I just registered for the Connect Now conference in April. I may be freaking out. It will my first interstate trip by myself and will be a massive challenge. Its also a massive opportunity.
I love conferences. We don’t get that many awesome ones in Australia and Connect Now has attracted a high calibre of international guests. If you live in Sydney, or are attending, let me know so we can catch up.
Word of mouth and social media are my main methods of driving traffic to my business and projects. I’ve started planning my conference networking strategy and thought I’d write a quick post sharing my tips. I’d love for you to share your tips in the comments.
Go in with a plan
Planning is key. Most conferences are hectic and it is so easy for your schedule to get out of whack. The amount of work you do is dependent on your goals. My goal is to connect with as many people as possible because I dislike planes and live interstate. I also want to interview some of the speakers and attendees. My plans revolve around:
- Meeting those that will be attending
- Catching up with the people that I
- Figuring out the interview questions where applicable
- Researching the speakers so that I can get the most out of the 3 days
- Arranging my finances and travel plans.
I’m starting early so as to make the week as seamless as possible. Its going to be a busy week and I want to make it as awesome as possible.
Research the speakers beforehand
This is something that I excel at. I usually do a lot of research prior to connecting with someone so that I can show that I know my stuff. There will be a mixture of people attending so I will be varying my research according to the person. I will be:
- Reading their books. If I’ll be getting their books on the day, I will buy the ebook version.
- Read their free ebooks
- Go through their blog.
- Research the interviews they’ve done via blogs, youtube and traditional press.
- Look for any keynotes and presentations they may have uploaded online.
- Observe how they interact with people on twitter
- Research their company/business.
- Contact them to see if there is anyway I can help promote their projects to my network.
This will be time consuming so I’ll do bits and pieces between now and the start date. I have only been to two conferences so will be adjusting my research as I learn.
Connect with the organizer in advance
This is something I did by accident last year. I did this because I wanted to help out and really loved the work Siobhan Bulfin was doing. It has only been recently that I realized that this connection – which I see as a friendship – could be useful.
I can learn about the behind the scenes stuff which will be useful when blogging the event. It may also be easier to get interviews and just know more about whats going on. I can see how this is useful in a business sense, but most importantly I’ve learned how it can be helpful to an anxiety sufferer in a different city.
I plan to adopt this strategy with future events but will carefully omit the bit about me having anxiety.
Plan to catch up with local people while in town
I have many social media friends who probably wont be attending this conference because they are well connected with the local social media community and can’t justify the entry cost. Thats cool. I decided to fly in a few days early and meet people on the Monday and Tuesday.
I am working on this in advance as it means coordinating multiple peoples schedules. I suspect I’ll be going to a meetup, a musical and will be meeting various people around the city. It will be tough – but I guess it means I’ll have to fly up for another Wicked performance business trip.
Have your elevator pitch and promotional materials planned well in advance
At my last two conferences, I met several people who would be considered an ideal client of our new business. Instead, I referred them to trusted friends. I’m kicking myself now because those clients were sneezers and ended up referring a lot of work to someone else. Those contacts became friends and thats brilliant.
It costs a lot of money to attend conferences. There are expenses associated with attending and travelling to get their. Currently I’m laid back about how much work I get because I go primarily to connect and learn. This event is primary to meet many of my Sydney friends in the days prior to the conference.
I wont be actively promoting my business but I’ll be watching how others promote theirs and will try to make as many new connections as possible.
Over to you
These are just the basics of what I’ll be doing for this trip. I have have some hard core techniques but didn’t know if there was any interest. Let me know about further questions and ideas in the comments and I’ll respond in a follow up post.
I would add listen for the “Aha” moment. At so many conferences (education) i see people busily writing / typing everything a speaker says. I think that is terribly exhausting and believe those people are missing out on the main point that could help them.
So at conference I sit back and listen, write a few notes and end of session think about what was the “Aha moment”. That is what I write down and usually involves something that I can take away and action pretty quickly.
Aha moments also come from talking with others, not just listening to the keynote speakers.
Can't wait for Connect Now!!
Great post, Jade. It's easy to be overawed at a conference – so it's good to have a plan. Know who is attending, know who is speaking and figure out how to connect up with them. Sometimes the best connections are made outside the conference room
Great plan! I wrote about this last summer and came across the best tip ever (included in my post) “be attractive” words of conference wisdom, really… http://www.techvibes.com/blog/how-to-have-a-gre…
Thanks for sharing your tips!
Thank you! At first I thought you were talking about being physically attractive. I'm overweight and can't afford too much on clothing/hair/make up before the event so was freaking out.
But I suspect you were referring to how make what you have to say be attractive. I've been learning about this – I focus on how I can help people and usually write down useful sites/books. I'm thinking of getting branded paper to do this in the future. I'll be linking to your post in my follow up where I get to the nitty gritty stuff.
Definitely!
I went to a conference last year and met two fabulous women that I am still in touch with. I've helped them find other useful connections and they have offered to help in return.
Looking forward to meeting you again next month.
I've stopped writing down everything. I'm planning on taking a voice recorder and just writing down ideas that it has sparked so I can expand on them later. My notes range from stuff I can apply to presentations that I'll eventually do, stuff I can tell my future clients and stuff I'll blog about.
Looking forward to meeting you there. DM me closer to the date and I'll give you my mobile
I'm gonna try and not tweet my way through a conference for once.
You will meet a LOT of people over a short period. I find it handy to keep notes on new contacts made, their specialities and what services they provide.
Have a look at how other people promote their business, but be creative and create your own unique style.
Totally! That is something I already do. I observe what others are doing, because I'm naive at self promotion. I also do what you suggested, keep notes. If they seem cool I'll ask them about what people they work with and find out ways I can directly help them.
Its win/win. I had a contact who was looking for someone to help her move from Typepad to wordpress. I referred her to a friend who then sent me $50 to say thanks. She's emailed asking if I need help promoting my site. Everybody wins and it all came from a good vibe I got at a masterclass with @dmscott.
Talk soon,
Jade
Thanks so much for sharing your tips in a logical fashion! I've switched career industries recently and began attending conferences right away. In my enthusiasm, I seem to have forgotten how important due diligence is each and every meeting. I also like the comment about AHA moments. A little preparation goes a long way. Very useful post.
Ainslie did have a very useful comment. If you want, I can contact you when the follow up post is up. Thank you very much for your comment
I like your ideas on researching the presenters and connecting with organizers.
Personally, I don't go with a plan in mind, but follow my nose once I'm there. Everybody's different. That works for me. I go with the flow.
As ridiculous as this sounds, make sure you have standard-sized business cards with you. People forget them all the time and it's embarrassing. Use standard-size because non-standard-size cards (like Moo cards) are too easily lost.
Great post! I've recently read Keith Ferrazzi's “Never Eat Alone” and it talks about these issues so I recommend it as a good reading before attending any important event
Thank you! I'll definitely check it out.
If only I'd gotten that recommendation before spending way too much money at Borders.
Thanks for the business card recommendation. I totally forgot that I have to organize them before next month. Another expense
Its up to the person on how they approach a conference. I like to be over prepared. I cant afford to go to them all and we rarely get people of this caliber in Australia. I figure if I only have one chance to interact with them then I'll make sure its worth while. I miss my journalism studies
I also find the conference scene fascinating. I want to learn more about organizing it (hence why I love being friends with Siobhan) as well as learning more about speaking.
Thanks for commenting. I'm very, very new to this scene and my approach will evolve. This is just what works for me.
That would be great, thanks!
I would add two things:
1) Take the path least traveled at the conference. Everyone may be going to workshop A, go to workshop B instead. Sometimes the gems of wisdom come from the least attended workshops. You can get the information about workshop A from your friends later.
2) Don't travel in packs.
Sometimes it's best to leave your “safe haven” for some time and meet new people. If you are always with your conference friends, you'll never meet some new people that can expand your circle of friends.
I've been saying “Maybe next year” about a bunch of conferences. Sounds like you're going to have a great time.