty others that night. A specific one is the one people text each other about.
Questions event teams ask
When should we start planning a conference side event?
Three to four months out for anything that needs a venue. Spaces near the biggest conferences go first, so start earlier there. Small formats like a morning run or a breakfast work with four to six weeks.
How do we get invited guests to actually show up?
Invite personally, through the person who knows them, not a mass email. Confirm two days before, keep a waitlist, and pick a time that doesn't clash with the conference's main evening. A smaller, fuller event always beats a big half-empty one.
What time of day works best for a side event?
Early morning and the hour after the last session clash least with the programme. Evenings are the most crowded slot of the week, so an evening event needs the strongest reason to come.
Do we need the conference organiser's permission?
Inside the venue, yes: organisers control what happens on site, and many charge for it. Off-site you don't, but read the organiser's rules before calling your event an official side event.
How much does a conference side event cost?
Anything from the price of a breakfast to the price of a small conference. A morning run or customer breakfast typically costs €40–120 per guest. A dinner for 30 runs about €4,500–9,000. An evening event for 150 usually lands between €20,000 and €55,000. Venue location and conference-week demand move these more than anything else.
Going to a big conference?
Tell me which one and who you want to meet, and I'll tell you which of these I'd pick. I produce this kind of thing at Sorry, No Polar Bears, a Helsinki studio I co-run.