Editor’s note: Baillie Buchanan is co-founder and chief revenue officer, Research for Good, Dallas. This is an edited version of a post that originally appeared here under the title, “Making the most of conferences when you’re not attending.”
Conference season is busy and expensive! It’s near impossible to attend every conference – there are so many now that they are starting to overlap. Not to mention the expense of registrations and travel/accommodations, and the commitment to spending that much time out of the office. Whether you’re a sole-proprietor or one of many on a large team, it’s likely you’re not going to every upcoming conference.
While members of our team were able to attend SampleCon, Quirk’s Orange County, Quirk’s Brooklyn and London Insights, there are others we won’t make it to. Here are our tips for making the most of a conference you’re not attending.
Hashtags
Follow the conference hashtags during each event. This predominantly happens on Twitter – but it doesn’t hurt to watch LinkedIn. Speakers and attendees often tweet or post interesting quotes, facts and tidbits from the presentations. You’ll start to see what the major trends are; highlights from the popular talks or booths; and what people in attendance are learning.
Bonus tip: If you can’t find a conference-specific hashtag (some conferences are better at owning this than others) watch the #mrx hashtag the day of the conference, most people will use a conference tag in conjunction with #mrx to reach a wider audience so you should be able to track it down if there is one.
Join the conversation
Use Twitter or LinkedIn to join the conversation happening around the conference in real time. Post a question as a follow-up to a presentation topic you saw mentioned. Tweet @ the speaker to initiate a post-conference conversation if you’re particularly interested in their presentation, findings or product. Share and re-tweet interesting factoids and give those presenters some love. Often times they’ll reciprocate or express gratitude for your help in further widening the audience of their presentation.
Streaming
Check with the conference to see if the presentations will be live-streamed or recorded and shared after the fact. I believe more and more conferences will be going this direction – as it’s a great way for them to generate leads and interest for future years.
Tap your network
Know someone who attended? Take them to coffee after the fact and get a download of what they learned. It will be good for both you and them to digest the information presented and refer back to notes taken in real time. All too often attendees leave a conference with a notebook full of notes that they never read or act on. They may be grateful not only for the coffee but also for the reminder to engage with their learnings and discuss them with another counterpart in the industry.
Re-capture the re-caps
Watch your e-mail inbox, industry blogs and social feeds for re-caps written and posted by attendees. If you can’t meet to discuss in person, this is a great way to keep up with the trends and find out what companies are moving and shaking.
Plan ahead
Start planning early for next year. Consider attending in person – or at least mark the dates in your calendars now so that you can be ready to participate remotely with strategies one and two above.
Happy conferencing!