If you're presenting at a large conference/trade show, how to maximise this opportunity?

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Permalink Reply by Dave Collins on December 16, 2008 at 9:53am

Hi Perry,

What subject are you presenting, and who are you presenting to?

Do you want to sell to the audience? Are you seeking partners or sales?

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Permalink Reply by Perry Ismangil on December 16, 2008 at 10:14am

Dave,

This is a technical subject on the problem NAT Traversal. I'm presenting to "companies of all sizes and representing all sectors of the IP Communications industry, including Service Providers, Carriers, Enterprises, Government Agencies, Resellers, Manufacturers, Developers, and more. The attendees will be predominantly high-level executives, with 72% at our last event being a Vice-President or higher."

At the end of the day I'm seeking sales of course, but I agree with the organizer's 'no commercialism' in the actual talk itself.

I guess this is what would be called whitepaper-type presentation, where a problem and its options for solutions are presented.

Another subtle point is that I'm also representing the professional open source side of the solution, alongside others from the proprietary/non-open source side.

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Permalink Reply by Mark Dalgarno on December 16, 2008 at 10:46am

I'd start the process ahead of the event by publicising your participation. Speaking at such a big event is a big deal, make sure you get a press release out about it and cover it in your blog, website etc.

Although you're not advertising sometimes trade shows have a free literature table or noticeboard where you could place a poster about your talk ahead of time.

If you're using slides then make sure your contact details are displayed on the first and last slides. Unless the organisers have arranged it let people know that they can email you for copies of the slides. Let people know you'll be sticking around after your talk to answer any further questions. If you haven't managed to answer every question during the talk then it's an ideal opportunity to meet people afterwards to talk about it more.

Also, some events have Birds of a Feather sessions where you can arrange an informal meet-up to talk about a particular topic. Organisers like these because they give added value to participants, it's good for you because your name gets attached to a particular subject area and you also get to meet people interested in that topic.

If you have a newsletter then you could maybe think about letting people know that the subject of your talk (and related topics) is covered in more depth in a future issue. Unless you're talk is to everyone at the event the people attending your talk are likely to want to know more about the subject matter.

Afterwards remember to blog about your talk and answer the questions you were asked. It's likely other people wuld be interested in hearing your answers and it's a cheap way of getting more value from your participation. Anyone you met may also be reading your blog soon after the event.

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Permalink Reply by Dave Collins on December 16, 2008 at 6:23pm

At risk of sounding overly-simplistic, a good presentation will do all the work for you.

If your presentation impresses, then people should be (sometimes literally) queueing to speak to you afterwards.

The problem is that sometimes there just isn't enough time to speak to everyone. Make sure there's a pile of your business cards on the table while you're packing your gear and answering people's questions, but above all make sure you're available. Mention to people that you're around for the rest of the conference, and that they should feel free to come and talk to you.

It may not be the answer you hoped for, but I've found this to work very well. I'm a firm believer that if you're generous with sharing your knowledge and time, it pays back exponentially. Demonstrating the fact that you're an expert in your chosen subject is infinitely more effective than plugging your company, products or services.

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Permalink Reply by Mark Dalgarno on December 16, 2008 at 6:31pm

Dave Collins said:

At risk of sounding overly-simplistic, a good presentation will do all the work for you.

Assuming people come to your talk :-)

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Permalink Reply by Dave Collins on December 16, 2008 at 6:32pm

Mark Dalgarno said:

Dave Collins said:

At risk of sounding overly-simplistic, a good presentation will do all the work for you.

Assuming people come to your talk :-)

Good point!

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Permalink Reply by Perry Ismangil on December 16, 2008 at 8:18pm

Mark, Dave,

Very good points. I will keep track of all the efforts I did, and hopefully can learn something, what works, what didn't.

Thank you all!

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Permalink Reply by Steve Jones on December 22, 2008 at 2:28am

A good presentation is key, but make sure you emphasize why your company uses what you talk about or how they do it well. Ultimately that can impress people and perhaps generate sales. I'd check out Tony Hsieh and Jason Fried from the Business Innovation Factory conference.

I'd highly recommend you also have someone helping to pack you up at the end while you answer questions and also with a stack of business card to hand out and ask people for theirs. Let this person also make notes (small notepad) about which people are interesting or worth following up with.

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