Attending conferences and expos are a fantastic way to generate leads for your business, they are also one of my absolutely least favourite things to do. This is the second in a four part blog series, which is a compilation of our favourite survival tips.

Getting time out of your working life to make it to a conference can be a challenge, but to make the most of one you need to squeeze out a little bit of extra time both before, and after the event itself.

Here are some of the things we’d suggest you do before you go to a conference:

• Make sure you’ve researched the organisations that will be there. Who do you want to meet? Anyone you want to avoid?

• Write to/email people who are also going, give them your mobile number, and suggest catching up for a cuppa on the day.

• Promote on social media that you will be there – see who else is going, and make some connections in advance (most conferences will have an official twitter hash tag, which you can get from the organisers).

• Take plenty of cards.

What do you do to prepare for a conference?