Conference Newcomers: Make Their First Time a Great Time

A member walks away from registration with her badge and conference bag. She’s excited and a little nervous; this is her first conference. As she leafs through the program, waiting for the opening session to begin, she watches other attendees hug each other hello. She overhears snippets of conversation. It seems like everyone else already has friends here. What are these lounges and receptions they mention? There are so many sessions and activities listed in the program; it’s overwhelming. Day one has just begun and already she feels a bit lost, lonely and discouraged.

But it doesn’t have to be that way. Adrian Segar, author of Conferences That Work: Creating Events That People Love, shared a few tips with me about creating a positive first-timer experience:

• Create a buddy program. Supply a list of new attendees to returning attendees and ask them to sign up to buddy with a first-timer. Ask the returning buddies to arrange a meeting with their new buddy during the registration period. Provide guidelines on what to share with first-timers and how to do it effectively.
• Make sure name badges clearly indicate a first-time or returning attendee. You can use ribbons, but Adrian prefers to use different color areas on the badge itself.
• During the first general session, ask new attendees to stand. Invite the seated returning attendees to look around and make the new folks welcome during the conference. Then ask the returning attendees to stand. Encourage the new attendees to keep them in mind as resources during the conference.
• Have a special orientation session for first-time attendees.

Help attendees connect with other friendly faces.

The Association of Corporate Counsel has a New Members & First Time Attendees Orientation & Breakfast at their conference. They send out invitations ten days before the conference to all first-time attendees and market the breakfast as a networking event in the program guide. The tables are set in rounds of ten to encourage conversation. The hour-long program includes a team game to help break the ice with questions about getting around and networking at the conference. Members provide a demo of online resources and discuss how to get the most out of membership. The breakfast ends with additional conversation time.

Danielle Boshart, Director of Membership Operations, receives positive feedback from the 100 first-timers who attend the breakfast. She likes how “it helps attendees find friendly faces to connect with during the conference.”

Facilitate peer-to-peer sharing.

Michelle Smith, Director of Meetings at the Association of College Unions International, told me that 70% of their first-time attendees, nearly 200 people, attend their newcomers program. The session is held before the opening keynote on the first day of their 3-1/2 day conference. They email first-time attendees to ensure they know about it.

During the session they introduce ACUI and highlight different conference components. Then several members discuss inspirational sessions and take-aways from previous conferences, and share their professional development strategies. After the panel the attendees break out by geographic region to meet others from schools in their area.

Michelle says, “The newcomers are led from the program into the keynote so their first educational experience is with people they “know.” They’re not left out there wondering what all the pomp and circumstance of the opening session is about.”

Another new ACUI program, Conference Collaborators, matches first-time attendees with more seasoned ACUI members. They encourage the pair to communicate prior to and meet during the conference. For now they’re limiting the program to 20 pairs so they can “do more and go deeper with them since it’s a bit of a hands-on process to make the matches.” In some cases the mentoring has continued beyond the conference.

Have you been to a conference that provided a rewarding experience for first-timers? How did they do that?