Things to do Before ad:tech Sydney 2010
As my part of being Social Media Manager for ad:tech, I want to help my readers get the most out of the event. So I’m providing you with some tips to prepare yourself before attending.
There are many things you should do before attending ad:tech if you want to be prepared and make the most of the conference.
I’ve broken them down into three main categories for you: research, connect, and plan.
Research for ad:tech Sydney 2010
The very first thing you need to do is research.
You need to have a look through http://www.ad-tech.com/sydney/adtech_sydney.aspx to make sure you know the dates (16th and 17th of March), and have a look through the schedule to see which presentations you want to attend (I strongly suggest to attend Jeff’s-Cadbury case).
If you haven’t already had a look, you’ll see there’s always three different presentations running at the one time, so take note of the ones that interest you the most.
You should also have a look through the sponsors, exhibitors and speakers at the event. Have a look through some of their websites to see what you know about them, if they’d be of any value to you – i.e. a prospective client, or a coonection to a prospective client.
It will also be very beneficial for you to have an idea of who is going to ad:tech Sydney, and what they do.
And to do this you can use the hashtag I mentioned last week #ATSYD to search and you’ll be able to see many names – well Twitter accounts – of people attending or you can just head to the list on ad:tech Sydney Twitter list.
Then you can look through them to see if any of them could be beneficial for you to know or just to talk to at the conference. It’s always nice to know something about the person before you meet them, and they might be very impressed or flattered that you know just one thing about who they are or what they do because you’ve taken your time to read their blog or visit their website.
Similarly, I’d also recommend reading up on as much industry news as you can, the more you know about the latest digital marketing and advertising news, the more impressive you’ll sound when you’re networking at the event.
Connect
Connect or die.
Once you’ve found the people you think will be the best people for you to meet and talk to at the conference, start connecting with them through social media now.
A simple tweet to say hi breaks the ice a bit and you get to introduce yourself before meeting them. This means when you do meet them at the conference, they will probably have looked through your website/blog to find out who you are.
Another great way of making a small connection with someone influential in the industry if you’re not game enough to tweet (or e-mail, Facebook them etc.) is to leave a comment on their blog.
People will always read people’s comments on their own blog as they want to see what feedback and discussion they’re receiving.
If you leave a comment to engage in conversation with them, discussing their blog posting they’ll probably reply to you and you will already have started that connection. Then once at ad:tech, you’ll be able to tell them you’re the person who was having a discussion with them via comments on their blog. They will be very impressed by this – assuming you’ve posted intelligence comments with valid points on their blog – and you’ll receive a great first impression from them.
Plan
Plan
Think about how you want people to remember you. Think about and plan a little introduction speech, so when you meet people instead of introducing yourself in a monotonous boring way, think of something interesting you can say about yourself. This will help people remember who you are, instead of you becoming just a face of one of the many hundreds or thousands of people they meet over the course of the event.
Also plan what types of conversations you want to be having. This means you won’t be talking to someone and after the introductions have nothing to say, making it awkward for both of you. This is why you need to research as I mentioned earlier. It will give you ideas of good conversational topics you can raise with people.
You also need to make sure your business cards, website, and resume are up-to-date. The last thing you want to do is get there and realise you have out-dated, amateur looking business cards that you feel ashamed to be giving out. Remember, people will judge you on your business cards, because apart from anything you may have just said to them in the few minutes you’ve been talking to them, they have nothing else to judge you on yet – and we all know how important first impressions are.
Also think of technical issues that you may forget about later. i.e make sure you have extra batteries or power supplies for your laptop, remember to bring your phone and laptop charger. All the little things that are essential, but you may forget you need to write a list or pack them early.
Doing each of these three steps: researching, connecting and planning will give you the competitive edge.
People will remember you, you’ll create far more meaningful and powerful contacts, and you’ll get the most out of the conference.
Hope to see you there
Lucio
on Twitter
on Facebook
on everything else.
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