skipnmol2bwWith Skip’s Summer School coming up in ten days and PhotoPlusExpo in October, it’s the perfect time to be thinking about your goals when you attend a workshop or trade show.  There are so many reasons to be at programs like these, all going well beyond the educational value.

1) At every program you attend you should always have a point and shoot digitial in your pocket!  I know that most of you are making more money than you need and have huge budgets to create publicity, but for those of you with limited funding – what are you doing to create awareness for your own business?  At Skip’s Summer School next week I’ll be giving everybody a press release template they can use for the Summer School event and send to their local papers.  It’s such a simple concept – get a picture of yourself with somebody at the conference like a speaker, a vendor or even the person sitting next to you.  Next, talk it up – you’re at an international event, learning about new technologies, all of which are going to make you a better photographer than your competitor who stayed home!  Send the release with a print of you at the conference to your local paper, post it on your blog – in short, put it everywhere it might create more awarenss for your role as a photographer.  

2) Before you go to any convention, workshop or trade show, check out the sponsors.  Who are the companies who are likely to be there?  Get to know their products and how they might fit into your mix to make your life easier, the quality of your images better and your photography stand out.  Then, and this is especially great when you’re at a smaller conference, get to know the staff working the booth.  You’re not just collecting business cards, you’re getting to know the people involved and even more important, letting them get to know you.  When you get back to your office/studio send them a short thank-you note for their time with an image of yours – this is about contributing to their network as well.  You never know when a vendor is going to be looking for a new face or a new style of work to represent their products.

3) Keep your Iphone or Blackberry on and check messages frequently.  Last year at PhotoPlus Expo we had a project we were working on with GraphiStudio and I needed to find Dixie Dixon.  I knew she was at the show, but how was I going to find her in a crowd of 30,000 people?  Facebook and a quick poke did it.  But, had Dixie not checked her messages, we never would have found her and somebody else might have gotten the assignment.

4) Network, network, network!  It’s not about collecting business cards it’s about the opportunity to find another brain out there that’s just as frustrated as you are!    Sorry, that assumes we’re all walking around frustrated, but the truth is, new faces and ideas are what help us grow and just collecting a biz card of the person sitting next to you isn’t enough.  But, talking to them about how their business is versus yours, sharing the challenges you’re both experiencing and then drawing from the knowledge you both have will get you through the toughest of times.  

5) Never go to lunch or dinner by yourself!  Okay, I’ll admit I’m the ultimate lunch slut, but the greatest ideas seem to come out when you’re eating lunch or dinner!  The best projects I’ve ever been involved in started with concepts scribbled out on cocktail napkins.  If you’re at a conference and you’re staying overnight, never go to dinner by yourself and never go with the same old crowd you always hang out with.  I’m not saying you should abandon your friends, just  bring one new person to dinner with you!  At the risk of sounding like I’m doing an infommercial – the MGM Grand is doing a 2 for 1 entree card at Summer School.  Take a new friend to dinner, get one free entree and split the check – the cheap price of the meal alone will be worth the investment in your time to develop one new relationship with another photographer.

6) What’s your calling card?  Business cards are great, but one of the best vehicles is a postcard with one or more of your images on it.  Joe and JP Elario have a great 5×7 or it might even be a bigger post card they’ve used for mailings with a whole series of wedding images.  I’m not asking you to stand in the aisle and hand them out, but when you’re talking to somebody from H&H, Pictage or PWD Labs, what a kick to ask be put on their mailing list and hand them a card that shows your work.  If a picture is worth a thousand words, they’ll remember you a whole lot longer because of your images!  And, companies like Marathon Press make it so easy to design and order them in large or small quantities.

Last but not least, if you let the economy drag you down and really start to believe the media, you’ll never grow!  You’ve got to get out and network, talk to every vendor you can, even when it’s a product or application you might not need right now.  This is all about building inventory – building a stash of resources be it skills, products, ideas or new friends.  You need to attend every program you can possibly afford, from local chapter meetings of professional photographers to Summer School to multi-venue programs like PhotoPlusExpo, DWF, IUSA or WPPI.

I’ve only said it a hundred times in the last few months, so what’s one more amongst friends?   ”Just because the media says it’s going to be a bad year, doesn’t mean it has to be!”

See you at Summer School in Vegas!

(Note: For those of you trying to figure out what the picture has to do with today’s blog – absolutely nothing, except it makes me laugh!)