Finding Useful Contacts at Business Seminars

Seminars are a wonderful way to learn about business ideas and developments. They can be quite intense, a day (or possibly even more!) of learning and studying, with just short breaks for lunch and refreshments. What they can offer your business, however, is worth far more than you’ll spend to attend them. Of course, not every idea is good, or even practical, for every business. But it can spark other ideas, and the ones that fit can prove very productive.

Everyone is there for the same reason, to improve business, to learn to be more efficient and productive. That makes it a fertile, open environment for all the attendees.

Using The Seminar

Obviously, you won’t want to try and network while the seminar itself is taking place. But there are breaks for refreshments in the middle of the morning and afternoon sessions, as well as lunch, or when the session has ended for the day. These make perfect opportunities to network with others there. You even have an ideal introduction by discussing what you’ve learnt in the last hour or two and how it affects what you do.

About the only thing you need to remember is that you shouldn’t be backward about being forwards. Take the time to introduce yourself, and explain who you work for and what you do and shake hands – it’s a certainty the person you’re talking to will respond in kind. If possible, try to assemble a small group. Not only is there a better interchange of ideas, it’s also a more productive use of your time if you’re talking in a group.

Remember, the fact that you’re all there means you’re all serious about business, and that’s a perfect starting point. There’s a good chance that many of the other will be as eager as you to take advantage of the seminar breaks for networking.

Types of Seminar

As long as it’s directly connected to your business, it’s hardly going to matter what type of seminar you attend. The point is for you to get a lot out of it, both in practical and networking terms.

In plenty of ways, the seminar is just symbolic of all business events – every single one offers you the opportunity to network, and you need to make the most of them all as a way to build business relationships and increase sales.

Over the period of a few years you might find that certain types of seminars provide better networking opportunities than others – not for numbers, but in the quality of contacts. But that doesn’t mean you should ditch those others as long as they’re useful to your business.

What To Expect From a Seminar

In terms of networking, you’ll find very little real business is done at a seminar. You might renew a few acquaintances, but mostly you’ll be making new contacts and taking the first steps towards building future business relationship.

As long as you keep the real reason for being there – the seminar – uppermost in your mind, and let everything else flow from that, you’ll find that the contacts will come, and that they’ll end up being mutually beneficial – just make sure you follow up on them later!