The last day of April and I am already counting the days till Thirty One’s National Conference in Columbus. 83 days if you were wondering or at least until the day I leave….
Nataly Kogan, another blogger, wrote a great article about “10 Tips to Maximizing Networking After a Conference” which made me THINK! Okay, so I do that ALOT and I am sure you do too. The question is, though, do we take action on the things that make us think? Interesting thought, right? I just got back from the “Mom Grows A Business” conference and I wanted to really maximize on the connections that I made and not just do the “Facebook friend” thing. I mean there were some AMAZING people who I would love to be able to share Thirty One (and my blog) with. Oh, I realized that I didn’t have my blog on my Thirty One business cards – HELLO! Guess I will need to change that with the next run.
So, I gathered up the business cards and tried to figure out what I should do to maximize my networking efforts. You can follow the link to get the full article but here are just a few that I might actually be able to (or am willing to) do:
- Organize all the business cards you collected into two piles: Now and Later. Okay, so I didn’t manage to get this done in a timely manner but I can see where it would help to know who I wanted to reach out to right away.
- Make notes on the back of the business cards you collected to help you with your follow-up. I actually do this when I gather the cards if there is something that I want to remember to do when I return home. If I think a product would work for them, I might note that as well.
- Don’t send out any follow-up emails the day immediately following the conference. Definitely NOT that efficient so I don’t have to worry.
- Personalize every follow-up email you write. This is where note-taking comes in handy!
- If you have a blog, write a post about the conference the day of or the day after. YEAH! Score 1 for me, I did this!
- If you choose to blog about the conference, make it useful and interesting to read. Another point for me.
- In your blog post include links to any blog posts written by people you met at the conference. WOOHOO! Another point!
Okay, so I may not be the best at follow-up after a conference but I am getting better. Of course, going to Thirty One’s conference is so much different because we are all there with a common purpose – CELEBRATE, ENCOURAGE, REWARD our Thirty One family. I still come home with lots of business cards and notes on the back to follow up with people on their ideas or to share information that I have with them.
What are YOUR best tips for follow-up after a conference? Share them so we can all learn together.
Have a ThirtyOne-derful day!
Hope Wissel 