With Moonshot in Lagos and AI Expo Africa in Johannesburg both landing at the end of October, a lot of people are about to spend two days and a fair bit of money at conferences. Many will come home with a bag of brochures and nothing else.
Here’s how to come back with something useful.
Decide why you’re going before you buy the ticket. Finding clients, meeting investors, hiring and learning are different goals, and each one changes which sessions you attend and who you talk to.
Make a list of ten people you want to meet. Check the speaker list and the sponsor list. Message them a week before. “I’ll be at Moonshot, would love ten minutes on Tuesday” works more often than you’d expect.
Skip some sessions. The talks are often recorded. The corridor conversations aren’t. Some of the best meetings happen at the coffee stand.
Take notes on people, not slides. After each conversation, write down who they are and what you promised. By the end of day two, everyone blurs together.
Follow up within 48 hours. A short message reminding them where you met and what you talked about. Most people never follow up at all, which is why the ones who do stand out.
