7 Secrets Of Getting Everything Out Of Every Conference You Attend
As a professional in your field you no doubt attend more than your fair share of conferences and conventions each year, but are you extracting the greatest amount of benefit from them that you can?
Why let such a huge educational and business networking resource go to waste by using your same tired, worn-out conference attendance techniques? How about getting more from every conference you attend?
I can guarantee that even if you are a seasoned conference attendee that at least one of the following tips will give your educational and networking extraction ability a huge boost. I apply all of the tips below regularly, and use at least three of them at every conference or convention I attend.
1. Roundtable Host
Hosting a roundtable is the number one method I recommend and would personally pursue if you are interested in determining where the experts (your peers) think the biggest gains are to be made, what are the hottest technologies, the best ideas in your field, and the best business opportunities.
Roundtables let you listen to inspiring stories of how others succeeding and enable you to reach out to the greatest number of business contacts in a single attempt. As host, you are putting yourself across as an authoritative source of information and ideas on a specific topic.
Every conference roundtable I have ever been involved with is a standing room only experience, a room set up to seat fifty people will have that 50 and another 65 arranged around the walls of the room to listen to the ideas and information being shared.
One of the best aspects of hosting a roundtable is that you do not need to know everything about a particular subject or be a top-level expert in it. You are the host, you need to be able to ask interesting questions, especially leading questions phrased in an appealing way, that will get people talking about a subject they are already interested and usually very knowledgeable about.
Hosting a roundtable entails motivating the audience to talk about themselves, which is not particularly difficult once the ball is rolling, listening to people’s answers, and being a firm, authority figure that people respect for the course of just one hour. This requires reasonably good, but not great, people skills, especially in the area of showing an interest in someone. When you ask a question of someone at a roundtable, you have to make them feel like they are the only person in the room that you are talking to and that what they have to say on a subject, or the question they are asking, is the most important thing in the world at that time. Basic human psychology, people want to feel as though they are being paid attention to and being listened to.
A firm hand in guiding the roundtable, hosting a forum style discussion, and judging when you need to move the conversation forward or when parts of the audience are becoming disengaged are simple skills to master.
By hosting a roundtable you become a recognisable face at the conference or convention you are attending that people will remember for long afterwards, they will greet you in the hallways and even follow-up next year to attend your next roundtable.
Roundtables are also a great way to come up with dozens of ideas for articles that you can pitch at various industry trade journals or for posting on your blog. One roundtable I hosted in the recent past generated no less than five short story ideas and seventeen article outlines, the articles almost writing themselves from the material discussed.
2. Panellist or Presenter
As second choice, but fighting strongly for number one spot, attempt to attend as a panellist for at least one session, or if you are even more fortunate, as a presenter at your own session.
A panellist or presentation requires you to be an expert, and sound like one too, when you talk about your subject of choice. To be accepted as a panellist or presenter at most professional conferences you will need to do two things, and do them very well.
The first is to write out a proposal and submit it to the conference well ahead of schedule, so it is advisable to start planning and writing your proposal anywhere between 6 months and 1 year before the conference is to take place.
The second most important thing to do is have a unique angle. Nobody wants to hear the same boring way of solving the old problems, people are looking for the trick, the unique selling proposition, the angle, the edge, state a problem and sell it to them.
For the smaller conferences or conventions you can often get away with just submitting a pitch to the event programming committee or speak directly with the people who are creating the programme and see if they are open to your idea.
But however you do it, if you want to have the conference or convention pay attention to you, it is generally best to follow their guidelines for pitch and proposal submission, otherwise you will most likely end up in the round file by the side of the desk.
3. Network! Network! Network!
Every research study I have ever read cites the number one reason to attend a conference or convention is to build up a network of business contacts.
Of the many conferences I attend, I rarely visit panel sessions, picking perhaps one or two at most. I spend the majority of my time talking to people, friends old and new, and networking. The contacts I make at conferences bring in greater rewards and far lasting knowledge than any 45 minute or 1 hour panel presentation can ever do.
Networking at a conference is unlikely to land you “the big deal” by the time the conference is all over, and you should not expect to attend and return home with one either. But the contacts you make at a conference, nurtured and cultivated over a period of months afterwards can lead to very large payouts for your business. And if nothing else, the next time you attend the conference, you will have some familiar faces to talk to, rather than just milling around asking the usual questions.
The knowledge of how to network in business or at conferences could easily fill a dozen books, and if you read them all, you would still be no wiser in how to go about using this most powerful of skills.
There are a few quick tips you can use though, and these are the basic 101 type of tricks if you just want to break the ice at a social mixer:
- If there is an open bar or food buffet, hang out by the food and drinks. Carry a small plate of food, a small drink, just do not consume excessive quantities. Communication and networking is what you are there for, not to fill your belly.
- When you are waiting in line to order a drink, talk to the people around you. Commiserate that the lines are so long, though do not go overboard, you are not there to lay blame or tear down your gracious hosts.
- Have prepared questions to ask, and avoid the usual ones until later in the conversation.
- Have a goal, and stick to it. Why are you attending this networking opportunity? To hire people away from your competitors? To find a better job? To break the ice with possible future business partners? To just blow off steam after a long day on the expo floor? Your goal will give you a mindset for how you approach people and the kind of people you talk to. Not having a goal means you are a piece of flotsam adrift on the stream, not really worrying about where the conversation takes you or the people you interact with. If your goal is to not have a goal, fine, but verbalise it and internalise it.
- Go alone. Dump the baggage. Dump the employees. Dump the friends. I know it is harsh but when you walk in that door and spy all the new faces, you are on the clock and representing your company. You do not need unknown variables screwing with your game. You do not need the drunken friend that is going to throw up all over the shoes of an Executive Producer from Electronic Arts (true story). You do not need the employee that is a hotshot software developer but has difficulty tying up her own shoelaces hanging out by your shoulder. You do not need any of it when you are attempting to break the ice and woo potential business partners, go it alone, or live to regret it later.
Again, if you can host a roundtable, networking afterwards is a huge part of the conference process and I cannot underestimate how important it is to have this skill.
4. Go To Everything That Does Not Interest You
Attempting to extract the most educational benefit from a conference can be a tricky balancing act of attending what interests you versus attending what will give your education the biggest boost.
Most of the information that you can pick up from a panel on a technical subject within your field of expertise can easily be pulled from a decent book on the subject or a few minutes of researching on-line.
Whatever your field, make sure that at least 50% of your time at the conference is spent attending panels and presentations on subjects that are the opposite of what you do in your day job.
Software programmer? Go to art and business and production sessions.
Producer? Go to software development and technical art panels.
Attending panels that have little to do with your day job, even if the subject matter is way over your head, will give you a new appreciation of what other people in your organisation and industry do and the challenges they face on a daily basis.
Go to sessions that are not your forte, especially if you are a programmer, are the first tentative steps you will take on your journey from being “just a programmer” to full-fledged “developer. Software programmers can be hired any day of the week from all over the world, software developers come along once in a blue moon, and are highly sought after by quality companies
Unless you are a complete newb at your chosen subject and just starting out, anything you can learn in a panel in your particular subject of expertise can be picked up easier and quicker simply by reading and doing in quiet and comfort at your desk.
5. Attend As Press
I have lost count of the number of conferences I have attended as a member of the press. Free press pass to the conference, access all areas, press junkets, private invite only parties, you name it, if you are a legitimate member of the press you get in to places most regular folks never see.
Wearing a press pass confers certain privileges on the bearer, but also responsibilities too and as a member of the press, you are expected to behave in a particular way. People will more readily talk to you about their company, their products, their services, what they do and who they are. Everybody loves the press.
Of course, being press, it is not all roses and champagne breakfasts, people are more interested in what they have to say about themselves rather than what you have to say, and in all fairness, when you have that badge on wandering around the expo floor, fulfil the expectations people have of you. But once the expo closes for the day, and you take off that badge, you can revert to your usual self and sell you and your company to faces that may already be familiar.
As a freelance reporter, you most likely already have a press invitation or press pass waiting for you, if you but ask for it. As a legitimate member of the press showing by-lined articles and a letter from your editor for a particular conference is a trivial thing to do once you have proved yourself.
Even if you do not attend as press, or have yet to be published, go as “press” anyway, just without the press pass. Do research and gather information whilst you are at the conference, take photos, ask for demonstrations, talk to everyone on the booth about the various aspects of the product or service.
When you return home you will have a lot of source material you can use to write a handful of good quality articles, usually four or five, of between 500 and 1,500 words. Once you have your articles written, pitch them straight at the most prominent trade journal in your industry, for me, that would be Game Developer Magazine, with my second option being Develop.
As an added tip, you need to get those articles out within two weeks of the event having taken place and not later than that. If the magazine you pitched at turns you down, try their website. In the matter of Game Developer Magazine they have an extensive and high profile website that takes article submissions, pitch them again as a second offer for the website. The websites of magazines have a much smaller budget than the magazine usually and the websites are always looking for quality content.
Do not look for money initially, you probably will be paid if the magazine is a professional, but it is the act of being published through a legitimate press organisation that is important. It adds authenticity to your next attempt as attending a conference as a member of the press. Once you have several by-lined articles, leverage that power. I write for about a dozen trade journals and news outlets during the year and because of that I am guaranteed a press pass to a variety of industry events just by asking. Game Developers Conference at any location in the world, Electronic Entertainment Expo, Franchise Expo, CES, InterOp, DefCon, etc. You name it, I have gotten my conference pass for free or at a huge discount.
The important points to remember are: be timely in your reporting, write reasonably well, do not expect a whole lot of payment for your articles, and be prepared to completely give up your copyrights in any news items you pen.
Have a problem with relinquishing your copyrights? Let me ask you this, that news piece you wrote on a software application release, is it Pulitzer worthy? No? Then you do not need the copyright. Use the leverage you gain from giving the piece away, including all rights to it, to advance your career and stop worrying about losing control of one tiny piece of throwaway work.
Pick your battles, some you give away, others you must hoard like misers gold. Time to know which is which.
6. Volunteer
Many conferences such as Game Developer Conference and Electronic Entertainment Expo, operate a huge volunteer work force recruited from regular people interested in attending but unable to afford to pay for a conference pass.
Many of the people volunteering are attempting to break in to the industry, but I also know of a lot of professionals, such as Jeff Buchanan, with a decade or more of experience, volunteering their time too, it gives them an opportunity to go behind the scenes and work with the movers and shakers organizing the conference. Volunteering also nets the person a free, all access conference badge for just a few hours of work out of the week.
As a volunteer, you become one of the “go to” people within the conference for information access and details on what is happening. Some days you might find yourself just directing people down the lunch time, and on other days you might be chaperoning Shigeru Miyamoto around the expo floor.
I have conference and convention volunteering to thank for building lifelong friendships with people all over the world and teaching worthwhile, real world skills that are directly applicable to my work. Go! Volunteer! You will not regret it!
7. Host A Private Party
Hosting a small, private, invite-only party is a great way to make new business acquaintances and renew old ones. Your party does not have to be a huge gathering at the ritziest location to be a success either. A simple private gathering in a hotel suite, with a liberal supply of drinks and snacks and a never ending stream of interesting guests is almost guaranteed to make your gathering popular.
There are two big downsides to arranging a private party: 1) It costs money and 2) It takes some up-front organisation.
If you want a private shindig, you have to open your wallet, no two ways about it. It does not have to be expensive but it does need to be of a reasonably high quality. You can host in your private suite or a hotel function room, and supply your own drinks, though check with the hotel first as they may have a corkage fee. Alternatively you can rent an entire bar for an hour or two and pick up the tab which can run you anywhere from $500 for 30 people to $1,500 for 60 people depending on locale. I have hosted suite parties for around $300 for 100 people by supplying my own food and drinks, and met a great number of new business contacts and acquaintances within the industry.
The preparation is that you want to extract the maximum value from the bash you are hosting so the things you need to do, at a very minimum, are:
- Decide on and book your location, private bar, hotel suite, function room.
- Prepare some basic table tents to let people know who is hosting the gathering.
- Prepare small business card like invitations to hand out to people you meet on a whim.
- Set a budget of how much it will cost you.
- Invite people!
Be prepared for about a 30% turn-out of people who confirm they will attend. Invite 100, expect 30, though at a party-oriented conference such as Game Developers Conference, or conventions such as WorldCon or San Diego ComicCon, you can expect a much higher percentage of people showing up, but for shorter periods of time, as they party hop from one location to another.
With regard to who you invite to your private get together, that is your choice, but for me, I personally invite a mix of friends (10%), business acquaintances (40%), and new faces (50%) that I have only just met. Get on your LinkedIn account and send out invites to your contacts, let them know about your party, its location, date and times, so that people can plan accordingly. Be sure to invite people you have never met but know of. Also, invite people you talk to at the conference or on the expo floor. Invite clients and vendors and those who may potentially be in the future. If someone shows an interest in working for your company, invite them too, you can see how they behave in a professional/social mixed situation. The invite is a small gift that can open many doors.
Lastly, invite a few friends if you know they will be at the conference so that you will have a few familiar faces too. Do not invite “friends” that live in the area where the party is being held, people attending the conference are usually “on the job,” your “friends” from the area are just there to drink and make noise.
And one final tip for hosting your own party: have a goal for hosting it, extract value from it, do not just throw a conference party just to simply party, you can do that on someone else’s dime at someone else’s party.
Bonus Tip! Wear good, comfortable shoes
Conferences are where you will spend upwards of 16 hours a day on your feet. This is especially true if you are networking with people or pounding the halls of the expo floor.
Good, comfortable shoes with a padded insole, in combination with a decently thick pair of socks, and this is important, the socks need to match the shoes, will stand you in good stead for an entire five day conference.
Do not make yourself a victim of fashion, if you are going to spend upwards of 70 hours on your feet, in a five day period, excellent footwear is a must.
Bonus Tip! Dress Smarter
How you dress says a lot about you and even more about how you want to be perceived.
How I dress when I am shuffling around the office after pulling a 72-hour death-march deadline is night and day compared to my attire when I am at a conference or meeting people that could potentially turn in to new clients.
A faded, Classic Gaming Expo t-shirt, ripped blue jeans and Rocket Dog sandals might be a hip look for Venice Beach when I am writing this article at the Cow’s End Coffee Shop on a sunny Saturday afternoon, but that is not going to cut it at a professional conference. You are not Steve Jobs, Guy Kawasaki or Seth Godin[1], so do not even try to get away with what they do. Stick to the tried and true until you have learnt the rules, made a name for yourself, and then feel free to go and break them.
Realise you do not need a 3 piece suit or pants suit to make the right impression. Unless you are talking to your bank manager, business casual or slightly above, is usually good enough for most conferences.
A tasteful, good quality, properly fitted sports jacket, shirt, slacks, shoes and importantly, a belt that matches, are usually the minimum but also the most you will need, these items are the staple of any male conference attendee wardrobe.
I most likely do not need to tell you this, but the higher up the corporate ladder you interact with, especially in the more traditional businesses, the better you should aim to dress. You always want to aim to be professionally attired, one-step above how the people at your company dress, and at least on a par with the people you are interacting with.
If you want to present as a professional at a “fannish” convention, wear business casual, e.g. slacks, proper shoes, and a polo shirt or sweater. You can still be fannish in subtle ways without separating yourself from the people around you.
Of course, if you just want to be a fan at the convention and not work it, wear whatever the Hell you like. If you are invited to be on a panel or give a presentation at a fan convention, such as at WorldCon or San Diego ComicCon, dress smart, dress professional and take at least one complete set of business casual clothing with you. You do not want to look like a slob in the press photos or when being hugged by your adoring fans, do you?
Staffing a booth? Company polo shirt is usually acceptable, but make sure you have other professional attire available for luncheons, dinners, parties and regular business meetings.
Apply these tips at the next few conferences you attend and then contact me to let me know how you got on, I will compile responses in to a future article of more tips and give credit where it is due.
Think I missed off a tip that is important? Leave a comment and we can build up the ultimate resource for extracting maximum value from a conference.
[1] Unless you are ego surfing and actually are one of those three people, in which case, carry on as normal.