I’m heading to Atomicon*, a huge sales and marketing conference in Newcastle, for the fourth time this June and every time I’ve come away with pages of notes, new ideas, great conversations and at least one thing that’s genuinely changed how I run my business.
A few years back I wrote a blog on tips for booking Atomicon, and over the past few years I’ve picked up some more tips so I wanted to share them with you. So, whether this is your first Atomicon, or you’ve been before, read on to find out more.
Spend ten minutes thinking about what you want from the experience. With the fringe events too, it’s up to a three day event, so there’s a lot to think about and setting yourself some simple goals can help ease any overwhelm you might feel. Examples might include:
- Meet new peers to build your support network
- Meet potential clients
- Build confidence attending larger events
- Listen to talks to get inspired
Having a clear goal can stop the ‘I should have…’s sneaking in afterwards and the whole event will feel more purposeful.
Atomicon always has multiple speakers you can pick in any one ‘slot’. I would strongly recommend looking these speakers up beforehand and getting a feel for their vibe on Instagram and LinkedIn. All of the talks I’ve attended have been valuable, but the first time I went, I chose purely based on the titles and realised a couple just weren’t suited to me personally.
This is where your goals really come into play – e.g. if you really want to find out more about email marketing, head for that talk first.
Plus, you can always watch them back afterwards on the replay!
You’ll have had an email about the Atomicon Fringe events on the Monday. These get booked up so I strongly recommend booking one that takes your fancy now. If you’re going to the graffiti walk on Monday, I’ll see you there!
The pre-party is always good fun and gets you nicely warmed up for the conference on Tuesday.
Even if something doesn’t feel immediately relevant, write it down anyway. You never know when an idea will click six months later, what phrase might spark a new offer or which recommendation you’ll want to revisit.
Another practical tip: make a note of people’s names when you meet them! You’re bound to meet a lot of people and they’ll all mingle into one if you don’t keep track! This makes it a lot easier if you tag people on social media afterwards.
It’s worth remembering that lots of valuable (and fun!) moments happen during the moments in-between so if you feel like sitting one of the talks out to catch your breath, just do it! You can always watch them back later, and you never know who you might get talking to in the queue for a mid-event coffee pick me up.
There’s also a quiet space, and lovely walks along the Tyne nearby, if you fancy a moment to yourself.
Feeling nervous about networking? I teach networking skill workshops and LOTS of people get nervous thinking about networking. I’ve got a whole blog about it here, but my top tip for Atomicon is just to be curious and not worry about ‘pitching’ what you do. Yes, it’s nice to have a simple intro prepared, but the old adage ‘people won’t remember what you said, they’ll remember how you made them feel’ is one to remember and asking questions and being curious will help you (and hopefully ease some nerves!). A few follow up questions that work for me:
- How long have you been doing that for?
- How did you get into that?
- What talk have you enjoyed the most so far?
- What talk are you looking forward to?
- Did you go to the pre-party last night?
This is probably the biggest tip I give myself each time. Conferences like Atomicon are full of ideas, notes, and ah-ha moments, but if you don’t leave time afterwards to soak it all up and think about how you’re going to implement it, you’re missing a huge opportunity! I always recommend leaving half the time again within the following few days to follow up and I’ve already booked a whole day out in my diary on the Thursday following the conference.
A few things I do to reflect and follow up afterwards:
- Say hi to my new connections on LinkedIn and Instagram
- Post my reflections on Atomicon across social media
- Write a blog
- Go through my notes and condense key ideas into a one pager for myself (like I’m making revision notes!)
Andrew and Pete also run an implementation session in the days following Atomicon, so it’s worth keeping an eye out for that!
Andrew and Pete, who run Atomicon, are passionate about bringing people together and give you lots of chances to connect beforehand, including the Facebook Group and matchmaking emails. This can make attending feel less daunting if you’re attending solo!
You can also keep an eye out on social media for who is attending (using the Atomicon hashtag) and reach out to them with a connection request/direct message beforehand.
I love to meet new people, so please do come and say hi! I’m also over on Instagram and LinkedIn – please do come and say hi before we go!
It’s worth remembering that Atomicon doesn’t need to serve every purpose in your business and if you come away with some new connections, or one new idea for a service or process improvement, then it’s been a huge success!
