Attending in conferences and events related to your industry provides great opportunities to learn something new, and implement those before your competition do it.
Though it can be an expensive proposition, events and conferences also allow you to monetise your time there in multiple ways.
It is the perfect place to expand your network and as such, can generate numerous business opportunities that can further improve your bottom line in the long run.
Whether you are from marketing, customer relations, human resources, finance or another area within your business, here are five ways you should consider to get maximise your ROI from your next company conference.
1. Expand Your Social Network
There can be no doubt that conferences are the best place to find a quality network. Whether it’s an online or offline event, a carefully planned networking strategy can produce valuable outcomes such as:
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Finding great talents
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Acquiring latest intelligence about your competition
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Find new vendors and consultants
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Find new sales prospects.
Before you set off for the conference, don’t forget to establish clear goals for the kinds of contacts you want to make. If the event organisers have released a list of groups or organisations who will be attending the event, you can also create a list of people you want to meet, if they’re particularly important or relevant to your objectives.
At the same time, you should also sustain your ongoing connections with contacts in your social networking channel. Follow new people on LinkedIn and Twitter. Share useful articles and tips that are relevant to them. Reinforce your connections with them, but keep a purpose and goal in mind for the connection.
By having networking goals and purpose in every event and conferences you are attending, the better your chance of meeting new people that can add value to your company.
2. Aim to Learn Something New
Aside from growing your social network, another sure way to maximise your time investment during events and conferences is to learn new methods, tips, and tools from the presentations of top industry experts.
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Look closely on how the speakers presented the information; the format, and design that connects to the is a model that you can use if you will be speaking at a conference or even just persuading some key people in your organisation.
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Make sure that you are all set in capturing the information presented: your note-taking equipment, camera, and the of the speaker’s presentation.
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Don’t hesitate to discuss the session with new networks you meet at the event.
3. Create Engaging Content Marketing Series
Unknown to many, conferences also provide excellent opportunities for content marketing. Like current news, conferences tend to be mentioned in numerous articles and various online content, and can even become a popular trending topic if the hashtag is used consistently.
Here are some content creation ideas that you should try in your next event.
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Create a series of videos that shows your team’s conferences trips. You don’t need sophisticated equipment to carry out this one. With just your smartphone’s camera, you can shoot authentic and engaging video content that you can upload to your YouTube channel. These videos will allow you to showcase that your brand is actively participating in your industry, and can direct more users to your channel so they learn more about your business.
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Take advantage of the Conference’s Social Buzz. Use the event’s official hashtag to join the conversation on social media and engage with potential followers. You should also use the official hashtag in your posts so that people can find it more easily when they search for it on social media.
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Use Live blogging- Every marketer knows that live blogging is not only an essential but a must if you are about to attend a conference or event. Live blogging is basically just posting regular updates to your blog as the event is taking place. Check out this blog for more tips about live blogging.
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Create Visual Summary for Keynote Presentations. If your team consists of at least one graphic designer, you can design a short infographic or slide show containing the main points of a presentation, and share it instantaneously on your blog and on your social media profile.
4. Pass the Knowledge to the People in Your Organisation
The knowledge you gain from attending events and conferences would be useless if your business cannot benefit from it. Even if you were the only person from your company who managed to attend the event, your value can multiply tenfold if you transfer all the important tips, statistics and other useful information to the rest of your team, department, and organisation.
To ensure an effective knowledge transfer, consider the following:
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Write questions and target speakers who are likely to discuss those topics their presentation. If the presentations do not answer your questions, pursue a subject matter expert speakers and ask them directly. Also, do not forget to take relevant photos.
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Make sure that the questions you formulate have specific applications for your business. Discuss all the information gathered with your team to filter out which ones are more practical and useful.
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Develop a report or a presentation that will help you distribute the useful tactics, and statistics, and case studies with your co-workers and other stakeholders.
Knowing that your organisation is depending on your presentation skills to pass down the information you have gained in the event or conference, you can focus more on more important takeaways and practical interpretations of the presentations.
5. Optimise Your Presentation for Best Results.
If you are invited as a speaker for a conference or event, it is wise if you segment your plan into pre-event, during and after. This will allow you to focus on few deliverables at a time rather than juggling all the ideas and objectives you have to meet all throughout the event.
Here are some tips before, during and after your speaking engagement to gain more attendees, more media coverage, and post-event value.
Before the Event
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Pre-write tweets, updates and decide on your own hashtag
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Create events on Facebook and LinkedIn
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Issue a press release
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Create a teaser for your presentation
During the Event
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Take photos of the audience and post to your Facebook page so they can tag themselves
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Use shareable content in your presentation
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Assign someone in your team to monitor tweets and buzz during your presentation
After the Event
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Curate buzz about presentation into a blog post
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Follow up on questions asked
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Connect with new networks through appropriate social channels
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Thank the audience and the event moderators for having you.
These are just some of the ways to extend and optimise your investment in attending business conferences. Consider these tips in your conference and you will surely find new valuable contacts and open new opportunities for your business.
