A very effective means of expanding your professional horizons is conference networking.
Prepare well beforehand: Before attending any conference, ensure that you have a well-established idea of what your goals are and what you intend to achieve at the conference.
Engage in conversation: Make a point of speaking to as many people as possible. Remember that everyone at the conference is a possible resource of information or a source that could assist you in some way in the future, and the only way to find out if they are is to speak to them.
Ask questions: It is important in conference networking to remember that the people you meet are not just resources; they are people first. As such, you need to make them feel like you are interested in them and in what they do, and the only effective way to do so is to ask questions, and listen to their answers intently.
Present your skills: Develop many different ways to present your skills to people in conversation, either explicitly or in a subtle manner. The more varied your approach the easier it will be to inform many people about yourself and your expertise no matter what the topic of conversation is. By practicing this with friends or family you should also try and develop methods for leading the conversation to focus on each other’s abilities, so that you will not only tell people about your own abilities, but also learn about theirs.
Business Cards: Always have business cards available when conference networking. You would not want to seem unprofessional after speaking to someone for a long time and building a professional image of yourself, only to scramble around for a pen and paper to jot down your details when they decide that they would like to keep in touch with you. Ensure that your business card conveys as much information about you as possible in a concise and effective way.
Do not be over-zealous: The worst thing you could do when conference networking is to appear over-zealous. Being too eager is the easiest way to scare off the people you try and speak to, so this should be avoided at all costs. The most common thing most first-timers to conference networking do is to try and push themselves onto people, trying to sell themselves and information about their abilities, instead of trying to build meaningful relationships with everyone they speak to.
Long-term goals: Remember that conference networking is all about building and creating lasting relationships with the people you meet. The idea is that instead of focusing on your short-term goals, you bear in mind your goals for the future and work towards establishing relationships with as many people as possible who can help you to realize those goals in the long term.
Establish a great reputation: Try and build a great reputation for yourself. You should aim to come across as someone who is trustworthy and reliable, someone who would make a great asset as well as a great friend or associate, and this will get you recognized and ensure that you are remembered long after the conference.
Follow up: Remember to follow up on conversations, especially when you have made promises to someone. There are few things worse than not sticking to a promise that was made, and it is the easiest way to sever any relationship or bond that may have been created during conference networking. Following up on your promises, however, will ensure that you establish a great reputation as someone who is trustworthy and reliable, which can only aid you networking success.
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