

Ask HN: How to Sell Yourseslf at a  Conference? - DanielBMarkham

So I'm speaking at the Agile 2009 conference this week in Chicago  http://agile2009.agilealliance.org/ (Topic: Agile won't work: Applying Agility to Non-Standard Teams)<p>I've never been to a conference before -- sounds strange for somebody who's been in IT for a while, but it's true.<p>My "day job" -- the reason I'm at the conference -- is that I teach/train/mentor/coach technology teams into becoming high performing teams instead of the death marches they sometimes end up being. [Insert lots of lessons learned from start-ups here]<p>My question: how do I leverage this free conference appearance into some sales or leads? I don't want to look like a used car salesman -- for my work it would be <i>very</i> counterproductive anyway -- but I don't want to lose a good opportunity either.<p>Any hints, tips, or tricks out there that I could use? I figure this is something lots of folks who attend conferences would like to know.<p>I figure I'll need to bring business cards. Perhaps have a sign-up sheet for people interested in more information? Any other ideas? Somebody mentioned that I visit the booths and ask other people how things are going -- might be a good way to pick up a lead. Is that really a good idea?
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robg
The best sales pitch is a great talk - interesting and informative. Use
anecdotes to tell a story. Ask yourself: What's the one question you're
answering for the audience so the next time they're thinking about similar
stuff you, and your answer, come to mind. Then provide all relevant contact
details. Be sure to save time for questions then have a few slides in your
back pocket in case you have extra time. If your talk is good enough, that's
your sales pitch right there. You're selling yourself through how you convey
the main idea.

If you don't know people, conferences can be somewhat lonely. Just keep
putting yourself out there. Try to arrange meetings beforehand and then try to
spend meals talking with new people. Worry more about exchanging thoughts than
business cards. It's easy to forget that you're there to learn. Find out when
meeting people what they're learning there. It's a good opening and you'll
soon find like minds.

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tonystubblebine
If you give a good talk, people will come up to you afterward. Get their
business cards. A salesperson would call these people leads and follow up with
them in order to ask the question directly, "Could your team perform at a
higher level with some coaching of the sort I talked about in my talk?"

Your coaching work is probably also going to work it's way into your talk
because that's where your anecdotes are coming from. Just make sure to spell
it out directly at the end of your talk with a slide: "Thanks for listening,
here's what I do, and how to contact me."

There's a non-car-sales technique to selling which is often summarized as give
value first. That's what you're doing here because both of these techniques
rely on you giving a great talk.

~~~
iamelgringo
_Your coaching work is probably also going to work it's way into your talk
because that's where your anecdotes are coming from. Just make sure to spell
it out directly at the end of your talk with a slide: "Thanks for listening,
here's what I do, and how to contact me."_

Give the contact and "here's what I do" slide at the beginning, too. If people
watch the videos online to get your contact info after the conference, you
don't want them to have to go through your whole slide deck/video to find you.

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jamesbritt
Seems pretty well covered in the comments so far, and you know to bring
business cards (ideally, cards with enough white to write notes and such).

One additional thought: try not to have your time monopolized by people who
either want to just impress you with their superior smarts, or pick your
brains for free.

I don't mean to sound callous, but face time at conferences can be limited,
and if a goal is to land work and contacts you need to be sort of ruthless at
times with your attention.

~~~
wyw
Being ruthless with your attention can be a hard act to pull off without
appearing rude.

~~~
jamesbritt
Oh, quite true, and it may not be the most natural behavior for many of us.

Still, I think most people would understand it if you politely explained that
time is limited and you're trying to meet as many new people as possible, and
here's my contact info so we can continue this discussion later.

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mahmud
Forget selling and focus on imparting good knowledge on your audience without
babbling on for far too long.

I only remember two types of conference speakers; the really good and the
really bad.

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brandnewlow
This time around, focus on giving a great talk that gets you invited to speak
again somewhere else.

Then go buy and read this book: [http://www.amazon.com/Never-Eat-Alone-
Secrets-Relationship/d...](http://www.amazon.com/Never-Eat-Alone-Secrets-
Relationship/dp/0385512058)

The author comes off as a complete tool, but every bit of advice he offers is
pure gold and extremely practical.

------
skmurphy
A lot of good suggestions already.

I think you have to offer one or two very specific symptoms of the problem
that you help teams with. Note that a symptom is a prospect's perception of
the problem, a diagnosis is the practitioners description.

After the talk exchange business cards with anyone who comes up. If there is
some way you can assist them (e.g. send them a url or other info, make an
intro) or a point you want to remember, jot down a 2-3 word note on the back
of the card immediately so that you don't forget. Follow up within two days.

If you want to hand something out besides your card consider either or both of
these:

1\. 3x5 card with a pain question on one side (and two or three sentences on
how you address) and a short 2-3 sentence backgrounder on the other. This is
still small enough to fit in folks pocket. Bonus: preparing this also prepares
you for small talk / networking conversations where you need to succinctly
describe what you do.

2\. An article as a "leave behind" instead of your slide deck, a good slide
deck is incomplete without the spoken presentation, and article can be
complete stand alone.

There are more than 50 sponsors: research each one's website and determine if
there are potential synergies between their offerings and yours. I would visit
any you might be able to partner with and introduce yourself.

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kylecordes
I haven't been to the Agile conference series in the last few years, so this
is based on several-year-old impressions:

Most of the attendees are not be people "buying" agile; they are (like you)
"selling" agile. A great many of them could be described their work as
"teach/train/mentor/coach technology teams into becoming high performing
teams".

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sachinag
If your website isn't crystal clear about what you offer, when you offer it,
what your prices are, and how to hire you, it doesn't matter how many leads
you get. Your conversion will suck.

If your site does all those things, your (first and) last slide just needs to
have your URL and people will look at it (during and) after your speech.

