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Conferences often feel like a whirlwind. Rushing from speakers to breakout sessions, networking breaks, and more, you’ll be taking in a lot of information in a short amount of time. So showing up to a conference unprepared means you might miss important aspects of the event, and you likely won’t have time to catch up throughout the conference.
The best way to ensure you make the most of any event is to show up prepared. Start by researching speakers and attendees. Once you’ve determined which events you will be heading to, work on your active listening skills, interpersonal communication, and avoid the seven common blunders at events. But the most important preparation you can make is with your business card. Believe it or not, business cards are not dead, and they may be the key to a successful conference. Keep reading to learn why you should go digital at your next event and how to use the #1 digital business card, and learn the features that make it the best tool for conferences.
Do you need business cards for conferences?
Everything is digital, from currency to digital signatures to business cards. The move towards a more digital world is making everyday tasks easier, more cost-effective, and more eco-friendly.
HiHello is one of the pioneers in the electronic business card space and is the top-rated digital business card app. HiHello’s cards are fully customizable, quick to create, can be shared with anyone, anywhere, anytime, and help you manage everyone you meet.
Still unsure about giving up paper cards? Here’s why you need to be equipped with a digital business card at the next conference you attend:
1. Digital cards can be created and updated on-the-go
Need to make some last-minute adjustments? With digital business cards, there’s no reason to worry about shipping time. Make real-time edits to create and update cards in a matter of minutes. And when you exchange business cards with another HiHello user, when you update your information, it will automatically be updated in their smart address book. So no need to worry about outdated business cards anymore.
2. Create different cards for the people you meet
How you represent yourself and the information you share depends on the person you are talking to, so why would you hand the same business card to every person? With digital business cards, you can easily create and manage a card for every situation. Have a card just for an event, networking, work, and one for friends. With a digital business card subscription, you can create an even more business cards so that you can be prepared for every situation.
Need some inspiration? See these 18 unique ways to use digital business cards to learn how you can make more than just a simple business card.
3. Gain more connections
HiHello found that people are 7 times more likely to follow up when they receive a digital business card. That’s no surprise—with fewer than 20% of paper business cards making it into a contact list, making connections with traditional paper business cards is an uphill battle. However, when you network with digital business cards, your contact information is integrated right into their workflow, eliminating any friction.
Not only will you be able to gain more connections, but you’ll be able to better organize and manage them too. With a built-in smart address book, you can easily organize your contacts using notes and tags.
4. Track who you meet
Data fuels our decisions, but using paper business cards means you might as well be living in the dark ages. When you use digital business cards, you can access in-app analytics plus Google Analytics integrations. So you can gain insight into how people use and interact with your business cards.
5. Make a green impact
Digital business cards are more sustainable than their paper counterparts. By eliminating printing and shipping costs, digital cards have an extremely positive environmental impact.
Making choices to reduce our impact on the world is at the top of mind for consumers and businesses. Switching to digital business cards helps reduce your environmental impact. Look below to see how HiHello users have helped over the last year.
Attending an event? Here’s how to use HiHello to prepare.
1. Make an account
The first step to creating the best business card for events is to make a HiHello account. Sign up using the iOS or Android app or on the web app. With the free plan, you’ll have access to everything you need to create a digital business card. Make up to four business cards for yourself, share via QR code, email, text, or NFC, use virtual backgrounds and email signatures, and even import Google Contacts into your smart address book.
To make a unique business card, and to access all of HiHello’s premium features, try HiHello Professional. You’ll have access to all of the free features in addition to creating up to 16 cards, profile videos, embed videos, custom colors, multiple card designs, paper business card transcriptions, and so much more. To see the complete list of Professional features and to sign up for HiHello Professional, head to the Pricing page.
2. Create a digital business card
Hundreds of business cards are exchanged at conferences, but only memorable ones get results, so making a card that stands out from the rest is essential. Start by creating a new card, just for networking, or better yet, specifically for the event you are attending. Start by adding the five must-haves for every business card, but don’t stop there. Customize your card design, add videos, and change the color of your card to make a card that stands out.
3. Share your card
Now that your virtual business card is perfected, it’s time to start sharing, and unlike paper business cards, there is more than one way to exchange business cards. With HiHello, you can share your digital business card with your unique QR code, email, text, link, NFC, widget, Apple Watch, Apple Wallet, iMessage, Siri, and more.
4. Organize your new contacts
The days of the Rolodex are gone, but your phone's built-in contact app isn’t the perfect replacement. Sorting contacts in alphabetical order won’t help you manage where you met people, what you discussed, and why they are important. But, with HiHello’s self-healing address book, your contacts will be more organized than ever.
Start by creating a card specific to each event you attend. That way, contacts you meet at that event will be automatically linked to your event card. Now, you can take your organization to the next level. Add notes to each contact to track what you discussed and anything else you may want to remember. You can also use custom tags to categorize contacts. Are they a networking connection, potential client, or co-worker? Add a tag, and those contacts will be grouped, so you can easily manage everyone you meet.
5. Learn everything you can about digital business cards
You just learned so much about digital business cards and how they are the best tool for conferences and events, but there’s still so much more to know. Read our ultimate guide to digital business cards to learn absolutely everything there is to know about virtual business cards.
6. Get your team on board
If you’re attending events as a team, make sure everyone is ready to network with a digital business card. HiHello offers plans for small businesses all the way up to Fortune 500 companies. Want to learn more about how HiHello can work for your team? Click the button below to talk with our sales team.
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What do I do after a conference?
You mastered that conference and made many new connections, but what do you do next? The work isn’t over just yet. Now it’s time to reflect on the event and take next steps to maintain your new connections.
1. Review
The conference is over, and you’ve made it back home. It’s time to relax and decompress… almost. Before you recover from the event you just attended, stop and review who you met and what you learned before you forget important details.
After taking in so much information, you’ll likely forget key details quickly, so look back over notes from presentations and catalogue what was important to you. You probably also met many new people and added quite a few contacts to your address book. Take a few minutes to add a note or two to each new contact in your smart address book. You can also add tags to track who you need to follow up with, who might be a sales lead, or anything else important.
2. Follow-up
You just put in the time and effort to make some great new connections, so make sure you stay in touch. Start by sending a quick follow-up email in the few days after the event to help differentiate yourself from the hundreds of other people they likely spoke to.
3. Manage your leads
Conferences are an excellent place to make new networking connections, but they can also be a goldmine for sales leads. If you made connections that could turn into a closed deal, don’t let it go to waste. After the conference, make sure every potential lead is sent directly to your CRM with HiHello’s integrations with Salesforce, Zoho, Hubspot, and more.
4. Plan ahead
The best time to prepare for the next conference is while the current one is still fresh in your mind. Take note of what worked well for you at this conference and what didn't. Did you learn about an event that you missed or something you forgot to bring? This is the perfect time to make a list of everything you need to know for future conferences.
5. Reflect on your goals
After the conference, take some time to reflect on the goals you set before attending the event. Did you achieve what you wanted? Were there any missed opportunities? Use this as a learning experience to improve your strategy for future conferences.
Conferences are a valuable opportunity to learn, network, and grow personally and professionally. By being prepared, sharing your business card, and following up effectively, you can make the most out of every conference you attend.
Main photo by Paul Hanaoka on Unsplash
