Like it or not, the big keynotes tell you a lot

Leverage the positioning from big events to your advantage

Conference season is one of, if not the, best pipeline building events of the year (more on that here). What makes most people cringe are the keynotes and performative sessions but they are my favorite – they often tell you what your prospects want to hear and are already thinking about. Once you are on the mainstage of a keynote at some of the world’s largest conferences you are no longer the tastemaker, you are the market shaper. Tastemakers are the Founders and startups who are creating the better, more thoughtfully designed, tailor-made product for the enthusiasts who are trying to do their specific jobs best. However, your prospects need to hear it, see it, and feel it. Even if you are clearly better, the perception needs to become reality.

Most will say, “this keynote (or feature) validates what we’re building,” but I think that's the obvious takeaway. If you reflect on how a competitor or Bigco with a competitive feature are presenting at the keynote, are you using the same exact language, or are you positioning how and why you are different both technically and value-wise? The worst thing you can do is sound the same, even if your product is superior. What you want to take away from the keynote is the language they’re using and see how you can outmaneuver on the ground game. Are they making bold claims on performance? Go beat them on POCs. Are they making bold claims on features and capabilities that you’ve had for years but your product has far more depth? Prove it. This is not a perspective on over-rotating product announcements from other companies as an existential threat but an opportunity to start the upcoming year strong as users and buyers start drawing down from their massive commitments on cloud and infrastructure spend in 2025/26.

So, as you work on positioning or competing with deals going into end of year and early next year some questions to consider: how is your product truly differentiated (you don’t need to do “first principles” things, just be honest about your capabilities)? Do prospects see the value on the first call or are they getting peppered with discovery questions? Why would someone choose you as a long-term partner? What are you building that shows depth (ie your roadmap) that makes you stand out as the visionary in your category that shows you will outpace the keynote promises?

Leverage the legwork massive teams put together to build their messaging strategy via keynotes and use it to your advantage to win more deals than ever.