Blog

HOW TO: NETWORK AT A TRADE SHOW PART 3

Created: Friday, 29 April 2016 12:00 

Phew! We are almost there. On Monday, we posted about what to do before an event and on Wednesday, we posted about what to do during an event. Today, we’re going to discuss what you should do after an event.

Immediately After the Event

Separate the business cards you received into categories like “Contact ASAP” or “Not a good fit”. ASAP might mean an email when you get back to the hotel or on Monday morning when you get into the office.

Write down whatever you can remember on the cards in “Contact ASAP”. Write down any details you remember so that you remember that Bob from Dallas loves fishing and owns his own manufacturing facility and Bob from Portland is a sales rep who flies out to Houston twice a week.

Back at the Office After the Event

Email or call the people in your “Contact ASAP” file. If you haven’t contacted them already, get in touch when you get back to the office. Let them know you enjoyed speaking with them and make a note of something you talked about at the show. Keep a record of who you contacted, when and what you wrote so that if Bob emails you a funny fishing story in 6 months’ time, you’ll know it was Bob from Dallas.

Keep in touch with these individuals. Connect with them on LinkedIn if they’re on LinkedIn (if you’re not on LinkedIn, you should check out our earlier post on the subject) or email/call them when you see something (ie. an article in a newsletter) that they might find useful.

Make a note of what worked and what didn’t. Take some time to reflect and consider what worked well and what could have been better and, most importantly, how you could have changed/improved the situation. Take 15 minutes to examine your notes before you go your next networking event.

That’s the end of our “How to” guide on networking. As we mentioned in Part 1, we’ll be at the IEEE trade show in Dallas at booth #5030. If you’re also attending, we hope to see you there!