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January 23, 2008
Getting MORE from the Next Event you Attend:
I have spoken at and attended trade shows and conferences for a long time. Each year when I start a new conference season, I make it a point to review the past conference season and the events I went to. I look back at the mistakes made and opportunities missed and then I promise myself that when I start my next conference season that I will apply my lessons learned and get more out of each of the events I plan to attend. I recently shared some thoughts for people about getting more out of their next speaking opportunity. What follows are some suggestions in getting MORE out of the next event you attend, from the perspective of an attending conference delegate.
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Bottom line: It is the time you invest the week before an event that determines how good the upcoming event will be for you. The more effort you make in your own planning of the event, the better the chance you will leave the event meeting or exceeding your own personal goals for the event.
Every event has its own time Time Horizon. It is up to YOU to maximize the opportunities presented and minimize your own down time when you get on-site.
If you wait until the last minute to work on your on-site “Play List”, you will get a lot less out of the event then your peers and your competitors who spend the week before the event planning their on-site meetings. You will also find that many of the people you want to meet with are already committed with their own schedules.
The following is not intended to be a comprehensive list of EVERYTHING to do before an event, but these are things on my mind today as I think about attending an event.
Set your goals. This is my number one “thing to do.”
Why are you attending? Who are you looking to meet? What competitors do I want to check out? Who did I promise I would get together with? Who do I want to share a cup of coffee with? Who would I like to share a meal with? Who amongst my contacts do I want to get to know better? Who do I want to have dinner with? What technology do I want to learn more about? Am I spending enough time on the show floor to discover new companies and new products? Who can I meet to possibly recruit into my company? What sessions at the conference do I want to attend? What time am I scheduled to speak? Who from the Media do I want to have a casual, ad-hoc conversation with? Who do I want to get to know better? Which hotel(s) are the host hotels? (Chances are much better you will meet people in the lobby of the on-site host hotels than any of the recommended off-site venues.)
Whether I’m speaking a conference or attending as a delegate, when I’m on-site at the event, I am there for a reason. Most likely it is to meet one or more of the people speaking at the conference. A major advantage a conference delegate is that they can get to the session room early and be in the room before their designated “target” is in the room and position themselves to be first in line at the end of the session to be part of an ad-hoc meeting. Over the years, I’ve sent myself and others to events all around the world just for the opportunity of the ad-hoc meeting / business card exchange. Once you exchange cards, ask for an on-site meeting. Don’t put off getting together until after the event. Many times the follow up meetings NEVER happen. Take advantage of the opportunity presented and seize the moment.
Not that I’m advocating any form of “stalking” here – but your ad-hoc meetings are a lot more efficient if you know what your target looks like. Social networks are great for this. Google Images is also a good way to do some quick research, at least for people who have spoken at other events in the past.
Say HELLO - DO NOT WAIT. How often is it that you see someone at the start of an event with the intention of catching up with that person later in the day/week and that additional meeting just never happens? For me – all the time. This is why I say hi as soon as I can. My meetings are usually brief so that I can spend more time networking with a variety of people rather than let my time be dominated by just one person. This is not a suggestion to be shallow. Just an opportunity to be time efficient. The more aware you are about this, the better the chance you have to meet more people. Avoid getting yourself corned by one person who wants to dominate your time.
Change your eMail Habits - Rather than walking around with your email in your pocket and constantly looking down and checking your messages, make it a point to pick two times during the day to be your time for messages – say 6am and 4pm and do not look at your messages in between. When you are looking down, you are distracted and may miss seeing the one person you are looking for. And when you are doing your messages while walking down a hallway you are also sending a message to others to leave you alone and not engage in conversation. You are at an event. You do not have to immediately respond when you are away. People will understand.
[Name of Event] Blur Happens - There is a moment of time when I fall behind in my outbound electronic social communication and the hours and the days start to blend together. Rather than fight the blur, I just accept it. While it takes me up to a week to recover from VON Blur, knowing it is going to happen has helped me better prepare for the time I spent on-site. I recently started using facebook a try as a means to “stay connected” with my friends while I’m on-site at an event.
STUDY the Map of the Convention Center - You are able to spend the next 3 to 4 days at this location. Familiarize yourself with the venue and you will have an edge up on everyone else who is also attending.
Be AWARE of the Event Schedule - Write down the times for the conference breakfast, scheduled breaks and conference lunch. These are some of the best times to engage on on-site ad-hoc networking. If you also plan on visiting the show floor, best to know the exhibit hours as well. And know the times and room locations of the people who you want to hear speak and the people you want to meet.
Be in CONTROL of your Schedule. Allocate your time wisely. How often is it that you look back after an event, wishing you had more time to network, more time to walk the show floor, more time to meet with the people who you actually wanted to meet with? When you recognize that “time waits for no one”, after a while you may want to start to work on your on-site time management plan today and take responsibility for at least 12 hours a day of your time – the 7am to 7pm time grid. Don’t become a victim of poor time allocation. Take control and follow your schedule. Make everyday your own.
Don’t be SHY. If you have a hard time meeting new people, now is a chance to break out of your shell and give the rebooted version of YOU a try.
Be SEEN - It is real hard for you to enjoy ad-hoc meetings if you are spending your time in a hotel room on conference calls or all of your time at convenient off-site meetings. You have budgeted the time to be in Boston for a reason. So take advantage of it. Make an effort to be visible.
Be SOCIAL - As a conference delegate, make it a point to go to the social events the event organizer and/or some of the event sponsors are hosting.
BRING Business Cards - Bring cards with you and keep a stack with you all the time. Exchanging business cards is still a face-to-face social experience and something you should be prepared to do just when you least expect it. It could be that you are about to run into the person you are there to meet on a cab line at the airport, while checking into the hotel, while in the elevator, while on the conference registration line or maybe sitting right next to you at a conference session.
Make sure your social media contact details are included on your cards. Make it as easy as possible for the person you are exchanging cards with to continue the conversation with you. And after you exchange business cards, look to exchange relationship links on the social networks the two of you frequent.
Understand that some meetings will not HAPPEN - Apply the 15 minute rule and move on. “Things happen” and not everyone is as efficient with their on-site schedule as you are. It helps to keep the cell phone numbers of the people you are meeting handy. (And it is ok to blow off a meeting or two in favor of something that just came up, so better to text/SMS the person and tell them you are running late and need to reschedule.)
ENJOY yourself - Give “having fun” a try. At our VON events, I’m the one of the people who “takes having fun…seriously.”
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Good luck with getting the most of the conferences you attend. And please feel free to share your own tips on how to get more out of conferences. Your feedback and comments would be appreciated.
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Readers of my blog are invited to join me on both twitter and Facebook.
Tags: conference, speaking, trade show, Social Media, Jeff Pulver
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Posted by jeff on January 23, 2008 08:41 AM | Permalink
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Comments
Jeff,
Some great points - one that I would add to all of the above is "allow for serendipity" - almost without fail the best contacts I make at a conference are unplanned - yes I talk with a lot of speakers and attendees I knew would be there, but almost always it is a random person I meet at a dinner, or while waiting in a line for an event, or just taking a shared ride in an elevator that ends up being the contact that sticks post-event.
One thing which I always try to do, which also helps greatly with serendipity is to plan on at least one and usually more than one meal during the week which I can extend an open invitation to lots of folks to join me at - especially useful is to invite others who don't have plans for dinner at one of the dinners that is not organized by the conference - or if the conference has organized dinners, make sure to be inclusive in inviting people to join you at your table.
It can be hard for many people but at conferences I usually find the folks I share meals with end up being the richest contacts from a given event - so a personal gauge of my own attendance at an event is whether or not I eat any meals alone, if I do, I'm likely doing something wrong.
I also find that having an open to all meal or two is a great way to meet up with a lot of folks - i.e. "hey, I'm having a breakfast tomorrow before the first sessions feel free to stop by" or "a bunch of us are getting Chinese tomorrow night meeting in the lobby after the last sessions and then going to the conference party, catch us in the lobby..." etc.
(my other suggestion to make any group meal work better is either to pay for it yourself - expensive option - or to arrange for a fixed price menu with the venue ahead of time so everyone knows what to pay + ordering is greatly simplified. Family style dinners are great for networking as well.)
Shannon
Posted by: Shannon Clark at January 23, 2008 03:46 PM
Enjoyed the advice as I'll be heading to my very first conference this year. I'll keep most of these points in mind when I go.
Posted by: Jeffro2pt0 at January 23, 2008 03:24 PM
Jeff,
Great post-- I sent this around at my company as a great conversation starter to think about approach to events.
One thing to add for readers. This is not just good advice for conferences. With adjustments, it works for evening/morning meetups, local events, even some online forums.
Thanks!
Posted by: Doug Haslam at January 23, 2008 02:56 PM