Business Conference - A Beginner's Guide

I did a search on industry networking events like those hosted through ACG and AM&AA, and surprisingly came up with little of value or as a “how-to” guide, so I thought I would put together some best practices and a running journal combining a few recent events I've attended to help those attending for the first time. This is not intended for you seasoned vets out there but please feel free to chime in with your own experiences or call me out if I miss something or feel I’m flat out wrong.

Also, a fair warning that this turned out quite long, but hopefully is helpful to a few out there.

The weeks leading up to an important networking event can be a lot of getting ready to get ready. I had a flight at the crack of dawn and needed to make sure I had meetings booked in advance so that all I had to do was show up. Its a great way to coast through these relatively stress-free and still try to maximize productivity. Inevitably a few hiccups come along and this post is an attempt to lend some wisdom to those who will be venturing out to their first conference in the coming months as new hires.

Note: names, places and events have been changed or omitted for anonymity purposes but the core stories to the event are preserved.

Planning for the Event

In preparation for an event you want to obviously sign up or have the office admins get you registered well in advance. Make sure you ask to choose your flight and hotel to minimize any headaches later. I prefer early flights to avoid travel disruptions as much as possible and hotel rooms as high as possible to keep street noise in your room to a minimum. Lastly, be sure to pass along your frequent flier and hotel rewards numbers if you care about that kind of stuff.

Next up, you're looking for a pre-attendee list. Reaching out 2-3 weeks in advance to ensure getting on the calendar of your targeted contacts is plenty of time. The larger the conference (i.e. regional versus national), add a week or two earlier for the scheduling process or you might be left in the cold. Many times you may have an assistant or analyst helping with the scheduling process but I usually take care of my own.

Beyond that, the only other things to remember are any marketing materials or business cards you're bringing, noting your flight time and number in your calendar to check in and print boarding passes in advance. One of my bugaboos is to NEVER check a bag. You're probably only out for a few days and this is where being a guy is a big advantage over the ladies out there. For a 3 day trip, I pack one full suit. 3 shirts and 1-2 pants (usually 1), socks and one pair of shoes; minimal bathroom products like toothbrush, travel toothpaste and any contact/glasses if you need them, etc. that's it.

Now onto my running diary from a recent trip

Early flights mean earlier alarms. No matter how many times I do this, waking up at 3:30 am is never easy. I set 5 alarms spaced a few minutes apart. I check my phone about 65 times before heading to bed even though it was right the first time. I've packed the miscellaneous stuff in my roll-on suitcase last night with suits and dress shirts hanging in the doorway so I don't look like Tyrone Biggums when I get there.

Morning of the flight out

I don't so much as startle awake as my eyes slowly crack open allowing the dull glow of the cities ever-burning lights to enter my groggy world of miserable existence. I don't hear anything. Panic. Didn't I set a million alarms? What the fuck time is it? No way I didn't wake up on time. Rolling out of bed and stumbling across the room like a drunk idiot, I fumble for my phone and check the time. 3:27 am. Wait, I actually woke up before they went off? I sigh with some moderate disappointment that somehow those extra 3 minutes would have been a godsend.

Alright, mental check time for everything I'm supposed to do before leaving at my rough targeted time of 4:30 am. I gave myself an hour assuming it would have been like waking Lazarus this morning. Up on time - check. Off to make some coffee and get the shower started. Goddamnit! I left my open suitcase at the foot of my bed and stepped awkwardly onto one of the ends stubbing a toe and cutting my ankle simultaneously. Well, I'm awake now. In the kitchen with the lights on I see its only a flesh wound so amputation won't be necessary. Dodged a bullet there.

Coffee made and shower started, the mental checklists continue, mostly around the question of "what am I forgetting?" I throw 2 ice cubes in a big coffee mug to cool it quickly so I can chug all 16 ounces before hopping into the shower. Coffee - check. Shower - check.

Loafers, pants and a shirt are on as I'm packing the last of my toiletries into my smaller bag that has all of my work stuff for the event: laptop, business cards, laptop charger, meeting schedule in a folder along with my boarding pass. Lastly, I pack my suit and extra dress shirts. In a last ditch effort of insanity I add running shoes and a shirt and shorts. "A" for effort in my book.

Down the elevator and out into the muggy summer air, I'm walking a few blocks over to a busier street to try and find a taxi. I didn't call ahead since they never seem to show up on time anyways. It's deserted. It's also about 4:15 am so that's no surprise. Small panic as I keep looking behind and ahead for the familiar yellow lights of hope. What did I forget? Anything? I hope not. Too late now.

Taxi! Off we go to the airport. I loaded up the flight through a Google search and see so far it's allegedly on time. I don't know when they started doing this but it's amazing to me when you just search your airline and flight number that you get everything you need - flight departure and boarding time, gate, status, time till departure, etc. Give the guy that came up with this idea a raise.

Airport Do's and Don'ts

Arriving at the airport I tip the cabbie a few bucks since he drove at mach 1 to get there. Seriously, there was a brief moment I was fearing for my life as we sped between two giant tour buses. I arrive at the terminal in one piece. Now comes everyone's favorite part: airport security. This isn't rocket science. It’s amazing how difficult people make this on themselves by simply not being prepared. Chances are, they have done this before but act like infants and gripe and moan at every announcement of “shoes come off unless you’re 12 or younger” (This doesn't make sense to me. If I'm trying to sneak something through, I’m bribing a 10-year old next time) I have a few rules to make this as painless a process as possible. I always wear loafers so you're not untying and retying shoes. Watch, phone, wallet, etc always in a top easy pocket of my bag. Laptop out and ready to put in its solitary confinement during the screening process. And that's it. It's funny that I usually have larger bottles of liquids in my bag but haven't been stopped for that in as long as I can remember. In line, my stuff is on the belt and I'm through in about 30 seconds. Airport security - check.

I have some time before the flight so I scope out a seat at the gate next to an outlet to keep devices charged since today is going to be a long day. I hop up to get some coffee and a Ted Nugent wannabe is in front of me with full cammo attire and matching bags. How was that guy not stopped? Chances are he has a few knives or arrows in those bags at minimum.

Of course the register breaks. Of course it's a touchscreen and the guy can't fix it. Of course this line takes a good 15+ minutes. I guess I won't have a receipt to expense it. Oh well.

Back at my seat I remember what I forgot. Phone charger. Son of a- . Not ideal to say the least. Luckily there's a Brookstone nearby and I still have a few minutes before boarding call. Yet another crisis averted.

Pro tip: remember your chargers. You’re welcome.

Waiting to board, I send a few confirmation emails to my meetings scheduled for the day to try and avoid the “sorry something came up” messages minutes before the allotted time. So far so good and now I’ll just relax and hope to catch some shuteye on the flight out.

Got to the hotel and was upgraded due to member status I guess. I’ll take it. Now is the time to do the following: 1) suit(s), out of the bag and hung to de-wrinkle, 2) shirts out and make sure they don’t look like they traveled in a rolled up ball (I tend to use the hair dryer on them against the wall mimicking an iron/steamer combo and it tends to work rather well), 3) charge your phone, plug in laptop and test wifi connectivity, etc.

Many people might assume this business is all “go! go! go!” but I would recommend building in a small cushion on the front or back of your trip to stop and smell the roses a bit. For this trip I had about 2 hours to relax a bit, check emails or return calls, but mostly I wanted to walk the few blocks around my hotel and familiarize with the surrounding area. Since it’s not a city I travel to all that often, I took a few pictures and sent to family/friends. I also found a nice steakhouse, Starbucks, Irish pub, ATM, and convenience store all within a few blocks which could come in handy later as evening plans came together. At a recent trip to Indy, I built in some time on the back end to check out the motor speedway and was extremely glad I did knowing I might not be back there for a long time. I realize this isn't always feasible for every trip, but when you get the chance to do so, take it!

Now I’m headed over to the event itself to check in and meet up with a few guys for lunch to kill time before a few scheduled calls in the afternoon. My scheduled meetings started mid-afternoon so I didn't feel rushed which is always nice.

Meeting notes for your own benefit in advance is a good first step here. Check out the background of the people you’re meeting with, general news for recent transactions, etc. Sounds simple and it is which will make for a more productive meeting

Meetings and calls all go fairly smoothly. It's always interesting trying to find people you've never met in person. I try to either creep on their website/LinkedIn in advance or have a dedicated, specific spot for all of your meetings. With notes taken and follow up calls scheduled,I'm off to a cocktail reception. I'm headed to my room to ditch the folders and suit jacket since this is a more low key conference. Ill keep some business cards on me and look to use reception time to meet with people I know better that doesn't require a formal one on one.

Trying to eat is tough at these since there's usually only butlered apps which are few and far between and definitely not the healthiest option anyways. I suppose this is why people tend to plan dinners at night. Ill scarf down what I can while taking it easy on the drinks since I have an early start tomorrow. There's an after party at a local bar that I hit as well but just to say hey to a few better relationships I haven't seen and I'm outta there by 11. These events can be dangerous since people make pretty bad decisions fueled by lack of sleep and too much alcohol. Have fun but don't be the guy/girl everyone is talking about the next day. I remember a guy that had to be carried to his room in years past that people still talk about. Funny at the time. He's no longer in the business though so no repeat performances since.

Phone battery is just about dead and I need to rest up for round 2 tomorrow.

Day 2 - 6:30 am

My morning alarms always seem to go off too early. I'm groggy and stumble to the coffee machine and fire up the much needed shower. Ill check a few emails on my laptop too since one of our MDs has been chasing me for something on a deal I've neglected. Emails from the east coast are already coming in steadily but I blow them off for now assuming that ill have time to catch up later. Suit on and out the door to my 8am breakfast meeting. From here its every half hour through lunch then a short break for some calls and a few more meetings to round out the event. I usually book with local firms outside the event while I'm in town or try and catch a baseball game if their team is in town.

This day of the event is mostly a blur as the conversations aren't all that different. I try to listen for a few key things and take as many notes as possible. It makes the follow up a lot easier. Inevitably, you're going to meet with someone that's not even close to a match to do business. Sometimes you just can't help it. I try to keep them as short as possible but always being cordial because they likely know a lot of the same people you do. Plus they might be a good drinking buddy later at the happy hours.

The second day wraps up and I had the option to fly home that night or the next day if I could get a breakfast meeting or two in town. I'm glad I chose the former since I was pretty beat at this point. Public transit or taxi to the airport is dicey but locals can tell you the better option. I had a delay in my flight back and got home around 1:45 am local time. Luckily I had a meeting cancelled the following morning.

On the plane I went through all the business cards and made a simple excel spreadsheet with firm, name, notes and follow up columns so I can get all the relevant feedback out to the people I met during the trip. It was also helpful on the way home that I sat next to a guy that must have weighed 350+ pounds. I had the window. It was a little upsetting. I'm not a big person but I do have broad shoulders. Dude next to me had to lean forward the whole flight back. I didn't feel that bad for him though.

That's about it guys. I have plenty of more entertaining stories I could post in a follow up piece here. I think this can serve as a decent blueprint for those about to venture to their first large conference. Any questions, either leave a comment or direct message me on here.

Hope this is helpful.