How to meet people at events and conferences
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Title : How to meet people at events and conferences
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You are now reading the article How to meet people at events and conferences With link address https://newstoday-ok.blogspot.com/2018/03/how-to-meet-people-at-events-and.html
Title : How to meet people at events and conferences
link : How to meet people at events and conferences
news-today.world | Hi guys, I've been busy at a few conferences since I got back from Finland - my company likes to send me to events like that and I like attending them, they are great for business development and networking. For those of you not aware of how they work, it is usually a one to two day event whereby there are a bunch of speeches, panel discussions, exhibitions and cocktail receptions. As a salesman, I love going to such event to meet people whom I can possibly convert into clients and increase the number of people I know who can introduce me to more people. You've got to have a fairly thick skin at such events: I'd turn up alone at such an event and would go around, talking to anyone and everyone. I meet some interesting people and some weirdos - the worst of the lot has got to be a Japanese guy who barely spoke any English and I was just wondering, why on earth did your company send you to an event in London if you can't speak English? At least bring an English-speaking colleague with you or hire an interpreter. But with that in mind, I've compiled a few bullet points about attending conferences and events from the POV of a seasoned salesman.
1. Don't be the time traveler or the naughty schoolboy
Most people turn up for such events dressed formally but that's not always the case: I'm always in a suit and tie, but some people turn up in a suit without a tie. Some even turn up dressed casually and all of the above are acceptable but there's one look that you must avoid. I met this old English guy in an old suit, shirt and tie and I'm convinced he must have bought all of those back in the mid 1980s. I call this either the 'time traveler look' ("hey I stepped into a time machine in 1985 and somehow stumbled into your conference in 2018, is Margaret Thatcher still alive?") - oh dear. I've met quite a few old men like that at such events. Look, if a younger person under the age of 30, who clearly wasn't around in 1985 turned up at the event dressed like that, then you think, okay you're making a fashion statement by going for some kind of ironic retro look. But if you are actually old enough to have gone shopping in the 1980s or 1990s, so basically anyone over the age of 40, then you must avoid the time traveler look at all cost. The message these time travelers send out is, "my wife has left me, my kids don't talk to me anymore, there's nobody in my life I am trying to impress anymore so why bother buying new clothes or caring about fashion trends when I am all alone now. I drink myself to sleep every night and I'm just here for the free food. My life ended the day my wife walked out on me." First impressions count at such events and time travelers don't seem to care about that. Old(er) people need to make a greater effort to fight ageism and there's really no excuse to wear the wrong kind of shirt if you are on company time, attending an event representing your company. You're not on holiday, you have a duty to your employer to look right.
Look, I'm not young anymore - I'm going to be 42, but I can still care about the rules of fashion and make a genuine effort to look acceptable to others. This boils down to a simple matter of whether you care bout what others think when they look at you, or if you just don't give a fuck anymore. Thus by that token, I've come across people at the event who turn up dressed casually - okay, this is unusual given that I work in the banking industry but at least they're sending out a message that says, "we're different, we are innovative and unique in our approach to business. We're not traditional, we're disrupting the industry by thinking outside the box. By the way, I may be casually dressed, but everything I am wearing is branded and trendy." That approach can certainly work as long as you have the confidence to pull it off, by all means dare to be different. What I hate however is the 'naughty schoolboy' look - now in the UK, students have to wear school uniforms and many of the more rebellious kids hate it so they rebel by deliberately wearing their uniforms badly - leaving their shirts tucked out tying their ties in a strange, huge knot to make it look ridiculous. It is a statement that says, "I hate wearing this uniform and I resent the authorities forcing me to wear this." You'll be amazed how many men turned up at the event dressed like that, "my boss made me wear a suit and tie but I hate my job, I hate my boss, my colleagues and I hate my life. I'm so miserable and depressed." Oh dear, you should turn up at the event looking ready to do business, not needing a prescription for Valium. It is better to go casual than to end up looking like a naughty schoolboy.
2. The human magnet principle
The bottom line is you want to form a good impression and there are many ways to do so - the key is too look comfortable in your own skin, to be confident in your demeanour in order to create a good first impression. Trying to go around a busy conference to talk to as many people as possible is hard work but if you look like a serious business person, then people will come up to you and talk to you. Yes it is really that shallow and that is why first impressions do count. Some of these conferences can attract as many as five hundred delegates and there's just absolutely no way you can speak to everyone there, so you want to do everything you can to create that good first impression. I have a simple tactic: I pick the best dressed man in the room and go talk to him. In this case, it turned out to be an impressively tall Australian gent in a blue suit. His height alone made him stand out in the crowd! Sure enough, within a few minutes of us chatting, a lady approached us and said, "hello, I'm on my own here, do you mind if I join you guys?" We then found a table to sit down and a few other people joined us, I met loads of interesting people during that coffee break - simply looking the part of the formal businessman and making sure I was chatting to the man who adhered to my sense of style worked very well for me. Beautiful people like that tall, well dressed Australian gent are like magnets at such events and I attached myself to him, knowing that others would do so and it would make speaking to them a lot easier. I know I just don't have the striking good looks to be a human magnet as much, but I certainly can identify one in a crowded room.
3. Buyers vs sellers
So we've managed to approach someone and start a conversation at the event: what do you say then? Well, firstly, you can broadly separate the people at a conference like that into two groups: buyers and sellers. In this case, the sellers were the providers of investment products and the buyers were those who had the mandate to invest their clients' money in those products. So if you're a seller, you want to speak to a buyer or at least a seller who could possibly work in collaboration with you. If you're a buyer, then it's the sellers you want to meet as the other buyers have little or nothing to offer you. Within this context, I am a seller. So during the lunch break, I strategically picked an empty table very close to the buffet and sure enough, the table began filling up with various people. This Spanish guy sat next to me - he was in his early twenties and certainly very inexperienced as a salesman. He introduced himself to me and without even asking me what I did for a living, he launched into a full sales pitch about his company's investment products - I just sat there, quietly eating my food in disbelief, because we're both sellers and I couldn't believe that he didn't once tried to qualify if I was a buyer or a seller. So after I had finished my food (and he had not even touched his), he asked me if I was interested in investing and I said no. He then asked me why then I told him that he had delivered one of the worst sales pitches I've ever heard. He apologized, blaming it on his English (which clearly wasn't the issue here) and I assured him that his English was very good, but I wanted to see if he would realize where he had gone wrong - he was so clueless.
 |
| Hi I'm Alex, nice to meet you. |
1. Don't be the time traveler or the naughty schoolboy
Most people turn up for such events dressed formally but that's not always the case: I'm always in a suit and tie, but some people turn up in a suit without a tie. Some even turn up dressed casually and all of the above are acceptable but there's one look that you must avoid. I met this old English guy in an old suit, shirt and tie and I'm convinced he must have bought all of those back in the mid 1980s. I call this either the 'time traveler look' ("hey I stepped into a time machine in 1985 and somehow stumbled into your conference in 2018, is Margaret Thatcher still alive?") - oh dear. I've met quite a few old men like that at such events. Look, if a younger person under the age of 30, who clearly wasn't around in 1985 turned up at the event dressed like that, then you think, okay you're making a fashion statement by going for some kind of ironic retro look. But if you are actually old enough to have gone shopping in the 1980s or 1990s, so basically anyone over the age of 40, then you must avoid the time traveler look at all cost. The message these time travelers send out is, "my wife has left me, my kids don't talk to me anymore, there's nobody in my life I am trying to impress anymore so why bother buying new clothes or caring about fashion trends when I am all alone now. I drink myself to sleep every night and I'm just here for the free food. My life ended the day my wife walked out on me." First impressions count at such events and time travelers don't seem to care about that. Old(er) people need to make a greater effort to fight ageism and there's really no excuse to wear the wrong kind of shirt if you are on company time, attending an event representing your company. You're not on holiday, you have a duty to your employer to look right.
Look, I'm not young anymore - I'm going to be 42, but I can still care about the rules of fashion and make a genuine effort to look acceptable to others. This boils down to a simple matter of whether you care bout what others think when they look at you, or if you just don't give a fuck anymore. Thus by that token, I've come across people at the event who turn up dressed casually - okay, this is unusual given that I work in the banking industry but at least they're sending out a message that says, "we're different, we are innovative and unique in our approach to business. We're not traditional, we're disrupting the industry by thinking outside the box. By the way, I may be casually dressed, but everything I am wearing is branded and trendy." That approach can certainly work as long as you have the confidence to pull it off, by all means dare to be different. What I hate however is the 'naughty schoolboy' look - now in the UK, students have to wear school uniforms and many of the more rebellious kids hate it so they rebel by deliberately wearing their uniforms badly - leaving their shirts tucked out tying their ties in a strange, huge knot to make it look ridiculous. It is a statement that says, "I hate wearing this uniform and I resent the authorities forcing me to wear this." You'll be amazed how many men turned up at the event dressed like that, "my boss made me wear a suit and tie but I hate my job, I hate my boss, my colleagues and I hate my life. I'm so miserable and depressed." Oh dear, you should turn up at the event looking ready to do business, not needing a prescription for Valium. It is better to go casual than to end up looking like a naughty schoolboy.
2. The human magnet principle
The bottom line is you want to form a good impression and there are many ways to do so - the key is too look comfortable in your own skin, to be confident in your demeanour in order to create a good first impression. Trying to go around a busy conference to talk to as many people as possible is hard work but if you look like a serious business person, then people will come up to you and talk to you. Yes it is really that shallow and that is why first impressions do count. Some of these conferences can attract as many as five hundred delegates and there's just absolutely no way you can speak to everyone there, so you want to do everything you can to create that good first impression. I have a simple tactic: I pick the best dressed man in the room and go talk to him. In this case, it turned out to be an impressively tall Australian gent in a blue suit. His height alone made him stand out in the crowd! Sure enough, within a few minutes of us chatting, a lady approached us and said, "hello, I'm on my own here, do you mind if I join you guys?" We then found a table to sit down and a few other people joined us, I met loads of interesting people during that coffee break - simply looking the part of the formal businessman and making sure I was chatting to the man who adhered to my sense of style worked very well for me. Beautiful people like that tall, well dressed Australian gent are like magnets at such events and I attached myself to him, knowing that others would do so and it would make speaking to them a lot easier. I know I just don't have the striking good looks to be a human magnet as much, but I certainly can identify one in a crowded room.
3. Buyers vs sellers
So we've managed to approach someone and start a conversation at the event: what do you say then? Well, firstly, you can broadly separate the people at a conference like that into two groups: buyers and sellers. In this case, the sellers were the providers of investment products and the buyers were those who had the mandate to invest their clients' money in those products. So if you're a seller, you want to speak to a buyer or at least a seller who could possibly work in collaboration with you. If you're a buyer, then it's the sellers you want to meet as the other buyers have little or nothing to offer you. Within this context, I am a seller. So during the lunch break, I strategically picked an empty table very close to the buffet and sure enough, the table began filling up with various people. This Spanish guy sat next to me - he was in his early twenties and certainly very inexperienced as a salesman. He introduced himself to me and without even asking me what I did for a living, he launched into a full sales pitch about his company's investment products - I just sat there, quietly eating my food in disbelief, because we're both sellers and I couldn't believe that he didn't once tried to qualify if I was a buyer or a seller. So after I had finished my food (and he had not even touched his), he asked me if I was interested in investing and I said no. He then asked me why then I told him that he had delivered one of the worst sales pitches I've ever heard. He apologized, blaming it on his English (which clearly wasn't the issue here) and I assured him that his English was very good, but I wanted to see if he would realize where he had gone wrong - he was so clueless.
Perhaps this seems like sales 101 - find out who the hell you're talking to before even trying to embark on a sales pitch. It seemed pretty obvious to me that this would be the very first step to any kind of conversation at such events, but to this young Spanish guy, he didn't seem to understand the difference between a buyer and a seller in this context. Is he that oblivious to the difference? Perhaps he was more concerned about making himself understood in English, which was a foreign language for him. When you go to such an event, yes it is important to keep an open mind about whom you might meet there, but you should also be very realistic about the likelihood of someone ever doing business with you. If you're a seller, then you need to know exactly what kind of buyer you are looking to meet. If you happen to talk to another seller, it is not your cue to make your excuses and end the conversation as soon as possible - there are opportunities for collaborating on co-marketing projects, especially if you're not in direct competition with each other. And even if you do meet a direct competitor, it doesn't hurt to find out what they do just case in there's something you can learn from them to improve your products/services. But why I took exception to this young Spanish guy was that he didn't even try to find out what my company did and what my agenda was before pitching me - perhaps it was cruel of me not to have explained to him why he had fucked up, but that wasn't my problem at all. It was the problem of his employers, why they would send someone so inexperienced and clueless to an event in London was beyond me. The onus was on his boss to train him.
4. Improving your hit rate
You will meet a lot of people at these events, but then you need to see if you can try to convert any of those new contacts into actual business relationships. This is when you need to do your follow up within 24 hours - I find Linkedin really useful in this context as it is social media for professionals. I wouldn't try to add any of these people on any of my other social media accounts like Facebook or Instagram but practically everyone has a Linkedin profile for that purpose. Perhaps some people would take the initiative to add you on Linkedin after the event and ask you for a meeting - but you should never be passive in this process. I would go through the business cards I have collected and with a pen, mark them as 'X' (waste of time/not relevant), '?' (questionable whether it is worth my time pursuing) and a big smiley face if I feel that they are an excellent prospect whom I'd want to pursue. I would focus my efforts on following up with the good prospects whilst probably doing no more than adding the questionable ones on Linkedin, as for the ones which were marked with an 'X', I'd probably do nothing if they don't contact me. It is crucial that you do your follow ups within days of the event, rather than leave it too long in case they forget having ever met you in the first place. Accept that not everyone you meet will do business with you, but if you can convert a handful of people you meet at each event and build meaningful business relationships with them, then you've done well. Bear in mind, your hit rate will vary event to event.
5. Makes notes about the important people you've met
In order for you to make meaningful follow ups with the people you have met at the events, you need to make notes to remember some of the more important points you have spoken about when you met. Sometimes, this could mean simply writing a sentence or two down on the business card you have collected - otherwise, you can easily forget some of the things you have talked about if you're trying to rely on your memory. Linkedin can help provide a lot of useful information about the person you're trying to follow up with, especially since we've all essentially put our CVs on Linkedin these days, but nothing beats the personal touch. So for example, at one of the events last week, I met a woman who was traveling to Austria for a ski holiday. So when I speak to her next, I will ask her, "so Angela, how was the skiing holiday in Inssbruck? Did you get good snow there?" Not that I actually care what she did in Austria, but it would make it an easy way to break the ice especially after having not spoken to her since the event. You're likely to meet a lot of people at these events and can easily get confused - so making some notes (especially if you have some kind of CRM system to store the information) is important. Yes you can rely on your memory, but keeping notes will make your life much easier.
6. Put that phone away!
I may have gone to loads of conferences but even I feel slightly intimidated at the thought of going up to a stranger and introducing myself like that. I have noticed that some people spend a lot of their time at the event looking down on their phones - it is an excuse not to have to speak to a stranger when you are busy looking at an email or responding to a text message from a colleague. We may also feel uneasy if we're just standing around with no one to talk to, taking out our phones makes us look more purposeful and less lost. However, if I see someone who is busy doing something on their phones, then I am more than likely to leave them alone because their body language suggests that they don't want to be approached. Sure it is inevitable that we may have to check our messages and emails during the course of the day when we're at such conferences, but I always make sure I step away from the crowd when I take out my phone and I'll never stand in the middle of a crowded room whilst answering a message - that just sends out the wrong signals. The people who know how to 'work a room' successfully at such events are rarely ever on their phones because it is simply a distraction from the very reason you came to such events: to meet new people. You didn't go all the way to the conference just to use their free Wifi! Here's a video to remind you what happens when you're addicted to your phone.
7. You're not at school anymore.
I usually find that most of the speeches are incredibly boring. At such events, you have sponsors who pay a lot of money to do presentations - they inevitably turn out to be the most boring speeches, with old men reading a power point presentation to the audience. Here's the thing: it is very hard to pitch a stranger and the most difficult form of pitching is the cold call. That means calling up a stranger and trying to sell them something on the phone - you have a very limited amount of time to convince the stranger on the phone before they hang up on you. Only fairly junior sales people do such cold calling these days, but it is one of the best training you can get as a salesman. The senior people who do the speeches at such conferences probably have not done a cold call in decades, so they often drone on in a most self-indulgent way and the audience either falls asleep or reaches for their phone. It is fairly pointless to listen to a thinly veiled sales pitch at such events, especially if they are very poorly presented. I say, you're not at school anymore - you can give all these boring speeches and panel discussions a miss at these conferences and just focus on the networking.
8. Be nice and others may return the favour
Okay, I was cruel and difficult with that Spanish youngster who pitched me last week at a conference, but normally I am quite nice about introducing people. This was because I met someone who did me that same courtesy. His name was Hans and once we got to know each other, he did make an effort to introduce people whom he had met and thought were relevant to what I was doing. By the same token, I felt obliged to return the favour and also introduce people whom I thought were relevant to Hans' business. This wasn't just at the event, but is still going on a week after the event - I'd get like an email or message on Linkedin from him asking me to speak to one of his contacts. ("Hi Alex, I'm sending you the details of my friend Jennifer in Manchester, I know she regularly uses debt instruments, you should speak to her.) There's no guarantee that I would be nice enough to return Hans' help of course, but since he went out of his way to be so helpful, I thought it would be rude not to return the favour. In turn, I did this for a few others I met at the events and some of them did also return the favour whilst others merely said, "thanks" and left it at that. The networking can continue this way long after the event, as long as you are willing to take the risk that some of those you help may not return the favour.
So those are a few points from me about attending such conferences. What do you think? What have your experiences been at such conferences? Do you like attending them or do you think they are a waste of time? How do you make the most of your networking experiences at the conferences? Please let me know what you think, many thanks for reading.
4. Improving your hit rate
You will meet a lot of people at these events, but then you need to see if you can try to convert any of those new contacts into actual business relationships. This is when you need to do your follow up within 24 hours - I find Linkedin really useful in this context as it is social media for professionals. I wouldn't try to add any of these people on any of my other social media accounts like Facebook or Instagram but practically everyone has a Linkedin profile for that purpose. Perhaps some people would take the initiative to add you on Linkedin after the event and ask you for a meeting - but you should never be passive in this process. I would go through the business cards I have collected and with a pen, mark them as 'X' (waste of time/not relevant), '?' (questionable whether it is worth my time pursuing) and a big smiley face if I feel that they are an excellent prospect whom I'd want to pursue. I would focus my efforts on following up with the good prospects whilst probably doing no more than adding the questionable ones on Linkedin, as for the ones which were marked with an 'X', I'd probably do nothing if they don't contact me. It is crucial that you do your follow ups within days of the event, rather than leave it too long in case they forget having ever met you in the first place. Accept that not everyone you meet will do business with you, but if you can convert a handful of people you meet at each event and build meaningful business relationships with them, then you've done well. Bear in mind, your hit rate will vary event to event.
 |
| Be aware whom you should target and whom you must ignore. |
5. Makes notes about the important people you've met
In order for you to make meaningful follow ups with the people you have met at the events, you need to make notes to remember some of the more important points you have spoken about when you met. Sometimes, this could mean simply writing a sentence or two down on the business card you have collected - otherwise, you can easily forget some of the things you have talked about if you're trying to rely on your memory. Linkedin can help provide a lot of useful information about the person you're trying to follow up with, especially since we've all essentially put our CVs on Linkedin these days, but nothing beats the personal touch. So for example, at one of the events last week, I met a woman who was traveling to Austria for a ski holiday. So when I speak to her next, I will ask her, "so Angela, how was the skiing holiday in Inssbruck? Did you get good snow there?" Not that I actually care what she did in Austria, but it would make it an easy way to break the ice especially after having not spoken to her since the event. You're likely to meet a lot of people at these events and can easily get confused - so making some notes (especially if you have some kind of CRM system to store the information) is important. Yes you can rely on your memory, but keeping notes will make your life much easier.
6. Put that phone away!
I may have gone to loads of conferences but even I feel slightly intimidated at the thought of going up to a stranger and introducing myself like that. I have noticed that some people spend a lot of their time at the event looking down on their phones - it is an excuse not to have to speak to a stranger when you are busy looking at an email or responding to a text message from a colleague. We may also feel uneasy if we're just standing around with no one to talk to, taking out our phones makes us look more purposeful and less lost. However, if I see someone who is busy doing something on their phones, then I am more than likely to leave them alone because their body language suggests that they don't want to be approached. Sure it is inevitable that we may have to check our messages and emails during the course of the day when we're at such conferences, but I always make sure I step away from the crowd when I take out my phone and I'll never stand in the middle of a crowded room whilst answering a message - that just sends out the wrong signals. The people who know how to 'work a room' successfully at such events are rarely ever on their phones because it is simply a distraction from the very reason you came to such events: to meet new people. You didn't go all the way to the conference just to use their free Wifi! Here's a video to remind you what happens when you're addicted to your phone.
7. You're not at school anymore.
I usually find that most of the speeches are incredibly boring. At such events, you have sponsors who pay a lot of money to do presentations - they inevitably turn out to be the most boring speeches, with old men reading a power point presentation to the audience. Here's the thing: it is very hard to pitch a stranger and the most difficult form of pitching is the cold call. That means calling up a stranger and trying to sell them something on the phone - you have a very limited amount of time to convince the stranger on the phone before they hang up on you. Only fairly junior sales people do such cold calling these days, but it is one of the best training you can get as a salesman. The senior people who do the speeches at such conferences probably have not done a cold call in decades, so they often drone on in a most self-indulgent way and the audience either falls asleep or reaches for their phone. It is fairly pointless to listen to a thinly veiled sales pitch at such events, especially if they are very poorly presented. I say, you're not at school anymore - you can give all these boring speeches and panel discussions a miss at these conferences and just focus on the networking.
8. Be nice and others may return the favour
Okay, I was cruel and difficult with that Spanish youngster who pitched me last week at a conference, but normally I am quite nice about introducing people. This was because I met someone who did me that same courtesy. His name was Hans and once we got to know each other, he did make an effort to introduce people whom he had met and thought were relevant to what I was doing. By the same token, I felt obliged to return the favour and also introduce people whom I thought were relevant to Hans' business. This wasn't just at the event, but is still going on a week after the event - I'd get like an email or message on Linkedin from him asking me to speak to one of his contacts. ("Hi Alex, I'm sending you the details of my friend Jennifer in Manchester, I know she regularly uses debt instruments, you should speak to her.) There's no guarantee that I would be nice enough to return Hans' help of course, but since he went out of his way to be so helpful, I thought it would be rude not to return the favour. In turn, I did this for a few others I met at the events and some of them did also return the favour whilst others merely said, "thanks" and left it at that. The networking can continue this way long after the event, as long as you are willing to take the risk that some of those you help may not return the favour.
 |
| Being nice can actually be incredibly profitable. |
So those are a few points from me about attending such conferences. What do you think? What have your experiences been at such conferences? Do you like attending them or do you think they are a waste of time? How do you make the most of your networking experiences at the conferences? Please let me know what you think, many thanks for reading.
That's an article How to meet people at events and conferences
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You are now reading the article How to meet people at events and conferences With link address https://newstoday-ok.blogspot.com/2018/03/how-to-meet-people-at-events-and.html
