Today, I went to an IoT conference in Chicago called the IoT Summit. It was an event put on by the Illinois Technology Association (ITA) and featured over 80 speakers from the top IoT companies like Aeris Communications, HoneyWell, Google, LoRa, Baxter and many others. I went to learn about trends in the market, validate my knowledge and make connections. Being one of the youngest people in attendance, I made it my mission to stand out form the crowd. Many people that attend these types of conferences are there because they are representatives of multi-million dollar companies and have meetings with people who are also attending the conference. Yet for me, it is an opportunity to learn, meet new people, and make a name for myself in an area I am so passionate about.
With my love for networking, emerging technology, and my company’s unique technology, I was able to thrive. One things that has made me successful in the past at large conferences like this one, is to not only listen and take notes during the sessions but to follow up and speak with the speakers/panelists. I believe there are many benefits to attending conferences, yet the largest and most untapped is to have the follow-up conversations with the speakers. I often pick 1 topic from their talk, form a few questions around it, then go start the conversation. At this conference, I was amazed that only about 10 people throughout the entire day engaged in these types of follow up conversations. With over 500 people in attendance that is a very small percentage of prime engagement. The amazing part about connecting with the speakers after their talk is that you have no idea where the conversation will lead, maybe to an investment, a follow up call/meeting, or even an introduction.
Today following my advice, after a talk about “The Battle for the Smart Homes” I followed up and approached the moderator. The panel featured a 5 experts all in the Smart Home space from Honeywell, Nest, and Amazon. The discussion was very interesting as conversations about security, voice as an interface, the ecosystem of external devices, and others swirled about. There were also a few points from panelists that differed from each other and provided some excitement on stage. Yet, the most interesting piece of the discussion was from the moderator. Since I came into the session a few minutes late, I didn’t get to hear the introductions but the moderator kept asking questions around aging in place. This topic struck me because here we were talking about smart homes and smart devices in homes and then the one specific topic directly correlating to my company appears. It was a perfect “match made in heaven” moment for me. As such, I had to follow up with him as there was a clear connection waiting to be made.
After the talk I went up to the stage as the panelists and moderator was coming down and initiated a conversation. The conversation was a short 30 second pitch of what I am working on which immediately struck his attention. He seemed to be in a rush and said to me “follow me to my lab”, without knowing what exactly I was getting myself into I followed him and the other panelists out the door and to his lab. After about 15 minutes of walking, we made it to his lab on Michigan Avenue. I was amazed to walk into the National Realtors Association building as the moderator was Chad Curry the head of the CRT lab. Chad gave a tour of all the exciting projects he and his team is working on from IoT to blockchain to autonomous vehicles to Ai and their impacts on real estate. It was all very fascinating to hear how these emerging technology’s affect real estate and homeowners!
Without ever having the initial conversation with Chad, I would have never had the opportunity to see what he is working on or hear his thoughts on aging in place. Going forward, I hope that you can take this advice and apply it to your next conference. Don’t just go for the lectures go to speak to the speakers, thats where the value is in conferences.
Tips
- Don’t talk about your true intention, product service technology until you are asked.
- Ask a leading question that relates to what they talked about and relates to your startup
- Try to be the last person in line to talk. At that point you have leverage to make a joke or ease into the conversation and you are more likely to get a follow up or an invite to sit down for lunch later
- Make it your goal to be remembered
- Get their business card and establish a next step you will email them you will call then what