Field Notes with Gabriela Wasilewska, B2B Field Marketing at Multiverse

Could you tell us a bit about yourself and your role at Multiverse? 

I’m Gabriela, and I’m originally from Poland, but I moved to the UK eight years ago. I’ve been working in marketing professionally for around seven years now, and I’ve been at Multiverse for two.

This is actually my first role, which specifically focuses on field marketing. Before this, I worked in much smaller companies where my role was very generalist – doing everything as part of small teams of one or two people. I joined Multiverse because I wanted to specialise and really deepen my skills in a specific area before perhaps broadening out again later on. 

I was brought in to support third-party events, which are a key channel for us in terms of both performance and revenue. My early focus was primarily on “Meet the Buyer”-style events, where one-to-one meetings with senior stakeholders are key. Our audience on the B2B side tends to be director-level and above, in digital, technical, and AI roles. 

Over time, we started to branch out into conferences, like Big Data London, and I also led our first owned event – a workshop aimed at data leaders. I really enjoyed that experience, and we’ve since expanded our owned events programme. I now work exclusively on owned events – we run around three to four per quarter, including webinars, panel discussions, networking drinks, and dinners. 

I lead the end-to-end delivery – from ideation and planning to execution – and collaborate closely with Sales and Customer Success to determine which audiences and niches to target. I also work with our ABM manager to align event efforts with our strategic accounts, and with our content team to develop post-event content, like blogs or write-ups, much like this one. So I’m very much a bridge between marketing and sales. 

What sparked your interest in marketing? What made you choose this field in the first place? 

I love that question. I studied International Management at the University of Manchester — a very broad business degree, mainly because I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do at the time. I knew I wanted to study abroad for a year, and this course offered that opportunity. 

While at university, I joined a student-led accelerator called Accelerate Me, which helped student founders to fund and launch their startups. A friend of mine was running it, and when their marketing person left, they needed help. I’m quite creative and enjoy that type of work, so I stepped in to help — and I ended up falling in love with marketing. It was a very broad role, covering social media, emails, collateral, content, and events, including our flagship demo day. 

Since then, I’ve never really looked back. Marketing became the clear path for me. The marketing modules on my degree were quite theoretical, focusing a lot on psychology, but

what really drew me in was the hands-on experience. I’ve only ever worked in marketing since, and I genuinely love the variety. That’s also why I enjoy field marketing — it’s not just about events; there’s a lot of space to grow and develop. 

How do you personally define success in field marketing? 

It’s something I’ve thought about a lot, and my answer has evolved over time. On a very basic level, success is linked to revenue. Field marketing is a key revenue driver, and at Multiverse, we are a very revenue-focused business. When I joined, that was pretty much all that mattered. 

However, what I see as even more important now, and what I’ve seen my manager achieve, is building strong relationships between Sales and Marketing. When I first joined, there wasn’t a strong relationship with Marketing, and my manager was the only person Sales really collaborated with. Thankfully, that’s changed a lot since then. I believe the real value in field marketing lies in bridging the gap — fostering trust, building relationships, and bringing valuable insights back to the broader Marketing team. Of course, revenue remains crucial, but those relationships are what make everything else possible. 

Of all the initiatives that your team (or even others) have introduced, which one has the Sales team been most excited about or grateful for? 

I would definitely say the events. Whenever you ask a salesperson at my company what they want to do, they say “events.” I was chatting with our ABM manager recently, and she said the same. Whenever she asks Sales for input on initiatives, they always push for more events. 

The reason is simple: events create those invaluable one-to-one opportunities to meet in person. We often involve senior leadership too, so we can facilitate meaningful conversations with important stakeholders. Recently, my colleagues also started organising hospitality events, which are proving incredibly popular. These experiences help strengthen relationships and foster a sense of community, and that’s hugely important for us. 

How does Multiverse calculate ROI on your events? 

It depends on the type of event. For third-party events, it’s a bit easier because often that’s where we first source the contact, it’s a brand-new deal, so Marketing gets credited for the revenue generated. 

With owned events, like the ones I run, it’s more complex. Often, we’re engaging existing champions, people we’ve already been speaking to, or who have been working with us for years.

It’s harder to say, “They attended this event and therefore the deal closed,” because the relationship already existed. We’re currently working on refining our attribution model, which considers things like:

• • How many champions attended? 
  • How many interactions have there been? 
  • What was their seniority? 
  • What type of event was it? 

Beyond immediate revenue, we also track engagement indicators — whether the champion agrees to be a speaker, participate in a case study, or join a customer advisory board, for example. Those are powerful signs that the events are adding value, even if the direct revenue attribution isn’t always clear. 

Which types of events have proven most successful for ROI? 

Definitely the third-party ‘meet the buyer’ style events, especially when they offer one-to-one meetings. We’ve had a lot of success there because it’s almost like having a first sales meeting built into the event. Our product is genuinely strong, and because it’s funded by the Apprenticeship Levy, it’s often an easy sell: “Would you like to upskill your entire team for free?” 

The more specialised and verticalised the event, the better. We’ve found that niche events like ones specifically for local government, police forces, or the NHS deliver the best results, because we can ensure that the right accounts are attending. 

Larger conferences are valuable too, but they tend to be more about brand awareness. At events like Big Data LDN, we get hundreds of visitors, but it’s harder to guarantee the seniority or relevance of attendees. That’s why we always aim to secure a speaking slot — it helps build credibility and drive the right kind of conversations. 

What do you think is the biggest challenge field marketers face today? 

There are definitely a few! The biggest, I’d say, is proving ROI and attribution because it’s so nuanced. Another challenge is aligning with Sales, especially if you don’t already have strong leaders who believe in the value of marketing. At Multiverse, we’ve built great alignment now, but that wasn’t always the case when I first joined. Another ongoing challenge is lead follow-up. It’s not necessarily field-specific; it’s a broader marketing issue, but ensuring that leads are properly followed up and nurtured after events is critical.

What do you think marketers have access to now that they didn’t before? 

So many more tools! Even AI is an incredible asset. We use Gemini at Multiverse, for example, and it’s been really helpful. Also, now that we’re fully out of the pandemic era, we can leverage in-person events again, which is powerful. Overall, I think the biggest change is the sheer specificity of tools available — whatever you need to do, there’s a tool for it now. The challenge is choosing the right ones and using them effectively. 

What do you think the future holds for marketing, and field marketing specifically? 

I hope that with the rise of AI, we’ll have more time for creativity and less time will be spent on admin and repetitive tasks. Already, conferences like Salesforce’s Agentforce Summit are showcasing incredible AI applications, and I think that’s only the beginning. Hopefully, AI will help marketers become even more data-driven, making it easier to understand ROI and other key metrics. 

That said, I really hope in-person events don’t disappear. If anything, I think they’ll become even more valuable because in an increasingly automated world, real human connections will matter more than ever. 

If you could describe the role of a field marketer in just one word, what would it be? 

I’d say “bridge.” A bridge between Sales and Marketing, and a link that brings back real insights and experience. Since moving into field marketing, my whole perspective on marketing has changed. My manager even jokes that I now sound like a salesperson, but being able to see things from the sales perspective has been incredibly valuable.