Importance of Education Conferences in Securing New Businesses

What a timely post! We have our flagship international edtech event this week from 1st-3rd Feb in New Delhi.

There has been a tremendous growth in the education sector in the last few years owing to technology which is reinforcing reform in each segment of this industry.

In the virtual world, one often tends to skip out the importance of being live in a face to face setting with others from the business community. For the education stakeholders and edupreneurs; being active in the industry trade holds much importance as the benefits are too compelling to ignore at once. Having said all, do you think stakeholders and business owners attend conferences more often? The answer to such a question is ‘No’ as only few in the trade understand the value of such participation and those that understand it well, never miss out a chance to make the most out of conference.

Well, there are a whole lot of benefits attached with attending a face to face education conference and secure new businesses which cannot easily happen by attending any online success summit. So let’s quickly discuss these benefits one by one.

• Conferences Provide Unique Convergence of Networking – It is important to connect with attendees to mix and mingle, build new relationships and strengthen existing ones. Over a cup of coffee, lunch, cocktail or at a breakout session, edupreneurs can pitch their business to prospects and find their next customer. The other thing would be to network with other prominent EdTech vendors at the same event. Networking with other vendors is as important as it is networking with potential customers because they are also in the same line of business and maintaining good relation with active people in the industry is always beneficial in some way or the other in terms of business prospects.
• Great Chance to Pitch Innovative Solutions & Tools – there is an increasing demand for innovative solutions that reinforce transformation with a package. Whether there is an expo in the event or not, there is always a greater chance to pitch one’s innovative solution in amidst such a gathering. Say at the panel discussion sessions, when challenges in the day today administration or pedagogical approaches are discussed, there is great likelihood of one’s tool being the ultimate solution to such problems. So, they must position themselves as an expert to their peers and the potential clients at the end of the day. And in case there is a chance to showcase product in the expo, there is no better ways to use such opportunity to one’s own benefit. They should rent a booth and create a presence or garner attention at the education conferences by showcasing one’s unique solution and also distribute brochures that contain the detail specification of the product. Allow potential customers to have a hand on the solution for product demo.
• Active Participation in the Discussion – One way to secure new business is to pitch directly to potential customers. While the other subtle way of doing the same is to pitch solution in an indirect way. Say in the panel discussion, startup leaders must engage into meaningful discussions and prove that they are indeed the solution makers who with their tools and technologies can help the client mitigate problems hasslefree. It is a human psychology that customers like to connect with those leaders who are open and can engage. And if they find EdTech startup leaders worthy and having such attributes in them, customers are more likely to purchase such EdTech solution.
• Going all over social media – Whether it be on Twitter or Facebook or on LinkedIn, one should announce their presence at the education conference. There are chances that peers would sharing their post. There might be cases where any stakeholder who has been closely following the company for its product may also be interested in attending the same conference to have a hands on the product.

Conferences can be expensive, taking into consideration unique convergence of networking, learning, showcasing of products at the expo and chances to interact with the potential customers into account, paying such a good sum turns out to be worthwhile for the long term benefit of the business. Essentially, a good conference always forces one to grow and challenge themselves.

Share with us your experience of attending one such conference which later gave you the real business.

What a timely post! We have our flagship international edtech event this week from 1st-3rd Feb in New Delhi.