How to: Follow Up with People After a Conference

Attending a conference can be fun and exciting. However, it is also often a lot of activity (and you are taking time away from your inbox/desk). Returning from a conference can mean that you have a lot of catching up to do and the last thing on your mind is following up with the people you just met.

However, a small amount of focused effort can ensure that you make the most of the conference, by properly following up.

01. Process the Information

Set aside some time to “process” the information at you have received. After a conference you probably have lots of notes, business cards, leaflets/brochures etc. Make sure that you start by processing this information. Add the new contacts to your preferred client relationship management system or database.

It is important to also note down important information while it is still fresh in your mind including where you met them, any follow up actions, and a list of people who you didn’t get contact information from but that you still want to follow up with. Go through the programme, guest list etc and identify the people you spoke with. You might not have exchanged contact information with them all, but some of them might still be contacts worth maintaining.

02. Set Goals and Identify Follow Up Actions

Once you have made a list and identified the relevant contacts/connections. You should set goals for each of them. You can’t invest in all connections equally, but this can help you identify where it might be worth spending a bit of investment time and which connections, you simply send a follow up note to and add for future reference and which you ignore completely.

Most new connections fall into one of three categories: Interesting, people you have a specific reason to follow up with and people you would like to develop a relationship with.

For most new connections that are simply interesting connections, we would usually recommend that you apply an Ambient Awareness strategy and simply add them to your CRM system and connect with them on LinkedIn or other social media of choice. This will enable you to stay in touch and they will be exposed to your social media content/updates.

If you have a specific follow up action – for example, if you promised to get in touch to send them a further information – make sure that you do this within a timely manner. No later than one week after the event/conference. If it requires a further conversation or follow up call – get something scheduled and in the diary.

03. Develop a Deeper Longer Term Relationship

The third category of connections are people that you have identified as wanting to develop a deeper more longer term relationship and you have identified them as potentially being worth the investment time.

For these type of contacts it is important to set goals, understand why they are in this category and write a strategy for developing your relationship with them.