One of the things that I notice at some conferences I attend is a group of four or five people from one company who turn up at the conference together, sit together in the conference hall, stand around together in the coffee break, sit together at lunch and then huddle together at the networking cocktail sessions. You do not see company leaders doing this. They will move around talking to as many people as possible.
I see this pattern with some delegates at our annual T&T Energy Conference.
From a conference organiser point of view, I am of course happy for the revenue from the registration fees. But as an association executive, whose main concern must be member value, I do wonder if the company sending people to the conference gets value for their investment. The content from the presentations and the panel discussion could just as easily be received if people who do not interact with other delegates register as a virtual delegate and sit in front of their computer screen, at a significantly lower cost.
Perhaps company leaders sending people to conferences could coach them about the value of interaction and conversation? As I say, most of the company leaders seem to understand this and will move around talking to as many people as possible.
Delegates coming from small service companies, where they may only be able to invest in a single person registration, do not have this issue. They have to sit with and talk to people from other companies. This is not easy for everyone: some people are naturally gregarious, while others are shy and find it harder to make connections. Tools like conference apps and LinkedIn can help know who is at an event but you still need to actually make the approach and actively meet people. I have often found that the most interesting conversations I have at conferences are with people I meet randomly, for example in a queue or if I just pick a random empty seat at a lunch table.
Are there things that we could be doing as conference organisers to help people make connections? We work hard on providing the environment in which people can meet, but do we need to do more to help people make connections? And to encourage people to meet someone new? Drop a comment below if you have any ideas.