During the next few months, chances are you will be hearing about a number of conferences happening around town. Conference-goers attend such events for a number of reasons and associated benefits. One thing for certain is that you need to figure out why you are attending this event yourself, and accordingly, determine who is the best person (or people) you'll need to meet.
To help you better prepare to attending a conference, here is a list of the 5 people you are nearly most certain to meet in a conference:
1. The Networker
One of the main reasons why professionals attend, and even speak, at conferences is for the networking opportunities those events offer. Some people are naturally better at it than others, while others improve on their networking skills the more they attend conferences and get to practice it.
Normally, networkers plan in advance whom they will approach in an event and that is why you will find many of them aggressive when they introduce themselves to those contacts they planned to meet; and sometimes impassive when they meet a contact whom they feel will be of no added value. In all cases, a networker is normally ready to exchange business cards at the prospect of what future opportunities may come out of it so never shy away from approaching a prospect.
2. The Celebrity
High profile professionals, whom are either speakers or guests, normally fit the profile of a celebrity in a conference. Those are the individuals that everyone is lining up to meet with the hopes and aspiration that they will be able to get their business cards. Reality is that celebrities do not exchange business cards except with other perceived celebrities, so unless you are a CEO of a large company as well, you can almost forget about getting that business card.
Rather than wasting your efforts, what you can do instead is try to figure out who is attending the conference with the celebrity from the organization he or she is working in. Usually, a celebrity will not show up without one of his or her senior officials, or even personal assistants. If you successfully identify those (they usually hang around the celebrity all the time), and exchange business cards with them, you will have a better chance at getting closer to the celebrity and even setting up future meetings with him or her.
3. The Philosopher
This is the person whom whenever he or she gets the chance to get the microphone (and they ask for it a lot) to supposedly ask a question during the conference, will elaborate on a suggestion or an idea they think is better than any idea or concept any of the speakers presented during the entire event. They'll make you feel that they are the experts in the subject matter, and somehow got over-sighted to be up there on the stage alongside the speakers. Please don't ever be a philosopher!
4. The Hashtagger
Those include instagrammers, tweeters, and bloggers whom attend conferences to generate content, obtain quotes, and snap away pictures to upload them onto their social media accounts.
Conferences nowadays rely heavily on social media engagement as one of the event's success indicators. This is why most of those conferences being organized would not just have an account to publish its key messages and promote its agenda, but would also establish and promote an event hashtag for the hashtaggers to use.
5. The Unknown
Those are the people who are physically attending a conference but aren't really there. They never introduce themselves, nor are interested in meeting people. You'll see them staring down at their phones nearly most of the times, or working on their laptops while a discussion panel is going on. There is a high chance that they are attending the conference because they are forced to do so, but if given the choice, would prefer to be back in the office getting "some real work" done.
To help you better prepare to attending a conference, here is a list of the 5 people you are nearly most certain to meet in a conference:
1. The Networker
One of the main reasons why professionals attend, and even speak, at conferences is for the networking opportunities those events offer. Some people are naturally better at it than others, while others improve on their networking skills the more they attend conferences and get to practice it.
Normally, networkers plan in advance whom they will approach in an event and that is why you will find many of them aggressive when they introduce themselves to those contacts they planned to meet; and sometimes impassive when they meet a contact whom they feel will be of no added value. In all cases, a networker is normally ready to exchange business cards at the prospect of what future opportunities may come out of it so never shy away from approaching a prospect.
2. The Celebrity
High profile professionals, whom are either speakers or guests, normally fit the profile of a celebrity in a conference. Those are the individuals that everyone is lining up to meet with the hopes and aspiration that they will be able to get their business cards. Reality is that celebrities do not exchange business cards except with other perceived celebrities, so unless you are a CEO of a large company as well, you can almost forget about getting that business card.
Rather than wasting your efforts, what you can do instead is try to figure out who is attending the conference with the celebrity from the organization he or she is working in. Usually, a celebrity will not show up without one of his or her senior officials, or even personal assistants. If you successfully identify those (they usually hang around the celebrity all the time), and exchange business cards with them, you will have a better chance at getting closer to the celebrity and even setting up future meetings with him or her.
This is the person whom whenever he or she gets the chance to get the microphone (and they ask for it a lot) to supposedly ask a question during the conference, will elaborate on a suggestion or an idea they think is better than any idea or concept any of the speakers presented during the entire event. They'll make you feel that they are the experts in the subject matter, and somehow got over-sighted to be up there on the stage alongside the speakers. Please don't ever be a philosopher!
Those include instagrammers, tweeters, and bloggers whom attend conferences to generate content, obtain quotes, and snap away pictures to upload them onto their social media accounts.
Conferences nowadays rely heavily on social media engagement as one of the event's success indicators. This is why most of those conferences being organized would not just have an account to publish its key messages and promote its agenda, but would also establish and promote an event hashtag for the hashtaggers to use.
5. The Unknown
Those are the people who are physically attending a conference but aren't really there. They never introduce themselves, nor are interested in meeting people. You'll see them staring down at their phones nearly most of the times, or working on their laptops while a discussion panel is going on. There is a high chance that they are attending the conference because they are forced to do so, but if given the choice, would prefer to be back in the office getting "some real work" done.
Follow us on social media:
Facebook: EmiratesTrends
Instragram: @emiratestrends
No comments:
Post a Comment