How to Be Seen at a Hiring Conference: 8 Tips

You are building the brand everyone wants to work with. Know the people who you want to hire. Be ready to meet people and attract them with activities they and you like. Present your company as a satisfying place to work and don’t lie. Here are eight battle-tested tips to get the most out of a hiring conference.

1. Being seen at a hiring conference can be really expensive. You have to pay to have your logo on the screens, you have to pay to have your speaker on stage, and you have to pay for a stand — and it’s quite likely you’ll have your stand in an almost invisible spot. For a reasonable amount of money you can get your own marketing and the value far outweighs the cost. How? Get a rollup banner with your company’s logo and slogan on it. We have been to many conferences and have seen a lot companies without a good rollup. Without it you’re not recognizable. Take it everywhere with you, you can even take it out in a pub (see more in point five) or unroll it next to the conference’s photo wall and see how many photos your logo can appear in.
2. Bring your own camera and take pictures for future presentations and as a fun part of the event. These are also great for social media. Take photos with people talking by the conference photograph and try to be in as many photos as you can! Polaroids work too! Or create a video of your company beforehand. You can try to get a big screen from the organizers where you can play the video. If a picture is worth a thousand words, a video is worth ten thousand.
3. Be brave! Meet people. Play music. Communicate! Check the list of participants/speakers before the conference starts so you can demonstrate knowledge when you meet them and show interest.
4. Bring your own refreshments. Hint: something that the conference does not offer. Ice cream or hot chocolate can be used as a nice icebreaker.
5. Always use the communication channel the conference uses. Invite people to chat. Evening networking events are always overcrowded — invite people who can’t get there for a drink at a nearby pub.
6. Play games! Bring your Playstation or have a contest! Let people play with something so you can show them how much fun they can have working for you. But, still, if you’re not into video games or don’t actually have them in your office, don’t invite people at the conference for a FIFA match. As for competitions, give out free shirts during the day and surprise them with free beer when you see them with the shirts later.
7. Have enough presents for everyone who visits your stand. Something useful and fun that people can people take home that will make your brand memorable. How about a nice umbrella for those London conferences?
8. Don’t forget to check before your presentation that the technical setup works and everyone can see what you need them to see. A blinking presentation will lose everyone’s interest. Been there, done that.