Conferences and other business events are a source of insights, contacts, and information about new trends in one’s industry or sector. Some conferences, especially those which are held at the end of the year, are meant to review the bygone year and come up with strategies for the following year as well as to network. The word conference is used here to refer to other forms of business meetings such as workshops, symposia and conventions among other types and terms.
Whatever the reason for the business conferences, one can only leverage them for their benefit or that of their business organisation if they proactively strategise to do so. This is especially so for delegates who would be paying for their own attendance and are not driven by the lure of the subsistence and travel allowances that go with such events as is the case in some companies. Without planning, a conference can end up being just an outing where people listen to presenters, collect business cards and promotional products as well as chat with other delegates.
The conference period can be divided into three main periods namely pre-conference, the conference itself and the post-conference section. Once a would-be delegate has made up his or her mind s/he has to prepare for the event with the three conference periods in mind as follows:
Before the conference
Some professionals and business organisations decide at the beginning of the year which conferences they will attend or send delegates to and the reasons for their decisions. This, however, does not mean that should other meetings be organised during the course of the year they would not attend. The decision to attend other conferences depends on the value that a company or individual attendee perceives can be derived from them.
Once a decision has been made to attend a conference a delegate has to make a commitment by making a payment as soon as possible. This is important in that once one has committed him or herself financially to the event it means that they will be compelled to prepare for it. Early payment also enables one to benefit from early bird discounts which most business event organisers offer.
Preparations
If a delegate is attending representing a company or some other organisation they need a proper briefing of their organisations’ objectives for attending the conference. These could be to network and recruit distributors for a brand or brands. The delegate should be briefed by the sending business organisation on how to meet the objectives. Their companies should kit them out with enough business cards, pamphlets, and demonstration materials.
Even individual professionals attending conferences as individuals should come up with their own objectives as delegates which they can write in their conference notebooks as a constant reminder before and during the event. They should figure out strategies on how to achieve them. One such strategy could be to use breakaway sessions to position themselves as experts in their area of expertise or make the most of breaks by networking with as many delegates as possible among others.
Other strategies include researching on the speakers and even connecting with them on social media, asking questions on their areas of speciality and even talking to them at the conference. Delegates can also research who is also attending. This assists them in prioritising who to network with during the conference in line with their personal or company conference goals. If the conference has a Facebook Event page, this provides information on who among a delegate’s Facebook friends has indicated interest in attending or is attending.
When paying their attendance fees in person, delegates should take the opportunity to ask for as much information about the conference as possible beyond basic issues like the venue and the dates. They should establish whether or not the conference features other ancillary activities such as tours and sports such as golf games as has become the trend. This is the opportunity to establish the dress code for the main event and the accompanying events. For the conference it is usually smart casual but nothing should be taken for granted.
Delegates also need to establish travel and accommodation details. Some conference organisers provide delegate packs or delegate preparation guides containing most of the information that delegates may require. This information includes the venue, registration desk hours and location, session types, internet access, presentation equipment, electricity access, and power points. They need to establish what to take to the conference which includes items such as laptop computers, tablets, chargers, and power banks.
The preparation stage is also time to check for details of the conference by combing the internet for articles on the last edition of the event to get a feel of it. This is important for first-time attendees. Colleagues who have attended past editions can come in handy with details that ordinarily are not covered by the mainstream media. All this information leaves one with an idea of what to expect and provides assurance to paid-up delegates who may be suffering post-payment dissonance.
During conferences, delegates need to take care of themselves. If they are gym-going they could check if the hotel has gym facilities or if there are any nearby. Delegates on continuous medication such as that for diabetes or hypertension need to ensure that they have enough to last the travel time and conference duration. Those who experience regular bouts of common illnesses such as headaches or a common cold need to take pain killers with them. Conferences are paid for and one would not want to lose out due to a common illness which they could easily deal with using some tablets.
Information relating to tours, sports, and other accompanying activities as well as the venues is also given in this document. During the preparation, stage organisers are normally just a phone call or an e-mail away to answer any questions which delegates may have. Delegates should use this to plan well for the event which would ensure that the event goes according to plan for them.
While organisers provide the venue, speakers and address other issues that are pertinent to the event’s success, it is up to delegates to do their part in terms of planning their participation to ensure great conference experiences.
During the conference
During the conference, delegates can maximise the benefits provided by the event through registering for sessions early each day. While others contend that this stands in the way of organisers preparing for the forthcoming sessions, if done within the stipulated time, early registration enables delegates to meet and network with fellow early registrants. It also gives them time to walk around the venue and familiarise themselves with it or view exhibits if an exhibition is running concurrently with the meeting. This positive habit also better prepares one for the day compared to late registrants whose day may start off on the wrong footing because they overslept and walked into the auditorium late.
Where two or more delegates from the same business organisation are attending the conference, they need to organise themselves into teams to attend different sessions or concurrent exhibitions. This enables the team to make the most of the event by meeting more people. Having more than one delegate prevents situations where some exhibition stands end up going unmanned as one delegate has to man a stand and also attend conference sessions.
Delegates need to take notes as they cannot memorise everything. While some conferencing experts discourage delegates from taking copious notes arguing that it is too pre-occupying and that they can always ask for copies of the presentations, conferences differ. Some presenters may not have any meaningful written material for organizers to share with delegates.
Given the inevitability of note-taking to some delegates, a word of advice is in order here. Delegates should organise their notes by using bullet points and headings and subheadings to prevent creating masses of disorganised information. It is advisable to start a fresh page, if note-taking by hand, for every new session. This assists in separating notes for different sessions which makes it easy to tell sessions apart when the event is over. Another way of avoiding the confusion caused by too many notes in one book is to dedicate one notebook to each session.
During conference sessions, delegates can tear themselves from the common herd of other delegates by participating actively, intelligently and professionally. Only through thorough research on conference subjects can a delegate fully prepare for this. This also draws other attendees to the delegate during breaks or breakaway sessions because they will have presented themselves as smart. This way some personal and corporate conference objectives are met.
Delegates could get more value from their attendance by networking with as many people from target organisations as possible. This way they will learn from other delegates. Information at conferences is gathered from presenters and fellow delegates so breaks and scheduled networking slots should be taken full advantage of. One may lose out by walking away from other delegates to smoke.
During conference sessions, delegates can ask whether or not presentations would be made available. They may ask if it is possible to get a list of attendees and their contact details. They may wish to establish if there would a discounted rate for return attendees the following year. Delegates can ask whether or not a similar conference would be held again where and when. Such information assists delegates to decide whether to write copious and detailed notes or just put down reminder notes. Having paid to attend the conference, most organisers would normally ensure that these delegate concerns are addressed. Asking questions enables delegates to get more information than is normally given away by organisers or presenters.
Post-conference
Once the event is over and one is back at the office, it is time to make a small report summarising the conference for sharing with workmates. It is time for follow up while leads are still hot. This involves sending the information which a networking lead asked for or fixing an appointment to meet one of the delegates who expressed interest in distributing one’s brand in another province of the country or in a foreign country. The post-conference activity also means feeding customer contact details obtained into one’s customer relationship management (CRM) system.
This period is also about sending out follow-up notes as well as LinkedIn requests while the conference is still in everyone’s minds. LinkedIn requests have a provision for personalised messages. Delegates should this as it makes one memorable and enables one to include some of the things that they discussed during the conference. They should also use the event hashtag which makes it easier for the recipient to remember the sender.
The post-conference period should not be about milking the event for the benefit of one’s businesses organisation only. Activities and initiatives should be long term in outlook. It is as important to just build networks and relationships with no immediate gain as it is to make a sale within a month after the event.