by Ryan Rinehart, Solutions Advisor
Like most people, I've attended a lot of virtual conferences in the past eight months. I've seen the good and the bad – from conferences that essentially turn into an all-day webinar to our Boomer Technology Circles Summit that created an immersive experience for sponsors and attendees using the VirBELA platform. As a person who staffs a sponsor booth at an event, I can tell you it's sometimes tough to get something of value out of the former.
I get why people tend to skip the sponsor booths at a virtual event. At an in-person event, visiting the sponsor booth gives you a chance to stretch your legs and perhaps even pick up some cool swag. At a virtual event, visiting sponsors requires you to remain in front of your computer during breaks when you'd probably rather take a walk or grab a snack from the kitchen.
So it might sound self-serving for me to encourage you to visit sponsors, but it's not just about ensuring Boomer Consulting sees a return on our marketing investment. There are several ways it can benefit you as well.
You'll get more individual attention
Sometimes, when people approach us with questions at an in-person event, we don't have the answers they need right at hand. When we're at a virtual event, we're sitting in front of our computers, so any information you need from us is just a click away. That level of attention is not always possible at a live conference.
At an in-person event, we do our best to gather your contact information and follow up on your questions or concerns after the event, but that can be difficult when the exhibitor hall is busy, and there are several people in the booth competing for our attention.
If you have an important question or issue to discuss with a vendor, visiting them during a virtual conference ensures you'll get their undivided attention.
You'll get more value from your investment
Attending a conference requires an investment of time, money or both. So you want to ensure you're getting the best return on that investment, right? While every event has valuable sessions and keynotes, we know some of the greatest value comes from the people you meet while you're there. That's true whether you attend an in-person or virtual event.
During one virtual conference we sponsored recently, attendees could visit our booth but decline an invitation to chat. We had several people stop by but decline our invitation. Surely those people wouldn't rebuff our attempts to have a conversation at an in-person event, so I wondered why they felt comfortable doing that virtually. What value could they possibly get from visiting the booth if they can't have a two-minute conversation while there?
If you spend your time and/or money attending a virtual conference, take the time to talk to people. It might not be the same as a live event, but it's still an opportunity to connect with others in the profession. Isn't that why you're there?
You'll build a strategic partnership
Do you think of your firm's vendors as strategic partners? Or people who are trying to sell you something? If it's the latter, you might be approaching these relationships in a way that limits your ability to truly leverage those relationships as a strategic asset in your firm.
When you create more strategic partnerships with your solution providers, they can provide valuable insight into your firm's challenges, share knowledge of best practices, and be proactive when issues arise. They typically have years of experience working with firms of all sizes and can draw on those experiences to help you learn from what has or hasn't worked for firms dealing with the same challenges.
If you view the sponsors at virtual events as salespeople who want to sell you a product you're not interested in buying, the result will be an arms-length relationship built on skepticism. Take the time to build that relationship at virtual events, and they're more motivated to bring solutions to the table far beyond the product or service they're known for.
I know you still need to take a break when attending virtual events – nobody wants to spend eight to ten hours at a keyboard. But at your next virtual event, set a goal to have conversations with a few of the vendors. Plan ahead to see who will be there and consider which relationships you want to build. You never know what it could lead to. After all, you dedicated your day to the conference. Visit the sponsor booths to ensure you get the same value you would if you were in person.
As a Solutions Advisor for Boomer Consulting, Inc., Ryan Rinehart is committed to building relationships with clients and helping them reach their goals as a firm. His primary focus is on Communities, Consulting and Training services.
Before joining Boomer Consulting, Inc., Ryan worked in corporate sales for Payless ShoeSource and as the Sales Team Lead for LBM in Topeka, Kansas.
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