Seven Ways to Get the Most Out of Going to Conferences and Events

I love going to conferences. In fact I’m down in California right now attending not one, but two conferences back-to-back in ten days. So clearly I’ve got conferences on the brain.

Me and Nancy Marmolejo at her event in Anaheim

As a result, I recently wrote an article listing a whole bunch of reasons why every entrepreneur needs to get out of the office and go to at least a couple big conferences each year. Of course I immediately got an email from one of my wonderful subscribers saying that while she loves going to conferences, she gets overwhelmed trying to do follow-up while playing catch up.

So today I thought I’d share some tips and ideas for getting the most out of going to conferences without going crazy with overwhelm.

1) Set goals and intentions. If you go to an event with no real goals, while you may learn something useful, chances are you’ll go home with little more than a fistful of business cards you have no time to deal with. Instead, set intentions for who you’d like meet, what you’d like to learn or what you want to get out of your investment.

2) Take time for yourself. When you go to events, it’s easy to feel like you have to be there for every speaker, late evening event, lunch, dinner etc. You don’t. You need to be at your best. It’s better to miss a speaker or two than become exhausted. Honor your own needs, get plenty of sleep and exercise, and you’ll both enjoy the event more and get more out of it.

3) If you take cards, take notes. One secret to following up effectively is to make notes on the back of each business card you do take. That way you know who you should follow up with first and why. Plus you can remind them of what you talked about so you deepen the connection.

4) Create a follow up system. Don’t just say, “Oh I need to follow up with all these people when I get home.” Decide exactly when and how you want to follow up. Are you going to send emails, greeting cards, add them to your contact database, etc.? Then do exactly that when you return.

5) Outsource your follow up. If you know you won’t ever get it done, or you have other things you need to do more, let someone else handle your follow up. How? Scan or fax all the business cards over to your Virtual Assistant along with a copy of your written follow up system. Or, have your VA enter the contact info into a SendOutCards account and mail everyone a postcard or greeting card.

6) Don’t be a random hoarder. Grabbing everyone’s business cards, piles of paperwork and little logo-decorated gifties only creates more work for you when you get back to the office (while adding more unnecessary crap into your life). Remember, just because it’s free doesn’t mean you need it. Because at some point you have to cull through it all and decide what’s important, and that takes time and energy. Or you’re going to end up with a bunch of extra clutter you don’t need.

7) Take an extra day or two off. I don’t mean take a vacation day (though if you can swing it that’s the best). I mean always schedule the first workday after you return as a day off from doing any client work. Then spend that time focusing on follow up and making plans to implement all the great new ideas you’ve picked up. Whatever you do, don’t check your email that day until you’re done!