Last year I decided to take a leap of faith and move from Boston to San Francisco, not knowing anyone. Nearly 25, I thought to myself, when would there be a better time to disrupt my life and explore a new adventure? So, I packed up my bags and went for it.

I am happy to say that leaving my home in Beantown and venturing out to the unknown West coast has been the best decision I’ve made for both my personal life and professional career. I’ve landed my dream job managing events at Marketo, checked things off my bucket list (think: traveling internationally and running a multi-activation event at SXSW), and I have forced myself outside of my comfort zone on numerous occasions. (It’s when we really get uncomfortable that we grow, right?).

For instance, this past weekend I went camping, and for those of you who know me, you know that the whole sleeping-in-a-tent-and-singing-songs-around-the-campfire routine isn’t my cup of tea…well, unless this is all taking place under the roof of the Four Seasons. But, I packed up my (new) sleeping bag and (new) hiking boots anyways (thank you, helpful folks at REI), told myself I was going to have a good time, and set out to actually make that happen! My friends and I headed up to the Yuba River and set up camp. When we got there, I expected that I would spend the day floating on a tube and maybe doing some fishing (but, of course, secretly hoping that I wouldn’t have to). But instead, to my surprise, one of my friends suggested that we pan for gold—just like the Gold Rushers did! I shrugged my shoulders and thought, “When in Rome….”

I loved it. Gold panning is an interesting activity and takes dedicated time and patience as well as some creativity. When you’re panning for gold, you find a spot near the bedrock and start digging. You then use a sifter to get rid of the big rocks in order to get down to just sand. You then go through about three more steps (that I won’t bore you with here), and eventually you may find a speck or two of gold (cha-ching!). However, even after all that work, you may not find any at all (whomp, whomp). You then move onto another spot and try again.

Pan for Marketing Gold

So, how does my gold panning experience relate to you, my fellow marketers? I’m glad you asked. I encourage you to think about your marketing programs—and specifically in this case, your marketing events program—in the same way that one would pan for gold. In recent times, our industry has seen more and more events pop up right and left—it seems like every company and organization is putting on a show now. But with this volume, how do you weed through the haystack and pinpoint the ones that your company should actually have a presence at? Some of these new events may be a good fit for your company, however with others, you may not find the gold you were looking for.

If you’re like me, you’ve already begun planning your event roadmap for 2016. As a starting point, make sure that you review event data that has accumulated over the past two years. Run that analytics report! This is the foundation of determining how you can be successful going forward. Assessing your year-over-year return on an event will tell you if the events that you are consistently participating in are truly working…or if they’re not. Determine the ROI. If you’re a B2B marketer, evaluate how many opportunities were created. Are these events generating pipeline better than other events? Then conclude whether they are really “must-attends.” If not, scratch them off the list and start digging somewhere else. With enough research and assessment, I’m sure you’ll find that gold you’ve been looking for.

Choose the Right Events to Attend

Need some golden event ideas that shine bright? Here are my suggestions of where to dig your shovel for the remainder of 2015 and for all of 2016:

October 2015

• DMA  and Global Marketing Conference – Oct 4^th – 7^th – Boston, MA
• Vidyard’s Space Camp – October 6^th – 7^th – San Francisco, CA | How to build a strong video marketing program and incorporate it into your overall marketing strategy.
• MarketingProf’s B2B Forum – October 20^th – 22^nd – Boston, MA

November 2015

• SalesStack 2015 – November 10^th – San Francisco, CA
• MobCon 2015 – November 17^th – 18^th – Minneapolis, MN
• Internet Summit – November 18^th – 19^th – Raleigh, NC
• SiriusDecisions Technology Exchange – November 19^th – 20^th – San Francisco, CA

December 2015

• Digital Summit – December 8^th – 9^th – Dallas, TX

January 2016

• CES International – January 6^th – 9^th – Las Vegas, NV

February 2016

• B2B Content2Convergence – February 15^th – 17^th  – Scottsdale, AZ | Pairing killer content with a demand generation program that delivers results.
• Marketing Sherpa Email Summit – February 22^nd – 24^th – Las Vegas, NV
• SAASTR – February 22^nd – 25^th – San Francisco, CA

March 2016

• SXSW Interactive– March 11^th – 15^th – Austin, TX
• InsideSales Accelerate – March 17^th – 19^th – Salt Lake City, UT
• MarTech– March 21^st– 22^nd  – San Francisco , CA
• The Economist – The Big Rethink 2016 – March 24^th – New York, NY
• Email Evolution Conference – March 30^th – April 1^st – New Orleans, LA

April 2016

• Microsoft Dynamics Convergence – April 4^th – 7^th – New Orleans, LA

• Social Media Marketing World – April 17^th– 19^th – San Diego, CA
• NetFinance 2016 – April 18^th – Miami, FL
• Forrester’s Forum for Marketing Leaders – April 26^th – 27^th – New York, NY

May 2016

• Marketo’s Marketing Nation Summit – May 9^th – 12^th – Las Vegas, NV | The Marketing Nation Summit is a gathering of marketers who are defining the future of marketing. Join us to chart your course to becoming Tomorrow’s Marketer today.
• B2B Online Conference 2016 – May 9^th – 11^th
• Mobile Marketing Forum – May 10^th – 11^th – New York, NY
• Netsuite World – May 16^th – 19^th – San Jose, CA
• Gartner’s Digital Marketing Conference – May 17^th – 19^th – San Diego, CA
• SAP Sapphire – May 17^th – 19^th  – Orlando, FL
• CRM Evolution – May 23^rd – 25^th – New York, NY
• Digital Summit – May 24^th – 25^th – Atlanta, GA
• SiriusDecisions Summit 2016 – May 24^th – 27^th – Nashville, TN

 June 2016

• Integrated Marketing Week East – TBD – New York, NY
• Digital Summit – TBD – Denver, CO
• Cannes Lions Festival 2016 – June 18^th – 25^th – Cannes, France

July 2016

• Marketo Marketing Nation Roadshow (cities/dates coming in early 2016)

August 2016

• Marketo Marketing Nation Roadshow (cities/dates coming in early 2016)

September 2016

• Content Marketing World – September 8^th – 11^th – Cleveland, OH | Build an innovative and exciting content marketing program for your company. Learn how to differentiate your company from your competitors through your content.
• AdWeek – TBD – New York, NY
• SM2 Innovation Summit – TBD – New York, NY

October 2016

• Dreamforce – October 4^th – 7^th – San Francisco, CA
• DMA Annual Conference – October 16^th – 18^th – Los Angeles, CA
• Shop.org – TBD
• MarketingProfs’ B2B Forum – October 18^th – 21^st – Boston, MA

November 2016

• Incite Summit East – TBD – New York, NY

Are there any golden opportunities missing from this list? Let me know in the comments below!