How to Follow Up on LinkedIn After a Conference
How to follow up on LinkedIn after conference day: LinkedIn's 200 character note limit, when to text instead, and six notes that name where you met.
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.
To follow up on LinkedIn after conference day, text the few people a deal could come from first, then send connection requests with a note that names where you met and one detail. Free LinkedIn accounts get only three personal notes a month, each up to 200 characters, so spend them on the people who matter.
Monday morning after the event. Everyone you met is opening LinkedIn to 40 pending requests. Most of them are blank. A few say “Great to meet you!” with no name of the event, no detail, nothing that ties a face to a profile photo.
Your request is somewhere in that pile. If it looks like the others, the best case is a silent accept. The worst case is it sits there until they forget who you are.
Why is a blank LinkedIn request the weakest follow up?
A blank request asks the other person to do the remembering. After a conference with hundreds of attendees, they will not. They see a headshot and a title and try to place you, and if they cannot, they move on.
An accepted request is not a relationship either. It is permission to see each other’s posts. The person you talked to about an add on for twenty minutes now gets the same feed access as a stranger who scanned your badge by accident. LinkedIn can carry the relationship. It cannot start it alone.
What are LinkedIn’s limits on connection notes?
LinkedIn’s help page on how to personalize invitations to connect sets two limits worth planning around:
- Each note can be up to 200 characters. That is about two short sentences.
- Free members can add a note to up to three connection requests per month. Premium members can personalize all of their requests, though LinkedIn says connection request limits may still apply.
Three notes a month changes the math after a conference. If you met 30 people and you are on a free account, you can personalize three. That makes the choice for you: the notes go to the people a deal could actually come from, and they get a text too.
Should you text first or connect on LinkedIn first?
Text first for anyone who could send you a deal, fund you or introduce you to someone who will. Connect on LinkedIn for everyone else, and as a second touch for the people you texted. Here is how I would sort it.
| Who you met | First touch, inside 48 hours | LinkedIn’s job |
|---|---|---|
| Broker or banker who asked about your buy box | Text with the buy box | Connect a day later, watch for new mandates |
| Investor or lender who asked for something | Text or email with what they asked for | Connect, use one of your three notes |
| Operator or searcher you promised an intro | Text the private intro ask | Connect after the intro is made |
| Speaker whose panel you liked | LinkedIn note naming the panel | The whole relationship, for now |
| Service provider who pitched you | No rush | Blank request is fine, or skip |
| Someone you barely spoke with | Nothing | Connect only if they request first |
The order follows the who to follow up with first after a conference logic: the people with a live need and a clock on it come first. The channel follows how people actually read. A text gets opened. A request waits in a queue.
What should a follow up on LinkedIn after conference day say?
Name the event, name one detail, and offer one small next step, all inside 200 characters. Each example below shows its length.
After a conversation about lending (152 characters):
Good talking SBA timelines at Booth on Friday. I am the searcher looking at HVAC in the Midwest. Sending my buy box by text today so it is easy to find.
After a panel (134 characters):
Enjoyed your panel on add ons at SMBash. The point about keeping the seller on for a year stuck with me. Would love to stay connected.
After a dinner (101 characters):
We met at the steak dinner Thursday, two seats down. You asked about my lender. Sending her name now.
To an investor (153 characters):
We met at the lender breakfast in Chicago. You mentioned you invest in self funded searchers. I am raising for mine in Q1. Open to staying in touch here?
Each one passes the same test: it could only be sent to that one person. Swap the event and detail for yours. If you cannot remember a detail, that is the real problem, and no note template fixes it.
For the text that goes alongside, see these follow up texts after a conference.
How do you connect on LinkedIn in the room without typing?
Use the LinkedIn QR code. LinkedIn’s help page on using a LinkedIn QR code to connect lays out the steps in the mobile app:
- Tap the QR code in the search bar at the top of your LinkedIn homepage.
- Tap the Scan tab to scan theirs, or choose My code to show yours.
- Scanning takes you to their profile, where you send the request.
It takes seconds and solves the common name problem. Searching for “Mike, the lender from Dallas” on Sunday night is how people get lost. Scan in the room, then write the note that night while the conversation is fresh.
What do you do on LinkedIn after they accept?
The accept is where LinkedIn starts being useful. It becomes the place you find your next real reason to reach out.
- Send one message that ties back to the text. “Sent you the buy box by text, here is the one pager too.” One message, no pitch.
- Comment on their next post with substance. A sentence that adds something. Not “Congrats!”
- Watch for the signals that matter. A new role, a closed deal, a fund announcement, a new mandate. That is the reason for your next text.
- Check in at day 30 with a real reason. If there is none, wait until there is one. The conference follow up system has the full 30 day plan.
Step 3 is the one that breaks at volume. Thirty new connections from one event, two to four events a month, and the posts that matter are buried in a feed full of everyone else. People also post on more than LinkedIn, so watching one feed misses some of the signal.
The system that does this for you
Here is how I would run it: let a system watch for the reasons, and keep my time for writing to people.
FRONT OF MIND opens on your 10 minutes for today. Each person has a one line reason why today: they posted, their company was in the news, you met at an event days ago and never followed up, or they are going cold. Posts are only shown if they are confirmed to belong to that person, so you never congratulate the wrong Mike.
Capture in the room is just as fast as a QR scan: say a name and a sentence out loud, snap a business card or badge, or take a selfie together, and it is filed under the event. Every draft is a text style message, 40 words max. Nothing sends without your tap, and it learns from your edits. It runs in your phone’s browser and can be saved to your home screen. Your contacts are encrypted. No one on our team looks at them.
Start free with your first 25 contacts and see who from the last event comes up first. See how it works