Every year the fall is packed with conferences and events. Our team has been on the road for consecutive weeks at a time attending various industry shows. All of the traveling and networking that industry shows bring is a whirlwind, and getting back into the swing of regular workdays and a routine makes it difficult to find time to reflect on the event that was just attended. Having a plan of follow-up actions to take after attending conferences is extremely helpful in staying organized, getting the most out of your event attendance, and finding further success for your business. Whether it be a full day of post event action or a couple hours here and there to accomplish In frequenting events during the year, there is a lot of opportunity to learn current insights, make new connections with industry professionals, and support innovation, if the proper follow-up actions are taken:
- Review the notes you took and implement them into your business strategy. There is an unlimited amount of ideas that are being thrown around at any event that you attend. When industry professionals from all over come together, it’s inevitable that great thought leadership is going to be shared. Gaining this knowledge for yourself is beneficial, but there are many people at your company that can find value in these learnings as well. Take a couple hours to sit down with your notes after the event is over to sift through and identify the new strategies, and then create ways that you can incorporate these ideas into your business to support future success.
- Follow up with ALL your leads. Introductions that are made at events are often times forgotten once the day ends. Keep track of the attendees you meet by making a list and reviewing the business cards you collected. Taking the time to reconnect after the event can go a long way for people. Identify who you would like to pursue further contact with and make the effort to make that happen. A simple note recalling something that you discussed with your lead can end up sparking the start of a strong relationship.
- Utilize social media during and after an event. Use your social channels to share content during the events and to maximize on opportunity after the event is over. Follow up with leads, other companies that were present at the conference and the hosts of the conference. Social media and events go hand in hand, with most attendees sharing information on their channels throughout the entire event. Hashtags or accounts associated with the conference can be useful to discover additional information from the event that you may have missed. Also, social media is a very informal way of keeping in contact with networking connections made.
- Share your feedback with show organizers. Whether an organizer is putting on a show, a conference, a summit or any other type of event, they want to hear about the experience for their attendees. The only way that shows are going to get better or become more tailored to the wants of their attendees is to give them feedback to then work off of moving forward. Sharing your input and feedback on the event will benefit your experience in years to come.
- Generate content and swag ideas for your own company. These shows consistently have the latest industry materials – from one pagers to gadgets and swag. They can be a great place to gather ideas for how you want to present your company and what kind of materials you want to provide to potential prospects, clients or customers. Conferences are a great place to gauge where other companies are operating and which areas are their main focus. This is extremely beneficial to evaluate the strategies your business is taking and implement new tactics moving forward.
- Plan ahead for next year. If you attended multiple events this season, take note of the ones that were most beneficial to you. Identify which aspects of the conferences you liked most and which areas were most lacking. Create a list of attributes that are important for you when looking for events to attend and keep that in mind as you plan for next year’s event season.
No matter the industry, we hope your conference season was a success this season and you were able to find opportunity at the events you attended. Implementing these follow-up strategies may take a little extra time, but they can be extremely beneficial for your company. We hope to see you at B2B Media events in the future!
