Conferences – money waste or worth the hype?

Conference – a buzzword that immediately transforms into a pros and cons mindmap in our brain.

So, to answer your question…

Everyone who has ever attended one went through the following stages:

Wow that’s expensive (and usually far)

But it’s face to face networking. What can be better?

Is it essential though? Am I possibly putting too much effort into something questionably beneficial?

Okay, one shall give to receive.

If I go, what should I bring, though? Business cards, merch or my socials anywhere on the web are fine?

We have seen and tried it all – from big sponsorship packs to walking around with just a screenshot of the QR code.

No matter how many points there are, it all boils down to the question of worthiness and profitability, meaning just attending an event isn’t enough anymore, you have to have a plan, a decent strategy. During our last business trip, we had a chance to chat with several conference attendees about the importance of such events and the best ways to be proactive as it is essential for quality networking.

Here are three questions we asked:

Have you ever attended an affiliate marketing conference before or is it your first one?

Why would you say it’s worth it? How do conferences one-up other types of networking?

What advice would you give to someone who is going to attend a conference for the first time?

… and some of the replies we got:

Yes, I have, many times. Not regularly, but I try. Usually, I attend events where the guest list includes people I am interested in. Gathering important market participants in one place is always the best opportunity! I’d say conferences with the after parties are definitely worth attending. There you can communicate in an informal setting.

Take the tickets that include the afterparty and don’t expect much from the speeches. Spend more time getting to know other companies, hang out at their stands. The most useful thing is to find as many contacts as possible. And speeches you can always watch online later.

***

Oh, aplenty, but I’m quite choosy about it. Such business trips help you get a grip of the market flow, learn about your competitors, find new clients. Putting a face to a name tends to ingratiate people predisposing them to cooperation. However, I’d say just attendance may not be that profitable, as opposed to going as a speaker. This is what actually brings attention to your brandcompany name.

***

Yes, a couple. Nothing can one up face to face networking. Moreover, not only do you meet new people, potential clients, and platforms to work with, as a publisher you get to ask around about interesting newcomers and proposals, discover what offers and campaigns profit, and what strategies others use. Holding your finger on the pulse is essential to any progress, you can get so many new ideas! Preparties and afterparties are the ones worth attending the most, you never know what connections or valuable information you can walk out with. Sometimes you even end up prolonging your trip with a ticket to another country because you just happen to find new opportunities. So, wish me luck as I’m boarding a plane tomorrow morning. Oh, yes, the advice…go for it! Be open-minded and keen to connect with anyone.

As you can see, pretty much everybody talks about the same thing – face to face live networking. There must be a significant reason as to why companies and organizations keep investing huge funds into bringing people together in this digital age, where you can essentially network and even live-network online.

Thing is, SMM (Social Media Marketing – author’s note) is great but live events are fundamental for supporting and building a strong community. Whether it is meeting someone new or addressing an old issue that has disrupted further cooperation because of some mere misunderstanding, a system lag or anything else, really, what it gives you is a perfect wake up call to understand where you actually stand at the moment and, therefore, pivot an already made strategy of where to go from there.