Exhibiting at a conference can be a great opportunity for companies to get in front of potential customers, media and fans. I recently had my first experience at an industry conference with one of our clients at Macworld. Our client was an exhibitor and we took the opportunity to set up media interviews to touch base and share the product road map for the year.
I was surprised that not every vendor fully took advantage of the opportunities that the conference provided. We thought it might be helpful to provide a few suggestions to make the most of your conference experience.
Consider the following:
- Meet with media. Most conferences will provide exhibitors with a list of registered media attending the conference. This is a great opportunity to connect your business with members of the media. It’s important to make sure that the reporter is a fit for your business to make the best use of both your time and theirs. Even if you do not have news to share, it can present an opportunity to get to know a reporter and position yourself as a resource for future stories.
- Connect with customers. Make the most of your booth and be available to demo upcoming products, provide training and troubleshooting advice to existing customers and answer questions. For many companies without retail stores, a conference is one of the few places that they are able to interact with customers face-to-face. It helps establish a personal connection and puts a face on your business.
- Give swag. People attending conferences expect to receive some sort of “swag” when visiting the booths. This can range from coupons, candy, and stickers to cool gadget accessories such as the latest cover or headphones. This will help to not only get your logo out there, which should be strategically displayed on the swag, but it will also build buzz and further spread awareness.
- Use time to dine with like-minded people. Conferences offer a unique venue where hundreds or thousands of people with similar interests, goals and objectives come together in the same place. This is a great opportunity to connect with like-minded people for dinner, drinks, lunch or coffee. How often do you get uninterrupted time with industry peers from around the world? Reach out to contacts beforehand and propose meeting up during the conference. You can also encourage each person to bring someone else to broaden the networking opportunities.
- Transcribe action items. During meetings with media, your time at the booth, or listening to keynote speakers, you’ll likely make mental notes to follow up with someone or suddenly have an idea for improving your business. It is important to keep track of these notes by either jotting them down or downloading them into a task management tool. You’ll want something to refer back to and ensure you are not losing the valuable information you’ve garnered from the conference.
Conferences require a great deal of money and valuable time out of the office, but if you take full advantage, they can yield great business results.