How to effectively attend a conference or exhibition?
Answer the question, “Why?”
First, choose the right event to attend. Plan your “outings” in advance, make a calendar of prospective exhibitions. The audience for the event should match your goals. Clearly define for yourself why you want to participate in a particular event. What goal do you want to achieve? These can be specific goals: to meet a speaker or a company at booth 264. But also general: to learn about trends in the industry, to get new contacts.
Remember: do your best to do what you have planned, the event will not go on forever, and Fedor will probably not be at the venue for all three days of the forum. Be sure to catch him.
Preparation: what’s worth doing before the event?
The event will be much more productive for you if you prepare for it in advance. Analyze the program, highlight key points, gather facts and figures and find out details about the products of the companies participating in the event. Look for your key people online (e.g. on facebook), what are they up to? What are they passionate about? Memorize their faces so you can identify them in the crowd. Remember their names so you don’t accidentally call them Gregory George. This is important.
Don’t forget to check to see if you have enough business cards. Make sure you have them ready in advance. Bring handouts that can clearly demonstrate your services.
You can also organize your own event. Why you need it.
Be on time.
If you’re attending the event, participate fully: make the most of the time. The event will soon be over, and the opportunity to personally communicate with the core community may not occur to you soon.
You should not be late or come in the last hour of the conference, for a buffet. You can argue that the person you are interested in relax and be free only at the end of the event: then you and take him warm! And if he asks your opinion on this or that performance? You can of course crack jokes, or flash your erudition, or even confess honestly: “I’m only here for you!” But remember, the very informational reason for the meeting is the conference, and its speeches are an extra opportunity to strike up a conversation.
Hide the phone and communicate!
Did your neighbor ask an interesting question of the speaker? Exchange business cards! How often do we have to watch the attendees of profile forums hold an event while tucked away on their phones or laptops. After all, there are work emails, calls, messages in messengers, the dollar exchange rate has changed. It’s not like you can cancel work because of some conference. If this is indeed the case, and you are very busy with work processes, it is better not to go to the event at all, and send your employee, who will hide their gadgets for the duration of the event. And you yourself watch the online broadcast. Remember: live events are designed for communication.
If you understand that the conference part is not very interesting for you and there is no opportunity to engage in communication in the hall, then get out of the audience. Communicate without wasting time.
I once witnessed such a case: at a profile event the audience fell asleep. The speakers were selfishly rattling off specific terms, the back rows were bored. Suddenly one of the guests of the conference, a sales guy, quietly got up and sat down with the director of one of the participating companies. Talked to him, they exchanged business cards. Then moved on to the next one. Then to the next. As this began to happen, the other attendees remembered that they, too, had come to socialize. The other guests also began to move from person to person, exchanging contacts. Everyone was very pleased with the results of the event. We are still on friendly terms with the young man, who set up his own production shortly after the event.
Ask questions and be a good listener
People like to be genuinely interested and ask questions. Ask what problems your interlocutor wants to solve, why. What features does your opponent’s service or product have? What he wants to achieve, how to develop? The more you find out about your potential partner, the easier it will be to work with them, to offer a specific solution, or to find points of intersection for cooperation.
Ask clarifying questions – you show either that you’re truly looking for a profile solution or that you’re interested in his business before you offer him something. Sell questions, not answers.
Don’t look around while you’re talking to someone. Has it ever happened to you that while you’re talking, your interlocutor suddenly sees a “big shot” in the crowd, dumps you and rushes over to say hello to a “more promising” acquaintance? Never do that, first logically conclude the conversation, and only then go in search of another interlocutor.
