How to Prepare for a Conference to Maximize Your Personal Brand Impact

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Conferences offer incredible opportunities to network, learn, and strengthen your personal brand—but only if you’re prepared to make the most of them. With the right approach, you can expand your mindset, build valuable connections, and uncover new insights. To help you get there, I’ve put together a step-by-step guide using one of my favorite tools: an acronym!

In this episode of the Branding Room Only podcast, you’ll discover how to maximize your personal brand impact at conferences. We’ll cover crafting an effective elevator pitch, setting clear goals, networking with purpose, and following up to create lasting connections that truly matter.

Chapters

2:00 - Crafting your elevator pitch: what to include, the value of adding fun facts, and the importance of how you sound as you introduce yourself

8:21 - Organizing your goals for conferences: suggestions, recommendations, and the benefit of flexibility

10:56 - Networking with intent: how to prepare beforehand and the importance of quality over quantity

13:13 - Following up effectively: how to make connections, use streamlining tools, and approach your follow-up messages

16:50 - Engaging before and after the conference: how to use social media and prepare for and continue conversations online

19:07 - Researching the event: how to use the past to maximize your opportunities

20:32 - Elevating your online presence: what you can do before you attend any conference

23:20 - Navigating the conference agenda: tools to plan your schedule and how to add value and leave time for decompression and self-care

26:45 - Creating branded materials: suggestions for easy connection and communicating key information

28:35 - Engaging authentically: how to appear in conversations and what to avoid while conversing with other people

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Sponsor for this episode

This episode is brought to you by PGE Consulting Group LLC.

PGE Consulting Group LLC is dedicated to providing a practical hybrid of professional development training and diversity solutions. From speaking to consulting to programming and more, all services and resources are carefully tailored for each partner. Paula Edgar’s distinct expertise helps engage attendees and create lasting change for her clients.

To learn more about Paula and her services, go to www.paulaedgar.com or contact her at info@paulaedgar.com, and follow Paula Edgar and the PGE Consulting Group LLC on LinkedIn.

Transcript

Welcome to The Branding Room Only Podcast where we share career stories, strategies, and lessons learned on how industry leaders and influencers have built their personal brands. Now, let's get started with the show. Welcome back to another episode of Branding Room Only. I'm your host, Paula Edgar, and today, we're talking about how to maximize your personal brand impact when you prepare for a conference. Conferences are my favorite. They're great opportunities for networking, learning, and of course, building your personal brand. I always say because I don't ever want to go back and take another test to go back to school again, it's the time when I really get to continue to have my growth mindset and learn. Like any other opportunity, you have to prepare to get the most out of it. So I have created a step-by-step guide to help you do just that using the acronym because you know I love them, CONFERENCE. Let's dive in. Essentially in every single industry and really across demographics and different affinity groups, conferences are just opportunities for you to enhance, build, and expand your personal brand so you can have access to new audiences, industry leaders, and just in general, as I always love to encourage you, to have personal growth. Pretty much, I probably attend 10-plus conferences a year. I always say it's always conference season. But there is a conference that I really truly love and won't call it my favorite, but it's definitely up there and it's called Corporate Counsel Women of Color. As I prepare for that conference, I thought it would be helpful to talk about how do you do so in any conference in order to not feel overwhelmed and to really maximize your impact. Let's start with the C in CONFERENCE and that is C for Craft your elevator pitch. I've talked about elevator pitches before and we know that first impressions matter so much because you really only get a few seconds to make them. When you meet somebody at a conference and truly before, you want to be able to be memorable and clearly and quickly communicate who you are, what you do, what makes you unique, and how you add value. This is your personal elevator pitch. It should be powerful enough to leave a lasting impression. Most people think about elevator pitches, it was named after the time it would take for you to ride up in an elevator with someone and introduce yourself. I always think the elevator probably is a skyscraper. But truly, the way I think about doing an elevator pitch is having five value proposition statements where you're really talking about different things that are a part of your value. I always start with understanding, you should know your name, your affiliation, your organization, and your location. I'm Paula, Paula Edgar. I always repeat my first name. Those of you who have attended any of my trainings or my keynotes know that it's important because people often say their name either too fast, too slow, or too low. So Paula, Paula Edgar, and then I am a speaker and consultant. I specialize in professional development and I'm the CEO of PGE Consulting Group, and I'm based out of Brooklyn, New York. Those are the things you know. There are other pieces. I'm also one of 12 commissioners on the American Bar Association's Commission on Women in the Professions, another value statement. I'm a past president of the Metropolitan Black Bar Association. In addition, I speak and consult primarily with law firms on many topics, but my favorite topic is personal branding. Again, thinking about different pieces here. I am an officer in the New York City Bar Association where I'm the Association secretary. Again, different statements that kind of show the value add or how you are connected to the community. It can shift and vary depending on who you interact with. But the likelihood is that you're never going to say those things all together as one, except for opportunities where you're being introduced by someone and it's a little bit longer or something like this where I'm actually showing you how to do it because people tend to interrupt you, so because of the way that we, as human beings, when we find something that we relate to, we tend to interrupt or exclaim and so it's better for you to know those statements and keep them in your toolkit so that you can weave into any conversation with an understanding that first top statement talking about your name, how you add value, et cetera, your location, that should be top of mind and ready to go. No one should ever ask you, "Tell me about yourself," or you do an introduction and you should feel stuck. That's why I like to encourage people to think about this ahead of time. That way, for any experience, but especially since we're talking about conferences here, you know your elevator pitch, and I want you to actually write these statements down. But fun fact, your fun fact is the one that is usually the most memorable. If you get the opportunity where you're talking to someone for a good amount of time and you have multiple opportunities to connect with them at the same event, you can deepen the conversation. Sometimes it gets to not work and not necessarily some of the value proposition statements that you have, but really something that's interesting or fun, but definitely works appropriately about you. I have two or three that I usually use to weave into a conversation, but my favorite is that I was a contestant on Wheel of Fortune, which is true. I won, yes, a trip to Hawaii, and also $10,000, and it was with my friend Carrie for Best Friends Week years ago. But again, I love that as my fun fact because Wheel of Fortune is an internationally known television show and people always want to know more about it. It makes you a little more interesting. Now, don't think that if, “Okay, Paula, I wasn't a contestant on Wheel of Fortune, so I don't know what to say,” think about something about you that excites you, something that is not necessarily about work, but something that you are connected to and that makes you feel passionate or as interesting. Lots of people talk about being multiples, being parents of multiples, or having a hobby that is maybe not something that somebody would guess about them. Anyway, I'll say this and I'll say this because I want you to think about this and again, write it down, I do want you to practice, but not practice so much that it doesn't feel natural to you. These are statements that you have that you just know about yourself. You're not thinking, "Well, what do I want to say about myself?" You already know. When somebody says to you, "What do you do?" you should be ready to impress with your unique value proposition, and that should be able to happen whether in short form or long form because of the fact that you have these statements ready to go. Again, the context of using your elevator pitch really depends as I mentioned, so just have that ready. That is your C. When you are talking about yourself—and this is just a general best practice—make sure you sound as excited about yourself as you want them to be about you. So often people will introduce themselves and then be very much like, "Hi, I'm [insert name here]. Yes, here's what I do.” It just doesn't seem like they care or they're invested in themselves. That can be contagious. If you're not excited about yourself, neither am I. Remember, when you're introducing yourself, particularly when in that elevator pitch opportunity, you're usually shaking a hand and smiling. Again, be excited about yourself so that folks can be excited about you. The O in CONFERENCE is Organize your goals. I had to really think about what my goals were when attending all of these conferences, whether it is to learn, to speak, to engage. But for each one, what am I getting out of the opportunity? Is it worth the spend if I have to actually spend money? Or if I'm speaking, how can I maximize the opportunity by setting goals? Are there speakers who I want to meet? Do I want to establish myself further as a thought leader? Am I wanting to learn about industry trends? Whatever it is, having those clear goals will help you to really have a sense of purpose. I'm a big fan of writing them down for each one. Who do you want to meet? What do you want to do? That approach to attending conferences makes it feel a little less overwhelming and much more like a strategic opportunity for you to expand your brand. Really don't think of conferences as just transactional networking. It's relationship building that you're getting the opportunity to start. One goal that you can easily implement is one that I have, not just for conferences, but for every relationship building and networking opportunity that I have. That's why I like to say I want to meet five people who I didn't know before, so assuming the event has 10, I'm going to go ahead and do that. That means that you have to get out of your comfort zone. You have to walk around. I do this often. Yes, sometimes it's uncomfortable, even though I'm an extrovert, I do know that not everyone loves this or even wants to do this. But I can tell you that this is a strategy that's helped me to really build my brand and to build and expand my network. You never know where your next opportunity is going to be or how you can connect with somebody and be their next opportunity. I'd love for thinking about any time you're connecting with folks as a reciprocal opportunity. We're not one where you're always trying to get but that you may be able to be that person for somebody else. Be thoughtful about the goals but be flexible because conferences can be unpredictable. One of the things I love about conferences is opportunities that are off of the actual agenda. Connecting with people and them maybe having a private dinner or meeting at the bar or anything that's maybe not necessarily as regimented. So, while yes, you want to think about what you want to do, setting goals helps you to be more strategic, also be flexible. That's the O and then similar to this, the N in CONFERENCE is Networking with intent. We know that it's essential, but similar to setting up those goals, your goals, organizing your goals, as I mentioned before, can also be about what you want to learn, but the networking piece, relationship building, is really identifying who you want to meet. If the conference has a list of attendees beforehand, if there are other people who are using social media and posting, when you've read the outline or the agenda that you're excited about a topic and you want to see who the speakers are, multiple pieces here help with those brand building goals and can support some of those long-term career strategies that you have for building your brand. When you are approaching someone with that elevator pitch that we talked about before, try to be authentic and show genuine interest in their work. Remember it's not about transaction, it's about relationships. Also remember that networking doesn't start at the conference, it starts beforehand. If the conference is sharing a hashtag that folks should be using ahead of time, follow that hashtag on LinkedIn or other social media platforms to see who's posting about what. Comment on their posts, and say, “Looking forward to meeting you. Can't wait for this panel,” et cetera. It can help people to get excited. It can help build their brand because it builds their visibility, and again, helps you with the strategy that you want to build. While I'm talking about this, I've given you a goal of trying to meet at least five people, I want you to think about quality versus quantity. I love thinking about quantity because I just love to meet people and I'm an extrovert’s extrovert. Wherever you land when it comes to this, just make sure that you're actually doing it. Researching people ahead of time and never ever forget about the follow-up. Who is it you're trying to connect with or you connected with? What did you talk about? I like to have either the notes app on my phone or use an actual notebook to take notes in order to personalize follow-up messages, “It was great to talk to you about X thing.” So be thoughtful and strategic about that. Next up in the CONFERENCE acronym is F for Follow-up effectively. So essentially, connecting with folks even before or during the conference, is not going to be as much of a benefit if you're not actually following up. Now, again, sometimes you're at a conference and you meet a lot of folks and you may connect with them on LinkedIn, but it's important to think about the folks who you had a deeper conversation with or there's opportunity to delve further into opportunities, building relationships, et cetera. Don't just leave it at the connection on LinkedIn or send an email, but send a message, a personalized message on LinkedIn, saying, “It was great to meet you.” I'm a big believer that you should wait till at least 48 business hours after the conference to send someone a message. Why? Because generally, folks are accruing emails because they have their out-of-office on, and if it goes into a weekend, you don't want to send it on the weekend, you want to send it on a Tuesday, preferably afternoon just to give the inboxes an opportunity to breathe. It doesn't have to be a long thing, you could say, “It was great meeting you at CCWC.” That was an example, “Great meeting you at a conference, and I'd love to connect further. Here's a resource that I told you about. Can you expound on this thing? Can we take 15 minutes for Zoom?” Or if you're in the same location or if you'll be in another conference or event together soon, “Can we have dinner?” Thinking about the nature of the conversation should be able to help you to decide how the follow-up should be. Now, here's the key. You don't want to make it heavy on yourself. It's one of the ways I think that We can really use AI. You can dictate and have AI create a draft email for you or draft a follow-up on LinkedIn. You can create a template using AI or just have a template ready to go generally that has fill in the blanks. “Dear X, it was great to meet you at Y. Love when we talk about Z and hope that we have an opportunity to connect in any of the ways we just talked about before. Have a great day.” I find that a lot of the weight of follow-up comes from feeling like, "Oh, gosh, I have to draft a brand new email each time. I have to think about this." The more you have structure there, meaning put it on your calendar that you're going to follow up post the conference, and do that before you go to the conference. Set the time aside, and then using templates and using tools like AI can help you to take the weight out of it and maximize the opportunity faster because there have been times that I've had really great opportunities and met wonderful people and just has let life get in the way. This way, you're putting in structures to make it so that you maximize the opportunity from those connections and continue to build relationships in a much better way. Again, that timeliness, the plan for follow-up, all of that is important, and that's also great for building your brand. Next up is an E, and the E is for Engaging before and after. As I mentioned before, if the conference has a hashtag, you want to follow it and see who's on it and connect with them, you want to connect in advance with any speakers or other attendees, you can look at the conference app if they have a conference app. Make sure you download it in advance to know what rooms you have to go to so you show up ready to go. I like to show up at the panels or events that I'm really excited for early. Just thinking about what the engagement can be beforehand makes a lot of sense. I also love looking folks up. If it's somebody who has a public profile, I might go ahead and look at their bio online or their LinkedIn, see what their social media is saying, so that when we have conversations, they can know that I've invested in finding out more about them. It's not a cold connection. It's actually warm. Because people love talking about themselves, it makes it even warmer when folks realize that you're investing ahead of time. By reaching out, you can have that connection to be a little bit more solid and more impactful when you have the opportunity to connect in person. Do a post on LinkedIn saying how excited you are for a certain panel, tag the speakers. There are lots of different opportunities. Afterwards, you can say, “This is what I learned at that panel. Remember when I posted about this thing? Here's what I learned from that.” Have a picture with you and the panelists or a selfie. Social media makes it really easy to engage after and before, and it doesn't just have to be in social. Again, thinking about apps that exist for the event, using the hashtags to connect, reading up on topics that are going to be covered. Get yourself excited, get invested in it, take that time, and it will be a better use of your investment, whether or not you had to pay for it yourself or the organization did. Also, if there are any groups that are connected afterwards, so oftentimes there'll be a cohort of folks who have attended a conference or who went to dinner or a group chat or email, just find ways to continue the conversation and definitely share key takeaways and photos to keep the event going. So back to the next letter, which is R, thinking about how you can, again, maximize the event, in addition to doing that engagement we talked about, you want to Research the event. How long has it been going on? Who are the organizers? Is there a board there? Do they need volunteers? Research can be helpful. I would also look into if the hashtag for the event is a one where it's like “insert the acronym here, 2023, 2024,” you can put in past years to see what the posts were like and also connect with folks there too. That's the great part about social media. Looking at the event website, again, looking at LinkedIn, looking at anything they've posted, sometimes they'll post videos to get you excited. You can also look at who the sponsors are. Maybe people you're connected with are sponsors that might allow you to have a greater connection with some of the speakers because you know a sponsor. Again, this goes back to the aligning with your goals and being strategic about this, that is really important because that will help you to align what the goals are, the event’s goals are, any connections you might have, and your brand, so you're planning your day well, thinking about the things that you have to attend, what talking points you may want to use for different things. It can really be, I think, a fruitful experience should you do it properly. Speaking of social media, which I do all the time, the next E is Elevate your online presence. Too often, I go to conferences and events and folks will be like, “Oh, I don't want to connect with your own LinkedIn because my LinkedIn is not updated or my bio is not updated on my firm website.” So the E here in terms of the preparation as well is to Elevate your online presence. Make sure your LinkedIn profile is fully up to date, that it has your current accomplishment and expertise, that you have a professional headshot, a recent one, hopefully. See if you need to refresh your summary, any recent work or achievements. That way when they look at you when they connect with you in person or look at you after, they will see the profile you want them to see and that will enhance or add additional context to the impression that you made in person or that you will make in person when you get there. I am a big fan of using LinkedIn in real time when I meet someone and not leaving any engagement without connecting. The way that I do that is I have my LinkedIn QR code on my cell phone as the home screen so that I don't even have to unlock my phone in order to show somebody my QR code and connect with them. You can go into your LinkedIn. If you're using the phone app, if you put your finger into the search field on LinkedIn, the general one at the home screen and look to the right, there is a QR code that comes up that you just touch that QR code, and you can see both your QR code and also the option of scanning someone else's on that tool. So again, you open up your LinkedIn app, which you better have on your phone, then when you go to the search function, just put your finger in there, and to the right of the field, you'll see a little QR code piece pop up, type your finger in there, tap on that code, and it'll bring up your big code and you can save that as a photo on your phone and make connections a lot easier. I'm not a fan of opening up my phone and scrolling through things in order for people to connect with me. I’d rather it'd be easier and have them be able to do so. Get your game right, get your profile and everything up all ready to go. Again, if you're making posts in advance, use the hashtag, show the connections. You'll also be showing the folks who have put together the conference your investment. Essentially, whenever you do that thing, it helps to promote and sell and show the conference as a must-see event. Oftentimes, conference organizers and speakers love that because they don't have to do all the promotion and marketing themselves. When you're thinking about updating your profile, also think about posts, all of this together as to that strategy we talked about at the beginning. The N following is for Navigate the agenda. What I love so much about now that we have apps, and usually you can download the apps ahead of time, is I can go through and decide what I want my schedules to look like per day. But if they don’t have an app, usually, they'll send you the PDF when you register or on the updated website for the organization, they usually will have an agenda that they continually update with speakers and topics, etc. I look when I register to kind of see what's going on. Sometimes the conference will make you pick your sessions ahead of time. But if they don't, definitely within 72 hours before you go to the conference, you want to look at the schedule to decide where you're going to be, and then put those things on your calendar if the conference app—if they have one—doesn't automatically do that for you and send you reminders so that you don't have to think about where you're going to go. You have a plan. You can put the rooms and the information on the topic of where you're going to go ahead of time and just make it a little bit more seamless. Especially when you're doing things going from the East Coast to West Coast, they’re changing time zones. It's even more important, I think for us, and maybe I'm speaking on my own, but to put it in my calendar. So if I'm tired, I don't have to do too much thinking. That helps me navigate both the time change as well as my ADHD, which makes it harder for me to focus on some of the minutiae sometimes as well. Again, setting that goal when you look at the agenda, who do I want to see here? What do I want to learn? How am I going to follow up? Please, for goodness sake, when you look at the agenda, please don't book yourself from day, more sunup to sundown because you need some time to decompress. Even though we're an extrovert, all that people in can be a lot. If you are an introvert, generally people who are introverts, connecting with people and doing all of that networking and learning can be very draining. Just be thoughtful about leaving time for yourself to eat, to take a break before any evening festivities, etc. And when you are thinking about being and looking at the agenda, also think in advance about maybe any questions that you might want to ask or submit during the session you attend, thinking about that ahead of time. If you've done research on the panelists and you're thinking about the topic, the question that you ask can be more profound if folks can look at you. It can also help build your brand because of how you're asking questions. To that end, as you'll remember from my branding pet peeves, if there's a panel or a speaker and they ask for questions and there's that radio silence, as a speaker and a frequent moderator panelist, it’s so frustrating when that happens, especially when you know you're trying to add so much value. So use that opportunity to raise your hand, and when you do so, go to the microphone to ask your question, because people will not tell you they can't hear, but also that opportunity for asking a question will let everybody in the room know who you are, and that you've thought about this subject, and that's a big brand builder. What you don't want to do is to get up to the microphone and say, “Here's my long, long comment and a short question,” which people often do and that is a bruiser for your brand. All right. The other thing too is having or creating branded materials. So this can happen in a lot of different ways. That's the next C is Create branded materials. I talked to you about using the LinkedIn QR code that counts for a branded material. Oftentimes people will have business cards that will have a QR code on it. I have a digital card, a Dot Card, which allows me to tap someone's phone and my contact information and anything else I would like shared goes into the phone and then they can save it without having to scan. It gives them more contact information than just the QR code. But think about this, for example, because I speak about branding and I'm a speaker, I often will have little index cards or handouts that have a little bit about me, some bullet points, maybe some takeaways or an offer that I can also give to people in addition to connecting with me on LinkedIn, or using my Dot Card, so they can really truly follow up with me and have more information. Branded materials like your business card, using LinkedIn or digital business cards can be helpful. The great thing is that if you want to create something, you can do that using Canva or Adobe. There are so many tools now that can help you to create really high-quality looking things. If you have a logo, or have stuff that you want to create with your photos or content, it's a lot easier. When you’re thinking about that, if it's not just a card, how you highlighting your experience or an offer, and just be thoughtful about it, don't be too pushy about that, but having it as somebody asks like, "Oh, I'd really love to hear more about that thing," you're like, "Well, interesting that you said that. Here's this thing." You can also follow up with that as an attachment later on in your post engagement. Speaking of engagement, that is the last E. Engage authentically. At any conferences and really in any opportunity to network and engage, authenticity is the key for lasting connections. I love when I'm at a conference and I'm talking to somebody at the bar or having an extra dinner or breakfast where we can connect a little bit more and it's not so transactional and not fake. So be a little bit vulnerable, be interesting to the extent that you can. Staying true to your values, making sure you're listening to them and being present in conversations. A pet peeve that I have is when people are talking to me and maybe looking to the side and around about who else is in the room. It's challenging because especially if you're going to conferences where you're going to see a lot of people you know and a lot of folks are there, you want to see who else is there, but do that thoughtfully so that folks who you're connecting with don't feel as if they are not being valued by you in the interactions. Remember that authenticity is one of the strongest assets in your personal brand. If someone feels like you've been dismissive of them or that you're not being true and authentic in who you are, it can damage your brand perception and the way that they talk about you reputationally. Strive for some of those genuine authentic interactions and connections and make sure you're present in conversations. That is my CONFERENCE acronym, and there you have it. When you're preparing for a conference, you're going to use the CONFERENCE acronym. Remember that a conference is more than an event. It's an opportunity to elevate your personal brand and to leave a lasting impression. So to recap, the acronym again is CONFERENCE. C is for Craft your elevator pitch. O is for Organize your goals. N is for Network with intent. F is for Follow-up effectively. E is for Engage before and after. R is for Research the event. E is for Elevate your online presence. N, Navigate the agenda. C, Create branded materials. E, Engage authentically. As always, my friends, thank you so much for tuning into Branding Room Only. If you enjoyed this episode, which I hope you do, please rate, subscribe, and share it with anyone who could benefit from these tips, and you know that's a lot of people. Also come back to this podcast episode. The next time you're going to a conference, I want this to be evergreen. As always, see you next time and stand by your brand. Bye.