If you are operating in an industry where there are major conferences, you will be encouraged to attend and connect with other businesses and important people. On the surface, there are no reasons why you shouldn’t attend these events. They are a great chance to further your business and they could provide you with the platform for prolonged success.

However, too many businesses fail to make the most of a conference. Some businesses are not equipped to network or meet with other industry partners and players. There will also be some businesses that don’t take conferences seriously enough. There will always be an element of people looking to have fun and relax at these events, you are after all away from the traditional working environment, but this isn’t an excuse to party. If you are not sure about sending employees to a conference, it is best to weigh up what you want to achieve from the conference.

Knowing where you want to take your business and what needs to be done to allow you to get there is a great starting point when it comes to moving forward. Given that major businesses conferences, such as MIPIM 2016, give you the chance to meet industry experts, make connections and position yourself as an important player in your industry, there are plenty of great opportunities for you in attending at these events.

However, you need to be prepared and you need to know what you want to achieve:

• If you are looking to launch or promote a product or service – make this your aim

• If you are looking to meet suppliers or distributors – make this your aim

• If you are looking to meet financial backers – make this your aim

• If you want to showcase what you can do to help others – make this your aim

If you attend a conference with the aim of doing everything, you often end up doing nothing. Attending a conference or major business event with a tangible focus, and with an aim that you can measure, will provide you with the best chance of achieving what you set out to do.

Think about what benefits you want to achieve

Sometimes the benefits of attending at a conference come much later on. If you connected with people, it may be that you will eventually connect with them effectively when you are both back in your respective offices. This is why it is vital that you exchange business cards with people that you meet and that you make a positive impression.

When you attend at this sort of event you will meet a lot of people and a lot of people will meet a wide range of professionals, so you should be looking to create a good impression. Even if this doesn’t have an impact on any business you can conclude during the conference, you may find that it provides you with the platform to do business later on.

You can connect attendees after the event

There is also the chance that an increasing number of conference organisers are helping people to get in touch after an event. Given that there are so many people to meet and so little time at a major conference, it is practically impossible to meet everyone that could be of benefit to you. This is why having access to an online database of attendees will help you to make contact at a later date.

A very simple introduction of “I’m sorry I never got the chance to connect with you at the recent event but…” can be the platform for engagement that sees your business make new contacts long after an event has finished. This is definitely something that the organisers of the MIPIM event provide for their guests and even if you fail to connect at MIPIM 2016, there will be a chance to do so at a later time.

If you are looking to make the most of your attendance at this style of event, you need to make sure that you find the best accommodation. When it comes to the best standard of Cannes accommodation, there is no shortage of options. This means that no matter how many people are attending from your business or what budget you have, there should be something that is right for you. The right style of accommodation is often a great starting point when it comes to making the most of your attendance at a major industry event.

Andrew Reilly is a freelance writer with a focus on news stories and consumer interest articles. He has been writing professionally for 9 years but has been writing for as long as he can care to remember. When Andrew isn’t sat behind a laptop or researching a story, he will be found watching a gig or a game of football.