Making (and Marketing) the Most of Your Conferences

One of the best marketing techniques for potential expert witnesses is face time.  After all, the attorneys who hire you want to know more than what your CV tells them about you.  They want to know what you look like, how you dress, your demeanor, and any other hundreds of criteria unique to each person's tastes and idiosyncrasies.

So where do you get the best return on investment for face time?  Going to a conference or professional association meeting provides hundreds (or thousands) of opportunities to meet prospective clients. Obviously, attending meetings and conferences takes you away from your ability to bill hourly, and may also entail expenses for travel.  So, of the many possible professional gatherings available to you, which do you choose to maximize your time?

First, start with yourself.  If you haven't yet prepared a "fifteen-second introduction," now is the time.  Every professional should be able to answer the question "What do you do?" in less than 15 seconds, which is the average human's attention span.   

To formulate your answer, ask yourselves the following questions:

(1)    What is your core competency?  For example, not a "banking" expert, but a "consultant to community banks who helps them design compensation plans for their board of directors"

(2)    What distinguishes you from others with the same competency?  For example, I didn't just get my MBA in banking and teach at the local college, but "I was CFO of ABC Bank and served as President of the state association of community bankers."

Now that you have verbalized your core competency, think about other strategic choices.


First, what is the best way to publicize your core competency at the conference you choose?  Some options include:

(1)    Contact the conference about setting up a booth at the event.  When done well, this will at least get you lots of foot traffic with your name prominently displayed. Experience has shown me that having a 'lure' of some type really helps get people to walk up to your display. This could be as simple as a bowl of candy or pens w/ your name on them, or a drawing for some cool gizmo like an iPod, maybe small post-it type pads of paper, again with your logo or company name, or even dinner for two a a nearby eatery.

(2)    SPEAK!  Contact any conference that would benefit from your knowledge and offer your time as a speaker at their next meeting.  This is captive audience face time, so make good use of it.

(3)    Whatever you do at the meeting, request a list of registrants from the event organizer as far in advance of the meeting as possible.  Send each registrant an e-mail inviting them to visit your exhibit or to attend your portion of the program.  Make sure they know you BEFORE they get there.  

Regardless of how you make yourself known at the meeting, there are always the dinners and cocktail parties to navigate.   Here are a few pointers to maximize those opportunities:

(1) Arrive early.  If you are one of the first to arrive, you have two advantages: (1) there are fewer people there when you walk in, so with proper navigation skills, you can introduce yourself to each one of them; and (2) you have the opportunity to present yourself as a "host" by greeting people as they arrive.  At the same time, don't make it your mission to meet everyone.  From the list of registrants, you should have identified several key persons you would to meet.   Focus on strategies to get yourself in front of those attendees.  Everything else is gravy.

(2) Make sure your name tag tells people WHO, WHAT and WHERE.  WHO are you?  WHAT do you do?  WHERE are you from?   Remember your core competency: John Smith, Community Banking Consultant, Anytown, USA

(3) Don't spend your time with people you already know unless they are in a position to introduce you to someone or refer you to an engagement.  You are there to create NEW opportunities for yourself.  

And, finally, no matter what you do at the event, FOLLOW UP!  Collect business cards from everyone you meet and make sure to send them a follow-up e-mail or copies of your marketing materials that you think would be of interest to them.  Send an "I'm sorry I missed you e-mail" to those on the registrant list that you did not have an opportunity to meet.  Ask each of them if you can add them to your newsletter list (you DO have a newsletter, don't you?).  If you are in their city, call in advance and invite them to lunch.  Just find a way to stay in touch.  After you make the investment to attend an event, keep gathering return on your investment by maintaining the relationships that started there.