People throughout the industry are preparing to head out of the office to attend various fall market research events. After discussing the upcoming event schedule, one of my coworkers sent over a HubSpot.com blog titled, “The 15 types of people you’ll meet at a conference” for me to read saying it was, “pretty spot-on.”
While I am not personally attending an event this month, several of my coworkers are and I couldn’t help but chuckle at the descriptions while picking out which of the conference-goer types each one would fit:
- the networker;
- the sponge;
- the innovator;
- the collector;
- the super-fan;
- the escape artist;
- the job seeker;
- the deal-maker;
- the blogger;
- the teacher;
- the frugal tourist;
- the thought leader;
- the spy;
- the salesperson and;
- the partier.
I identify closely with the sponge:
“Mission: Learn everything possible. The sponge attends conferences to soak up every ounce of knowledge that he or she can. You’ll probably see this person juggling a laptop, smartphone and notebook, all while diligently taking notes – or live-tweeting – from each.
“But for the sponge, the struggle is real – how can you possibly decide which sessions to attend? I mean, they're all just so great.”
TMRE was the second event I attended in the MR industry. I distinctly remember thinking (while juggling my laptop, conference packet and spiral-bound notebook), “How am I supposed to decide which sessions to attend?!”
If you’re looking for a laugh, I encourage you to check out the blog. I’m sure you’ll be able to identify with one or two of the descriptions. And, no matter what type of conference-goer you are (or what type you’re hoping to avoid) we wish you much luck during the fall conference season!