By Yifat Noff, VP of Marketing at LSport

Most teams think booth traffic happens naturally. It doesn’t.

At ICE Barcelona, one of the largest gaming and gambling conferences in the world, LSports faced a familiar problem: 20 salespeople, three days, and the question every event marketer dreads: how do you keep them busy with meaningful meetings the entire time?

They started six weeks before the event opened.

LSports launched a campaign inviting prospects to register for a personalized jersey of their favorite football team. Not generic swag. Not another tote bag. A custom football shirt with their own name on it.

500 leads registered. 250 highly qualified prospects were selected and invited to collect their shirts at a scheduled booth meeting.

Result: 90%+ meeting attendance.

That was only the beginning. They also brought football legend Ruud Gullit for live interviews, photos, and a signed-shirt giveaway, generating roughly 600 additional leads.

The real lesson is bigger than football.

Great event marketing starts long before the event. The booth isn’t the experience. The anticipation is.