Recharge Your Business & Your Career by Attending a Conference

Maximize the value by taking the right steps before, during, and after the conference.

Photo by Jaime Lopes on Unsplash

The pandemic upended so many parts of our lives, but most of all, our ability to get together in person. We may have gotten better at remote and hybrid engagement, but there is nothing like meeting someone in person.

I have never been someone who attended conferences regularly. My very first was PC Expo when I was a technology investment banking intern. It was fun to see all the new gadgets and technology in development and to meet the people marketing them. But as I progressed in my career, because I changed industries frequently and most of my roles required 24/7 focus to scale or restructure a business, conferences felt like luxuries I couldn’t afford.

Then in the fall of 2023, I attended a conference for corporate citizenship professionals as a sales leader for my company and it was eye-opening. People had been attending the conference for more than a decade. Relationships were deep and conversations were raw and authentic. Events like this were where people networked in a meaningful way that led to partnerships and career options in the future.

I left the conference three days later feeling energized, connected to many new people in the industry, and having learned valuable information for my organization. It was a fantastic reset button.

If you need to do market research, build relationships for sales or partnerships, career networking, or simply need to recharge yourself, consider attending an industry conference. A conference is also a wonderful way to support your team’s professional development and strengthen their industry knowledge and network.

Here is my guide for how you can maximize the value of a conference.

Let’s dive in!

Choosing a Conference & Securing Budget

Almost every industry has at least a few associations or industry leaders who will host a conference. They are usually scheduled one year in advance, but some are announced with less notice. Not all conferences will be valuable for you or your team, so it’s worth taking the time to do some research to find the one that best suits your needs.

Different aspects of conferences you might want to consider:

• Focus or theme, usually changes annually

• Speaker mix and expertise

• Attendee roles and relevance to your business: e.g. If you sell to finance leaders, but the mix of attendees skews operational leaders, you might not find your target audience

• Number of attendees: Larger conferences give you a chance to meet more people, while smaller ones might give you a more intimate setting to make a connection

• Structure of sessions and engagement opportunities: Keynote-speaker style, workshops, small group breakouts

• Length of the conference

• Time of year

• Location

A quick google search will provide most of the details above, but the best intel generally comes from colleagues and others in the industry. Ask around to see who has attended the conferences you are interested in and what they recommend. You might be surprised by what you learn.

Some valuable tips I’ve heard in the past:

• “The conference is worth attending, but you shouldn’t bother sponsoring because the organizers don’t set up the sponsors for success.”

• “Even though your biggest competitor hosts the event, they won’t exclude you and you can get incredible intel from their customers.”

• “Leave early. No one stays for the last half day.”

• “Definitely sponsor the event, but know that only mid-level managers attend. The most senior leaders will come to speak, but unless you catch them right after their session, they won’t be accessible after that.”

Once you find the conference(s) you or your team should attend, make sure to budget well. Fees to consider include:

• Membership fee: Some organizers require you to be a member first

• Attendance fee

• Sponsorship fee and the cost of materials (booth, banners, giveaways, etc), if you want to market your business

• Hotel and travel

If this is a new expense, be prepared to make a strong business case for why this event is worth the investment. Some examples with metrics include:

• Marketing to build brand awareness: Number of booth visits, conversations, or attendees to your presentation

• New business development: Number of leads generated

• Connecting live with current customers: Number of customers or amount of revenue represented by the customers attending

• New skills and networks built: List the relevant topics, skills, and organizations

• Motivate your employees: Survey data of your team returning with a renewed sense of energy, new ideas, and connections

Remember to not simply put forth a business case, but to also track this information so that when you return, you can report back on whether you were successful at achieving your goals. Some of these will take time to materialize, but you should be able to convey leading indicators within a few weeks for all of them. By reporting back proactively, you will create a foundation for securing support for future conferences.

So now that you have the budget and the conference you want to attend, all you have to do is go, right? Wrong!

Maximize your investment by doing the work to properly prepare, fully take advantage of the conference while you are there, and follow through when you return.

Before the Conference

Photo by Austin Distel on Unsplash

Preparation as with most things is essential to get you started in the right direction. Here are some of my top recommendations:

• Book time on your calendar to:

  • Prepare for the conference: The amount of time will vary based on what you decide to take on

  • Digest notes and follow up with contacts each evening or morning of the conference: Generally 30 min each evening

  • Summarize notes and follow up with contacts when you return: I recommend 2-3 hours daily for up to a week after the conference

• Organize your plans:

  • Download the conference app and familiarize yourself with how it’s designed. Add your photo and update your bio if that’s an option

  • Create a conference document to outline your goals and share with your manager or team. Ask them if they have any priorities for you to consider

  • Select the sessions you want to attend based on the topics and the speakers. Mark these on your conference app and in your work calendar so that you can more easily reference them in the future

  • Mark down when you’ll have breaks, including breakfast, lunch, and drinks. This will be the perfect time to network with people, including pre-scheduled chats

  • Brainstorm questions you want to ask and topics you want to learn

  • Create a Conference folder. This sounds so basic, but you’ll be happy you did it later

  • Create a Contact spreadsheet with all the people you want to reach out to along with their LinkedIn bios, links to publications or social media posts, and any goals you have in speaking with them

• If you’re not going alone, coordinate with your colleague(s):

  • Discuss each of your goals, including how you prioritize them and how you can support each other

  • Coordinate logistics: When you are arriving, who do you want to connect with, and what sessions do you each want to attend

• Get ready to network

  • Update your LinkedIn profile to communicate your current role and your overall career message

  • Reach out to relevant attendees to schedule coffee chats in advance. You can use LinkedIn if you have LinkedIn Premium or the conference app, assuming the person you’re trying to reach has signed up. A simple message can go a long way:

    • “Hi [name] — I saw that you’ll be attending XYZ conference in [2] weeks. Your work at ABC company is really impressive. Would you be open for a coffee chat? How about [Monday at 2pm] during the break?”

  • Share the names of who you’ll be meeting with your colleague so that you can stay coordinated

    • For anyone you couldn’t connect with in advance, ask your colleague to help you keep an eye out and you can do the same for them

• Make an Out of Office Plan

  • You want to be fully present at the conference, not distracted by calls and emails from work or teammates

  • Communicate your plans to attend the conference early and give your team an escalation path that ideally doesn’t involve you

  • Reset and push back deadlines as needed to give yourself room to both prepare for the conference, attend, and complete follow-up when you return

• Budget time for rest

  • Between the preparations and your travel to the conference, you may feel tired and out of sorts. Give yourself time to rest and relax on the day of travel. You want to go into the conference feeling energized and not drained

Now that you have prepared well for the conference, let’s talk about what you’ll do when you get to the conference.

During the Conference

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Once you get to the conference, it can be very easy to get overwhelmed. Conference hosts have taken these events to a whole new level with a multitude of experiences and sensory elements — lights, music, lounge areas, excursions, different booths, tents, and a packed schedule.

If you did your preparation well, you should be able to stay relaxed and keep your goals in mind while you stick to your prepared schedule.

Don’t hesitate to make adjustments if you see elements that you didn’t consider earlier. It’s ok to change your plans as long as you keep your overall objectives in mind.

To maximize your time at the conference, here’s what you need to prioritize:

• Meet speakers & ask questions

  • The speakers are often the experts in their field. These are your industry rockstars. Don’t miss the opportunity to meet ones that matter to you

  • Budget time to stay after their speech and walk up to the stage if they seem to be making time to engage after their presentation

  • Plan to ask one valuable question

  • If they seem inclined, ask them to connect again later or ask what’s the best way to follow their work

  • Make sure to follow up afterward to thank them. Sometimes it might just be commenting on their social media posts, but others might be more directly accessible

• Sit down at meals and have a real conversation

  • Don’t just rush about at the conference. Take the time to pause and enjoy your meals and have more in-depth conversations when you can

  • The deepest relationships are created when you make the time to talk about more personal topics or challenges. These can often only come up when you create the time and space for them

• Talk with vendors

  • It’s easy to see vendors as deterrents or distractions at a conference, but they are a part of your ecosystem. You can learn a lot just by seeing who has invested to be present

  • Talking with the representatives of these organizations can give you a sense of what others in your industry are prioritizing. Learn about the issues the vendors are seeking to address and who are their customers. You might not be interested in their service, but others in your industry could be and that might give you insight into areas you need to investigate

• Capture, share, and organize content throughout

  • Post your experience on social media: People love to see photos of you and your connection with others. Your insights will help others learn and determine if they should invest in attending in the future. The conference organizers will love it as well — you’re helping them promote their work.

  • Take photos of name tags: As you meet people, it can be difficult to remember names, organizations, and titles. Make it easier on yourself by taking photos of name tags either with the person’s face if that’s helpful for you or without. Some conferences will also have QR codes that you can then use to connect with attendees using the conference app or it’ll give your email address to message directly.

  • Take photos of presentations: Many conferences will share presentations and handouts via the conference app, but not all presenters share their presentations. I always have my phone ready during a presentation to take photos of slides that I want to reference later.

  • Take notes: If a notebook is too much to carry, take digital notes on your phone and even audio notes between sessions. Just make sure you organize your notes each evening or within a week of the conference. Wait much longer and they can feel disjointed or difficult to decipher. When you take notes, think about what you want to use it for later and categorize. For example, write “social” if it’s for a post, or jot the name of the person you want to share it with later. These little elements will make your follow-up much more efficient.

• Nightly at the conference

  • Even if you’re wiped from the day, taking these actions each evening will help you with your follow-up after the event.

  • Send out LinkedIn invites each night to the people you met. Add a brief, relevant note. They’ll appreciate your taking the first step to stay in touch.

  • Update your Conference doc with key learnings or concepts to revisit, including digesting your written and audio notes while they are fresh

  • Update your Contact spreadsheet with notes on who you met, what you discussed, and what you want to follow up with them on and when you’ll do that follow-up. It may seem like it a lot, but it might only be 4-5 words you drop in that is enough of a prompt for you later. If your spreadsheet is designed well, you might have only a few dropdowns to update.

Take the time to complete the actions above during the conference and you’ll find that your follow-up will be much less difficult and time-consuming.

After the Conference

Photo by Firmbee.com on Unsplash

Congratulations! You attended the conference, gained new insights, met new people, and although you are tired, you’re feeling energized to put all of this information to use to reach your goals.

Now what? Back to business as usual?

NO!

To truly maximize the value of a conference, you’ll want to take the following actions in relatively short order:

• Immediately when you return: Quick Downloads

  • Download presentations, photos, notes, and other materials that were helpful into your Conference folder

  • Update your Contact spreadsheet with any final people and conversations you had before you forget them

  • Give your manager and team a brief (30 sec) update on the highlights of the event

• 1 week after: More Detailed Notes

  • Summarize learnings for your team and next year in your Conference doc. You’ll reference this as you plan your conference strategy in the future

  • Post your learnings on social media: don’t worry about being repetitive. This is meant to be your full recap

  • Send emails and set up time with the highest-priority contacts you met. Keep the momentum going after the conference

• 2 weeks out: Closing Out Conference Actions

  • Follow up with your highest-priority contacts who didn’t reply to your first note. Set up ongoing reminders to ping them if you don’t hear back

  • Email additional people you met that you want to stay in contact with but who are not as urgent to meet with at this time. Set up a calendar reminder when you want to re-engage

Bonus Ideas

You might already feel that the actions I’ve recommended are more than sufficient and perhaps too extensive. That’s fine. But if conferences are old hat for you and you’re craving some higher-order actions, here are some more ideas to up-level your conference game:

• Create an Industry Learning Group

  • This is an excellent way to build deeper relationships long-term

  • Being connected is not just a source of relationship value, but also a way to stay in the know

  • People who otherwise might deprioritize further conversations with you may feel differently if they perceive that you are facilitating connections with many relevant parties, creating more value for them

  • You can set it up for monthly or quarterly conversations that you curate based on industry trends and the participants’ interest and expertise

• Delegate more of the prep to your team

  • This might feel obvious, but often when we are doing something for the first time, we might feel hesitant to delegate tasks. We tell ourselves, “we need to figure it out ourselves first.” That can be helpful for high-stakes tasks, but if there is healthy room for error, delegate and adjust as needed

  • Helping you prep for your conference can be a great learning opportunity for your team and if you give them this guide, they have a headstart on the key tasks

• Set up your own event at the conference

  • This one requires budget, but it can be one of the best ways for you to build brand presence and to create many connections quickly

  • It can be as simple as a break station where you offer up fancier or more unique treats or it can be a cocktail hour near the conference after the day’s events are done

  • Whatever you create, make sure you market the event well so that you get solid attendance. A great way to make it stand out is to make it invite-only

• Create a post-conference webinar sharing what you learned

  • Just as journalists summarize the major takeaways of cultural or political events, you could summarize the takeaways from the conference for others in your industry

  • This is one to two steps deeper than a social media post. You might share more about certain presentations that resonated or add in your hot takes. People love a good digest and if you can make the session engaging, you’ll form a connection as well

A Learning (or two)

The biggest takeaways from this guide are to:

• Be intentional about what you want to accomplish at a conference

• Do the work to be prepared

• Take full advantage of the experience

You don’t have to put all of the tips into practice, but the more you can integrate, the more you’ll get out of the experience.

Something I briefly mentioned, but I’d like to emphasize further is the need to pace yourself and rest.

Because an in-person conference can be taxing physically, mentally, and emotionally, and because people can sense your energy throughout, you want to err towards the side of less is more. Trying to connect with 50 people, but doing a poor job of it is far less effective than trying to connect with the 10 people who matter most to you and to do it well. You might get more than one chance to make a good impression, but don’t assume that. It’s far better to leave a positive impression the first time because you are relaxed, focused, and able to be fully present.

Take Action

To get you into the right mindset for conference planning, try to change your setting for when you plan.

If you normally sit in your home office or at a particular desk at work, try to move to a different location. Perhaps go to a cafe, or sit outside. Consider starting your planning process with a notebook instead of a computer. That won’t work for your spreadsheet, but it will work for your initial thinking about your goals and objectives.

Changing your setting may free you up to be more creative and willing to approach the conference differently than how you navigate your day-to-day. This matters particularly because a conference is a change to your day-to-day.

As I always say, don’t try to do it all. Pace yourself and take on only what you feel you can do successfully. Taking small steps and celebrating your progress will enable you to take on bigger bites in the future.

Your Turn

I’d love to hear from you:

• What actions have you taken to make conferences valuable and successful for you and your team?

• Are there areas you want me to delve into more thoroughly in the future?

Please add your thoughts to the Comments below. And if you have only 2 seconds, answer this poll:

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Additional Resources

• 7 Tips for Attending a Conference for the First Time (Global Conference Alliance)

• A Conference Junkie’s Guide to Attending (and Enjoying) Conferences (The Muse)

• 18 Helpful Tips for Getting the Most Out of an Industry Conference (Hubspot)

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