As I pack up my desk and bags to head to Dallas, TX for a couple days to attend The Fordyce Forum, I find myself also preparing for what is sure to be a great event and even greater networking opportunity for me. No doubt, it will be the people I meet that will make the event worthwhile – not to mention the knowledge and training I will pick up along the way. This morning I prepared few ideas and goals that I think will be crucial to my success at The Fordyce Forum. Having said that, I thought it would be rude of me not to share my prep-strategy with our readers. Granted, as recruiters yours might be a little different, but I think the same basic fundamentals are there.
- Create an elevator speech: rehearse a 30 to 60 second speech that identifies who you are, what you do, and why you are there. As an example, mine is below. Depending on the days events and who i’m talking to, this will obviously change a bit. It’s a starting point nonetheless.
“Hi, my name is Annie Weller and I’m with NPA, The Worldwide Recruiting Network. Our network’s primary goal is to help our recruiters make more money through split fee recruiting and increase opportunities for their clients and candidates. We currently have about 400 member firms on 6 continents with the average member’s ROI at more than 800%. Our members share between 7 and 10 million dollars annually and their membership in NPA represents the difference between an average year and a good year. I’m here for the next couple days to talk to recruiters who are interested in increasing revenue through split placements. Are you interested today or in the coming days to talk further?”
- Set goals: If you don’t set any goals, how do you know if you are successful? Try to make them as specific as possible and break them out into categories.
- Identify a strategy: Review the schedule or agenda and decide which sessions would be most beneficial for you to attend.
These are obviously very basic ideas; however, I do feel a lot more prepared than before I nailed down my elevator speech, goals and strategy. I am a very “dive-in-head-first-kind-of-girl” so this type of preparation is not something I do very often. I have to admit, though, I feel much more confident
What do you do to prepare for this type of an event? Are you attending The Fordyce Forum? If so, I’d love to connect with you!
Nice tips. Like someone said, “if you fail to plan, you plan to fail”.