Friday, February 19, 2010

Ways to Save a Bad Time at a Conference

you may have been to many, many trade shows and conferences over the years. Many are great. But sometimes you and the conference just don’t click. What do you do when you’re stuck there for two, three, or even four days?

One

Contact customers or prospects in the area to see if you can invite them to lunch or dinner.

If you’re giving a presentation, see if you can get an important client in to the conference to attend. Make sure it’s free for them to attend and make sure they get a t-shirt, tote bag, or other goodie the conference organizers are handing out. And then take him or her to lunch or dinner.

Two

Get on the web and see if there are other companies in the area who do what you do.

Call and tell them the situation. You’re stuck in a lousy conference and you were wondering if you could buy them lunch to pick their brains about how they do their business in their local area.

Three

Find other disappointed attendees and see if you can arrange a mini counter-conference.

Each person gets 15 minutes to tell the other people what they do, who their market is, what ideas they have, where they want to take their business. Look for opportunities within the group to collaborate or at least brainstorm for each other. After all, if you all hate the conference, you must have had at least some shared expectations.

Four

Catch up on calls, correspondence, reading, or other operational tasks that you can do online.

Now that you have fewer offline distractions and interruptions you should be able to clear off your virtual desk.

Five

If there is an exhibit or trade show hall as part of your conference, spend the time networking with the people on the floor.

Trade business cards, ask questions, get to know some people in businesses who could potentially be your customers, ask more questions, and jot down ideas about how you might solve problems for some of the exhibitors.

Six

Try to get a refund and an early return flight.

Seven

Contact and reconnect with family, friends, and acquaintances who live in the area.

Eight

Take a vacation.

Get more sleep. Visit the local sights, museums, night spots, and hangouts. Play golf, tennis, swim, walk, or engage in other exercise or physical activities you enjoy. Get a massage. See some movies. Do things that you deny yourself back home because you’re too busy trying to build your business.

Nine

Make a list of all the other things that you’ll be doing the next time you’re at a bad conference.

Keep it handy.

No comments:

Post a Comment