How to up your game at your next conference

SG: One of the biggest things about effective conference-going is your pre-planning. That’s where your sales and marketing teams come in. Marketing should start sending out messaging to your database and sharing on social media about a month in advance so customers – and prospects – know you’ll be attending the conference. This will help your sales team with pre-booking appointments. It’s always great to show up at an event with meetings on your calendar.

SG: I recommend doing something I call “booth camp.” It’s basically a full walkthrough of how your booth will run during the conference. Go all out – actually set up the booth so you can make sure everything works, including your technology. This will also help you flesh out the queuing process to make sure you know how to keep your traffic flowing smoothly.

SG: It’s important to discuss how to best engage with people – and how to politely disengage if necessary. You should also talk about the key takeaways you want your team to be sharing to ensure your message is the same.

SG: Yes. All team members should provide overviews of their appointments and who they’re with. This allows you to prioritize and to make sure you have the right people at the right meetings.

SG: If you have a customer support staff (and you should), they should definitely attend. This way they can connect with current clients and get feedback in real time which can strengthen those relationships. Plus, it allows the sales team to focus on bringing in new business. 

SG: You have to find time to rest. If you’re on the floor for two or three hours, take a break and reset. Some companies will tell their people to take a break and go prospect, but I think it’s best to just take a break. For me, I might just go sit down somewhere for 15 minutes and disconnect. Other people may need more time. If you’re working at a company where the staff is small, someone from the leadership team may need to step in and work the booth to give their sales team a rest. I look at it like this – it’s a big investment to go to a conference. We want to be fresh and able to put our best foot forward.

SG: Yes. Before you go, you should create a matrix of where your team members need to be and when they need to be there. This will maximize each person’s time so they can be at the top of their game.

SG: If I’m going somewhere for less than five days, I stay on my time zone. I encourage everyone to go to bed early as well. Also, snacks and energy drinks help, too!

SG: Nighttime is “choose your own adventure.” A lot of team leaders will try to regulate what their people can and can’t do, but I tend to believe if you trust your people, they’ll make the right decisions.

SG: I recommend not scheduling any appointments on the last day and just working the booth to take care of the people who are interested in doing last-minute deals. And those people are definitely out there.

SG: Marketing should take back over in reaching out to the people you met – or others at the conference you didn’t have a chance to connect with. Sales team members should also follow up with the people they met to continue the conversation. And chances are good that once one conference ends, you’ll already be looking ahead to the next one!