Making the Most out of Conferences

Now that live events are slowly but surely being resurrected, many must be left with a reasonable slice of social anxiety and be questioning if our networking abilities at business conferences will ever be what they once were circa 2019. This is fair. Covid has changed everything. However, even with the triumphant rise of work-from-home culture and the ease of setting up zoom meetings to connect with industry counterparts, I still strongly believe that meeting customers, clients, industry friends, in person, is an incredibly crucial part of growing any career and or business.

After a successful week in Santa Rosa at Hall of Flowers, where I was busy giving fist bumps, scanning endless QR codes, collecting numerous business cards, and admiring new product innovations coming from across the industry, I began to reflect and wonder if I had really yielded the most juice for the squeeze. With MJBiz in Las Vegas just around the corner and CWBC in New York shortly after, I thought it would be great to share my thoughts on being your most effective and productive self at conferences. 

1. Plan ahead

   • You’re going to be overwhelmed and you’re going to feel like you need to speak to everyone and anyone. Good thing for you, that’s impossible, so congrats, you’re off the hook. Your best bet is to carve out some time to plan. One to three weeks before the conference figure out who is going to be there that you need to connect with. Be intentional because again, you won’t be able to connect with everyone. This could be potential clients, current customers that you’ve only spoken to over phone/video, possible investors, etc. Make a list and if you can, reach out to these people/organizations and plant some friendly seeds. This will make your initial interaction more meaningful because a) it won’t feel as cold b) you will have demonstrated that you follow through, meaning you are professional and trustworthy and c) you will be more effective with your time. Of course, leave some room for chance encounters and understand that you may not be able to necessarily connect with everyone you hope to. That’s OK! 

2. Be confident 

   • Conferences can be weird, especially for those that aren’t social butterflies drinking from the fire hydrant of social stimulus. Remind yourself to remind yourself that you deserve to be there. Just like everyone else that is walking the floor, if you bought the ticket, paid the entrance fee, etc. you are there for a reason. When approaching someone that you’d like to talk to, the key to making good connections is to simply display your interest in the other party. My philosophy on making connections has always been to think long-term. Sure, pitch your product, or your company, or your service, but the best way to do business has always been by fostering genuine relationships. This always starts by taking a second to be real and ask the other person some questions. Here are a few that I have found effect: 

     1. What are your thoughts on XYZ being so prevalent in the market? 

     2. What are some challenges you’ve experienced recently with ABC?

     3. What are some exciting things you’re working on? 

     4. Has the recent _____ affected your _____? 

3. Remember

   • With the high volume of human interaction happening, you inevitably run the risk of forgetting information and mixing up certain people. We’re human, it happens. The way I mitigate this risk is simply by taking some short but sweet notes on each person, during or post-interaction. Something as simple as, “Wisconsin, Company, friends with Theresa, joke about ____, used to be in tech” will jog your memory later and make your follow-ups that much more meaningful. The key here is to try to take these notes as soon as possible after the interaction so you don’t forget. I do them in my iPhone Notes app or in the person's actual contact info. Bonus points if you can add them on LinkedIn on the spot. 

4. Have Fun

   • This one is a little cheesy but if you don’t take a second to say to yourself, “wow I am in Las Vegas, at a business conference, meeting other passionate people in my industry,” then you’re missing the point. Bringing gratitude, intentionality, and presence to as many moments as you can during the conference will ground you and enable you to be your best self. Remember, so many people would love to be in your shoes. 

5. Follow Up

   • This one is the most obvious of them all. Ensure you follow up with the people you had a strong interaction with! It’s likely that you won’t be able to follow up with every single person you meet but the ones that you created a good connection with or discussed business with or even just had a great time with, are always worth a follow-up within 1-3 weeks. I find that the follow-ups are infinitely more effective if they contain a quick and humble reminder of who you are (remember, they also met 100 new people too) and a little reminder of a joke you shared or a topic you discussed.

Using the above techniques I strongly believe you’ll be well ahead of the pack when it comes to making the high ticket conferences worth it to you and your company.