Advice for Conference Attendees

Advice for ‘first time’ ACI conference attendees
Attending conferences can be quite overwhelming, some people find it harder than others. If you are one of them, just remind yourself that you are not alone in this. Meeting people and ‘putting yourself out there’ can be uncomfortable, making small-talk may well not be your favourite way to spend time, the rush of information that you will be receiving can swamp you, all these things might well be out of your comfort zone. Are there presentations you should miss? How many people should you be trying to meet and make contact with in any given break? Should you be asking questions at the end of every presentation? All these and many more are valid questions.

Get your focus right
The benefits of spending time discussing the problems you face, with people in exactly the same role as you, from all over the world, are clear. But forcing yourself into what can be quite an unnatural environment, can make some people feel uncomfortable. Keep reminding yourself that this is for the benefit of your company, this can often help. While networking brings benefits personally, the real and main driver of any event is to promote the interests of the company you run or work for.

Offer your assistance to the event
A lot of people feel that being a part of the conference line-up helps in breaking the ice. In advance of the event, offer your help to the ACI’s production team to appear on a panel discussion or present at the meeting. This may well help you set up networking opportunities and make you more accessible to the other delegates at the event.

Do your research and get to know people in advance
Go through the speaker line up and decide who would be useful to meet and spend time with during the two days. A small amount of research will certainly find the right way to contact them before the meeting and letting them know that you are ‘really looking forward to hearing their presentation’ will be a very good introduction. You may be surprised how many of those giving presentations are nervous about it in advance. From not being well received to no-one being interested in what they have to say, they will be only be pleased by your interest. Set up a specific meet with them at the event, arrange to have coffee or lunch with them at a specific break, find out what presentations they are interested in and agree to sit together for that one, it all helps.

On arrival
You will be given a list of all the attendees with your documentation. This is vital. Go through this as soon as you can and mark down all the people you would like to meet and then make plans as to how to ensure that that happens. There is a ‘Networking List’ at our events, please make sure that you use this to let people know who you are interested in meeting. Remember, the representative(s) from ACI will be there to help you with this and anything else you require throughout the conference.

During the event
Answer and ask as many questions as you need, during the Q&A’s and panel sessions. Our events are ALL about the interaction of the audience and the attendees want to hear from everybody. To increase other attendees awareness, remember to introduce yourself clearly, stating your name, company and job role so that as many people as possible remember who you are and facilitate them to approach you during the social networking sessions. Remember that other people feel just as uncomfortable as you in the ‘social’ setting. Make yourself open and approachable, discuss dinner arrangements and invite others to join you at them. The drinks, coffee breaks and networking dinner are the best times to really get to know other attendees. Think about creating interesting groups of people with shared interests and goals to gather together at these sessions. There will be a great body of information to take on board. Take time to keep notes and keep them so that they are easy to access when you are back at your office. Not all the presentations will be available before the event, despite best efforts they are not always handed in on time due to the current nature of the talks, but they will be provided, where authorised, during and after the meeting. Lastly, as much as possible, put away your phone and computer, people are far less likely to engage with you if you are busy reading or writing.

Existing connections
There may be people you already know at the meeting. This is a great time to cement those relationships, but it is important that you do not fall into the trap of spending all your time with them, even if it the easier ‘social’ option. It is very important that you leave yourself (and them) the time to seek out new contacts, start new relationships and hear new perspectives on old problems.

Last the course
Make sure you stay right to the end. Try to avoid meetings unconnected with the event while it is running, try to ensure your travel plans don’t make inroads on your time at the conference and the social sessions. You do not know when those crucial connections are going to be made, they often come from an unexpected direction.

After the event
Within about a week, follow up with the people you met there. You can aim to keep a yearlong dialogue running until you meet again at next year’s event!