Before
- Pick five people, not fifty. Look at the speaker list and exhibitors. Choose five you’d genuinely like to talk to and write one line on why.
- Know your one-sentence answer to “what do you do?” Make it about the problem you solve, not your job title.
- Check your profile is current. If someone taps your card or scans your QR, they should see your current role and the one link you want them to click.
On the day
- Go to the sessions your five are in. Asking a good question in a session is the easiest introduction there is.
- Ask before you pitch. “What brought you here?” gets you further than anything about your product.
- Swap details at the end, not the start. It’s natural then, and you’ll know whether there’s a reason to follow up.
Capture context
The moment you walk away, write one line: what you talked about and what you promised. If you used a TapInfo card, add it as a note on the interaction; the event, date and time are already there.
“Asked about AI intake for conveyancing. Send the case study by Friday.”
Without that line, you’ll have a name and an email in two weeks and no idea why.
The next 48 hours
- Follow up with everyone you made a promise to, within two working days.
- Make each message specific: mention the session or the thing they said.
- For the rest, a short note is enough. There are templates in Follow-up messages that get replies.