If you are in business you probably know how important networking is. No company is an island, and making strong connections with all the various people involved in your industry is instrumental to your ongoing success. After all, doing business really boils down to relationships.
One of the best ways to do some real, quality networking is to attend a business conference that is dedicated to your field. When you walk into a conference room in Bangkok you will be face to face with the movers and shakers that influence your industry, which can lead you to new opportunities that can translate into profits for you and the people you connect with!
We have compiled some pro tips for getting the most out of attending a business conference!
Study The Agenda – Business conferences usually host a variety of informative sessions, so take a good look at the agenda so you can plan to attend those that will be of the most use to you and the company you represent! This will be the basis for your conference game plan, you will know where you need to be and when, choosing to listen to the speakers that you can learn the most from!
Set Some Goals For Yourself – Before you arrive at a business conference you will want to set yourself some goals that will help you to focus on your most important business aims. Think about who you want to speak with and make connections with, what topics you want to learn more about, and what you intend to offer up as your personal contribution to the proceedings that will make your presence memorable to others.
Take Studious Notes – Think about the conference as if it were an important college class complete with lectures that you need to understand and use to succeed. Bring along a notebook so you can jot down the main points, great ideas, and useful quotes you hear during the sessions you attend. By taking notes you greatly improve your chances of fully absorbing the important information you are exposed to at the conference, and when it’s all done you can review them and refer to them to jog your memory long after the event has concluded. Having all of the key takeaways at hand will help you translate those ideas into things that you can use to grow and improve your business.
Prep For Success – Be sure to give yourself a head start before you arrive at the conference. You will want to make as many useful connections as you possibly can, right? So, what are some of the things you can do to help you prepare that might give you an advantage? We already mentioned that you should study the agenda in advance, in addition to that you can utilize social media. Visit the conference’s Facebook page and make some connections with other attendees online by posting there. You might even be able to arrange some meetings with key attendees ahead of time!
Prepping for success also includes having your gear ready to go, make sure you bring your phone, laptop, and a charger with you. You are probably going to be there all day long so stay charged up! Always take every opportunity you can to share contact details on your phone with the people you meet so you can stay connected long after the event is done.
Have Your Business Card Ready – Having an attractive and informative business card ready to hand out can help you make a great first impression. It’s important to consider that your business card represents you and your company, so its design and quality have to be of a high standard. If you have an unimpressive design printed on low-quality paper, the people who see it will have to assume your company is low-quality or lacking in funds, not a good look!
If you absolutely have to, you can create your own business card to introduce yourself with that focuses on you and your personal accomplishments that just mentions your company- after all, if your company is too cheap to invest in a decent card to represent them and you, you might be able to level up with a new position with a competitor that better understands value!
Once you have a strong business card that has all of your necessary contact details, try to hand out as many of them as you possibly can. You never know, when a fellow attendee goes back to their office they may notice your great looking card in their pile and remember the person who handed it to them and what a great impression you made, then make an effort to connect with you that might be beneficial for you both, after all, that’s one of the main goals of the whole process!
Build Your Relationships – As we mentioned earlier, you can make use of social media to help you identify in advance who will be attending the business conference, giving you the opportunity to formulate a target list of potential connections that you want to seek out. Make sure to do some research on the people who will be at the conference so you will have a good idea who exactly you are talking to when you meet them in person.
You can even compile a dossier on the other attendees that might be useful to connecting with them, be sure to save their photo on your phone so you will know who to look for in the crowd! When you do actually meet them in person be friendly and polite, don’t try to make a sales pitch, just let the relationship form naturally, discover if you have some chemistry, then build on that until the time is right to get down to talking real business!
A business conference is always ripe with opportunity and there is always energy in the air. This is your chance to meet successful entrepreneurs, industry leaders, and CEOs within and outside your industry that you would likely never meet otherwise, so make the most of it!
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Eamon