Building Pre-Conference Relationships

If you are attending conferences as part of your networking strategy. You will want to make the most of building your pre-conference relationships so that you can get the most out of your time at the conference.

Building Relationships on Social Media

Most large conferences will have a hashtag or an app for the event to encourage relationship building. It is important to use these to network before, during and after the event. This will help you to boost your real-life networking on the day.

You can use social media to conduct research on other attendees and identify the hosts, speakers, sponsors, exhibitors and attendees you would like to reach out to (either before or at the event). Take the time to create a list for the event and save/follow the hashtag so that you are kept up to date with what is going on.

During the event, use social media to share your experiences and takeaways from the conference and continue to network with other attendees. Remember to use the hashtag!

After the event, you can use social media to follow up and keep in contact with other attendees after the event.

Reach out to other Attendees to Meet-Up in Person

For your key potential contacts/persons of interest (and people who are attending that you already know) you might want to reach out and schedule a coffee meeting or catch up.

Find out what you can about the “non-conference” social agenda and other ways to connect outside the regular sessions.

If there is a group of people travelling to a specific location for the conference why not see if anyone has organised pre-conference drinks or dinner. If not, why not organise your own.