Guides

How do you get meetings from a conference?

Short, data backed answers to the questions exhibitors and attendees ask about getting meetings from a conference. Every number comes from ShowSDR's own 2026 campaigns and is reconciled against the event app's thread history. Start with the benchmarks and the calculator.

• How do you book meetings before a conference?
  Pre show messages produced all 15 agreed meetings in our 2026 campaign; messages sent during the show produced none. When to start, who to message, what to say, how to follow up, with the numbers.
• How do you message attendees on Whova?
  How exhibitors reach attendees in the Whova app: the directory, direct messages, the meeting scheduler, templates, and the silent send failure that hit 20% of messages above 130 a day in our 2026 campaign.
• When is the best time to message conference attendees?
  Reply rates by send hour and send day from 601 Whova messages and 351 iStack requests in 2026: no hour effect on Whova, a midday edge on iStack, and the two heaviest days were the two worst.
• How many meetings should a trade show booth produce?
  Work back from the attendee list: matches, reach, reply rate, meeting asks, agreed, held. Measured 2026 rates give 15 agreed meetings from 824 attendees. Cost per meeting formula and a free calculator.
• Which conference apps let exhibitors message attendees?
  What each major conference app exposes to exhibitors: attendee directory, direct messages or connection requests, meeting booking, and which 2026 to 2027 shows use which app. Based on shows ShowSDR has run or mapped.
• ShowSDR vs hiring an event SDR vs an appointment setting agency
  An honest comparison of five ways to get meetings from a conference: booth staff by hand, a hired SDR, an appointment setting agency, the app's matchmaking, and ShowSDR. Reach, speed, account ownership, what happens after the show, price.
• Do canned replies work on conference attendees?
  In 2026 data, replies written for the person kept 52% of conversations going; templates kept 24%; a canned thank you after acceptance 12%; a generic nudge 0%. What to write instead, and how to do it at scale without inventing facts.
• Conference outreach benchmarks 2026
  Reply, meeting and delivery rates from 952 first messages in two conference apps, with CSV.
• Conference meeting yield calculator
  Estimate meetings and cost per meeting from your attendee list.

Last reviewed 20 September 2026.