From Conference Attendee List to Business Development Plan: How Law Firms Can Prepare Before the Event
Law firms spend significant amounts of time and money sending lawyers to conferences, sponsoring industry events and hosting their own programs. The business development opportunity starts well before anyone walks into the room.
An attendee list can tell a firm much more than who will be there. With the right research, it can help identify existing clients, priority prospects, former contacts who have changed roles, companies the firm has been trying to reach and people who already have relationships with lawyers across the firm.
The challenge is turning a list of hundreds or even thousands of names into a realistic plan that lawyers can use before, during and after the event.
Start With the People Who Matter Most
A large conference may have hundreds of attendees, so researching everyone usually isn't the best use of the business development team's time. The first step is narrowing the list based on the firm's priorities and the lawyers who will be attending.
Existing clients naturally belong in that group, particularly contacts the lawyers haven't seen recently or people from other parts of the organization they haven't met. Priority prospects, referral sources and companies within industries the firm is actively trying to develop may also warrant attention.
There may also be people on the list who aren't immediately recognizable but become much more interesting after some research. An executive may have recently joined a priority company. Someone who previously worked at a client may now be at a prospect. A person the firm knows from one organization may have moved into a role where the relationship has new relevance.
By the time the list reaches the lawyers attending the conference, it should reflect these priorities rather than requiring them to sort through hundreds of names themselves.
Understand Who the Firm Already Knows
Once priority attendees have been identified, the next step is understanding the firm's existing relationships with them and their organizations. Some connections will be obvious because the person is a current client or known contact, while others may sit elsewhere within the firm.
A partner in another office may have worked with the attendee several years ago. Another lawyer may know someone else on the company's leadership team. The firm may have pitched the organization previously, hosted its executives at an event or represented one of its investors, subsidiaries or portfolio companies.
Looking at these connections before the conference can help determine who is best positioned to make contact and whether another lawyer can provide an introduction. It can also prevent the awkward situation of approaching someone as a new prospect when they already have a meaningful relationship with someone else at the firm.
Research What Is Happening at Priority Companies
Knowing that someone will be at a conference creates an opportunity to connect, while understanding what is happening within their business can make the conversation much more relevant.
A company may have recently completed an acquisition, raised capital, entered a new market, hired a senior executive or announced a significant strategic initiative. A private equity firm may have raised a new fund, completed several investments in a particular sector or added new investment professionals. Other companies may be facing regulatory developments or market changes that relate directly to the firm's experience.
This information gives lawyers context before they approach someone and can help them move beyond generic conference conversation. It may also reveal that someone who initially appeared to be a lower priority deserves more attention because of something happening within their organization.
Give Lawyers a Manageable Plan
The final output for the lawyer should be useful enough to guide their time without becoming another lengthy document they won't read.
For some conferences, that may mean identifying 10 to 15 priority people with a short explanation of who they are, why the relationship matters, what has changed at their company and whether anyone at the firm already knows them. For a smaller event, the list may be even more focused.
The preparation can also include suggested introductions, relevant firm experience or a recent development that may provide a natural conversation starter. The level of detail will depend on the event, but the purpose is to help lawyers understand where they should spend their limited time and why.
Coordinate the Lawyers Who Are Attending
When several lawyers from the same firm attend a conference, there is also an opportunity to coordinate their outreach. Without that coordination, multiple partners may approach the same prospect while another important attendee receives no attention at all.
Business development teams can help determine which lawyer has the strongest relationship or most relevant reason to connect with each priority attendee. They can also identify situations where making an introduction between a colleague and a client or prospect would be useful.
This becomes particularly valuable at large industry conferences where several practices or offices may be represented. Instead of treating each lawyer's attendance as a separate activity, the firm can approach the event as a coordinated business development opportunity.
Plan the Follow-Up Before the Conference Starts
Conference follow-up is much easier when the groundwork has already been done. If a lawyer knows why someone is a priority before meeting them, the business development team can also anticipate what might make sense after the conversation.
That could include an introduction to another lawyer, an invitation to an upcoming event, relevant content, a meeting with additional members of the client team or another conversation about something discussed at the conference. The actual follow-up will depend on what happens, but having the underlying research already in place makes it easier to act quickly.
Capturing what happened at the conference is equally important. Who did the lawyers meet? What did they discuss? What did they promise to send? Did they learn something new about the company or relationship? Recording that information gives the firm something to build on rather than allowing valuable intelligence to disappear into individual inboxes and notebooks.
Continue Monitoring Priority Relationships After the Event
The research completed before the event provides a useful starting point for continued relationship development. Some of the most valuable conference relationships may take months or years to develop, particularly when there isn't an immediate legal need.
Priority companies can be monitored for leadership changes, transactions, investments, expansions and other developments that create reasons to reconnect. Lawyers can continue sharing relevant information, making introductions and inviting contacts to programs that align with their interests.
This approach can also help firms get more value from conferences they attend every year. Rather than starting over with a new attendee list each time, the business development team can build on previous conversations and understand how relationships have developed since the last event.
How Gatsby Can Help
Conference preparation requires business development teams to research a large number of companies and people within a relatively short period of time. Gatsby Intel can help teams understand priority attendees and their organizations, providing useful background before lawyers arrive at the event.
Gatsby Aware can support what happens next by monitoring the clients and prospects that emerge as priorities. As those companies make news or contacts change roles, business development teams have additional opportunities to help lawyers stay informed and find relevant reasons to reconnect.
Combined with the firm's own relationship information and the business development team's knowledge of its lawyers and priorities, that intelligence can turn conference preparation into a more focused and ongoing relationship development effort.
Getting More Business Development Value From Conferences
Conferences create a concentrated opportunity to spend time with clients, prospects, referral sources and other people within an industry, but much of their value depends on what happens around the event itself. Research and relationship intelligence can help lawyers arrive knowing whom they want to see, why those people matter and what may be worth discussing with them.
The information gathered before and during the conference can then support the follow-up and longer-term relationship development that comes afterward. When firms treat conferences as part of an ongoing business development strategy rather than isolated events on the calendar, the investment in attending and sponsoring them has a much better chance of leading to meaningful relationships and future opportunities.