Out-of-Town Conferences Are a Waste of Time for First-Time Founders; Unless You Do This Beforehand

Industry conferences can be a huge waste of time and money.

Big brand logos, alluring agendas, and influential attendees compound the excitement of getting to travel for work.

When we were building our first startup, Festfeed, we got selected for the ‘Startup Showcase’ of a big industry conference in Las Vegas.

It turned out to be a complete waste of time and money because we failed to:

Make connections and book meetings ahead of time.

We booked our flights and our hotels but didn’t book a single meeting.

When we got to the conference, we bummed around the conference floor meeting exhibitors (mainly our competitors) in hopes we might stumble into a useful connection.

At the parties, we ‘networked’ as much as we could, but it was a total crap shoot.

Most of the folks we met simply weren’t helpful to us.

If we had taken the time to set up meetings with strategic attendees, sponsors, and speakers, we could’ve compounded the outcomes of the conference by a huge margin.

The thing that makes conferences impactful, is the fact that everyone is coming together. You have to use that to your advantage and pack your calendar with meetings beforehand.

You’ll guarantee you get your money’s worth.