How To Get The Most Out Of A Conference

Dear Import/Export Compliance Manager,

I have been in trade compliance for about a year and will be attending my first conference in two months.  Do you have any advice for me as to how to make the most of the event?

Present in King Of Prussia

Dear Present,

Congratulations on getting out and about to your first conference!  You don’t say whether you’re part of a department of import/export compliance people or a sole practitioner, but regardless, you’re suddenly going to be surrounded by your peers.  And it will be awesome...as long as you make the most of it. 

First of all, remember that a conference is not a training.  A training is for you to attend and learn from a trainer and that’s about it.  A conference is about learning things both inside the sessions and outside the sessions.  A successful conference involves learning just as much from your fellow attendees as you do from the people at the front of the room with the laser pointers.

In that regard, make as much of an effort to meet people as you can reasonably stand.  This will be difficult for your first conference, but the Import/Export Compliance Manager promises that it gets easier as you make more contacts.  This is especially true if you’re in touch with people in your local area, as you’ll have a ready-made social group when you show up.  Anyway, do the little things like sit next to someone you don’t know when walking into the training room and sitting with a group of people at meal times.  Attend as many social events as you can.  If you walk into an event where people are standing around in groups, try to find that one person who is hanging out by themselves and go talk to them.  “Hi, I’m ____.”  And then ask them who they work for and go from there.

Remember that you may want to contact people after the conference is over, such as for further benchmarking.  LinkedIn is well and good, but business cards are forever.  Bring business cards and give them to everyone you meet.  If they give you a business card back, be sure to read it for a few seconds: old-fashioned and courteous.  Besides, LinkedIn can’t be quantified as a rolodex on your desk with many conferences’ worth of business cards and other contacts.

During the presentations, it helps to ask a question on an issue relevant to your role or that you want to learn more about, even if you are already pretty certain about the answer.  You may learn something new from the presenter, which is good.  What is even better, though, is that a person in the audience, who has faced the same issue and has some stories about it, will find you after the presentation is completed and talk with you about it.  You’re calling attention to yourself but in a good way. 

About questions, though: never ask anything which incriminates you or your employer.  There’s an apocryphal story in our circles about the out-to-lunch person at a BIS seminar who asked the presenter, who was with BIS, about what to do about an export violation her employer was currently committing.  The story goes that the BIS person hinted that the audience member should stop asking the question, but she kept asking for an answer.  Supposedly an investigation was opened into her company after that.  Not sure if it’s true or not but it’s a good reminder to be careful what you ask in public.

Take a notebook and write good notes.  Writing things down cements them in your brain better than typing.  Then, when you get back to your hotel room, review the notes and see if doing so creates additional questions and/or ideas for things to do once you’re back at work.  Type them into your laptop if you brought it along.  And, after the conference is done, highlight the things you learned so you can inform your boss and co-workers.

If possible, it’s best to stay at the conference hotel.  Time spent commuting back and forth from your home or other hotel is time that could have been spent meeting other people, plus it’s easy to go back and drop stuff off at your room.  And everybody hates walking three blocks in the rain or cold because your company needed to save a few bucks.

It’s not necessary to dress to the nines but be sure to dress somewhat professionally.  You never know who among the attendees will be a future boss, co-worker or job reference.  Business casual is just fine.  Some people will change into something more casual before going out in the evening, but that’s not required.

Lastly, if there is a vendor floor, go talk to some of the vendors, even if you’re not the decisionmaker at your company or even interested in their services at this time.  Make some contacts, learn something new and stay on top of what’s out there.  Enter their giveaways.  Get some free tchotchkes to take back to people that don’t travel like the Shipping Department (and keep in mind you’re typically doing the vendors a favor by taking their stuff because they don’t want to have to pack it all up and take it back home).

The ’ol Import/Export Compliance Manager attended his first conference at the tender age of 28 and remembers going to the opening night social.  It was held at an outdoor patio of a hotel.  The place was jam packed with people, all talking in groups.  Walked the perimeter of the patio, saw no one he knew or anyone standing by themselves, walked back inside and back to his hotel room.  Felt really demoralized, actually, but he still met a ton of people during the rest of the conference.  Returned for next year’s conference and had a much easier time meeting people.  You’ll get there.  So go learn, both in the sessions and outside of them, and become a better import/export compliance professional!