Kate Stefanovych on how to prepare for the conference

Kate is Sigma Software’s Event Management Lead. Over the past five years, she has organised over 130 technical events and represented the company at over 50 conferences, including the Web Summit in Lisbon, OurCrowd Summit in Israel, Devoxx Poland, IT Arena Lviv, and many others.

Teams often conclude their conference preparations by booking tickets, polishing pitch decks, and fine-tuning their product. However, this approach can lead to a lack of focus, trying to cover too much at once, overspending, and – at best – returning home with a stack of mostly irrelevant contacts. Conferences, however, offer many overlooked opportunities and nuances that can help achieve your goals, yet these are often forgotten in the rush of preparation. Let's go through the main ones:

• Goal: Why are you attending? Is your aim to find new clients, network, seek investment, research competitors, hire talent, or simply get inspired by trends? Answer this question clearly and focus on two primary objectives.
• Go beyond the standard agenda: explore the available tracks, check if a booth is an option, and find out whether there will be startup competitions, live broadcasts, mentoring sessions, business matchmaking, or hackathons.
• Plan for side events and structure your schedule: while presentations offer a chance to meet investors or clients, you’re more likely to make meaningful connections at smaller events outside the main program. Some organisers, like ETHCC Paris, share these side events directly on their website, but if not, you can find them on platforms like Lu.ma, Eventbrite, Meetup.com, or in Telegram groups, which often publish curated tables of niche, worthwhile side events.
• Apply as a speaker: Typically, 4–6 months before the event, a Call for Papers (CFP) opens, allowing you to submit your candidacy and proposed topics. There’s always a chance to be selected, but I recommend focusing on the originality and title of your topic, which should ideally align with the conference theme.
• Elevator pitch exercise: Begin practicing a short, clear, and engaging description of your startup for networking and presentations. The rules are simple: two weeks before the conference, dedicate 15 minutes each day to ‘selling’ your idea. Seek out people unfamiliar with your work to get honest feedback on what stands out to them, where you feel uncertain, or where your explanations might be too complex.
• Delegate roles: Teams often attend conferences with a shared plan, but can you divide roles to cover more ground? Consider this approach and send those who genuinely need to be there and are willing to communicate extensively.
• You can't have a meeting without planning it: Conference participants are often listed in the event’s mobile app. If this isn't available, use social media and hashtag searches to connect with them.
• You’re remembered when you stand out: It could be a unique piece of clothing, a hairstyle, or an accessory – something small that grabs attention and makes you memorable among hundreds of others. The same applies to cold emails when scheduling meetings before an event. Avoid generic messages; take the time to craft a message that will catch the recipient’s eye amidst 100 other invitations.
• Act quickly and follow up on meetings and new connections immediately: It’s always effective to send a selfie with your new contact directly in the chat.
• Have a QR code for quick access to your contacts and product: Tools like Linktree and Beacons are excellent options for this.
• Create printed materials: Business cards, informational brochures, and other materials about your startup that you can hand out to potential partners or investors. Yes, it still works.
• Don't overlook partnership opportunities for booths: Sometimes, there are great opportunities, such as the Startup Alley at the Web Summit. If you're selected, you'll get a booth and three tickets for the price of one.
• Minimise stress – remember, you still have a startup to run: Conferences can be demanding, as they require not only expertise but also emotional energy. Ensure you sleep well, stay hydrated, eat properly, and bring everything you need for a comfortable experience, including a power bank, notebook, and comfortable shoes.

Alina Pendeshchuk on how to get leads at a conference

Alina is a Business Development Lead at Datrics, a portfolio startup of Sigma Software Labs. She has travelled halfway around the world and attended such conferences as the JICA conference in Japan, Nordic Fintech Week, the Ukrainian delegation to London Tech Week, and the European Blockchain Convention.

Preparing for a conference is one of the most important things to plan. We select events directly relevant to our track record – those that will offer the greatest benefit or where we’re most likely to meet the right people. While we don’t rule out major events like Web Summit, specialised conferences often align more with our goals. Let’s walk through the key steps:

• Book meetings in advance with interesting people attending the conference, either through the event app or directly via social media. The optimal time to do this is 2–3 days before the conference. This will give you a clear action plan and set meetings, so you can confidently follow through during the event.
• Set work aside and focus your free time during the conference on networking with people at booths or in designated areas. However, remember that the main communication surge often happens at side events. Don’t underestimate these informal interactions – they’re an essential part of networking.
• Ensure your brand is well represented if you have a booth or are part of a joint delegation booth. Your startup’s identity, logo, and video should be prominently visible.
• Go digital instead of using paper materials: Link QR codes to your LinkedIn profile, website, or contact form for easy connection with visitors and stakeholders.
• Choose relevant side events to attend where you can build personal connections with future clients, partners, and market players.
• Track each valuable conversation in a shared document or chat accessible to your team for quick lead processing. After each key conversation, record the following:
• The contact’s LinkedIn profile
• A brief summary of the meeting
• A photo of the person you spoke with (or a photo together)
• Next steps for follow-up communication
• Engage with the local community. When visiting another country or city, arrange meetings with local clients or partners. This will help you adapt to the city and integrate into the local business community.

Daria Yaniieva on post-event communication

Daria is the Investment Director at Sigma Software Labs. She attends international and Ukrainian events almost every week – mainly as a speaker or jury member in numerous startup competitions. Here are her thoughts on how proper communication affects the results of business trips.

The optimal timing of follow-up communications requires special attention. From our personal experience, it is not always effective to follow up with potential contacts the day after the meeting, and sometimes, a day’s delay can, on the contrary, make a negative impression.

The first rule applies to large-scale events like Web Summit, where the schedule of official and additional events takes a full day, except for a few hours of sleep. Firstly, in such a schedule, it is quite challenging to process all contacts effectively here and now, not to mention personal follow-ups. Besides, there's a high risk of losing emails among hundreds of notifications from networking apps, organiser emails, calendar reminders, and regular mail that never stops during your travels. Of course, you shouldn’t postpone communication in a super long box, but it seems optimal to process contacts within a business week after returning.

At the same time, after more small events for 70–100 people, it is highly recommended to send follow-ups the very next day. Be sure that the number of emails will be ten times smaller, and, with a high degree of probability, the scale of the event allows you to agree on more specific points to include in further communication. In this case, there is no need to lose time and interest to continue the conversation in detail.

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