How to Prep for a Conference So It Actually Pays Off
(Using my Create & Cultivate game plan as the example)
In a little over a week, I'm flying to LA for Create & Cultivate. Over 4,000 women are expected to come through the doors across the two days. That's not a room I can just work, that's a sea of people, and if I want any of it to actually turn into real relationships, real referrals, and visibility that sticks, I can't just show up and see what happens.
So I'm not. I'm planning ahead. I'm making the most of this opportunity. Not just what I'm wearing, but the whole experience, weeks in advance.
Here's the thing most people get wrong about conference prep: they think about it the week before, and they think about it as logistics, flights, hotel, badge. What they don't plan is the impression. And the impression is the whole point of being there.
I want to walk you through exactly how I'm approaching it, because the system itself is super useful. You don't have to be attending Create & Cultivate for it to apply, and you also don't have to be a designer. You can use the same thoughtful approach at any networking event you attend, big or small. With such detailed intentions, you're sure to turn heads and start making real impact at the events you're attending.
Start With What You Actually Want People to Remember
Something particular about Create & Cultivate is the following: the conference organizers plan on over 4000 women attending the event this year. That is a ton of people! So, before I started planning a single thing, I asked myself a simple question: in a room of 4,000 women, what will make someone remember me an hour later, let alone a month later?
The answer, for me, was color. Not as an accessory to my brand, as the engine of it. I work with color every single day. I'm literally on the color wheel constantly as a designer. My studio is named Arcoíris, which means rainbow in Spanish. Rainbows aren't a theme I picked for this trip, they're the most literal expression of who I already am and what I already do.
So the plan became simple: dress as the full spectrum, across the whole event. Each outfit embodies my brand and its colorful outlook on design. This makes my outfits an intentional part of my brand story. By the end of the weekend, I'm not "the woman in colorful clothes," I'm the walking embodiment of my own brand name.
You can take this same idea and apply it to your own brand when you attend events. The goal is to be memorable. That's it. And there are two questions I ask myself every single time I'm attending an event to make sure I actually am.
Question one: what's the one true thing about your brand that you can embody at the event? Something someone could see on your body, in your booth, or on your table and immediately get it. For me it's color, but for you it's probably something else. Find that thing and own it.
Question two: will that thing make you stand out enough to be remembered, even if someone forgets your name? Because honestly, people will forget your name. That happens constantly at events (our brains are all mush now from short form content!) What sticks isn't the name on your name tag, it's the impression you left during your interactions.
This matters at events of all sizes, but particularly so at big events like Create & Cultivate, where you're one face among thousands. But I ask myself these same two questions before every in-person event I go to, even something as small as a client meeting. Start there before you plan anything else. I promise, this level of detail will support your downstream efforts in a big way.
Plan the Visuals Like a Campaign, Not an Outfit
Once I knew the "what," I got specific on the "how." This means spending intentional time planning my outfits for the conference. Over the course of a few months I gathered pieces that could work for the event, and then I worked with my stylist, Gabi from The Stylist Witch to finalize my looks.
A quick but important aside: If you've never thought seriously about how your outfits affect your networking potential, I highly recommend working with a stylist to make sure they have maximum impact. Working with Gabi over the years has significantly improved my style, which has directly correlated to how many people I connect with at networking events. And while I trust myself now more than ever to put together a solid look on my own, for an event as big and potentially impactful as C&C, working with Gabi was a nonnegotiable for me.
The looks themselves were pulled from a variety of rainbow pieces I've gathered over the years. Ultimately, we decided on a more subtle and refined approach to my looks. Think rainbow accents as opposed to me straight up looking like the rainbow. One of my outfits leans into soft floral pastels, another one plays with a rainbow plaid against a pop of green, and one is a cream dress edged in a full spectrum of scalloped trim. They all feature color, but in more subdued and elegant ways. That said, I do have a backup outfit that is a rainbow explosion because, who knows, once I attend the event I may feel the need to standout even more than I'm already planning to (and the look itself will barely take up any extra room in my suitcase, so why not bring it?)
On their own, they're just outfits. Worn across several days, they will add up to something bigger: I will become the full spectrum of the rainbow, aka a full expression of my brand. That's the difference between wearing some cute looks for an event, and planning outfits that intentionally tie in with your brand.
Gabi's role really mattered here. With her guidance, I was able to take my outfits from good to great. The level of detail she brought to the styling of each look (via jewelry, bags, shoes) has made each outfit feel complete in a way I couldn't have managed on my own. We tried the outfits on. We put the accessories with the outfits. We made sure everything felt great so that there are no surprises for me once I get to LA. With so much going on for this event (travel, accommodations, networking, etc.) it is incredibly rewarding to know my outfits are planned to the best of their abilities and ready to go.
A few things are making this actually executable instead of just aspirational:
I logged every look in Whering, a closet app I'm a obsessed with. Each outfit is saved with photos, so there's zero chance I forget to pack something in my suitcase, or scramble to remember my own plan while I'm half-awake in a hotel room.
Most looks share the same accessories. Same bag options, same jewelry, same shoes, mixed across different outfits. That means less to pack, less decision fatigue at 7am, barely any scrambling to make sure I have everything I need for the event the day of, and a much lighter suitcase.
The backup look uses the same shared accessories too. So even my "in case I change my mind" option doesn't add a ton of extra weight to my bag.
This is the part people skip. They'll pick great outfits and then pack them like an afterthought, and by day two they're improvising because the looks they planned aren't hitting like they want them to. Building the system alongside your main vision for the event you're attending is what makes the vision actually show up in real life.
Your version doesn't need four looks or a stylist on speed dial. It needs three things: a plan you actually write down somewhere you'll see it again, pieces that mix and match so you're not packing (or thinking) more than you need to, and one backup option so a last-minute change of heart doesn't derail you. Simple, repeatable, and it works whether you're prepping for a three-day conference or a single client dinner.
Match Your Handouts to the Relationship, Not the Room
At events, the way I view outfits are as a first impression. They're literally what gets people to notice you. Once that initial introduction happens though, you need to hand the people you interact with something that will have them remembering you tomorrow.
For me specifically, I'm planning on bringing a variety of promotional materials to hand out to people at Create and Cultivate. I've intentionally thought through each material and who it's for:
Stickers. I have 2 sticker designs I plan to hand out freely at the event. I will give these to anyone I connect with. Someone I sit next to at a talk. Someone I vibe with. A potential client. Whoever. These stickers are low stakes and pure goodwill. They're a small piece of my brand that someone will have in their pocket. Plus, both sticker designs are high quality enough to survive a water bottle, so my brand will quite literally travel home with a stranger and gets seen again and again after the event is over.
A business card sticker. This one's my favorite bridge pieces. I literally designed a business card that has a sticker on it, which is a lot less formal than my normal business card. For potential referral partners or people that I meet casually at the event, I'll give them one of these if I want them to have my contact information. Not only do they get all my details, but they get a fun sticker in the same quality as the other ones that they'll get to remember me by.
Lux business cards. These will be reserved for people who feel like genuine, serious potential clients. The material quality alone says "I take this seriously" before I've said a word.
Each tier is thoughtfully thought through. The person who wants a cute sticker for their water bottle doesn't need my full pitch, and the person who's genuinely interested in working together doesn't want to dig a sticker out of their bag to find my website. Matching the object to the relationship means every interaction feels appropriately sized instead of either underwhelming or like too much.
Use the Framework, Not the Specifics
You don't need rainbows. You don't need a stylist or a closet app or three tiers of stickers. What you need is the underlying system:
Know the one true thing about your brand you want people to walk away remembering.
Plan your visual presence like a campaign, with a system behind it, shared pieces, logged looks, backups, so it survives real life and not just your imagination.
Build a tiered way to leave something behind, so every kind of connection, from a passing hello to a real lead, gets something appropriately matched to it.
Conferences are expensive, in time, energy, and money. The version of you that plans in advance walks in with a strategy. The version of you that packs the night before is hoping something good happens. I'd rather build the odds in my favor.
I'll be sharing how it all actually played out once I'm back from LA, but for now, the plan is set, the suitcase is (almost) packed, and I'm ready to let the rainbow do some of the talking for me.
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