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 four part blog is a compilation of our favourite survival tips. I’m no Bear Grylls, so I won’t be advocating hollowing out a camel carcass to snooze in – but hopefully, if you share this fear of conferences these will help you make the most of the experience.

Social Skills.

We’ve blogged previously about situations where you can start to feel that everyone else is more capable, confident or connected than you are; conferences are a natural habit for self-confidence demons. Look around – there are other people who feel the same way as you do. The fantastic thing about networking is that, on the whole, other people also want to do it. If you don’t feel confident starting conversations at conferences try one of these:
1. Talk to people who are running the stands: ask them if they have exhibited at this conference before, ask them how it’s going, let them give you their prepared pitch – just get chatting.
2. Attend seminar or round-table discussions – the structure of these sessions can make it easier to get involved.
3. Find someone who looks as fed up and lost as you do, commiserate to each other on how bad conferences are, and get chatting.

Do you love, or hate conferences? What are your top tips?