It’s conference season in the real estate industry again, and it may be the first conference you’ve attended in a couple of years due to Covid. Out of practice? In a post from the archive, Dave Kerpen provides a quick checklist of some things you can do to get back in the groove before heading out. 1) Research speakers and attendees ahead of time and reach out. A week or two before the conference, look at the speaker list and the attendee list. Research the people you’d most like to meet and spend time with while you’re there. 2) Use social media to connect with and compliment the speakers. Do you want to connect with a speaker? One of the best ways to grab a speaker’s attention is to engage with them on social media before the conference, and pay them a genuine compliment before or during the speech. 3) Skip a panel or two and hang out in the break room. As valuable as the content of a conference may be, if you’re there to meet people, it can be more valuable to hang out outside the panels, in the break room, trade show floor, or by the coffee or snacks. 4) Forget just giving out business cards–collect them. Ask each person you meet for his/her card- and then, connect with them on LinkedIn – either after the conference, or right then and there. 5) Ask meaningful questions of the people you meet. Ditch the small talk and ask better questions, such as “What are hoping to learn while you’re here?”, “Who at this conference would you most like to be connected with?”, and “How can I help you?” You’ll get people talking about what they care about and form more meaningful relationships faster. It may feel a little odd now, but the best relationships are built and maintained in person. Let’s step-out and make it happen again.