Trade shows and exhibitions are said by some to offer rich opportunities for the executive job hunter, and without doubt I know of many people who have landed their next role by attending such a function. That said, there are also many who will wrinkle their noses at mixing with the ‘punters’ and there are others who openly admit that such crowds intimidate them. So how do you ‘work’ an exhibition to best effect?
The object of attending, for you, is NOT to be interviewed on the spot, or to be offered a job there and then. It is to build your network – all the way along the chain. You want to learn about NEW people worth contacting in the future. You want to meet people for the first time so that they KNOW you. You want to get to know a few people well enough for them to LIKE you, and you may help move a few people from the liking to the TRUST level. Remember, you are NOT looking for these people to give you a job, but to act as an ambassador for you with others who may.
Start in advance. Make sure that you have plenty of personal business cards (I prefer postcards but that’s up to you). They need to be professional looking, and have plenty of space to scribble a note to remind the person you are giving them to what it is that they have promised to do for you. If you want to order free ones from Vistaprint, then remember that they need 21 days to be sure to arrive in time.
Given that this is for a specific purpose, make sure that there’s a reference to your LinkedIn profile on the card. If the URL is impossibly long (which it will be unless you’re very well connected) consider setting up a tinyurl and using that instead. The URL for your profile is listed just above the summary on your profile page – for example; http://uk.linkedin.com/in/grahamwilson. Played with cleverly and using other URL shortening sites, you can probably come up with a witty and more memorable link to your profile.
You are aiming for a mixture of meetings – very brief ones at the stand, short ones over a coffee, glass of wine, or beer, and one or two extended ones perhaps over dinner. Prepare a planner for the day or more of the exhibition. Pace yourself, but consider when you can fit in different types of meeting.
Is an early breakfast an option (especially if the exhibitors all set up yesterday, the event only opens at 10am and the senior executive(s) you want to meet will have had to stay over in the town the night before?
There’s bound to be a coffee stall in the exhibition centre, so think of a 10:45am ‘proper’ coffee with someone and a 3:15pm ‘decent’ cup-of-tea with someone else.
Lots of people shy away from the idea of lunch meetings at exhibitions, but if there’s a peer who you want to really build rapport with, and they aren’t directly involved in manning their stand, then they may even be relieved at the opportunity to get away. Research a half-decent eatery literally within a stone’s throw of the venue and it might even be worth booking a table for three speculatively. Three? Well most restaurants have tables for even numbers, so booking for three usually means you’ll get a four-person table, you could always hit lucky and invite two people to one lunch, and your peer’s excuse might be that they were already meeting someone, in which case you can save them the hassle of finding somewhere, and besides, if you turn up with only two of you; “I’m afraid my other guest hasn’t been able to make it at the last minute.”
Consider a similar slot at the end of the exhibition day, especially at events that go over more than one day. Be sensitive to the people you’re inviting – they may prefer an ‘early supper’ to get their heads down after a tiring day or a later one ‘after the place has been tidied and they’ve had a chance for a shower’.
And finally, consider ‘drinks in the bar’ in the later part of the evening.
By now, you’ve probably got six one-to-one slots to fill each day, and about four or five hours of wandering time.
Many exhibitions these days have a programme of talks as well. These are either thinly disguised sales pitches for a company, one or two keynote crowd pullers, and a handful of professionals invited to give the event a semblance of being a conference rather than a sales event. As one of those who is frequently asked to be one of the latter, my cynicism is well founded! You may even be lucky enough to have secured a few ‘free’ passes to these talks. If one of the speakers is absolutely genuinely who you need to meet, then go. After most talks there’s a quiet lull when even the most celebrated speaker is left alone tidying up their notes and collecting their dongle. That’s your chance. (Incidentally, the best way to get ahead of the scrum, if there is one, is to ask one of the questions from the floor at the end of their session. You become a known entity and provided that it wasn’t too clever or put them down in any way you are almost certain of positive recognition when you then go up to the platform at the end. I got my first invitation to a private tea at the House of Lords this way!)
Why do I say all this about the talks programme? Well, it’s probably obvious – if they typically take an hour and you’ve only four or five hours of wandering time, what is the best use of your time?
Remember that your purpose in attending is to feed your network. Sitting passively, simply listening to someone whose views you could study in depth by reading magazine articles, their latest book, or by downloading their TED talk (www.ted.com) is not a productive use of your time.
So who to meet? Are there any peers, or people on your key contacts list, who you expect to be there? Shortlist these and decide if they are people you want to invite to your longer conversations.
Are there any people in your LinkedIn list, especially participants in relevant groups, who you could move from know-to-like by meeting over a longer slot? (If they are reluctant – send them a link to this article as they will also stand to benefit in the same way!)
From the list of exhibitors, are there any people from target employer organisations that you would like to meet? If you are already in contact with them, aim to have a longer session with them. If not, then add them to your ‘wander list’.
If you have some longer sessions free, consider some of the other people who may be at the event and might not have anything planned for these down times. For example, is there someone going from your professional body? They might relish being given something to do in the evening and they could be a very valuable contact. You can only ask. (I’ve found this particularly useful at conferences but it works for exhibitions too. Being the ‘host’ to a small dinner group of say four or five people in the evening allows you all kinds of opportunities to build relationships.)
Make sure that you have confirmed with your contacts what the arrangements will be, and swap mobile phone numbers so that you can keep in touch over the day. Forty minutes before any appointment, text them to confirm where you’re going to meet and when.
Now it’s time to be ruthlessly systematic. You have probably got three or four hours to fill and you are hoping to have 5 to 10 minute conversations with a number of people at the stands. You DO NOT want to go from one to the next without time to make notes, catch your breath, and reflect. I suggest that you expect to fit no more than four such conversations into an hour. So we’re looking for a shortlist of probably twelve to sixteen organisations, who are exhibiting and in whom you are interested.
Most exhibitions embrace more than one market – they need to in order to provide stability in their planning. You need to be targeted. Much though it’s fun looking at the latest gizmos, if you are hoping to secure a position in specialist finance, or whatever, then that’s where you should be spending your time.
Ideally, you can get an initial copy of the exhibitors list either by post from the organisers or downloading it from their site. However, many trade shows don’t produce the final list of exhibitors until the day. So, aim to be there when the doors open, grab your copy of the guide and map, and take yourself off to a still quiet coffee spot. Spend a few minutes bracing yourself and planning your tour of the exhibition. Remember, you’re targeting 16 stands – make sure you know where they are, and where the best coffee spots are. It’s also worth noting where the nearest relevant loos are as you don’t want to trudge miles and back when the coffee works its way through!
Working an exhibition is a tiring process when done comprehensively. Bear this in mind when planning your travel. It is often worthwhile travelling the day before and staying somewhere overnight beforehand. Of course this also gives you the opportunity for more pre-arranged appointments before the event. However, be sensitive to who you contact – exhibitors may be busy and their senior executives are probably arriving late… however, take a look at the speaker list – yes, those industry ‘gurus’ – and give a thought to asking one of them if they are arriving the night before and would like to be social over dinner.
(You might not believe how lonely it is on the international speaking circuit. I even had a one-to-one with the brother of a European country’s President this way a few years ago! Aside from his political connections, he was also extremely influential in the business world, and we got on really well.)
If you have had time to prepare beforehand (and even if the list wasn’t available, you could have called any companies you were interested in to see if they are going to be there and who might be attending the stand) then you’ve done some research. I’ve never done this, but one colleague suggests preparing a one page summary for these firms – who you know, why you’re interested, useful background notes etc. It looks a lot better if you approach the stand knowledgeably than in ignorance.
Also on the preparation list, is your one sentence introduction. You should have this well developed and practiced through other networking activities, but it’s worth polishing now too.
I’ve written elsewhere about dressing up to network. That is what you are doing, so dress up. Wear comfortable shoes, but not slippers! Make sure that you have a suitable shoulder carried briefcase (the laptop bag can always be empty this day) so that your hands are free. Keep a supply of cards inside one jacket pocket and use the other to store cards gleaned as you wander. Carry a couple of pens that will write nicely on both your own postcards and your ‘targets’ plastic encapsulated or varnished marketing collateral.
There’s a danger that you’ll start drinking at lunchtime. This is a killer for effective networking. If you REALLY feel you need to, and even into the evening if you’ve filled the time completely, think of having a spritzer instead of a pint!
There will be bound to be other organisations that you’ll stumble across and contacts to make, and don’t rule out those occasions when you’re waiting in line for something to strike up a conversation with strangers – you never know!
Of course, the event itself is only the beginning. I recommend leaving at least the next day free for you to make your follow ups. By now you should have a mental picture of how you do this for all networking events – this one is no different. Keys to this are to always beat the other person to get a message through, to recognise that what you are trying to do is move them along the spectrum know- like-trust, be methodical but not mechanical, and not to forget anyone.
So – more of a book than a blog, but I hope you find it useful – have a Great Exhibition!
Best wishes
Graham Wilson – 07785 222380
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