Clicks vs connections: Why IRL is your biggest differentiator in the AI era

By 2026, 90% of the content your prospects see online could be AI-generated. Right now, 74% of new webpages they land on already include AI content (Ahrefs). Add AI sales emails landing in inboxes and cluttering LinkedIn DMs, and it’s easy to see why cutting through the noise is getting harder online. 

Depending on which way you look, some say it doesn’t matter (who cares if an AI email lands in an AI inbox?), for others it marks a turning point that makes in-person networking and events your key differentiator.

At SaaStock, we see this playing out amongst the most forward-thinking SaaS and AI companies in the industry. And when you break it down, they’re advocating for the same thing – deploying humans where they add the most value. 

The companies getting ahead are embracing AI to free up their teams for what humans do best: reading the room, building trust, and creating moments that turn prospects into advocates.

In this post, we explore why AI is pushing events back into marketing strategies and break down how you can use events to stay ahead when things are moving faster than ever.

Three reasons why AI is making founders prioritise in-person connections

1. AI noise is only getting louder

Despite it dominating the headlines for almost three years now, we’re still relatively early in the AI hype cycle. There is still a huge amount of new technology and AI-native companies coming to market, and we’re really only now seeing widespread adoption across teams and departments at companies of all sizes. 

It means while there are companies and leaders doing great things and sharing valuable insights (many of whom will be at SaaStock Europe), the hot takes, rage bait headlines, and AI slop are likely to get worse before they get better. 

You only need to log into LinkedIn to feel the fatigue. Sales and marketing feeds are full of posts playing detective to AI-generated copy and complaints about the sheer volume of outbound emails. 

People are also getting savvy to personalisation tricks that used to be effective. At SaaStock USA, Jen Igartua explained: 

“In the past, if you emailed me and mentioned my college, I’d think ‘wow, you know me’. Now, you’re getting deleted.”

When your prospects start filtering out anything that feels automated, keeping even your best comms out of the junk folder becomes even harder.

2. Buying patterns are shifting 

AI is changing how we search for and buy solutions. Already, just under 60% of Google searches end without a click, and this doesn’t account for the number of conversational searches now happening in LLMs. 

If people don’t land on your website, you can’t capture lead data or cookie visitors in the same way. It’s breaking the old funnel and means you need to adapt and find new ways of reaching your users.

3. Automation is freeing teams up for higher-value work

Smart founders and leaders are using AI to free up time across the company. This means:

• Reps can craft personalised outreach instead of updating a CRM, 
• Marketers can focus on customer insights and developing campaigns instead of segmenting lists and tagging prospects, 
• And finance teams can focus on strategy instead of manual reconciliation. 

And it doesn’t stop there, C-suite leaders can get real time insights at the click of a button instead of wading through spreadsheets. And founders can focus on board narratives and investor relations instead of pulling data manually.

Done well, this creates more capacity for you to stand out by getting in front of customers face-to-face, building relationships, and establishing trust. 

Plus, with research showing that consumers find AI-generated ads ‘annoying,’ ‘boring,’ and ‘confusing,’ and that 64% of customers prefer companies not to use AI for customer service, making sure that buyers know the humans behind your brand is more important than ever.

Three ways to use in-person events as your key differentiator in the AI era

Meeting people face-to-face is one thing. Turning those meetings into tangible outcomes is another. 

Here are four ways you can use events and in-person networking to stand out, showcase your value, and build trajectory-changing relationships.

1. Build your brand

Resourcify CCO Angeley Mullins says that a strong brand is based on a feeling, not the price or a product feature.

What better way to create that feeling than by being in the room with prospects, customers, and even investors? Listening to their challenges, sharing stories, and building real relationships.

The format matters for what you’re trying to achieve. And it might mean having multiple touch points across one or more events. For example, sales leaders taking focused 1:1 meetings with high-value prospects, customer success hosting dinners for valued users, founders joining peer or investor roundtables, and marketing teams building memorable activations that get people talking.

At SaaStock, we’ve had people meet their next investor at a party, land their biggest customer over coffee, and shake hands with their next partner at a networking session. The deals start when people remember how you made them feel, not what slide deck you showed them.

2. Build trust and relationships

Events are a powerful way to build trust at a time when people are increasingly suspicious of any communication that comes from a brand online.

Use events to let people get to know the humans behind your company. Show them you genuinely care about the problems you solve, demonstrate your knowledge of the industry, and contribute to the community without expecting anything in return. As RB2B’s Adam Robinson says: “If you’re just willing to be human, it will cut through the noise.”

3. Keep up or get left behind

Things are moving quickly. And it’s not slowing down. Industry leaders aren’t being hyperbolic when they say “adapt or be left behind”, it’s the simple truth. 

Industry events are your chance to hear from the people building the future. Away from clickbait headlines, you can learn from founders scaling AI-native companies, understand what’s working in GTM teams, get a real look at the competition, and discover what investors are looking for.

SaaStock: Where AI meets ARR

At SaaStock, we’re seeing this play out in real time across the SaaS and AI ecosystem. 

As in-person events become key for SaaS growth, events need to deliver an experience that gets you in the right room, with the right people. 

At SaaStock Europe this October, 4,500 AI and SaaS founders, leaders, and investors will come together for two days of unparalleled insights and networking. Hear from leaders at HubSpot, Lovable, OpenAI, and more, and connect with your next customer, partner, or investor through Meetup, the largest 1:1 meetings programme in the industry.

Are you ready to build the future?

Register for tickets by 22 September.