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Event season.

Until augmented reality replaces the need to travel to fringe convention centres in distant cities, we remain tied to the greet and meets of trade shows. Get your folders, branded notepads and cheap pens ready for our tips on collecting competitive intelligence at events.

But first, make sure you are tracking the attendance of competitors at trade shows. Set up alerts to tell you when they register for conferences. Moves into new markets or regions may be preceded by an appearance at an event you might otherwise not expect. It’s important to track attendee and presenter lists to catch these clues.

Beyond the obvious moves like grabbing as much collateral as they’ll pass out (even if you need to use a decoy proxy), there are a few things you can do to amp up both the quality and the quantity of useable competitive intelligence at events.

Shut up and listen

You’ve got experienced sales teams in attendance who understand the topography and existing relationships in your industry. Their instincts and skillful observations are often your best tools when collecting competitive intelligence at events. Their radar goes off when they see and hear things that may otherwise seem unimportant. New partnerships are often in evidence at trade shows, even in the absence of formal announcements; your rep’s keen awareness will be able to know when something’s afoot.

Convention parties are notoriously cliché when it comes to mixing cocktails and conceit. A few well-timed questions can uncover interesting information in these candid moments. There’s nothing dodgy about keeping ears and eyes open; however, things shared in confidence should stay there. There’s a line, don’t cross it.

Tech it up

Trade shows and events offer tech that captures contact info from everyone who visits you—take advantage of it for lead capture, but also to monitor who is interested in what you’re doing. It’s a good way to uncover new players who may still be in stealth mode. Pay attention to anyone who pays attention to you.

Use it or lose it

It makes puppies cry to think of all the juicy intel lost because it was forgotten the morning after the night before. Give your team a way to record and store the information they collect on their mobile device. A dedicated Slack channel might work, or a shared Evernote notebook or Google doc. All will require a manual sort and audit later, but getting it down is the important part.