Event selection and targeting

Choose an event because it puts a defined set of prospects within reach. Before spending time on it, decide how you will work it. The event is a container. Choose based on who will attend, where you can meet them, and whether you have a credible next step. Plan around specific accounts and the sessions or gatherings relevant to them instead of a general promise of networking.

Set the target

Start with the market you sell into and place upcoming events beside the accounts you want to reach. This gives you a reason to choose an event before comparing venues or formats.

Put upcoming industry events and conferences beside the accounts on your target list.¹ Conferences aimed at your target market can help you learn the niche and meet new prospects.² For open-source software and product-led organizations, industry events, trade shows, and conferences have been especially useful for prospecting.³

Write down the accounts you would be glad to meet and ask where they are likely to spend time. If you cannot name the market and accounts or identify where they gather, leave the event out until you can.

Test event fit

Consider an event when its audience matches your target and its format lets you reach that audience. Choose the format by testing it against the people you want to meet and the conditions around the event.

Choose events that can connect you with potential clients.⁴ Researching conference participants helps you decide whether members of your target market will attend.⁵ Use the participant list, agenda, exhibitor information, and public event activity to answer that question before committing your time.

Some advisors find social events best for gaining new clients, while others find educational events more successful.⁶ Effectiveness depends on timing, market conditions, client interests, and your personal strengths.⁷ Record why the format should work for this audience, then compare that expectation with what you learn after attending.

Map where prospects will be

After an event passes the audience test, map where conversations can happen. Cover the main event and the gatherings around it because prospects may spend more useful time away from the main floor.

For a priority account, ask: "Are they going to any industry events that either we're exhibiting or I can just walk the floor and then hope to bump into them?"⁸ This gives you two routes: meet the account through your presence at the event, or plan a floor route that gives you a plausible chance of reaching it.

Qualified prospects are most likely to be found in conference sessions that deal specifically with your firm's area of software interest.⁹ Match those sessions to the accounts that may care about the topic, then note when each session begins and where related conversations are likely to continue.

Look for places where target prospects may gather, including happy hours.¹⁰ Find conference-adjacent events by searching the conference hashtag on social sites, checking meetup groups, reviewing sponsor social sites, and following industry influencers who are attending.¹¹

Move on when each priority account has a plausible location, session, or gathering attached to it. A vague intention to walk around is a reason to keep researching, not a targeting plan.

Prioritize the accounts

Sort the list by how clearly you can verify attendance and how specifically you can locate each account during the event.

Conferences can have anywhere from 200 to more than 1,000 attendees, so you are unlikely to simply bump into the specific prospects you hope to meet.¹² Give each priority account a planned place to look, a relevant topic to open with, and a point at which you will move on if you cannot find the person.

Use the strongest account signals first. Put an account with confirmed attendance and a relevant session ahead of one that appears only in a broad industry audience. An account connected to an exhibitor, sponsor gathering, or conference-adjacent event gives you another route to a conversation.

Keep the list short enough to use during the event. For each account, record what you know, where you expect to find the person, and what would make the conversation worth continuing. The list should improve your choices on the floor, not create a record that nobody can use.

Make the attendance decision

Attendance decision

If those answers are concrete

Attend

If they are not

Keep researching participants

Attendance decision

• If those answers are concrete, Attend
• If they are not, keep researching participants

Attend when the event has a target audience, reachable accounts, and a path from conversation to a business outcome. Keep that standard in view when an event looks attractive for reasons unrelated to prospecting.

Events require a lot of time and money, and their return on investment is minimal if prospects are not converted into clients.¹³ Before committing, state what you want to learn, who you want to meet, where you expect to meet them, and what the next step will be if the conversation goes well.

If those answers are concrete, attend with the account map in hand. If they are not, keep researching participants and nearby gatherings until the event gives you a workable route.

What not to do

• Do not treat every networking event as a prospecting event. Many prospecting events consist mainly of salespeople spending time together trying to sell to each other.¹⁴
• Do not expect one action to guarantee that an event will produce new clients.¹⁵
• Do not assume one event type works for everyone.¹⁶