As of September 2024, I’ve attended about thirty to forty in-person conferences across a handful of countries — mostly in the last two years. I’m also a co-founder and co-organizer of SquiggleConf. So while I’m not a developer advocate by job title, and certainly am still learning myself, I think I’ve gotten pretty good at being an attendee for in-person conferences.
This blog post goes over how I approach attending a tech conference. I’ve grouped the steps into:
👉 I also wrote How I Apply to Conferences for helping progress from attendee to speaker.
1. Pre-Work
A conference is a big expenditure: ticket(s), travel, the day(s) of the conference proper, any ancillary events, the emotional energy of socializing… Before taking on any big cost, ask yourself: what are you trying to get out of it?
Out of the many great reasons to attend a conference, which ones are yours?
- Landing a job, and what kind?
- Learning new area(s) of interpersonal and/or tech skills, and which one(s)?
- For yourself?
- For your team at work?
- Networking, with whom & for what purpose?
- Finding a community to join, and/or feeling more involved?
- Finding peers and/or mentors?
- Socializing your ideas or projects and getting feedback?
- Something else?
Knowing what you want before you go helps immensely with going to a conference. You’ll know better what conversations and events to prioritize, how to evaluate whether you attained those goals, and generally where to focus your energy.
Collecting a Group
I highly recommend going with people you know, such as coworkers and/or friends, for at least your first couple of conferences. It gives you guaranteed friendly partner to talk with throughout. That’s especially useful if, like me, new kinds of social activities make you nervous.
If your job is sending you, see if any peers or other teams in general have budget to send more people. If you’re in a program such as a bootcamp or university major, see if any clubs or departments can send anybody. Those searches can take time, so start them as soon as you can.
2. Research the Conference
The more information you can glean about the conference, the better. Follow them on social media, subscribe to their newsletter, and read their website in its entirety.
- What kind of conference is it? (community vs. corporate? single-track vs. multi-track?)
- What is the schedule of events, including any optional ones such as runs or volunteering?
- What is the backing group of people behind it, and why are they holding the conference?
- Are there any local meetups they’re partnering with?
Being able to answer these questions will help inform your choices throughout the conference.
Meetups Pre-Work
Most conferences partner with local meetups in the same area for cross-promotion. Many are even co-organized by the same people!
If you can, I highly recommend attending at least the soonest meetup before the conference. You’ll get much closer access to the organizers -and often speakers- as well as the community around them.
If you’re local to the area and able to attend, I also recommend attending the meetup. Most meetups
Talks Pre-Work
As with the conference itself, learning what you can about the talks and their speakers beforehand can help you make the most of them too. You don’t have to fully understand each talk first -that’s what the talk is for!- but it does help to at least read its description. Do a quick internet search for any terminology you don’t yet know, and maybe even try out a getting started guide or two.
I’d also suggest reading up on speakers, too. Skim their social media profiles, see if they already have blog posts or other resources associated with their talk, and take notice if they share anything with you such as an alma mater or favorite framework.
Having a solid foundation for talks before the conference will help you understand the talks in real time and talk with attendees and speakers about them later on.
3. Arrive Fresh
It’s the day of the conference. Now what?
Be your best self, whatever that means for you.
For me, that means arriving after a good night’s sleep, a healthy breakfast, and a hot shower. I’ll have gone for a run earlier that morning, or failing that, the evening before. I make sure my laptop and phone are charged and I have working chargers with me — including an international adapter if traveling abroad. I wear comfortable walking shoes, freshly laundered jeans, silly socks, and a casual button-up shirt with a silly pattern. I also pack deodorant, gum, and mints because I have anxiety about smelling bad. Also cat food (I’ll explain that later).
Whatever you need to do to feel your best and conquer any fears, do it.
Early or On Time
Most conferences open their check-in booths an hour or more before talks.
If you can, try to show up when the check-in booths first open. You’ll get that much more time to chat. The line won’t be as bad for you or others later. And you’ll have first dibs at whatever fresh breakfast is being served.
If you arrive well after the booths open, not only do you miss out on great networking time, you’re also probably going to end up in a long line.
Heck, if you can, show up early and offer to help set up. If there are tasks to be done then you’ll be doing the conference team a favor. If not, you’ll have a chance to chat with the team. Either way, you’re making a good impression on the team, and setting a positive tone for the day.
4. Be Social
Conferences are inherently social events. Most people are there to mingle, or at the very least, understand it will be happening a lot around them. It’s ok if you want to just be quiet (or don’t feel comfortable socializing like that), but networking is a big potential benefit for in-person events.
How I Socialize
I try to be friendly with everyone around me. If I’m not doing anything for a minute, and someone near me is visibly looking around instead of doing something, I will go up to them and start a conversation.
My template to meet a new person is to say “hi”, tell them my name, ask them their name, and wait a second after they answer. If they start a conversation on their own, great, I roll with that. If not, I’ll try to ask them about something related to a shared context we have: almost always, the conference.
Here are some reliable conversation starters:
- What do you do for work / day-to-day?
- What kind of tech do you like to work with?
- What are you looking to get out of this conference?
- What do you think of the talks so far?
- Is this your first conference?
Saying one of those with a friendly demeanor can work shockingly well to start a conversation with a stranger. If I’m feeling awkward and not confident enough to just start with that, I might explicitly say “I’m an awkward person and trying to network” after my name.
Honestly, most of my strategies are taken straight from “How to Win Friends and Influence People”. Specifically, the “Updated for the Next Generation of Leaders” edition. The book’s title was a little off-putting at first but the contents are a wonderful succinct set of explanations and instructions for forming genuine connections with people. Here are the high-level strategies I utilize most from the book:
- Be friendly with and genuinely interested in others
- Try to understand what people are saying before agreeing or disagreeing with them
- Try to speak positively instead of criticizing, condemning, or complaining
That’s what’s worked for me and my personality. What works for you might be totally different.
Feeding Cats
I always take cat food with me when I’m walking around to conferences. Feeding cats is a great social experience. It’s purely wholesome and fun, plus affectionate street cats are cute.
I’ve lost count of the number of times great conversations ensued from stopping during a lunch to go feed some street cat. Cute little side quests like cat feeding can be surprisingly effective icebreakers.
Posting Online
Conferences really like it when you post nice things about them. Marketing and ticket sales are hard, so anything that helps showcase the conference positively is generally appreciated.
If I have the energy and I’m at a single-track conference, I might start a tweet thread posting the top couple of takeaways from each talk. Here’s a talks thread I started for Prisma Day 2022.
That takes energy and focus, so if I’m in a rush I might just start a chain or two of assorted conference photos. Here’s a photos thread I started for revo.js 2023.
At the very least, I’ll try to remember to take a selfie in front of conference signage before the event starts.
If You’re Shy
I know “networking” and making friends with strangers doesn’t come naturally to everyone. It took me a while to feel comfortable having conversations at conferences. Reading “How to Win Friends and Influence People” helped a lot. Seeing people constantly say things like “it’s ok to be awkward, we all are!” and keep trying, we all get better over time” helped too.
Being shy is absolutely ok.
Coming in a group can make the talking-with-strangers easier. I do recommend trying to venture out of the group sometimes, though. Networking on your own is a valuable skill that takes practice.
If you’re alone, that’s ok too. Many conferences have systems set up for people to come together, such as Discords, group activities, or even explicit guides for first-timers. If any organizer makes a strong effort to be friendly, then you can absolutely ask them for help. You can also even post on social media: “I’m going to be at @(conference)! Who else?” and friendly people will join up.
Take Breaks
You don’t have to constantly be in peak social mode. Talking with other people can be draining, especially if you’re shy and/or it’s towards the end of a long day.
Don’t forget to take the occasional break from networking. I try to at least take a 5 minute walk once an hour just to clear my head. Walking helps me not get overwhelmed by all the networking.
Plus, waiting in line for coffee or a snack at a conference is a great opportunity to mingle! If a person next to me in line looks bored, I might go with one of my standard conversation starters. Or I’ll crack a mischievous smile and ask them what they’re thinking of ordering.
5. Take Notes
I have a notoriously poor memory. I forget everything. So I try to take notes on anything I think will be useful long-term.
This is useful for me to retain information: both in that note-taking actually does help with memory, and in that I like having the notes to refer to later. Notes were also essential when I was on teams that wanted me to bring back and share conference learnings.
If I’m standing and/or feeling rushed, I tend to take notes on the default notes app for my phone or laptop. If I’m calm and on my laptop then I’ll put them into well-organized Notion documents.
Taking Notes on Talks
I try to note down the high-level takeaways in a Notion page for each talk. Those takeaways often become conversation starters with other attendees or even the speaker.
Try not to go overboard on notes. Attendees staying on their devices the whole time can be dispiriting for a speaker. You don’t want to be visibly heads-down during the whole presentation!
I try to visibly look at the speaker and seem interested before and after bouts of note-taking, just to ease my anxiety about coming across disinterested.
I’ll also skip writing any details in notes that I don’t need to memorize. That stuff can be looked up later.
Taking Notes After Conversations
I try keep a giant “Rolodex” database in my Notion updated with an entry for every person I’ve talked to at conferences. It keeps some high-level metadata such as their city, job, and when we last interacted. I then put high-level notes (always neutral or positive vibes, never anything negative) in text entries in those pages.
You don’t have to do this. It takes a lot of energy and time, and when I’m in a rush or tired I tend to skip personal notes. But I’ve gotten a lot of value from being able to refer back to how I met people and what the past conversation topics were.
6. Follow up
So you attended a conference, met a bunch of people, exchanged LinkedIns… now what? What do you do with all these new connections?
I try to send everyone I had a good and meaningful conversation with a nice message thanking them for that conversation. As with all networking, be genuine. It doesn’t have to be detailed or long — just express your positivity.
“Hey (person) - it was really nice meeting you at (conference)! I enjoyed talking about (stuff) - and (activity). Hope to see you at another event down the road!”
If you want to talk more with them, go ahead and ask.
“If you have time, I’d love to grab coffee with you and (ask|talk) more about (stuff). Would some time this coming week work for you?”
I personally am really bad at motivating myself to do these. It takes a lot out of me and I tend to procrastinate until a while after the event. I’ve probably missed following up with a majority of new connections.
Don’t be like me. Schedule some time for the next business day to crunch through your follow-ups.
For tips on networking and asking for things, read “Influence Is Your Superpower”. It’s a great read that’s helped me enormously around feeling comfortable in dealings with other people.
Closing Thoughts
I thoroughly enjoy conferences and find attending them to be endlessly entertaining - albeit exhausting. There’s a lot of good that can come out of showing up in person.
These are many of the things that have worked for me. I hope you take these and run with them. Find what works for you and use that to have a great time at conferences.
If you’ve got more tips, let me know on social media. I’d love to hear how you attend a conference! 💙
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