Table of Contents
- Introduction
- Luggage Checklist
- Get a Lay of The Land
- Don’t Let Your Devices Die
- Automate An “Away From Work” Email
- Carry Your Business Cards
- Keep Your Product Demo Ready
- Have the LinkedIn Mobile App On Your Phone
- Pubcon is Home to Major Announcements
- Register as soon as you Reach
- Use All Your Human Resources
- Meet Your Customers
- Participate In Real-Time Online Conversations about
Pubcon - Have one-on-one Conversations
- Newbies should Attend Every Session Possible
- Learn about the Previously Hosted Pubcon Events
- Final words
Introduction
Labeled as one of the Forbes’ “Must-Attend Conferences For Entrepreneurs” in 2013, Pubcon truly has built itself the gravity to attract search marketers from across the globe.
Started in 1984, the event now holds a huge fandom. And why not? After all, the name has passed all tests of time and quality and still continues to educate marketers.
With a large number of industry celebrities featuring their keynotes and exclusive insights, it’s definitely a great learning opportunity. However, it can’t be best cashed until you are well prepared for it.
Aiding to the same, these 15 cool tips will help you make the most out of your Pubcon experience.
Luggage Checklist
Las Vegas weather can be dry and arid. So pack in some lightweight clothing and one portable humidifier. Order it now if you don’t have one. Also, keep yourself hydrated.
While it’s warm outside during the days, the conference rooms can get chilly. You might wish that you had packed in some sweaters, hoodie or other warm clothing. So gear up!
Get a Lay of The Land
Venue for Pubcon 2019 is the Las Vegas Convention Centre.
While the venue may not be tricky to navigate through, with all the booths and people, you may feel like losing your way.
The best will be to have the venue map with you.
And, yes, if you are coming with kids, try Sigfried & Roy’s Secret Garden and Dolphin/Tiger exhibit at the Mirage.
Don’t Let Your Devices Die
One common mistake that catches most attendees cold is their devices running out of power.
As you plan on being a part of this grand event, you may have to use your devices for the bigger part of the day. For this, you will certainly require power backup.
So, make sure you carry portable chargers for your laptop and smartphone as a power socket may not always be available during the conference.
Pro Tip
Bring in a multi-charger and, if you have booked a booth, ensure you have some open multi-plugin outlets. You will make tons of friends with this.
Automate An “Away From Work” Email
It’s certain that being a part of the Pubcon, may keep you from responding to your work emails.
To make sure your clients and colleagues don’t keep waiting for your replies, set an out-of-office reply. This will let them know why you won’t be available for a few days.
Pro Tip:Getting data coverage may become a challenge during the event. Using an auto responder for sending your out-of-office replies can help here.
Carry Your Business Cards
A number of marketing experts and industry celebrities will be visiting the event. You may not even realize when you ran into anyone from Ann Smarty to Larry Kim; just like that.
It’s clearly a huge sea of networking opportunities. And we’re sure you wouldn’t want to miss the chance.
So, make sure you are ready with your business cards. In fact a lot of them. Your business card sure can’t be something that you are shy to share with anyone, right?
Pro Tip:You can also consider carrying your digital business card and an app to scan digital cards of other people you may want to network with. |
Keep Your Product Demo Ready
Yes. We know. The idea is not to be salesy. You are going to the Pubcon for learning better and everything.
100% true. All of it!
But what if someone is really interested in your product? It won’t be a good idea to stall the conversation for mailing it to them later. This can cost you important sales that you may never be able to win back.
Your best bet: be ready with your product demo.
Pro Tip:Make sure you have the product demo downloaded on your system. As mentioned already, you may not get strong internet coverage at the venue. |
Have the LinkedIn Mobile App On Your Phone
The perfect social media platform for professionals, Linked In can work wonders for your networking goals when you are attending an event like Pubcon.
And since no professional networking is complete without Linked In, you must have the Linked In App installed and set up on your smartphone.
Because, what if someone just wants to connect with you on Linked In instead of any other platform?
Understand this and be ready with the Linked In App.
Pro Tip:If you have had an interesting conversation with anyone who you met at Pubcon, consider dropping them an email or a Linked In message once you leave after the event. Tell them who you are. How you both met at the event. Topics that you both had words about. This is important for building relationships. |
Pubcon is Home to Major Announcements
If you have ever attended a Pubcon event, you would know how it talks beyond the exclusive takeaways.
It’s no surprise, Pubcon events are rich with a stunning dope of useful takeaways. However, the event also includes brands making announcements regarding product updates and everything else that may matter to you as an attendee.
Take Google and Microsoft for example. In Las Vegas 2004, Google launched AdWords for marketers and Microsoft announced its major upgrades in the MSN Search Service.
This simply means that as a Pubcon 2019 attendee, you can look forward to getting a sneak-peak into the realm of upcoming search marketing products and updates regarding them.
Register as soon as you Reach
Pubcon events are mostly crowded. It’s no wonder that the whole brand has entertained over thirty thousand Pubcon attendees by now.
And as this population can give rise to a myriad of networking opportunities for you, it can also cause registration fiascos. The reason is simple.
If you don’t reach the venue a little early, you will have to wait in the queue for verification and registration.
This will keep you standing in the line while you should rather be interacting with marketers and other people at the venue. So, save yourself from wasting time like that. Reach early. Register early. And make the most out of your time at the event.
Use All Your Human Resources
While attending the event alone will limit your ability to grasp all the information that’s being shared at the event, visiting with your co-workers can be a really smart decision.
Take it like this. You go alone. You learn a bunch of techniques. Miss out on a bigger bunch of techniques. Come back. Implement these ideas. Live happily. No worries; but only until you realize that your competitors attended the event with their teams.
And so, they split up at the event and grabbed as much information as they could. Geniuses, right?
Well, you too should be the same genius here.
Attend Pubcon with your team. Spread up at the venue. Learn as much as you can. Get back to your team and exchange all the intel that all of you earned through your day at the Pubcon.
Meet Your Customers
A Pubcon event is something that a world of marketers knows and follows.
For this reason, there’s a high chance that some of your customers may also be attending the event. And with that said, this may be your best chance for interacting with them.
Think about it. You’ve paid a fine deal of money to buy the passes. Paid another little fortune for your travel and accommodation. Adding everything up, it won’t be wrong to say that you are going to put in some investment (even if it’s small) for making it to the event. Wouldn’t you like making some direct profits out of it?
Well, if you would, this is the way to go.
Weeks before the event, announce to your audience and customers that you are going to be a part of the Pubcon. This may kindle some engagement among your users.
The best will be to have a word with them the moment they respond to you announcement. See what their concerns are. See if you can help them straight away. And tell them that you’ll see them at the event.
The journey from here will be easy.
Plan when and where you’re going to meet them and show up on time. Have a word about the issues that they are facing and guide them through.
Whether it is for talking about your future updates or for discussing a problem that’s persistent in your product (it’s so required). Or just for bidding a “Hi” or a “Hello”. You must entertain your customers and build relationships with them whenever you can.
Basically, if you ever think about building brand advocates, this can be a great launchpad.
Participate In Real-Time Online Conversations about Pubcon
While you are sitting on your table at the Pubcon ‘19, the hashtags about the event will be going viral all over Twitter and Instagram.
This will also kindle a great deal of conversations over the web. How do you think you can use this for your brand’s good?
Well, breaking it down for you, make sure you participate in online discussions that are going on in real-time. Use the right hashtags. Answer to questions that you think you can answer. This should bring you up in the trends.
Just remember not to be too lost on social media. You only have to be active enough to be seen.
This can earn your brand social media traction that it deserves.
Have one-on-one Conversations
Everything people say about group discussions isn’t always true.
In fact, if you really want to network with anyone at Pubcon, you should talk to them alone. A one-on-one communication will enable you to know more about them and how they approach marketing.
This will teach you a lot about networking better.
Pro Tip:Don’t talk to people during a session. |
Newbies should Attend Every Session Possible
While regular Pubcon attendees may already have enough of the Pubcon experience to miss out on a session or two, newbies must attend all sessions.
Clearly, with all the networking and exploring, attending all sessions may seem like a task. However, as you are here to learn, you in no world should miss out on the opportunity.
Learn about the Previously Hosted Pubcon Events
With a history of over three decades, the web is brimmed up with a number of useful content pieces about the previously hosted Pubcon events.
Going through them will make you aware of the way these events are held. The way the keynote speakers are introduced. The way they introduce themselves and thus share their valuable search marketing experiences.
All of this will help you have a clear mindset of how the event commences and proceeds and what you can expect out of it.
Final words
Pubcon is one of the hottest search marketing events that marketing enthusiasts from across the globe look forward to attending every year.
With a strength of nearly 1,100 attendees per event, the venues are both crowded and fun. However, if you are planning to be a part of it, to have the best Pubcon experience, you must know a few things.
Hopefully, this was helpful.
