[acomjean]

My previous company went to conferences.

When I joined them they were looking move the business (power monitoring) from residential to commercial.

They ended up going to some specific conferences associated with trade groups I didn't even know existed eg: RFMA (Restaurant Facilities Management Association).

They set up meetings if they could before hand. In the three years I was there they went back to some conferences, dropped others. It was about building relationships and they met some interesting people that actually became customers. They got leads that didn't pan out. Overall it was a positive.

Don't forget to start early with prep. Shipping conference booth stuff out is a pain and slow and often needs "Freight" class shipping. (Its big and heavy).