The biggest HVACR event of the year starts on January 30 in Las Vegas. While the lure of easy money on the casino floors, flashy Vegas shows and desert warmth is certainly appealing to most of us, the true benefit of the Expo is connecting with other professionals in the industry.A lot will be happening next week with over 2,000 exhibitors and over 60,000 people expected to attend. So, how do you manage your time effectively and ensure that you take advantage of the showcase of new products, technologies and ideas?
- Make a plan before you arrive. Visit the AHR Expo website and register for My Show Planner. You can use the tool to find exhibitors and explore and add educational conference sessions to your itinerary. You can even sort exhibitors by location so you don’t waste time wandering through the massive exhibit hall searching for the exhibitors you want to visit. You can also add personal events like breakfast meetings or vendor appointments to your Show Planner.
- Download the AHR Expo 2017 Mobile App. My Show Planner would be wasted if it stayed on your desktop back at the office! Download the app and utilize its features on the go. For example, you can do Keyword searches on the show floor. I input the word “boilers” into my keyword search bar and was rewarded with a list of 42 exhibitors in alpha order, 10 categories that drilled down deeper into my boiler interest, 13 conference sessions, including dates and times and 71 show features for companies with specific boiler exhibitors.
- Set meetings before you go. Call your best customers, engineering contacts and vendors prior to the show and set up breakfast, lunch or dinner meetings. Once you’re there, it can be tough to connect with the people you really want to see unless you already have a meeting scheduled. Remember that they will be just as busy as you plan to be!
- Take advantage of the educational opportunities. Review the educational sessions closely. Even if the topic sounds like something you know like the back of your hand, you might want to consider attending anyway. Technology changes rapidly and, while it’s easy to get complacent if you have been in the industry for a while, you might learn something useful.
- Follow up, follow up, follow up. Sure, everyone follows up immediately with the hot business lead. You want to strike while the iron is hot! However, the mistake that many people make is not following up with those people who don’t seem like leads at all. It doesn’t take much time to send a few thank you notes to those people you met who may not be ready to do business with you now but who could become extremely valuable connections in the future. Make those seemingly innocuous encounters meaningful by following up in some form or fashion with everyone you meet.
- Bonus pro tip. Follow @AHRExpo on Twitter and utilize the show hashtag #AHRExpo2017 with your own social media posts. Companies will be tweeting about promotions, contests and new technologies. You might learn something new. All the kids are doing it.
We have a few folks from Heat Transfer Sales attending the AHR Expo next week so we definitely work hard to “walk the talk.” It’s the best way to connect with your manufacturers, meet with some customers and even exchange “what’s working” ideas with our fellow manufacturers’ reps. Let’s go to Vegas!