{"id":1168,"slug":"rule-treat-events-as-reputation-witnessing-not-lead-generation","title":"R7 — Treat events as reputation-witnessing infrastructure, not lead-generation; measure share-of-voice within defined in-group, not leads-attributed-to-event","kind":"rule","scope":"business","status":"current","audiences":["kevin","candid-team"],"topics":["social-network-theory","signalling-theory"],"reference_body":"**Rule:** Stop demanding leads-attributed-to-event KPIs from event presence. Start measuring **share-of-voice within a defined in-group population** — e.g., \"Of the 40 GCs we identified as our peer-coached target persona in the WRHBA region, how many know Candid by name, and what associations do they make?\"\n\n**Why:** Events function as trust-witnessing infrastructure, not transactional venues ([[events-as-trust-witnessing-not-lead-generation-infrastructure]]). The mechanism is Goffmanian — public ratification by the in-group, generating incoming referrals **months later** from peers who saw Candid at the event and remembered the brand when an opportunity arose. Leads-attributed measurement systematically under-counts this effect.\n\n**How to apply:**\n- Define the target in-group population explicitly (e.g., named list of 40-60 GCs across WRHBA / BILD / target peer-coach cohorts).\n- Survey or proxy-measure name recognition + brand associations across that population on a recurring basis (quarterly or semi-annually). This is the operative metric for event ROI.\n- Event spend is justified by share-of-voice movement, not by booked discovery calls in the week following.\n- Patience: the lag from event presence to incoming referral is **months to years**, consistent with the low-frequency vendor-selection cycle ([[why-in-group-dominates-three-compounding-mechanisms]]).","rationale_body":null,"metadata":null,"links":{"outgoing":[{"slug":"research-brief-trust-networks-in-group-reputation-may-2026","title":"Research brief: trust, referral networks, and in-group reputation in Ontario's trades economy (May 2026 — Foundation Brief #3)","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"relates-to"},{"slug":"events-as-trust-witnessing-not-lead-generation-infrastructure","title":"Events as trust-witnessing infrastructure — HBA dinners / awards nights are public ratification venues; measure share-of-voice, not leads-attributed","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"depends-on"},{"slug":"why-in-group-dominates-three-compounding-mechanisms","title":"Why in-group reputation dominates market reputation for trades — credence-good + loss-aversion + low-frequency selection compound","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"depends-on"}],"incoming":[]},"created_at":"2026-05-25T13:34:11.275Z","updated_at":"2026-05-25T13:34:11.275Z"}