It’s that time of year when you’re thinking about what conferences you might attend in 2010.  Before you start filling in application forms think about whether any of these items ring any bells.  You might be about to waste your money.

1. Pick the wrong conference.

Obvious I know, but have you checked with your customers and potential customers whether they might be attending?  Or are you just about to commit your company’s money on the basis that the conference is in a good location and it’s advertising to a target audience that might be relevant to your business?  Not the same thing.

2. Pick a new conference.

Personally I wouldn’t fork out for an exhibit slot at a conference that isn’t an established and industry-recognised calendar event.  If you’re a struggling biotech, don’t take expensive risks with your marketing campaign (as that’s what this is).

3. If you have a speaker at the conference, let him/her make up the presentation on the plane over.

If you are investing time and money to exhibit at a conference then why should the CSO get away with presenting your company with old slides/old data/confused messages/cluttered slides?  It’s not fair to anyone.  Help him/her out, lend a hand to preparing the slides and give your input into content.  You all need to pull together to make it work.

4. Pick a conference where the exhibit booth is on a different floor to the keynote addresses and talks

Check on the layout of the conference and how the organisers expect to get traffic to the exhibition area.  If you’re going to be exhibiting on a different floor to the talks and lunch isn’t provided in the booth area, then walk away.  They won’t come.

5. Don’t tell anyone that you’re going.

Are you just hoping that they’ll just turn up at your booth, eager to chat about a potential business opportunity?  Let your target customers know that you’re going and invite them for a coffee/chat at the booth/evening dinner.  Send out a couple of press releases.  Let your network know.  You need to prepare for success.

6. Pick a lame booth slot

Take the time to carefully choose the location of your booth or you’ll be lumbered with a booth slot that’s at the back of the hall where the tumbleweed gathers.

7. Assume that the attendees from your company are prepared and know what is expected of them.

Unless they are paying for it out of their own pocket, most attendees don’t prepare enough for a conference.  You need booth coverage at all times, and especially during the breaks.  If there is an online partnering facility, USE IT.  The business development team need to pick out the people they want to talk to from the pre-attendee lists or from the speakers advertised in the conference flyers.

8. Don’t participate in the rest of the conference.

Not all business will be done at the booth.  Go to the talks where your customers are listening.  Learn about the issues they are facing and get to know their business.  Dare yourself to ask a question.  Mingle with them over coffee.

9. Miss the poster/speaker submission deadlines

Your booth isn’t enough to win business.  Your active participation is.  You need teamwork for this to work – get your scientists to submit a poster and use the opportunity to use it as part of your marketing campaign.  It’s a vital tool for engagement with your customers.

10. Exhibit at a conference with less than 2 months’ notice.

You need several weeks to prepare in order to ensure that you win valuable leads and new contacts from your conference attendance.  If you don’t do this, you’re relying on booth traffic alone.  Who’s carrying the can if you fail to deliver?

11. Just show up with an exhibit booth and leaflets and expect it to yield results.

Build a campaign around it, include an evening hosted workshop or invitation-only social event.  It doesn’t have to be champagne and canapés on the QE2.

12. Spread yourself too thinly.

More isn’t better. If you can’t afford to add extra activities around your conference participation then ask yourself whether you should exhibit there at all.  Just send an outgoing commercially minded delegate with a poster and you’ll get just as many contacts and business leads as a booth on its own.

13.  Choose the most cost-competitive shipper

If your booth/leaflets/posters go missing, you can’t recuperate the revenue you would have gained from deals that initiated at the conference.  No insurance will cover for that.  Pick a reliable shipper with a good reputation who answers the phone in an emergency.