6 Ways to Get More Out of Your Next Conference
by Maria Lenhart /With summer here, the travel trade conference season has swung into gear.
But while industry conferences are often inspiring, it’s easy for busy travel professionals to let the new ideas they learn and the new partnership opportunities they encounter fade away soon after they return home.
“You are going to be bombarded in every direction with marketing materials and ideas – that’s the good part,” said agency consultant and frequent conference presenter Nolan Burris.
“The bad part is that you’re human and can only remember so much. It’s easy to get fired up at a conference and then lose the inspiration afterwards.”
Travel Market Report asked Burris, who is president of Visionistics in Vancouver, British Columbia, to share tips to help travel professionals can get more out of the conferences they attend.
One key is to establish your goals and priorities at the very start of a conference – or even before arriving, said Burris.
Here are his six top tips.
1. Set objectives. Before you go to an event, examine your business objectives, including what you would like to accomplish this year, such as charging fees or handling more luxury travel.
“Ideally, you should set these objectives before you sign up for the event or at least before you get on the airplane,” Burris said.
2. Prioritize. Once you’ve determined what you most what to take away from a conference, select those workshops and presentations that most match up with your objectives. Similarly, look at the list of suppliers in attendance and zero in on those most in line with your goals.
3. Ask the right questions. When talking with suppliers, confine your questions to those that will help you meet your business objectives.
“This is not the time to ask a supplier about addressing a complaint that a client once had with their product,” Burris said. “A better use of your time is to ask about better ways of working together, of how you can sell more of their products to a specific target market.”
4. Arrange private meetings. A networking event in a noisy, crowded ballroom might be fine for making initial contacts, but it’s hardly ideal for meaningful conversations.
Burris suggested emailing conference attendees, speakers and suppliers beforehand to arrange to meet up during breaks. “When someone emails me, I’m usually able to carve out some time, no matter how crowded the schedule,” he said.
5. Sort and organize. To keep information under control, organize brochures, notes and other conference materials into three piles at the end of each day. It’s useful to have a binder or three folders.
“The No. 1 pile, which should be the smallest, is the ‘to do’ pile, the one you seriously intend to act on,” he said. “The second pile, which should be next largest, contains materials that you may want to research later. The third, which should be the largest, is material you will probably just file away or not even take home.”
At the end of the conference, go through the to do pile and selecting the three most important items. “These are the ones you are going to act on – everything else is merely interesting,” Burris said
6. Keep alert and engaged. Energy levels can take a serious dip during afternoon sessions, Burris noted.
“It helps to eat mostly protein during the conference – too many muffins and other carbs will put you to sleep,” he said.
“If you’re seated in the back of the room, get up for a minute now and then to get your circulation going. If you’re in the front, at least wiggle your toes.”