Important: This blog series was previously posted regarding our 2024 Conferences, but the information is still valuable! To learn more about our 2025 Conferences, held October 21-22 in Las Vegas, click here. There is still time to register – in-person and virtual options available!

 

A canon that both Oprah Winfrey and Seneca have espoused has got to be a winning philosophy. This post is the 2nd of a four-part series on networking in connection with our conferences next week. Today, I’ll focus on prep work you can do in advance of attending any event to get the most bang for your buck.

This past summer, Meredith shared some great insights along these lines from Korn Ferry:

– Define your goals. Set clear objectives for what you hope to get out of attending the conference.
– Get the guest list. Check the attendee roster in advance and make a list of your “must-meets.”
– Get the word out. Let people know in advance that you’re attending.
– Find a hook. “Establish a basis for connecting.”
– Get a second meeting at the first. Where appropriate, schedule a follow-up meeting during the first meeting.

I would add to those as follows:

– Plan your schedule and create a personal itinerary. This is especially important if the conference offers concurrent smaller sessions. Some conferences will make you do this in advance (like a conference I went to earlier this year where I needed to pick my round table breakout sessions weeks in advance and let the organizers know). Others, like the Boise Entrepreneur Week I attended last week, allowed me to add sessions ad hoc via their app for the event. I find it helpful to add sessions I want to attend to my own calendar because 1) I live and die by my calendar anyway and 2) I don’t want to accidentally schedule an unrelated call during an important session. Doing this work in advance will give you more mental space during the event to focus on relationship building and maybe even enjoy yourself.

– Set goals to allocate your time between both old friends and new acquaintances. I agree with Dave; one of my favorite things about conferences (especially ones that I’ve attended for many years in a row) is the human connection. However, it’s very easy to stick with what’s comfortable and for many of us (especially if you’re in between jobs) it can be uncomfortable to meet new people. But those new people could end up being a key lead to a new opportunity (if that’s one of your goals in networking). To that end, during my conference prep, if the attendee list is available ahead of time, I try to reach out directly to all my current contacts who will be there. I let them know that I’m looking forward to seeing them and catching up. That way, they know to keep an eye out for me (two people trying to meet up is more efficient than one), and if for some reason we don’t connect at the conference, it’s a good excuse to follow-up with them after the fact and set up a quick Zoom coffee date. It also allows me more flexibility to meet new people since I’m not stressed about catching up with everyone I know in a short time frame. When you’re job hunting, your friends understand.

– Research key new contacts in advance. In some cases, it makes sense to do some research on one or two new contacts that you want to meet at the conference. I generally keep this list short to maximize robust connections (quality over quantity). Target the amount of research you’d do on someone as the amount you’d do if you were interviewing with them in a recruitment cycle. It can help with nerves to know a few key facts about someone you’re meeting for the first time and helps find commonality in professional interests or people you know in the course of the conversation. This gets to the Korn Ferry point above about having a “hook”. Better yet, you can ask someone to give you a warm intro to them at the event and knowing who might be a good person to do that is part of your research.

– Don’t forget about remote attendance. Even if you’re attending an event virtually, don’t relegate your objective to just meeting CLE requirements. Social media is a great tool for this this type of networking. You could post that you’re attending a virtual event (in fact, writing this post reminded me to do just that for next week!) or use it as an opportunity to share your insights about the content real-time with your network.

Alright, your travel is booked, you’ve thought about your goals, planned your schedule, and prepped on which folks you want to make sure you see. You’re ready for the main event, which happens to be the subject of tomorrow’s blog.

– Meaghan Nelson