6 Clever Ways To Make The Most Of Your Next Tech Conference

I weirdly love attending conferences.

Meeting long-time Twitter friends IRL. “Taking meetings” while walking over the Brooklyn Bridge. Having an excuse to visit The Brandy Library … thrice.

And, yes, attending workshops and panels and learning a lot.

I’ve been attending tech conferences for a minute now and - not to toot my own horn - but I’ve learned a thing or three about how to get the most out of them. If you attend a lot of conferences too, read on.

1. Choose the right conference

The right tech conference will be filled with people you want to be friends with, clients you want to work with, and panels and events you actually want to attend - not just business card-pushing schmoozers and topics you’re already an expert in.

Once you’ve found a conference you love? Go back to it year after year. You’ll build trust, brand recognition, and a referral network of people who know and love your work.

Some of my favorite conferences: 

• Tech Week - in both LA and NYC

• Benzinga Fintech 

• Money 20/20 in Las Vegas (shoutout to Harvey Hudes for having me at your awesome event, Fin & Juice this past year. The event connected me to incredible people, and was worth the entire trip on its own.)

• Saastr 

• NFT NYC 

2. Do your research ahead of time

It sucks to show up at a conference and - on day two - discover that your favorite founder was sharing mind-blowing insights … on day one. Or to be scrolling through LinkedIn after the conference and realize a bunch of people from your network were there - but you totally missed each other.

Research to do before your next tech conference: 

• Figure out who’s presenting and what they’re talking about. Find a few can’t-miss talks and make sure you’re following those people on LinkedIn and X.
  

• Post on social media that you plan to be at said conference and see if any of your friends or followers will be there. That way you won’t miss each other!
  

• Extra credit: reach out to some of the speakers and friends you’re particularly excited to see and tell them so!

3. Choose a few people and go deep

Listen, nobody likes a business card-slinging group jumper. And we all know how that looks and feels: They elbow their way into a conversation, pitch themselves within 30 seconds of meeting you, and then dip as soon as you talk about yourself or - God forbid! - something other than business.

Grosssss.

Get to know each other as actual human beings -  favorite movie, bar, basketball team. As an Angelino, mine is obviously The Lakers - shoutout Uncle Ronnie.

Share the why behind your work. (Here at Neutech, our “why” is making sure tech doesn’t stand in the way of great founders creating great products. Grab a spot on my calendar if that sounds like you and say goodbye to spaghetti code forever!)

You can read the full blog post here.

Choosing the right tech conference and being really strategic with how you spend your time there can truly be a game-changer.

And next time you’re at a conference in L.A.? Hit me up!