On conferences (part I)

I'm writing this on the plane back from Bikky's first sponsored in-person conference (FSTEC in Dallas). My team, my wife, and my friends have all asked more or less the same question: "was it worth it?"

Well...I guess? There are some critical benefits for an early stage startup to just "being in the room" (if you have customers and some momentum - if you don't have some sort of reputation in the industry, conferences are a hard pass in my book).

Things that worked

The biggest win over the past few days was "putting a face to the name" for prospects and fellow founders. I heard quite a few times "I've heard about you before from other operators / customers....it's so good to actually meet you!"

After 18 months of being virtual, this added a level of "realness" just didn't exist for someone who wasn't already a customer or a friend. Adding that realness reinforced for to prospects and companies that we actually have the means and inclination to participate in the change happening in our industry.

Another founder of a company that's 10x our size said "You guys do amazing work. Who's in your pipeline? Anyone that's already a customer of ours? Oh them? Yeah they're great. Who are you talking to there? Ok, yeah, let me text that person's boss to let them know that you're legit and they need to look at partnering with you."

I mean...we'll see if something actually comes from this and how big a role that nudge will play, but again, that's an opportunity purely borne from "being in the room."

For prospects, it's yet another opportunity to talk to folks and learn about what they care about, how to better position yourself, and if / how you can meet their needs. From this one conference, I got further validation for a hunch I already had about what segment of the marketed we're better suited towards serving. It clarifies how your target audience thinks about you, and their words matter a hell of a lot more than your own.

That knowledge will go right into the next marketing site update we make later this week, a small win from just "being in the room" and listening to the folks you want to serve.

Things we did wrong

That being said, our execution here was far from perfect.

Bring a few folks from your team

As the only person from the team who made the trip, it's impossible to extend yourself to all the places you should be, whether it's the panel discussions / breakout sessions, at the booth, spontaneously talking to folks in the hallways, or at the dinners when the day's sessions wrap up.

You need 3-4 people to actually make the most of a conference.

That way, your company can split your time across the "surface area" of all that's happening. Whether it's walking the floor, attending sessions (especially ones led by potential customers!), or just hanging out the booth and vocally engaging people that walk by.

In general, attendees are not coming to conferences to "buy stuff." They're coming to hang out with peers, learn from industry leaders in the panels / breakouts, and maybe see what's cool and innovative from vendors in the space.

You need enough of a presence to cover these different use cases so that you can actively engage with industry folks and learn from attendees.

Prospect and market ahead of time

I did minimal prep time since it was a last minute decision to go, but like any good cold outbound playbook, prospect ahead of time, market where you'll be, what you'll be doing, what you're excited about.

Reach out to folks you want to meet, try and nail down some time to connect, and start building a relationship.

If you have customers who are going, find time to take them out to dinner or grab a coffee / drink to show them you appreciate them and get the real unvarnished story about how your product is doing and how well you're meeting their needs. I've found from prior conferences that people are more open when at a neutral location (like a different city), and less tethered to their "work" personas which they may adhere to back home.

If you prospect, engage, and market ahead of time, you can significantly accelerate your learnings from customers and prospects alike, while also building relationships with those you seek to serve (or deepening existing ones).

Get on a panel or host a discussion

Nothing supercharges intros / interest more than actually being a featured speaker. Like I said, a primary reason folks come to conferences is to learn from peers in their industry. Speaking at a session conveys status as a "teacher" in this environment, and is a valuable way for startups to truly get the most out of their conference experience.

When you combine this with some of the other lessons learned (like brining 3-4 teammates), you then have folks ready to field conversations triggered by you (or your teammates') points from the panel. You can leverage the credibility conferred by Speaker status as a way to further learn from and build relationships with industry folks.

Be clear about how you want to measure "ROI"

The question that triggered this post still holds: was it worth it?

The short answer is I'm still unclear. We got some leads, made some new friends, invested further in some longstanding relationships, and overall got the Bikky name out there.

On strictly top of funnel (awareness), the conference was successful. In terms of bottom of funnel...I'm not sure even if we close 50% of the leads we got what the payback period would be.

What would have made this whole process easier is if I asked myself and my team before leaving - what are we hoping to get out of this?

Wrapping up

Hopefully this gives some insight into how we approached the conference and how we could have done better. Startup life is about doing the most with the limited time and resources you have, and conferences can be super expensive.

There were some folks there doing raffles for $5k in cash. Others had Lamborghinis parked next to their booth in a bid to attract attention. Bikky is not at the stage where we can go HAM like that, so I hope this entry helps us and companies in a similar position get the most from their conference experience.

Housekeeping: I type fast and don't proofread here so please excuse typos / gaps in sentences. You can email me at abhinav [AT] bikky [dot] com to give any feedback or talk through these ideas further.