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.

A conference follow up system is three steps you run the same way at every event: build the list before you fly, capture each person in 10 seconds while you are in the room, and text the people tied to a live deal inside 48 hours. Everyone else gets a short, specific touch within 30 days, and nobody gets forgotten because they met you on a busy day.

That is the whole system. The rest of this page is how each step works when you are on the circuit two to four times a month, and where to find the playbook for each event.

You know the failure mode. Three events in five weeks. A Vegas lounge, a hotel ballroom in Chicago, a broker reception in Orlando. Each one put 20 to 40 new people in your phone. The follow ups from the first event were still half done when you boarded for the second. By the third, the broker who mentioned a manufacturing listing that fit your buy box is a card you cannot place.

The problem is not effort. It is that you are running each event as a separate project. Here is how I would run it instead: every event is one more input into the same list.

The system in one view

Four windows, one list:

1. Before (2 to 3 weeks out). Who will be there, who you already know in that city, who you want to sit across from.
2. In the room. Capture every conversation in about 10 seconds: name, event, one sentence of what matters.
3. The first 48 hours. Text the people tied to a deal, a mandate, capital or a promised intro. Use the detail you captured.
4. Days 3 to 30. Everyone else gets one short, personal touch. Promised intros get made. Nobody waits for the next conference.

Every article below lives in one of those windows. They are grouped in the order you live them.

Before the event: build the list, not the agenda

The best follow up starts before you land. If you know who you want to talk to, the room becomes a set of meetings instead of a set of accidents.

• Which M&A conferences are worth it picks the room by your seat: searcher, sponsor, broker, PE or lender. It lists dates, organizers and how meetings get booked at each one, so you stop paying for the wrong room.
• Find everyone you know in a city before a business trip covers the people who are not on the attendee list. The owner and the lender who live in that city are often worth more than three new handshakes.
• Stop being the operator who remeets people he already met solves the most embarrassing moment on the circuit: getting introduced to someone you already met at the last event, and neither of you remembers.
• How to speak at M&A conferences is for the people who want the stage, not just the room. Panels are picked months ahead, and a speaker slot changes who comes to find you.
• How to prepare for an M&A conference is the three week research plan: a who to meet table and a one line card per person, so every meeting starts warm.
• How to schedule meetings at a conference full of dealmakers shows which deal events run booking platforms, a request template that gets accepted, and how to build the day.
• The best ETA conferences is the searcher’s calendar: Booth Kellogg, SMBash, Stanford, IESE, SEETA and more, with hosts and dates checked.
• Conference sponsors as a deal source covers the lenders, accounting firms and law firms behind the booths, what they see, and how to stay their first call. Most buyers walk past them.
• How to meet business owners at trade shows is for the industry show instead of the deal conference: which booths to visit, what to say, what never to say, and a 30 day plan after.

The output of this window is a short list: 10 to 20 names you want to see, with one line each on why. That is what I tell people to have on their phone before they board.

In the room: capture in 10 seconds

The conversation is the easy part. The loss happens in the elevator after, when the next conversation overwrites it. A capture that takes longer than 10 seconds will not happen at a reception with a drink in your hand.

This is the habit I have run for years. After every conversation, I log what the person told me, what mattered to them and what they were working on. Then I use it in the follow up, so the next conversation picks up where we left off.

What to capture is always the same: who they are, which event, and the one thing that would make a follow up specific. “Lender, likes HVAC, asked for our buy box.” “Broker in Ohio, manufacturing listing in Q1.” That sentence is the whole follow up later.

• How to remember people at a conference is the capture method itself, built for the day you meet 30 people and one of them has a mandate.
• How to organize business cards after a deal conference handles the stack in your bag, so the broker and the founder in it get sorted before the hotel checkout.
• Business card to relationship to deal covers what turns a card into the first call on someone’s next deal.
• Scan a conference badge to contacts in 10 seconds covers what a badge scan keeps, what it loses, and the routine that adds the one sentence of context.

The first 48 hours: who first, and what to say

The 48 hour window is not about speed for its own sake. It is the stretch where the other person still remembers your face, your deal and what you asked them. After that, you are one of the 30 cards in their bag too.

Order matters more than volume. Text the people tied to something live first, then the intros you promised, then the intermediaries, then everyone else. I have made over 1,000 introductions, and I would put the promised ones near the top every time. Being the person who delivers is the whole reputation.

• The 48 hour rule for networking follow up explains how deal makers use the window when the person across the table has a mandate, a seller or capital.
• Who to follow up with first after a conference is the ranking: who can move a deal now, intros you promised, intermediaries, then the rest.
• Follow up text after a conference gives 10 example texts under 40 words for brokers, owners and hosts, plus when email is still the right call.
• Follow up email templates for deal makers covers the cases where email fits better: the broker with a new mandate, the banker who changed firms, the founder thinking about an exit.
• Follow up email subject lines after a conference gives 25 subject lines grouped by who you met: brokers, owners, speakers, promised intros and late follow ups.
• How to follow up without becoming noise to a broker is for the day after a big event, when every broker’s inbox fills with buyer emails that all say the same thing.
• Double opt in intro template is for the intros you promised at the bar. Ask each side first, then connect them, inside the same window.
• How to follow up on LinkedIn after a conference covers the 200 character note limit, when to text instead, and six notes that name where you met.
• Conference dinner follow up is for the morning after a dinner: who to text first, the seat map note to write that night, and five texts under 40 words.
• Mastermind follow up after a meeting applies the window to a smaller room: who to text first, the host thank you, and a timeline to day 30.
• Follow up after a virtual networking event applies the same window to Zoom: save the chat, get the attendee list from the host, and send 40 word notes within 48 hours.
• How to follow up with a panel moderator is for the person who ran your panel: what to send within 24 hours, three short texts, and a 90 day timeline.
• How to follow up with a speaker after a conference is for the speaker you met in the hallway: what to send in 24 hours, four messages under 40 words, and a 90 day timeline that keeps you known.

Two examples of what a 48 hour text looks like:

Good meeting you at the reception Thursday. You mentioned the Ohio manufacturing listing in Q1. Our buy box is attached. Worth 15 minutes next week?

Great talking SBA terms with you in Chicago. Sending the deal summary we discussed. Does Tuesday work for a quick call?

Both are under 40 words. Both carry the one detail you captured. Neither says “great to connect.”

Days 3 to 30: nobody waits for the next event

Most of the people you met are not tied to a live deal this week. That does not make them less valuable. The CPA who does quality of earnings, the searcher in your niche, the holdco builder who passes on deals too small for him: these are the people who send you something in month four, if they still remember you.

• How long to wait to follow up lays out the windows that keep you on the short list, and the 90 day gap that takes you off it.
• Forgot to follow up after a conference? is the recovery plan, with what to text at two weeks, one month and three months.
• How to turn a coffee meeting into a deal picks up after the event, when the follow up becomes a sit down and you need the next step to be real.
• Follow up email after a coffee meeting gives the four line structure and five templates for the note after that sit down, plus what to send when they do not reply.
• How to track introductions and referrals is the ledger for every intro you promised at the event and every one that came back.
• How to keep track of introductions you owe is the 20 minute promise audit for the intros you offered at the event, with an aging table and texts that still work weeks later.
• How to remember who you met at a conference with no notes is the 20 minute recovery trail for the names in your phone with nothing next to them, plus what to text once you place each one.
• How to measure conference ROI when deals take a year gives you a tracking table and a 12 month window, so you judge each event by the deals it put in front of you, not by the cards in your pocket.
• How to introduce two people over text is for the intros you promised in the hallway, with group text etiquette and four templates.
• Checking in after making an introduction gives the private texts to send each side at day 30, and what to do with each reply.
• ChatGPT prompts for follow up messages gives ten prompts for brokers, bankers and owners, the context block to paste in, and the limits no prompt can fix.

When events stack: two to four a month

This is where most systems break. Say you go to three events a month and meet 30 people at each. That is 90 new people every month, roughly a thousand a year, on top of the 500 to 2,000 already in your phone. Illustrative math, but the shape is familiar.

At that volume, three things go wrong:

• Windows overlap. You are still in the 48 hour window for one event when the next one starts.
• Context blurs. “The lender from Vegas” and “the lender from Orlando” become one person.
• The 30 day touches never happen. Every new event pushes the last one down.

The fix is one list, not one list per event. Every person is tagged with where you met and what they said. Every morning you work the top of that list, ranked by what can move a deal, whether they came from yesterday’s reception or last month’s.

• The math of network decay puts a number on the people who go quiet between events.
• You call yourself a super connector is the honest version of this section, for the person whose reputation depends on never dropping anyone.
• How to follow up after multiple conferences in one month turns back to back events into one merged list, with a day by day timeline and rules for the people you met at both.

Event by event playbooks

Each room runs differently. A booking platform changes the “before” window. A walk the tables format changes the capture. A small invitation room changes who you text first. These pages apply the system to one event each. Dates below come from each organizer’s official site or announcement, checked October 27, 2026.

• IBBA Conference. IBBA conference follow up is for brokers, buyers and lenders at the broker world’s annual meeting. The 2027 IBBA Conference is May 21 to 23, 2027 at the Orlando World Center Marriott. There is no booking platform, so receptions and breakfasts are where the co broker relationships get made.
• M&A Source Conference and Deal Market. M&A Source Deal Market follow up covers the walk the tables format, where buyers sit and advisors move. M&A Source announced its 2026 Fall Conference and Deal Market for November 2 to 4 in Houston. The tables that asked for a teaser come first.
• ACG DealMAX. DealMAX follow up is for the largest middle market room, where meetings are booked through ACG Access. DealMAX 2027 is May 3 to 5, 2027 at ARIA Resort and Casino, Las Vegas. The job is ranking the meetings by what can move a deal.
• Preparing for DealMAX. How to prepare for DealMAX is the before window for the same event: when to register, how to use ACG Access, who to book, and a day plan for the ARIA Lounges.
• Booth Kellogg ETA Conference. Booth Kellogg ETA Conference follow up is for searchers, investors and lenders in Chicago. The 13th annual conference is Friday, October 30, 2026. One day, a big room, and investors who heard a dozen pitches.
• DealCon. DealCon follow up is for first time acquirers, serial acquirers, sellers and the capital partners, attorneys and bankers around them. DealCon Miami 2027 runs March 30 to April 2, 2027 at the Brickell Arch hotel. Curated dinners at tables of eight are where the follow ups start.
• SMBash. SMBash follow up is for searchers, operators, holdco builders and SBA lenders. SMBash 2027 is April 21 to 22, 2027 at The Rayleigh Underground in Irving, Texas. No meeting app, so you book your own coffees before you land.
• Stanford Search Fund CEO Conference. Stanford Search Fund CEO Conference follow up is for CEOs, boards and investors in a small, mostly invitation room. Stanford has not posted the next date, so check the official GSB site for dates. In a room where everyone half knows each other, the risk is assuming a relationship is warm because you shook hands once.
• ACG CapCon. ACG CapCon follow up is for bankers and PE firms after DealSource meetings in San Diego, with who to text first, example texts and a 30 day plan.
• AM&AA conference. AM&AA conference follow up is for bankers, PE firms and lenders after the Deal Connect tables in Fort Lauderdale, with example texts and a 30 day plan.
• AM&AA Summer Conference. AM&AA summer conference follow up is for bankers, PE firms and lenders after the summer Deal Connect tables, with who to text first and a timeline that runs to the Winter Conference.
• ACG chapter dealmaker events. ACG dealmakers forum follow up is for PE, bankers and lenders in the small chapter rooms where you see the same faces every quarter, so the follow up is about the next meeting as much as this one.
• Exit Planning Summit. Exit Planning Summit follow up is for buyers, bankers and advisors after the EPI Summit, with a decision table on who to text first and a 30 day plan.
• ETA Deal Team Day. ETA Deal Team Day follow up is for active searchers who want to leave with a deal team: who to book, how to capture lenders and advisors, and a deal team map for the next 30 days.
• HBS ETA Conference. HBS ETA conference follow up is for searchers, students and investors, with example messages, a decision table and a 30 day plan after the day.
• Wharton and MIT ETA Summits. Wharton ETA Summit follow up covers who to book, how to capture people and who to text first, and how to carry the same list into the MIT ETA Summit.
• SEETA Conference. SEETA conference follow up is for searchers, students and investors after the Duke Fuqua ETA weekend, with who to text first and a 30 day plan.
• IESE Search Fund Conference. IESE search fund conference follow up is for the Barcelona room, where the people you met go home to different time zones, so the order and timing of your texts matter more.
• YPO and EO retreats. YPO follow up after a retreat covers who to text on Monday, what forum confidentiality rules out, and short texts for your forum and your chapter.
• Choosing the room. Which M&A conferences are worth it maps the full calendar by seat, including AM&AA and ACG chapter events, so you pick the two to four a month that actually put your deal sources in the room.
• Planning next year. M&A conferences 2027 is the calendar of dates, cities and hosts for DealMAX, IBBA, AM&AA, CapCon, SMBash, the ETA summits and more, with a follow up plan for each quarter.

The system that runs itself

Everything above works by hand. I know, because I ran it by hand for years. It also takes more admin time than anyone on the circuit has, which is why the 30 day touches are the first thing to go.

So I built FRONT OF MIND, that system on your phone. In the room, you say a name and a sentence out loud, snap a business card or a badge, or take a selfie together, and it is filed under the event. After, it opens on your 10 minutes for today: the people you met at an event and never followed up with, the follow ups that are due, the broker who just posted. Each person comes with one line saying why today, and a drafted text of 40 words or fewer built from what you captured. Nothing sends without your tap, and it learns from your edits.

Before the next trip, ask Liala out loud: “who do I know in Orlando,” or “who do I know that is an SBA lender.” You get the right people and why. Your contacts are encrypted, no one on our team looks at them, and you can export or delete them anytime.

Start free with your first 25 contacts and see who comes up first after your next event.

See how it works