10 Tips for Making the Most of Your Convention Experience

(TMA International Headquarters)

It’s the 15-year anniversary of the Turnaround Management Association (TMA), and you have just received the Annual Convention brochure in the mail. “Great event! Great programming! Great city! Great networking opportunities!” you think. “I’m going to make the investment and attend my first TMA convention!”

Congratulations. You will have a great time and meet some of the best people in the corporate renewal industry. Now that you have made the decision, the question is, how do you make the most of your convention experience, both personally and professionally? Having attended more than a dozen TMA and other conventions, I have a few ideas.

• Arrive Early.

Try to book an early flight or, if you are coming from the opposite coast, fly in the evening before. With airline delays and cancellations occurring more frequently, you should allow enough time to make sure you arrive early and can check in at a relaxed and relatively leisurely pace.

Depending on the time of day, you should allow 45 to 60 minutes to travel from the airport to the Hyatt Regency San Francisco, where the convention is being held. If you are in San Francisco solely for the convention and don’t plan to stay longer, there’s probably no need to rent a car. Activities at most TMA conventions are usually at the hotel or within easy walking distance. If transportation is needed, TMA usually provides it. If all else fails, you can usually grab a cab.

By arriving and registering early, you can obtain the attendance list and target people you want to meet. This is critical for maximizing your networking opportunities. More than 1,000 people are expected to attend this year’s Annual Convention, so you can’t see and spend time with everybody. The attendance list can help you choose, focus, and target who you want to meet.

• Attend as many events as possible, and stay as long as you can.

Of course, everyone has clients and customers to service and that may, at times, divert our attention from the convention. Certainly this comes first!

However, every missed convention event is a lost opportunity to meet people and to land a new customer or client. Keeping in mind that the convention is just a different type of workday, I try not to skip any programs or parties, if possible.

If you’re from the East Coast, there is a little better opportunity for scheduling, although it comes with a price — waking up and conducting business before your normal office hours. But a fresh cup of coffee can get you through that 8 a.m. E.S.T./5 a.m. P.S.T. conference call.

Again, things happen, so we often must cut the trip short. However, I think it’s important to commit to staying for the entire conference. Chances are that during the year, there will be few, if any, opportunities to meet so many people in one place. Given the time and money that you have invested in the event, it makes sense to maximize convention value by staying for the entire time, if at all possible.

• Make time to visit the Exhibit Hall.

This serves two important functions. First, it’s a great place for networking. But second — and maybe even more important, if you have young children, nieces, nephews, or grandchildren — there are enough trinkets for you to take home to last until Thanksgiving. Sometimes the giveaways have been so good that I’ve had to use an extra bag to carry my souvenirs home.

• Keep your calendar full.

I make it a point to invite people with whom I do business consistently for a cocktail, breakfast, lunch, or dinner. These social/ business get-togethers between convention sessions are a good way to start the day, take a midday break, or finish the day. They provide a pleasant way to spend time with people with whom you’ve had successful relationships over the year or with whom you are trying to develop new relationships or broaden existing ones.

If you find a nice place away from the convention “home hotel,” it also gives you and your guests a chance to experience something unique and special about the host city.

• Get fresh perspectives on the business climate.

There are a handful of people I have come to know through these conventions. We see each other once or twice a year at these events, and I look forward to spending time with them. We talk about the general business climate, good and bad, in the different regions of the country. It helps me gain a fresh perspective about what is happening elsewhere, which helps me do my job better.

By developing this continuity with people from around the United States and internationally, it also helps to broaden my marketplace.

• Don’t be shy.

At the end of the evening, you can usually find small groups of people chatting at the hotel bar, long into the night. By this time, hopefully your experience has matched mine at TMA conventions — most of the people you meet are polite and friendly and, like you, are interested in expanding their networks. Most also remember what their first convention was like, when they knew few attendees, and they’ll welcome you into their group.

People who have gathered for more conversation at the hotel bar usually will still be wearing their convention badges. Approach them, even if you don’t know anybody in the group. The price of admission is usually buying the next round of drinks.

• Bring plenty of business cards.

It has happened to all of us at one time or another. You rush out the door and halfway to the airport, you realize you forgot your business cards or that you didn’t bring nearly enough. Don’t panic. If having cards sent to you overnight from your home base is not an option, the hotel business center can usually print some temporary ones for you. While the stand-ins probably won’t look quite as spiffy as your usual cards, generic cards are better than no cards.

• Experience the host city.

Another reason to stay for the entire convention is that it gives you additional opportunities to experience some of the distinctiveness of the convention city. At TMA’s Annual Conference last year in Colorado Springs, for example, I walked around the U.S. Air Force Academy and the Olympic Training Center.

For me, nothing is better in San Francisco than getting up early in the morning, having a cup of coffee and taking the cable car down to Fisherman’s Wharf. You get a taste of the city as the cable cars travel through different ethnic neighborhoods, pass the curviest street in the world, and drop you off a short walk from Ghirardelli Square.

If you have a car and the time, California’s wine country is about an hour’s drive away. Take a two-hour drive south, and you reach one of the most spectacular scenic areas in the U.S., the Monterrey Peninsula, and one of the most sacred golf havens in the world, Pebble Beach. It’s well worth the trip. Just put the top down and go cruising.

• Get more involved in TMA activities.

What if while winding down one day at the convention, you decide you’d like to get more involved in TMA? Look for Executive Director Linda Delgadillo or members of her staff from TMA headquarters in Chicago —they’ll all be wearing green “staff” ribbons on their name badges. If it’s happening in the world of TMA, they can direct you to the right spot!

• Take time to follow up.

Soon after you return home, try to follow up on the contacts you made at the convention. It’ll keep your name fresh in their minds. That may take you some time, though—you’re likely to add scores of people to your business network after attending just one TMA convention.