In a world obsessed with AI, automation, and endless digital content, it’s easy to forget that the most powerful marketing channel is still the most human one: live experiences.

That was the focus of the latest Power to the People LinkedIn Live, where Katie Street was joined by Louisa O’Connor, Managing Director at Seen Presents - producing activations for Netflix and the New York Times at Cannes Lions, and Paul Coxhill, COO and President at LIONS - helping shape the strategic growth of one of the world's most iconic creative marketing institutions.

The session didn’t just make the case for “doing more events”. It dug into why live experiences are cutting through in a digital‑first world, how brands (especially in B2B) are rethinking the role of events in their marketing mix, and what it really takes to design experiences people remember - and that actually move the needle on pipeline, relationships and brand.

From festival‑style brand worlds on the Croisette to intimate, highly curated fringe events and C‑suite experiences, the conversation was ultimately about this: in a landscape where almost everything can be automated, the biggest opportunity sits with the one thing that can’t be faked - bringing people together in real life.

Digital distrust, human connection  

We’re in a strange moment.

On one side, there’s more content than ever. Most of us are scrolling, streaming and swiping through multiple feeds at once. A lot of what we see is AI‑assisted, if not fully generated.

On the other side, there’s a growing sense of distrust and fatigue:

• People aren’t sure what’s real.  
• Messages blur into one another.  
• Attention is spread thin across a dozen tabs.

Live experiences cut through that.

When someone walks into a well‑designed event, they’re not just another impression. They’re in a space you’ve created, with their full attention, surrounded by other humans. They can feel your brand, not just see it on a screen.

That shift, from passive consumption to active presence, is where the real value lies.

Why screen‑first brands are going heavy on IRL  

The most interesting movement is coming from brands you mostly meet through a device:

• Platforms  
• Tech companies  
• Streaming and entertainment brands  
• Digital publishers and creator‑led businesses  

These are the brands putting serious money into beaches, pop‑ups and large‑scale activations at festivals and industry gatherings.

On paper, they could live entirely online. In practice, they’re choosing not to.

Because they’ve realised:

• Cultural relevance is built in shared moments, not just shared posts.  
• Communities become real when people meet each other, not just each other’s avatars.  
• It’s much easier to land complex propositions - new products, partnerships, or tools when people can experience them in context, not just watch a sizzle reel.

The play isn’t “have a stand”. It’s build a world.

Spaces where you immediately know whose universe you’ve stepped into, with the business narrative woven through every touchpoint.

B2B events are changing (but not fast enough)  

Classic B2B events were built around information delivery:

• Rows of chairs  
• A schedule stuffed with panels and presentations  
• A quick networking slot and that’s your lot

They were optimised for content volume, not for connection.

What we’re seeing now is a quiet but important shift:

• From talking at people to designing for participation  
• From “here’s our agenda” to “here’s an experience you’ll actually want to be at”  
• From generic conference set‑ups to events that feel unmistakably like your brand

That might look like:

• Smaller, more curated fringe events around big trade shows  
• Hands‑on sessions where people make, taste or build something together  
• Formats that invite conversation: roundtables, workshops, and shared activities, rather than an endless line‑up of stages

The content is still there. The difference is how people encounter it.

Designing for how people actually show up  

One of the most useful ways to think about attendees is to recognise that not every B2B audience is the same.

As Louisa put it, you’re always dealing with a mix of paddlers, swimmers and divers:

‍Paddlers  

They skim the surface.  

They might drop in for a keynote, attend a couple of meetings, then leave. They’re often senior, time‑poor, and very selective.

‍Swimmers

They spend more time in the experience.  

They’ll explore, try a few sessions and activations, but they won’t say yes to everything.

‍Divers  

They’re all‑in.  

They’ll be the first to register, last to leave, and they’ll hit almost every touchpoint you’ve created.

The opportunity is to layer your event so each of them gets what they need:

• Highly visible, high‑impact brand moments that even a paddler can’t miss  
• Thoughtful spaces and formats for swimmers to drop into – lounges, roundtables, small invite‑only sessions  
• Deeper, more playful or immersive experiences that divers can fully throw themselves into

Same event, different depths of engagement by design.

Festival thinking, without the gimmicks  

“Festivalisation” gets thrown around a lot, but underneath the buzzword is something useful.

It’s the move from:

“We’ve booked a venue and filled a schedule”  

to  

“We’re curating an ecosystem of experiences people will remember.”

That doesn’t mean every B2B event needs to turn into a full‑scale festival.

It does mean asking different questions:

• How do we make this feel like our world, not just any world?  
• Where are the moments of surprise and delight that people will still be talking about next week?  
• Are we prioritising depth of connection over cramming in more sessions?  
• Have we created enough space for serendipity - the chance encounters, side conversations and unexpected intros that people secretly come for?

The brands who get this right don’t just fill a room. They build something people want to come back to.

Digital, AI and where they actually help  

None of this sits in opposition to digital or AI. The most effective strategies are using them in all the right places - just not as the main event.

Digital is brilliant for:

• Warming people up before they arrive  
• Helping the right people find and register for the right experiences  
• Capturing content and extending the life of the event afterwards

AI is powerful for:

• Streamlining planning, logistics and follow‑up  
• Helping you turn conversations into assets - recaps, clips, insights  
• Spotting patterns in who engaged where and how

But the core value of the event – the thinking, the curation, the feeling in the room – still needs to be human.

That’s the bit people notice.  

And it’s the bit they can’t get from another generic webinar or AI‑written post.

The ROI most people underestimate  

When you zoom out, the commercial case for events is getting stronger, not weaker.

In‑person experiences consistently show up as:

• One of the highest‑performing channels for lead generation  
• A space where conversion from “interested” to “in conversation” can be disproportionately high  
• A way to accelerate relationships that would take months to build online

Even at relatively small, tightly curated B2B events, it’s common to see a significant percentage of the room convert into meetings or active opportunities.

The difference isn’t just the event itself. It’s how intentionally you treat it as part of a journey:

• Who needs to be there – and who doesn’t  
• What you want people to think, feel and do before, during and after  
• How you’re tracking interactions and following up in a way that feels personal, not automated

When you get that right, events stop being a cost centre and start behaving like a growth channel.

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