10 Tips For Solo Attendees At SaaStr Annual

Ok we are ALMOST there! Kick off to 2020 Annual is SO close!

I don’t know about you, but I do get a bit anxious attending larger events solo. To me, they are like going out to a formal restaurant. I don’t mind going to Chipotle solo, but a fancy restaurant? Not sure I’d know exactly how to handle myself. But you shouldn’t feel that way at Annual. 47% of folks are attending Solo and it is an A+++ way to meet new SaaStr friends, colleagues, investors, and more.

So here are 10 tips for Solo attendees at Annual:

Tip #1: If You Are Part Of The Equality Program, It’s Designed for Solo Vistors. We’ve invested heavily in our Equality, Balance and Inclusion program in 2020 and you can see the full 60+ page (!) guide here. If you are part of the program. we’ll kick off Annual with a special brunch where you’ll quickly meet new friends. We also have a new Equality lounge right inside of the Expo designed for you to meet other folks in a smaller setting. And our women’s lunch on Wednesday is always packed and designed for networking.

Note we’ve also added something new and cool, picnics, on the first day (Tuesday). Pick a picnic with a theme you like, and meet new folks! The picnics are designed to be a comfortable place to have lunch in a smaller setting the first day, without having to know anyone in advance.

Tip #2: Use the Brella Meet-a-Friend SaaStr app ASAP. Go to our mobile app and click on Meet-a-Friend, and it will direct you to our Brella app where over 1000+ folks are already looking to network and meet new friends and colleagues. Upload your profile, tell everyone your interests (e.g., meeting other fintech marketers, or getting funded), and it will automatically make matches for you! You can then decide if you want to meet with folks that reach out to you or not, and vice-versa. We’ve then carved out a big chunk of the space just outside SaaStr Square Park for meet-ups.

Tip #3: Use our Braindates to sign up for incredible mentoring sessions. Also in the mobile app there is a big, prominent link at the bottom for Braindates. These are 300+ incredible mentoring sessions from all sorts of industry leaders. These Braindates are set up for either 1:1 sessions or 1:4 sessions, or new this year, 1:16 sessions. Just pick some that are of interest to you, then at the scheduled time, go to the Dell Mentoring Lounge right dead center in the Sponsors We Love Expo. These mentoring sessions are terrific.

Tip #4: Sign up for the workshops! We’ve taken over the connected Marriot hotel this year and filled it with 50+ new workshops, from the best of the best. These smaller sessions (50-250) are an easier way to meet new folks coming solo than a large main stage session. We also have great engineering workshops as small as 10 sponsored by PlatoHQ (great for solo visitors), and a whole afternoon of workshops from Women in Revenue.

Tip #5: Attend the Tuesday parties. And sign up for the new, docent-led Art Walk on Tuesday night in the mobile app! And make sure you attend the Night at The Museum on Wednesday! We’ve made the Tuesday night SaaStr Nights parties better organized and more chill this year to better facilitate networking — especially for solo visitors. First, every single day starting around 4pm we’ll have our classic cocktail parties in the Expo, right in the Cantina. Find your way there when you’re done for the day and need a break. Then on Tuesday, head over to SaaStr Nights after the cocktail hour at 5:30 or later. We’ve shut down 3+ blocks of the Arts District for chill networking, snacks and apps with incredible parties hosted by Pendo, Gainsight, Zoom, Zendesk, Gorgias.io and more. We’ll also have new docent-led art walks (with wine) that night to all the galleries in SaaStr Nights — perfect for solo vistors. Sign up in the mobile app! Then on Wednesday, definitely come to Night at the Tech Museum. This is designed to be low-key around meeting new people. You can stroll around the exhibits and make new connections. Museums are designed for solo visits!

Tip #6: Go to the Plato Sessions on Wednesday for Product and Engineering Mentorship. These are roundtables with top executives from top tech leaders from Box, Adobe, Zoom, VMWare, Coursera, Paypal, Zendesk, Proofpoint, Segment, Quizlet, Tile and more and are highly rated. You automatically meet new great folks here.

Tip #7: The Women’s Lunch on Wednesday is designed for networking.

Tip #8: Go to the VC Day Sessions on Thursday. Even if you aren’t fundraising. These packed, smaller room sessions are inherently engaging. Even if you aren’t fundraising and never will be, find some topics that are of interest.

Tip #9: Put on your charms. And look for others’ charms. They are a perfect conversation starter. When you check in, there will be buttons / charms for your revenue stage and job/functional area. Attach them to your lanyards. They are a perfect conversation starter. And you’ll also be able to visually identify other peers at the same stage and with the same job function.

Top #10: Stay for the Last Call Party on Thursday. This was one of the very best parts of Annual last year. We stayed until they kicked us out! We’ll have a progressive party that will start in SaaStr Square Park. The Last Call party ended up being a time where folks that were most engaged had some of the best conversations of the whole event. It is worth staying for.

And Bonus Tips: Where to Just .. Relax and Take a Break. We’ve added 4 new lounges in our Expo where you can just take a break, quietly, and meet new people (Founders, Revenue Pros, VCs, and Equality). And SaaStr Square Park on the ground floor will have tons of fun for solo visitors, from selfies in the Game of Thrones chair to Open Q+As with the CEOs of Zoom and Zendesk and many others. And the Expo itself upstairs will have a new Cantina, open all day with kombucha, snacks, and more. And the coworking space will be back Tuesday and most of Thursday. These three “third spaces” are full of places both to relax — and engage — as a solo visitor.