How to Make the Most out of Pharmacists You Meet at APhA Meeting (or other Pharmacy Conferences) – to Get What You Want

Are you going to the APhA Meeting next week? Here’s how to make the most out of the contacts you’ll be meeting.   Watch this video on the quick & easy steps to take that most pharmacists don’t think of doing when they attend a conference.  You’ll love how simple they are.  They will help you build relationships that can lead to you finding pharmacy jobs, sharing best pharmacy workflow/management practices, pharmacy residencies, developing friendships, and support that can get you to where you want to go professionally.  Comment below on what you think about this video.

Prefer reading instead?  Then scroll down to read on…

One of the challenges I hear from pharmacists who attend APhA Meeting, ASHP Midyear, or other pharmacy conferences is getting excited about receiving many business cards during the meeting, but then stuffing them in their drawer and never looking at them again.  This happens even if they had the best intentions of doing something after the conference with the connections they made. You’re missing out on so much opportunity & one of the most valuable opportunities of attending a pharmacy conference by doing this.  If you’re like most pharmacists, this happens to you because you’re busy or don’t know easy steps to take to make the most from pharmacy contacts you meet.

Here’s a quick tip for you.  Once you meet someone, write down a few impressionable things about them, so you’ll remember what they look like and it will refresh your memory down the road.    Write down something that you can help the person with or what you’d like to reach out to them about, based on your conversation.  And before you go to the APhA Meeting (or a conference in the future), bring   cards or postcards with you.  After you’ve met someone, you can write a note after you get back to your hotel room about how you appreciated meeting them.  Reach out to share potential resources that you feel would be helpful to them, or something else of value.

Mail the note when you get back home. This will save you time and from not doing anything at all.  You won’t have to face the challenge of having another thing to do after you get back home from the conference.  Most of the time when you get back from a conference, you will probably have a lot to catch up on.  Read on for additional tips on what to do after this.