How to Attend a Conference

The 'listen first' approach is a good general rule for socialising too. Most people like talking about themselves and what they do, and they'll like you more if you ask them about themselves, even if you're not actually that interested.

Good strategy.

I've also found that a lot of people fail to follow up after exchanging business cards-- so I make sure that I do the following up. Even if I don't have much to say, if someone gives me their business card I'll shoot them a short email saying it was good to meet them. You never know when that contact is going to become useful.

1. The exhibitors come with the purpose of selling their stuff, not buying yours. So it naturally works best to hear what they have to sell first, while you genuinely try to figure how it may be useful to you. Whether or not you know if and how you may use their offering, ask them questions based on what you are trying to achieve, in the process making them also think about how their offering could be suited to help you. They are still trying to win a sale but by this time a rapport is well established and it is easy to get purely to your own work. Even if no potential deal is sensed, I have generally come out with some useful help or advice.

2. You can take notes on the business card itself the moment you are out of the conversation. It is sometimes easy to loose track by the evening even given the number of people you may meet during the day. You should be aware of this [1] though.

3. It is a lot easier for people to remember your face than your name when they first meet with you. So absolutely consider having your picture on your business card. If they understand the core of what you are trying to do, they'll also remember it clearly together with a memory of "some guy" who explained it to them. So include your tagline or pitch on the business card itself, on the rear if needed.

[1] http://www.linguist.com/services-japanese-card.htm

If I get your business card, I usually write what we discussed on the back of the card. Then, when I enter your contact information into my contact list, I also enter the notes. This may seem obvious, or it may seem like a crutch, but it makes me look like I'm naturally "good with people," which is definitely not a a talent I was born with.

interesting that you mention this topic (quite surprising actually...). Not long ago, Boris (founder of The Next Web) posted an article explaining why it makes sense to spend so much for conferences http://thenextweb.com/voice/2013/03/19/want-a-free-ticket-fo...

I disagree and make my case http://giacomoballi.com/the-value-of-conferences/

For those interested in the topic, here's a guest post on swombat.com by Kevin McDonagh, on the same topic:

http://swombat.com/2011/2/25/kevin-mcdonagh-how-to-attend-a-...

Very different approach, but Kevin does seem to be able to use it very successfully (and despite the machine-gun-like appearance of it, he's a very laid back, friendly, chilled out guy).

Also, I've found that many of the best connections occur at the events/parties/meetups surrounding the days of a conference. I live in Portland and OSCON is pretty expensive, but you can get a free Expo pass, wander around and get some free beer, and accomplish quite a bit without registering. Same with SXSW interactive.

This is a skill that should be taught to everyone. I'm in neuroscience, and our meetings can be super awkward at times. Thank god for booze :) It's a shame that people don't speak about this as much though. We have a huge conference every year (~36k people) and yet many of them have no idea how to deal with a conference. Just an FYI, flying in to give a talk/poster/presentation and then flying out does not = a good conference. Gotta meet people, be persistent, organize your plan of attack, and meet people. Then meet some more people. If you have a hard time not being social awkward, drink. Then meet people:)

I was all ready to be snarky about this (don't make sexist jokes, etc.), until I actually read the article; I have a lot of respect for your focus and success. Thanks for this article!

Arrive drunk

I love the idea of writing down the details you remember. Because, like you said, you know that they are not doing the tracking, they will thank you for it.

I think Trevor's blog posts are some of the best I've seen. I always walk away knowing something I didn't. Excellent signal to noise ratio.

Do you guys have advice for what to put on business cards?

Don't forget to make snide jokes about the male member in the presence of a media hound.