March madness may be over but the conference and event season is still in full swing! Happy Day-After Opening Day MLB!) Regardless of your industry, there is most likely a conference you can attend to network and enhance your skill set. Though your company may be picking up the tab, it’s expensive to attend conferences! Here are a few tips to help you make the most of your conference attendance.
Review the Schedule
Who do you want to meet? There will be a line to meet the celebrity keynote speaker but often, especially with bigger conferences boasting many sessions, the smaller session speakers are more accessible and can result in a deeper connection. If the person you most want to connect with is speaking on Day Two of the conference, try to meet them on Day One.
While you are looking at the schedule, take time to plan which side sessions and main sessions to attend if they run concurrently. I don’t want to miss any of the good stuff and I know you don’t either!
Make Purposeful Connections
Regardless of how well planned the event is, there is a good chance two sessions you want to attend will run concurrently. This is a great networking opportunity! Connect with someone who is also interested in attending both sessions. Attend the most important session for you so you can hear the information firsthand. Then meet with your new connection for coffee after the sessions and compare notes. Not only does this give you face time with a new connection and conversation topics, it solidifies what you learned.
Prepare Questions In Advance
In the months or weeks before the event, note your questions about your business, industry, trends, and anything other relevant topics that come to mind so you are prepared to intelligently contribute AND find answers to your questions
Bring TONS of Business Cards
You will exchange business cards as frequently as you exchange hellos! Brush up on my Managing Business Card Mania post so you are ready to go when you have 50+ cards to sift through.
I first heard the networking with session vs keynote speakers technique from Keith Ferrazzi’s book Never Eat Alone. Never Eat Alone is a comprehensive book on sincere, relation-oriented networking, with impressive, out-of-the-box techniques to build your network including more suggestions for conference networking, how to coordinate dinner party success, and many more networking techniques. It is easily the best business book I read last year and I highly recommend it!
Safe travels and great connections as you attend conference this season.
I want to hear your post-conference stories! Have you tried these techniques? Do you have other techniques that work for you?
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