The Exit Five CMO Podcast (Hosted by Dave Gerhardt)

Events, AI, and The Future of B2B Buying with Sydney Sloan, CMO at G2

Oct 9, 2025

Sydney Sloan, CMO at G2, brings a wealth of experience from Adobe and Salesloft. She dives into the resurgence of in-person events, advocating for thoughtful design using her 'Think, Feel, Do' framework. Sydney introduces her innovative 'Revenue in the Room' approach for measuring ROI and emphasizes the importance of community-building at events. She also explores how AI is reshaping the buyer journey and calls for a rethinking of team structures, promoting outcome-based pods for agility and effectiveness in modern marketing.

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ANECDOTE

Sold-Out Four-City Roadshow

Sydney ran a four-city AI roadshow with 250 attendees per stop that sold out and mixed large and intimate formats.
She observed strong demand for in-person events and the value of community-driven gatherings.

ADVICE

Rehearse Tight, Interactive Sessions

Rehearse presenter flows and keep sessions short with interactivity to create a cohesive, hands-on experience.
Provide attendees a finished blueprint and ready-to-use prompts they can apply immediately.

ADVICE

Plan Events With Think-Feel-Do

Use the 'Think, Feel, Do' matrix to plan events across pre, during, and post phases for each persona.
Build clear one-to-two learning and action outcomes and design every touch to drive them.

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#289 Strategy | Dave is joined by Sydney Sloan, Chief Marketing Officer at G2, where she’s leading the charge on integrating AI into marketing, rethinking team structures, and modernizing how B2B brands build trust. Sydney brings decades of experience from companies like Adobe, Alfresco, and Salesloft, and now oversees one of the largest software marketplaces in the world.

Dave and Sydney cover:

How to design events that truly drive pipeline, using frameworks like “Think, Feel, Do” to plan with purpose
A smarter way to measure event ROI with Sydney’s “Revenue in the Room” approach
How AI is transforming the buyer journey and reshaping what modern marketing teams look like

An episode that will leave you rethinking your marketing strategy, from the events you run to the org you build.

Timestamps

(00:00) - – Intro
(03:08) - – The return of in-person events
(06:08) - – Building community through smarter event design
(08:08) - – Inside G2’s “AI in Action” roadshow
(11:08) - – The “Think, Feel, Do” event framework
(14:08) - – Why details make or break events
(17:08) - – Measuring success with “Revenue in the Room”
(20:08) - – Post-event follow-up that drives results
(27:43) - – How AI is reshaping the buyer journey
(43:43) - – Rethinking marketing orgs for the AI era

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