By Brett Kaufman. 8 years using relationships to build sales pipelines, from political fundraising to a 7 figure business to running matchmaking for two communities. Over 1,000 introductions facilitated.

AM&AA conference follow up should start within 48 hours of the closing reception. Text the bankers and PE firms who named a live mandate or an active search at your Deal Connect table first, send every intro you promised second, and put everyone else on a 30 day touch.

It is Friday evening in Fort Lauderdale. The farewell happy hour is winding down. You sat at a Deal Connect table for two days, and every 20 minutes a new face sat across from you. A sponsor looking for add ons in building products. A banker with a sell side process going out in the spring. A mezzanine lender who wants to see your next deal. By Saturday morning, they blur.

I run matchmaking for two communities, and most of my attention goes to what happens after a room empties. Here is how I would run this one.

What makes the AM&AA room different?

The AM&AA Winter Conference is a scheduled meeting room first and a conference second. The official 2027 Winter Conference page lists it for January 28 to 29, 2027 at The Ritz Carlton, Fort Lauderdale, organized by the Alliance of Merger and Acquisition Advisors.

The crowd, per that page: investment banks and intermediaries, private equity investors, senior and mezzanine lenders, CPAs, attorneys, business valuators, consultants and other M&A advisors. AM&AA says the room represents “a combined $1 billion in transactional buying power over the next year.”

The format that shapes your follow up is Deal Connect. The conference site describes it as 20 minute meetings at designated tables during specified time slots over two days, about seven hours of meeting time in all, originally built to put private equity professionals in front of middle market intermediaries and bankers. Per the Deal Connect page, table hosting is now open to all professions, members and non members, and a host’s scheduled meetings happen at the host’s assigned table.

Three consequences for follow up:

1. Your meetings are short and stacked. Twenty minutes, then the next person. Context evaporates faster than at an open lounge event.
2. The crowd is mixed by seat. A banker, a sponsor and a CPA each need a different follow up, and a different reason to stay in touch.
3. The receptions carry the second layer. The agenda has a new and legacy member happy hour Thursday and a closing happy hour Friday. Those unscheduled conversations never touched your calendar, so they vanish first.

Before Fort Lauderdale: who to research and who to book

Walk in with ten names and a reason for each, not a list of 50.

• If you are a banker: the PE firms whose platforms fit the clients you plan to take to market this year.
• If you are PE: the intermediaries who sell in your sectors and size range. Ask what they have going out in the next two quarters.
• If you are a lender: the sponsors and bankers on deals you want to finance before the term sheet race starts.
• If you are a CPA, attorney or valuator: the bankers who need a quality of earnings or legal partner they trust.

Write one line next to each name about why. For the full research method, see how to prepare for an M&A conference.

At the table: capture in 10 seconds

You get about one minute between Deal Connect meetings. Use ten seconds of it.

Capture three things: the name, what they need, and what you promised. “[Name], lower middle market sponsor, wants building products add ons under $5M EBITDA, I owe him our spring teaser.” That is the whole note. Snap the badge or card. The method in detail is in how to remember everyone you meet at a conference.

AM&AA conference follow up: who first in the 48 hours?

Sort by what can move a deal this quarter. Here is a decision table for the AM&AA crowd.

Who you met	Why they go here	Send by
Banker or sponsor who named a live mandate or search	A process has a clock on it	Within 24 hours
Anyone you promised an intro	A slipped promise costs more than no promise	Within 48 hours
Lenders you want on your next deal	Get in before you need them	Within 48 hours
CPAs, attorneys, valuators who fit a client	Referral partners, not a deadline	Within one week
Reception conversations with no clear next step	Keep warm	Day 30 touch

Example texts, each under 40 words:

[Name], good to sit down at Deal Connect Thursday. You mentioned the building products process going out this spring. We would want a look. Who on your team should I stay close to?

[Name], as promised from Fort Lauderdale, connecting you with [Name] at [Firm]. She finances exactly the deal size you described. I will let you two take it from here.

[Name], enjoyed comparing notes at the closing happy hour. If a client of yours needs a quality of earnings partner before going to market, I would like to be the call.

For the general triage, see who to follow up with first after a conference. More templates live in follow up texts after a conference.

What should you do 30 days after AM&AA?

Send a second touch with a new reason to every top meeting. Late February is when the spring processes start moving and when the enthusiasm from Fort Lauderdale has faded.

Use this checklist at day 30:

1. Did their firm announce a close, a new fund or a new hire? Note it.
2. Did a deal cross your desk that fits the buy box they gave you? Send it.
3. Did you promise an intro you have not made? Make it today. A promised intro that slips costs more than one you never offered.
4. Is there a banker whose process launches next quarter? Put a touch on the calendar two weeks before it does.

Then keep the clock running. When a mandate lands in the fall, whoever stayed recent since January gets the call first.

Say you took 25 Deal Connect meetings and followed up with 8. That is 17 conversations you paid for with travel, a table fee and two days, then let go. Illustrative math, but you know the feeling. The full before, during and after method is in the conference follow up system.

The system that does this for you

I built FRONT OF MIND because I watched people meet the right person, have a real conversation, then disappear for months. At the table, say a name and a sentence out loud, snap the badge or card, or take a selfie together, and it is filed under AM&AA.

The next morning it opens on your 10 minutes for today. Each person has one line on why today, like you met at AM&AA two days ago and never followed up, plus a drafted text of 40 words or less. Nothing sends without your tap, and it learns from your edits. In March, ask Liala “who do I know that is a mezzanine lender” and get the right people with why. Your contacts are encrypted. No one on our team looks at them, and you can export or delete anytime.

Start free with your first 25 contacts and see who from Fort Lauderdale comes up first.

See how it works