How To Craft An Engaging Conference Handout

This is a rewrite of an article I've been working on for a bit. If you are confused, check this post!

The Unsung Virtues of the Conference Handout

As we’re midway through conference season, I’d like to talk about an often overlooked, but powerful tool. The conference handout. A one-sheet document that can be deceptively complex to put together. When preparing for a conference, it’s usually left until the last minute, given second billing to more exciting challenges, like booth graphics and experiences. But this small element does some heavy lifting. It’s your opportunity to immediately communicate the value of what you can do for a client. It works when your in-person representative might not be available, and it may travel with your potential client, carrying its message outside of the event.

Conferences are overwhelming. Attendees are surrounded by people, graphics, and noise, all trying their darndest to be relevant. Who should attendees talk to? Which booth should they visit? Where do they put all these handouts and tchotchkes? (Wait, they haven't been given a tote yet?!). Throw in some networking anxiety and a couple cocktails, and it’s hard to tell how any of this will be productive for them.

Your representatives at the booth work hard to engage and educate visitors. To give them a hand, I'd like to make a case for the hardworking single-page handout. Done right, it may be the fastest way to communicate why someone should spend any time learning about your product or service. With a strong basic design and relevant content, you can ensure that your point gets across, giving it the best chance of standing out in the crush of brochures and takeaways.

When Handouts Break Bad

The following are some examples of common handout miss-steps that can cause your audience to abandon a handout faster than they abandoned that close-talker at the snack bar.

• They open by talking about themselves. "We work for some of the largest companies in the field of widget formation." or "We're proud of our many awards from the Awards Foundation."
• Or they open by talking about something vague, that sounds good but you're not sure what it has to do with you. "We improve the lives of others by listening and learning."
• The opener is followed by a kitchen sink of what goes into the product or service. There are business line listings, paragraphs of detail, vaguely attributed quotes of recommendation. (Like - Business Owner, or - Customer).
• The most important piece is missing. What should the reader do next? You need a call to action.

Sample Suspects

So, how do we avoid these pitfalls, and construct a client-focused, relevant, easy to understand handout?

Write An Opening Statement That's Relevant To Your Audience

A handout that starts with why your company is awesome will fall on deaf ears. Your opener should clearly state what problem you can solve, and for whom. If your audience has that problem, they may read on.

Three Things You Must Know

1. Who is this for? Even if you have multiple audiences, who is most likely to be attending this event?
2. What do they value? Put yourself in their shoes, and try to figure out what problems they have, and how your product or service might solve those problems. Try to identify their top 1 - 3 challenges.
3. How much do they value it? Measure what they value. Look at those 1 - 3 challenges. Any idea how much your audience would benefit if you could solve them?

Once you have your answers, use them to formulate an opening value statement that will speak to your audience. At its core, your statement would contain the information "We solve (problem) for (type of company), resulting in (value)." But you can get more creative, just cover off on the main points and keep it simple.

Stop Putting 10 Pounds of Content into a .01 Pound Handout

If they choose to read on, and you bombard them with paragraphs of supporting evidence, further details, and endless descriptions, you may see a glaze fall over their eyes right before they make their speedy exit (probably without your handout). Be kind to your reader. They are dealing with a lot of input, and the last thing you want to do is overload them.

Show Value

Call out specific, measurable value. If you don't have a specific measured outcome you can show, try looking at industry standards for what your type of service can provide. For example, if your company produces video, a handy stat might be "70% of B2B buyers and researchers watch a video during their purchase process."

Show High-level Process
Help them understand how your product or service integrates with their workflow. Current research says that the human mind can only hold about 4 things in it at once, so see if you can break your explanation into 3-5 steps. This gives it the best chance of being quickly digestible by a distracted brain. Try to describe each step with a minimum of content.

Get Social Proof
You know you have an amazing product or service. But who else agrees? Hopefully someone who is reputable and relevant to your audience. Getting a quote from an identifiable and credible source is a great way to prove that your solution has made a difference for someone, and they've been pleased enough to talk about it. Find someone you can put a finer point on than

- CEO
- Partner at Major Law Firm
or
- Current Patient

Remember, the purpose of the handout is to give just enough information to get the reader to the next step, which is...

A Call To Action!

This is mysteriously missing from a lot of handouts, but at the end of the day, what is it exactly that you'd like your reader to do after looking at your handout? Visit your site? Request a free demo? Schedule a meeting? There's no way that your audience could gain enough insight from your handout to sign on with your product or service, so there's no advantage to giving them every bit of information upfront. Your goal is to get them to take a smaller action. They will learn more about you along the way.

So don't be shy. Make it big! Put it on both sides! Make sure they don't miss what could help them next. Speaking of helping, think about how taking this action could be useful to them. Will they gain valuable knowledge? Be able to try something out? If it's simply "Go here to learn more about our product", they may not make the effort.

Summary of Steps

To review, here is a set of steps to follow that can help build an effective piece of communication:

Phase 1: Simplify

Identify your content

1. Who is this for? Even if you have multiple audiences, pick only one for this exercise.
2. What do they value? Identify their top 1-3 needs that your product fulfills.
3. What is it worth to them? Place a measurable value on what your product can do for them (ie., amount of $ saved, amount of time saved per month, etc. This can be conjecture for now.
4. Write a value statement based on steps 1-3.
5. How does it work? Outline a simple step-by-step to walk your audience through your product. Try to keep it to as few steps as possible (3-5).
6. Who feels strongly about your product and service, and is willing to speak about it? Get a short quote from an identifiable client.
7. Identify a call to action--what do you want the person seeing this document to do? Contact you? Sign up for a demo? Etc.

Phase 2: Apply
Assemble your content from Phase 1

1. Value statement for specific audience (1-2 sentences)
2. Measured value: 1-3 measurable outcomes
3. Step-by-step of how your product works (3-5 steps)
4. Social proof--a quote from an identifiable and relevant client
5. Call to action-what should your audience do right away to learn more?

Here is an example of a redesigned conference handout that just has the basics.

Front and back after:

Happy conferencing!