By Kat Fronek for our “99 Ways to Make a Positive Difference in Your Pharmacy” blog series

My last two posts have explored the ways you can glean value from attending trade events, and shared suggestions for getting the entire pharmacy team excited about the event, even if not all of them are able to attend. There’s a final piece to the successful industry event experience: you. What steps can you take to make sure your experience is a great one?

1. Keep your routines: it’s tempting to make your trade show visit into a vacation, but you’ll be much more alert and attentive, and therefore reap more value, if you keep the schedule and lifestyle you normally keep at home.

2. Dress comfortably: sounds silly, doesn’t it? But those conference rooms can run the gamut from stifling to frigid, so dressing in light layers can help keep you comfortable in any setting so that you can focus on the speaker or event without distraction. Good walking shoes are also a must – you’ll do a lot of walking at the event, and it’s better to be comfortable than fashionable.

3. Set time aside to check in with your team: take a few minutes each day – perhaps early in the morning, or at the end of the day – to send your team a brief email to let them know about something interesting you’ve learned or about a new connection you’ve made. This small gesture will reassure them that your attendance at the event is valuable to the business and will keep them feeling positive and committed to operations in your absence.

4. Stay focused: industry events can be a wonderful opportunity to bring your spouse or children along for a short vacation. Enjoy the time you spend with your family, but make sure you are setting aside time to collect answers to that all-important question, “Why am I going to this event?” Attend some events by yourself to take advantage of the opportunity to develop connections and gather insights.

Making your visit to a trade show enjoyable, successful, and valuable to your business can take some effort, but the rewards are immeasurable. Not only will approaching your next event in this manner strengthen your team and support your business, it will help you learn, grow, and walk away smiling the next time you are in attendance.

Kat supports our sales effort in continuing to build out efficient processes, defining and researching new business opportunities, maintaining high-integrity data, developing and organizing sales tools, analyzing campaign performance, and facilitating the success and performance tracking of our direct mail programs. Since 1987, Kat has strived to identify creative and effective solutions that result in HRG’s ability to deliver quality products and services. Kat is also an owner of the company.