What’s the best thing you can do at IABC World Conference?

The Grande Dame of conferences covering the the worlds of business and internal communication, IABC World Conference offers often-remarkable keynotes, a plethora of diverse breakout sessions, and perennially enjoyable socializing occasions like the Canada Party (which is always extra-special when it’s actually in Canada.)

But for me, the most valuable part of the conference are the conversations with IC vendors in The Hub, #IABC19’s vendor exhibition center.

Full disclosure – I do some consulting and research for Happeo (which is helping sponsor my attendance and whose swag I highlight in the picture above) and have established the #GorillaGames with ContactMonkey. And I’ve been very appreciative of the support that IABC EMENA has received from Poppulo during my year as Regional Chair.

But that support is indicative of why the vendor section adds so much value to World Conference.

Someone presenting a case study at a breakout session has the ability to present one real world situation to a room full of people.   A conversation with a vendor can expose you to dozens, along with the opportunity to see how each is particularly interesting and relevant, in a one-on-one discussion. And a few meters away, there are different vendors with different tools and a different spread of real world experiences.

Simply put, I think the best thing to do at World Conference is to purposely skip one or two breakout sessions and head for the vendor area. And apply the same interest and give the same respect to the vendors presenting as you would to anyone else presenting at World Conference.

The end result will be a broader and deeper understanding of business communication challenges and opportunities, along with, as expected, a better sense of the solutions capable of dealing with them.