Not knowing exactly what to expect, what really struck me on arriving at mipim was the sheer number of people attending (several thousand, apparently). And, with that number of people, there was never going to be a shortage of meeting opportunities.
Pretty much everyone I met was receptive to at least listening; there seems to be real sense of "Ok, I wouldn't normally have time to meet you, but since we're here, let's have a chat". That's great, of course, in making an initial connection. However, it's what happens afterwards that counts. So, these are my reflections:
- Keeping track of who you've met is, obviously, key. In spite of my best intentions (and diligent note writing), I appear to have returned with a number of business cards and I really have no recollection of who they belong to (I know the name,of couse, but cannot picture the person). Can I really follow up without at least some reference to what we talked about?
- That follow up is essential, but, with a large number of people to follow up with, some prioritisation is clearly in order.
- It's a great opportunity to meet people in small or big gatherings, depending on your preference and, to take an army saying "time spent in recce is seldom wasted". Very true!
- It's a good idea to take more than one person and share the workload a bit.
To those who might ask "is it worth it?" it is, of course far, far too early to say one way or another, but it has definitely helped as part of the process of building relationships with clients and prospects. As with all business development, it's rare to be able to pinpoint the winning of work to one, single, BD action; much more often, it's a combination of many large and small actions. But will I go back next year? Definitely!