10 insider tips on how to prepare for Tech in Asia Singapore 2015

Tech in Asia Singapore 2015 is not that far off. Before the two-day event kicks off on May 6 and 7, it’s a good time to get some tips for attending a tech conference and getting the most out of it.

1. Think about what you want to gain from the event

Our conferences get a wide variety of attendees – major VCs; corporate M&A executives; young or seasoned entrepreneurs; students curious about entrepreneurship who’re making full use of our student discounts. For each, the reason for going is different.

For you, think about your own situation and what benefit you could get from this event. Think in terms of who you’d most like to meet, what kind of partners it’d be good to make right now, what you feel you need to learn about the industry, and weigh up if this is the best way of meeting those goals. We hope that it is.

2. Make contacts before you arrive

As we did last year, we’ll make use of the face-to-face networking site Jublia to help people set up connections long before they arrive. Look out for more details on that soon.

3. Plan out what you really want to see at the event

There’s a lot more than just one auditorium, so the Tech in Asia Singapore site and our ongoing pre-event articles can serve as a guide to finding what you seek to gain from attending.

Check out what’s planned across the World Domination Stage, Kickstart Stage, MET sessions, Startup-Investor Speed Dating, Meet The Media, and Office Hours.

4. Bring plenty of juice

Bring either a spare phone battery or one of those portable battery packs.

5. Talk to anyone and everyone

Now that you’re at Tech in Asia Singapore 2015 for real, it’s a great chance to network with people from all across the tech industry. While you’ve done your homework and pinpointed people you’d especially like to meet, remember to keep an open mind and talk to anyone and everyone, regardless of whether they’re in a totally different field from yours. Not every chat has to lead to a business connection.

Our last conference saw attendees from 32 countries, so you’ll likely learn something new and perhaps even get inspiration from talking to the person next to you at the coffee machine.

6. Form one key takeaway from every session

There’s a lot to take in. The big-name speakers on the World Domination Stage and the hustlers on the Kickstart Stage will be spewing out a wealth of insights, data points, and gems of advice, so it could be useful for you to distill each session you watch into a central point. That will help you remember precisely what you learned.

7. Explore the venue in full

The plan you made before the event should help you find spare time to get away from a certain place and explore more areas of the Suntec Singapore venue.

8. Plan après-event gatherings with like-minded folks

A tech conference is not just about what’s scheduled – it’s really about the people. So when the day wraps up, gather with some like-minded folks to head out to dinner or for drinks. If everyone invites a further one or two people who share similar interests, you have a nice gathering going down.

We’ve already planned a bunch of open parties to get that started, from Tuesday to Thursday, May 5 to 7. Our “night crawls” are planned at several local venues where conference attendees will get a discount.

9. Take action on all those business cards

As you go about your business during the two-day Tech in Asia Singapore 2015 event, use some kind of system so that you can take action on all those business cards you get. Perhaps separate the cards into two bundles so that one bunch is dedicated to people that you’ll definitely follow up on. If needed, back up that system by adding the most important new people you meet into your phone’s Contacts app immediately (you don’t need to fill in every field), giving you scope to add a couple of notes that’ll be useful once you follow up with him or her after the event.

10. Believe in serendipity

You’ve got to go take action in order to make your own luck.

(Hat-tip to 99u, Technology Advice, and Quora for some great ideas that helped us form this list)