In-person professional events have reasserted their strategic importance across the technology sector.
Despite the endurance of hybrid work models, the mid-2020s have seen a shift back toward live gatherings following the pandemic-era surge in virtual formats.
“The more people you know, and the times that you’re consistently going back to know people, to be there, to show up, people notice that,” said Heather Cook, a principal customer experience manager at Microsoft who works on community and events for the Microsoft 365 engineering team.
Cook said that pattern has shaped her own career trajectory.
“Most of my career, the things that have happened for me as far as promotions or connections or new clients or whatever happened in real life because I’ve met somebody at an event or a user group meeting or something,” she said.
Industry research suggests Cook’s experience is widely shared.
According to the Freeman Trends Report on attendee intent and behaviour, more than half of attendees cited effective networking alone as a sufficient reason to return to an event.
In the same report, eight in ten respondents said in-person events were the most trusted channel among all marketing and engagement options, and 92 per cent reported attending more in-person events in 2024 than in 2023.
That trend carried into 2025. The Bizzabo “State of Events and Industry Benchmarks” report found that 57 per cent of organizers reported increased attendance at in-person B2B conferences, summits and conventions over the previous year, while 54 per cent of attendees said they attended more in-person events in 2025 than in 2024.
Organizers also reported shifting investment priorities. Bizzabo’s survey showed that 53 per cent of organizers increased event budgets in 2025, and 66 per cent hosted more events than the year prior.
“There’s all these wonderful event producers,” Cook said. “They continue to put on these wonderful events and they’re such a great place for people to connect and to celebrate and to network together and to learn and share.”
For professionals looking to identify community-led events across the Microsoft ecosystem, Cook points to CommunityDays.org, which aggregates conferences and meetups organized by community members and third-party producers.
While virtual and hybrid formats remain part of the landscape, the data and practitioner experience suggest that in-person engagement has reclaimed a central role in professional community building, particularly where trust, collaboration and long-term relationships are concerned.
Or, as Cook put it, “The world is built on relationships, everybody!”
