Determine which events can best support your MedTech business development initiatives with this comprehensive list of MedTech conferences.
Table of Contents
- Conference Spreadsheet
- How to Get Better Biz Dev Outcomes from Conferences
Online networking helps businesses reach a large number of potential prospects and business partners, but nothing beats an in-person conversation. If you really want to pique someone's interest or build a relationship, face-to-face is the way to go. By strategically attending, presenting, or sponsoring target conferences, you can get your business in front of the right people at the right time.
That's why we put together this list of MedTech conferences. It's a work in progress, so if there are conferences you think we should add or remove, please let us know in the comments below.
How to Get Better Biz Dev Outcomes from Conferences
Attending a conference alone will not improve your business development efforts. Here are a few tips to substantially improve your outcomes.
Prepare Before You Go
If you can get a list of the attendees before the event, I highly recommend adding them to your CRM before you go. That way, you can immediately put notes on the contact record after a conversation along with a follow-up task. It saves so much time vs. having to go back afterward and put in all your notes.
I recently attended a conference and had the attendees and panelists pre-loaded. As the panelists were speaking, I took a picture, attached it to the contact record in my CRM, and made some notes about what they talked about. Then, afterward, I emailed the panelists a picture of their presentation with a recap of what I learned from them. It's a very personalized and great way to start a conversation!
I also asked people I talked to if I could snap a selfie of us in a similar fashion, then associated the pic with the contact record in my CRM. After the event, it was a great mental reminder of who I talked to and what we discussed so I could do an effective post-event follow-up. It also gave me an easy way to start a conversation after the event: "It was great meeting you at the conference! Here's the picture we took."
If you don't have the list of attendees or speakers pre-event, keep really good notes of who you met and what you talked about, then you'll have to do the sales follow-up work when you get back to the office.
The key is to have a plan for using the conference to build relationships and connections. What are you going to do before, during, and after the event? A good plan is essential to achieving ROI on conferences. It's too easy to spend time and money on conferences and then come back with nothing. Don't let it happen to you!
Have REAL conversations!
- Focus on people, not your phone: We all feel awkward at events when we don't know anyone or whom to talk to. It's too easy to pull out the phone, check some emails, and act like we are busy and important. Before you pull your phone out, lift your head up, look around, and make eye contact. Find someone to have a real conversation with instead. Take a deep breath, be your "pushy" self, and walk up to a person or group of people and introduce yourself. If it goes well, great! You have a new relationship. If you get a blow-off, no worries. The person probably won't remember you in 10 minutes anyway, so who cares?
- Stand in an open position: Keep your head up, arms by your sides, chest open, and feet slightly pointed open to the sides. If you are in a group, angle sideways to make room for more people to join in. Be on the lookout for eye contact from a passerby who may want to join in the conversation. Welcome them with your body language, eye contact, and a nod of the head. If you're in the middle of a conversation and notice someone looks like they want to join in, wave them over. Too often, people clique up at conferences and stand in closed-off circles. Don't do it.
- Get away from your colleagues! Go meet someone new. Here's a funny side story. When I was in my early 20s, my girlfriend and I would go to the bar and split up, circle around, and try to talk to dudes. We felt confident that if we couldn't find someone to talk to, we could walk around and "act" like we were trying to find our friend. LOL. Do the same thing at conferences! (Well, not the picking up guys part, unless that's what you want to try to do, haha 😉.)
We can help you plan out how to use conferences like these to accelerate your growth trajectory. Let's talk!
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