I’m often asked to take a look at an announcement for Small Business Conferences, Industry Days, Procurement Conferences, for businesses to come and market their products and services to a particular agency or group of agencies. While these do offer the ability to network with federal government representatives, as well as large businesses and sometimes state and local government agency representatives, some of these are better for you than others. Here are some of the things to consider in choosing whether or not to attend.
- Is this conference focused on connecting small businesses with small business representatives? This is a good one for many small businesses to consider attending especially if you are relatively new to the federal government arena and need to expand your network of contacts. Review the list of last year’s attendees (many agencies and nonprofit organizations sponsoring these events publish their list of attendees from the previous year on their website) and check to see if these agencies buy your product or service. You can do this through USASpending.gov or through FBO (www.fbo.gov). (Note: Check out our many blogs on how to use these tools to target your federal market.) Keep the list of those agencies close at hand. These are the ones you will want to primarily visit when you are there.
- Does the conference require you (the small business) to pay for and man a booth while the government and other representatives you want to talk to wander through the conference? I recommend against attending these, even if a number of agencies you are interested in might attend. Why? You are bearing a fairly large expense for the opportunity to stand in one place and hope that someone you are interested in stops and talks to you. You will need to at least have signs and brochures identifying who you are and what you are selling, just so you can draw attention to your booth and get people to stop and talk. Pick conferences where you only pay for admittance and the large businesses and government agencies are standing in the booths. You’ll have control over who you spend your time with and keep the costs down.
- Is the conference within reasonable commuting distance? Or are you going to have to pay for air fare, hotel, car and food while you spend three days to attend a one-day conference? There are so many conferences hosted each year that you can often find good networking opportunities close enough to you so you won’t have to spend a lot just to attend. Even if there are a couple of agencies that you are particularly interested connecting with, there are much more effective ways to meet directly with that particular agency’s representatives one-on-one, for that kind of money. For example, check the agency’s website for information on how to contact their Small Business Specialist. Find out if they have a Technical Industrial Liaison Officer (TILO), whose mission is to connect that agency with industry (both large and small) who sell the products and services the agency might be interested in purchasing. Contact these offices to start a dialog with them and explore what the next steps are for getting your foot in the door with that agency.
- Is the conference being hosted by an agency that predominantly purchases your product or service? For example, the Department of Veteran’s Affairs (VA) predominantly purchases medical supplies and services, so if you are selling something in that arena, the VA probably represents a primary target for you in the federal government. Have they provided a schedule so you can sign up for one-on-one meetings with a variety of representatives? You usually only have about 15 minutes, so be ready to tell the representative in two minutes who you are, what you offer, and why they should be interested in your products or services (i.e., what your products/services can do for them).
As you grow, you’ll slowly change the type of networking events that you attend to meet your company’s growing needs and abilities. When you are just getting started in the government contracting arena, these networking opportunities are really great for expanding your list of contacts within agencies that you have already identified as within your target market. Choose wisely and prepare carefully for these events and you’ll maximize their benefits to you and to your potential government customers.