Flow #7: before and after an event

Events compress a year of networking into two days and then scatter it. Most of the value sits in the LinkedIn event follow-up, which is where everyone runs out of steam. This flow front-loads the work: the list is built and the requests are out before you pack, and the after-event message goes out while people still remember the venue.

It takes two ordinary campaigns in Swimlane’s LinkedIn automation, on the same list. Delays count from each contact’s own progress, so no single campaign can hold every message until a calendar date. Two campaigns can.

1. Import Discovery, Thematic Posts: the event name as the topic — review the authors, import the ones you want to meet
2. Source The new list, run through "Enrich with LinkedIn" so every connection degree is known
3. Connection request A note that names the event — wait for acceptance: 14 days
4. Condition Accepted during the request’s 14-day wait?
5. Yes Tag Tag "event-connected" — the people to look out for on the floor

1. Source Same list, new campaign, launched when you are back — "Only new arrivals" left off
2. Condition If connected
3. Yes Condition Connected: replied to message in the last 14 days?
4. Yes Tag Replied: tag "event-in-conversation" — the inbox takes over
5. No Message Not replied: one line about the event, one question
6. No Like their last post Not connected: like their last post
7. No Tag Tag "event-no-answer"

Why it works

A request sent a week before the event reads as preparation: “we’ll both be there, let’s connect”. The same request the week after reads as a sales follow-up. Timing changes the meaning of identical words.

The source matters as much as the timing. People search finds job titles; it cannot tell you who cares about a conference. The authors of posts about the event can: speakers, sponsors, attendees asking who else is going.

The shared reference has to be one everybody on the list shares: the event itself. A template cannot name each person’s talk (the variables are first name, company, title and a few more), so the note and the message stay at event level. That keeps them true even for people who posted about the event and stayed home.

Setting up the LinkedIn event follow-up

1. Build the list two weeks out. In Discovery, open Thematic Posts and type the event name. Swimlane collects the authors of matching posts and shows them on a review screen before anything is imported. LinkedIn’s content search ranks by relevance, not date, so last year’s edition shows up too; the review is where you drop it. More on this channel in finding prospects by the topics they post about.
2. Enrich the list. Select everyone and run “Enrich with LinkedIn”. Post authors arrive without a connection degree, and a connection request skips anyone whose degree is unknown: they would leave the campaign without an invite. Enrichment is capped at 80 profiles a day.
3. Campaign 1, ten days out. One connection request with the note and a 14-day acceptance wait. While a request waits, Swimlane re-reads the profile about twice a day, so an acceptance during the event is caught before campaign 2 starts. People already connected to you skip the request; campaign 2 still reaches them.
4. Campaign 2, once you are back. Same list, “Only new arrivals” off, so the whole list enrols at launch. You write this message after the event, so it can name something that really happened.
5. The reply gate. “Replied to message” with the window “Last 14 days”, roughly since the first requests went out. Anyone who answered your note gets a tag, not a script. Conditions are checked again when the message leaves the queue, so a late reply still counts.

The note and the message

Request note:
Hi {firstName} — saw your post about SaaStock. I'll be there next week;
good to be connected before the crowd.

Message:
Back from SaaStock and still thinking about the pricing panel. What was
the one idea you brought home — or did you skip it this year?

The note fits LinkedIn’s 200-character limit for free accounts.

Guardrails

• Size the list to the ten days. Requests are paced against your daily ceiling (20 invitations by default) inside office hours, and LinkedIn applies its own weekly cap on top. Cut at the review screen rather than hoping the queue catches up.
• Handshakes are invisible. Conditions only see LinkedIn messages. Someone you met at a stand who has not written to you there still gets the message, so it asks an event-level question rather than pretending you never met.
• Steps lock at launch. Proofread the note before you start campaign 1; a running campaign’s steps cannot be edited.

What to measure

Acceptances in campaign 1, replies in campaign 2, each on the campaign’s own counters. Compare them with your usual cold campaign, not an industry benchmark. If the event list does not accept clearly better, the note is not doing its job; if replies are flat, the question was too vague.