From user conference to growth engine

Realize LIVE is Siemens Digital Industries Software’s flagship user conference, built to accelerate adoption of Siemens technology through visionary keynotes, deep technical breakouts, hands-on training led by Siemens experts, and customer-led sessions across the Americas, Europe, and APAC. The program evolved from PLM Connection in 2019, went virtual from 2020 to 2021, and returned in person in 2022.

Beginning in 2022, Siemens set a multi-year growth plan, shifting from “butts in seats” to “quantity of quality,” and targeted 30% year over year growth with a focus on influential end users. Invision partnered with Siemens to transform that growth goal into a clear strategy and, ultimately, a fully integrated audience acquisition campaign.

Services

Solution

To drive conversion from event awareness to registration, the audience acquisition strategy was architected around five focus areas, each refined year over year based on real-time and post-event insights.

1. Meet them where they are

The team moved away from treating audience acquisition as a standalone stream of brand communications. By integrating Realize LIVE into existing marketing touchpoints such as webinars, case studies, and community forums, customers began discovering the event within the context of the learning experiences they were already pursuing.

2. Motivate internal teams

Fewer than 30% of customers were referred by someone from Siemens, so the team set out to understand why. Were the barriers related to sales awareness, bandwidth, accountability, or a mix of all three? Through interviews with internal groups, the specific challenges were identified and targeted engagement plans were developed.

Awareness was driven through Sales Kickoffs, accountability via leadership communications, and bandwidth barriers were reduced with simple incentives tied to sales goals. Even small creative touches, like QR-coded coffee machines, helped spark awareness and participation.

3. Activate advocates

Siemens’ top users were turned into a measurable growth channel. Alumni, community catalysts, partners, and influencers were identified and equipped with shareable assets to bring to their networks. Using InGo, an advocacy and referral platform, sharing and attribution were powered end to end, achieving roughly 140% ROI, with the Americas performing at about 20x the industry average referral rate. Realize Clubs, local product-focused meetups supported by a turnkey toolkit, kept advocacy active between events and funneled qualified interest back into Realize LIVE.

4. Balance what works with what’s next

Year over year, approximately 75% of proven tactics continued and about 25% were reserved for testing new ways to drive growth, both in channels and in content formats.

• Channels fine-tuned: website, email, social, blogs, SEO/SEM, paid media, community pages, and partnerships

• Sample tests: session trailers, podcasts, and infographics

• Guardrail: every test was measured, and real-time investments or divestments were made based on performance data

5. Create something remarkable

At the end of the day, an audience won’t grow if the event is not worth talking about.

In the development process, the team applied a simple lens inspired by Seth Godin’s Purple Cow: for Realize LIVE to spread, it must be shareable, original, human, purposeful, and simple. Not every element needs to be a “purple cow,” but key moments should be intentionally designed to spark word of mouth and fuel ongoing organic growth.