How to Maximize Meetings at a Conference if You Don't Have a Booth

Our founding sales lead Zach Francisco attended B2BMX. We didn't get a booth or opt for a sponsorship, but we booked 4 meetings anyway.

So, how did we do it?

By authentically showing up on social and paid leading up to the event.

Using Organic Social to Book Meetings

Step 1: Announce Your Attendance at the Conference

To get meetings, you first need to announce you're going to be at the conference.

But that's not all — you also need to give people a reason to talk to you. Make an interesting anecdote or have an offer ready.

This was our approach. We posted the announcement to both Zach and my accounts — we got a lot of engagement.

Step 2: Start Pre-Mingling with Attendees on Related Posts

You want to find fellow attendees and start engaging with them via posts and comments. That way, you've already created relationships before you even get to the event and are a step closer to booking meetings.

To find related posts, search the event hashtag —for example, #b2bmx.

Step 3: DM People who Engage With You

We got a lot of responses on our posts and comments. The next step is to personally reach out to those folks.

Trade phone numbers and make plans to meet up at the conference.

Using Paid Ads to Book Meetings

Search Ads

Step 1: Create a Landing Page Specific to the Event

You should create a temporary landing page on your site specific to getting in contact about the event.

Your CTA should be to meet your company representative.

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Step 2: Run Ads Against Keywords That Attendees Are Likely Searching

Find and run ads on keywords and topics your fellow attendees are likely searching for, like:

1. The event name
2. The event schedule
3. Registration, login, or the event app
4. Location, address, venue

Here are the keywords we targeted:

Display Ads

You can take the same approach as above for your display ads.

We ran some LinkedIn video ads — just a quick one-minute introduction video with the link to our event landing page.

Be sure to filter for your target ICP and recent location in the event city itself.

Other Best Practices for Maximizing Meetings During and After the Conference

Here are more to-dos when it comes to the conference:

• Don't spend all your time watching sessions at the event. You can always watch recordings later
• Be sure to go to the happy hours, coffee chats, and other situations where you're able to speak (prioritize these over dinners if you're on the vendor side)
• Consider sponsoring a happy hour in the area yourself. This is way cheaper than a booth or a sponsorship, anyway
• Create content at the conference if you can — Dan Cmejla from Apollo.io does in-person interviews on the day, and Tim Davidson performs memorable skits and stunts. This helps you engage buyers and can drive leads post-conference through social, podcasts, and your newsletter
• Bring business cards. Old fashioned, maybe, but something physical is better than just a LinkedIn handle. Folks have to take it out of their wallet at some point (even if it's to throw it away) and will remember you
• Do not just sell — focus on building relationships and getting to know people first
• Lastly, connect with as many people as you can. If they follow you on LinkedIn later, they will see your content and you can nurture them

Of course, what you do after the conference itself is just as important.

• Make sure to follow up with people you met
• Write a cold outbound sequence for people you didn't get to meet, and use the conference as an excuse to reach out

You Don't Need Massive Budgets to Book Meetings at a Conference

So there you have it: 4 meetings booked by just showing up where our ICP and fellow attendees already were.

We talk a lot about the new GTM here at Letterdrop. Why not check out our blog and sign up to our newsletter to stay in the loop?