[dataminded]

My advice: Get the value before the event. Reach out to everyone that you want to meet with before the event and schedule in-person meetings at the event, that will give you license to schedule remote meetings before the event for introductions.

Only go to the event if you have enough meetings with a clear line to enough value for it to make sense. Folks that do events for sales/customers, are working those events well before the actual event and have clear lines to value. If you just 'show up', odds are that you will waste your time and not get value.

[japhyr]

> Only go to the event if you have enough meetings with a clear line to enough value for it to make sense.

I agree with this, unless you've never been to one of these events. If you've never been, try to make some connections beforehand, but pick one and go just to see what it's like in person. You'll almost certainly make some connections, and will have a much better sense of how to approach the next one.

[ashfernandez]

That's a good idea. The events we're thinking of attending are massive, so hard to do that pre-work ahead. But maybe we should target smaller ones with the right people.

[dataminded]

It shouldn't be harder to do pre-work for a larger event. What specific challenges are you facing?

[tikkun]

Not OP but this is helpful. What other advice can you share for maximizing conferences?

[dataminded]

Events are just one of many signals that you can use to start a conversation. Reach out to every interest that is going, or that may want to go and just use the event as a reason to talk. I've landed A LOT of great leads by just reaching out about events that ultimately neither I nor the contact was going to. It was a good enough reason to start a conversation and assess fit/interest.

When you reach out you can position yourself as a thought leader, someone saving them time, etc.