By: Joshua Bolkan
With FETC just finished and TCEA and SXSWedu coming up, edtech conference season is in full swing once again. The networking, publicity, and sales opportunities are there for the taking! But how can you make the most of them and ensure you’re not leaving contacts, cash, or media mentions on the floor?
We at PRP have been to more than our share of tradeshows and have heard plenty from clients about how the simple things can really make a difference in the ROI you get from attending an industry gathering. We’ve blogged before about the most profitable things you can do at a conference, so here’s our list of things not to do.
- Don’t wing it.
Conferences are bustling environments full of distractions, and the show floors can be huge. Make sure you nail down a plan that lays out specific times and places for meetings and other events you plan to attend. Use a shareable calendar like Google Calendar to get everyone on your team and the folks you’re meeting with on the same page, and make sure you get the lay of the land as soon as you can--refer to a conference map if one’s available--to ensure you aren’t scheduling back-to-back meetings that are across the hall from each other.
- Don’t be too rigid, either.
Surprises will come up and meetings and other events will need rescheduling! No matter how well you set your plans, there will be hiccups in your giddyup that you couldn’t plan for.
You can make sure you have the tools to meet those challenges as they arise, though. Build a little wiggle room into your schedule, and exchange phone numbers with everyone you’re meeting ahead of time for easy real-time schedule shuffling.
- Don’t give the same old spiel.
Everyone who comes by your booth is not going to want to learn the same things about your products or services.
The journalist you’re meeting with probably wants to hear about how users have found value in your product—directly from a knowledgeable user, if possible—and may not find a lot of value in a product demo. An end user like a teacher, on the other hand, may be very interested in that same demo, while a district-level CIO may just want to grill you about how you’ve addressed the back end or security issues.
Ahead of the meeting, ask what would be most helpful and do your best to provide it. For scheduled meetings, you can do this before anyone leaves for the show, but for folks stopping by the booth, you might want to have a few different gameplans ready to go on the spot.
- Don’t forget your tools of the trade.
Forgetting your laptop, phone, chargers, or anything else you need to do your job can be more than a bummer-—it might leave that important contact thinking you lose track of the details at crunch time.
Leaving these kinds of easily overlooked but essential items behind is easy in the best of circumstances. Busily zooming from one opportunity to the next only magnifies the chance of overlooking these things.
To make sure you’re ready to roll when you walk out the hotel room door in the morning, put everything you can together in or near your bag the night before, or make yourself a simple checklist to go through before you leave. If, like me, you already know you’re prone to this kind of absent-mindedness, doing both isn’t the worst idea.
- Don’t skimp on business cards.
I know, I know. It’s 2019. Who needs these little scraps of cardstock with contact info any more?
You do.
They may feel like relics of the past, but it’s much easier to hand a card off to someone than to ask them to drag their phone out of their pocket and enter your info. Just make it easy on them and pass over a card with all the information they need. They’re also great for sending contacts off with helpful little notes about anything they were interested in while you chatted them up.
- Don’t neglect yourself.
When I was just a cub covering edtech and preparing to go to my first show, a grizzled vet told me to wear sensible walking shoes and a button-up shirt I could roll the sleeves up on, and to have exactly one drink in social settings.
I scoffed at her suggestions at the time, but when I started the next day with sore feet and groggy from drinks with colleagues and clients the night before, I thought about the simple wisdom of taking care of oneself at trade shows. They’re a lot of work, and it’s a lot harder to meet your goals if your body is breaking down.
Aside from sensible shoes, bring a water bottle and some snacks. Make sure you schedule a few breaks just to rest. Go to dinners and cocktail hours, but leave plenty of time for sleep—and remember that even a few drinks will make your sleep less restful.
- Don’t Assume It’s Over Yet
After a great conference in which you landed some solid leads, learned more about your buyers, and maybe even nailed down a few sales, it might be tempting to assume the show is over. It’s time to go home, get a little deserved rest, and move on to the next set of opportunities, right?
Wrong.
The follow-up is so important. Start sending those personalized thank-you notes to the people who met with you. Look for the additional ways you could address the concerns they might have shared with you. Send that reporter who cancelled a meeting with you at the last minute a note and see if they’d be interested in chatting via email or videoconference. Remind all those contacts you worked so hard to develop at the show who you are and what problems you can solve for them. Open up a line of communication that’s focused on the future, instead of the conference behind you.
Thanks for sharing!
