Conference Tips

Conference Tips

As an artist or industry professional music conferences can be a great chance to meet key industry people make solid connections. There are a few key things you can do to really enhance your experience at these events and capitalize on the opportunities that they present, the following are just a few you can do.

1. Realize that conferences can make for long days. While the people speaking can have some great and interesting information after a few hours of sitting forward in a chair watching other people speak it can be difficult to pay attention. Make sure to take a break at some point and get something to eat and let your brain rest. It would be a shame to spend an entire day at panels and then be too tired to properly attend the 25th Anniversary Keynote Address by Seymour Stein.

2. If you want to meet with any the speakers make sure to arrange this in advance as they are likely to be busy. Most of the speakers and other delegates will be there for business and likely won’t have time for any spur of the moment meetings. Try and set up something via e-mail even if it is just to let them know you would like to talk they may keep their schedule more open. A great oppurtunity for exactly this is the One-on-One Business Meetings that happen during the 2013 Industry Conference.

3. Research the panels and speakers in advance to ensure that they apply to you and will keep you interested. While it can be difficult to know in advance exactly which ones you want having a general schedule will help you better organize your time especially if you do plan to make meetings. There are speakers from Canada, United States, Australia, the U.K., France and the Netherlands so chances are a few of them will be totally unknown but still important to you. Conveniently, delegate/speaker bios are available on www.ecma.com, so check them out and do your research!

4. If you are in a band try and get at least two members to attend, this way if there are two panels you want to attend or that may have important information you can learn from both. A small glimpse of them includes ‘Break Out’ Members Mentorship Program session, the Music Managers Forum Roundtable, Deconstructing Radio – Finding Your Place on The Dial, a featured Band Case Study, presenting the FACTOR Makeover;  chances are you will not be able to make all these so having a second person there can be a huge help.

5. Try to keep you questions short and precise. There is a limited amount of time so the speakers won’t have time to answer overly vague or broad questions or anything that only applies to you.

6. Don’t be afraid to ask a question, anyone who is at a level of being able to speak at a conference is more than willing to answer a very simple or very difficult question(as long as it does not take too long. If you don’t have time or a chance to ask them during the panel they will likely to be glad to spare a few minutes afterwards to answer it.

More details on the 2013 Industry Conference can be found here http://www.www.ecma.com/connect/conference. Conference attendance is included in the Festival Pass ($160 or $100 for ECMA members) or you can just get a Conference Pass for $90 (but why not experience all the great music too?).

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