The follow up that actually lands
You met eleven people. You go home, you feel good, and the next morning you send eleven versions of the same message.
Great to meet you last night. Let me know if I can ever be useful.
That message is polite, sincere, and completely inert. It asks nothing, offers nothing specific, and gives the recipient no reason to reply today rather than never.
The three parts
A follow up that works has exactly three things in it:
- Proof you were listening: one detail only they would recognise, such as the thing they said about the launch date. "Great chat" proves nothing.
- Something delivered. The link, the name, the answer, attached or written out rather than promised.
- One small question, if there is a genuine one. If there is not, do not invent one.
Four or five sentences. No preamble.
What that looks like
You mentioned you were choosing between doing the event in November or waiting until February. The thing I would weigh: November gets you in front of people while budgets still exist, February gets you a better room. We went through this and picked the worse room, and I think that was right. Also, the person I mentioned is Sarah, here is her profile. Happy to introduce if useful.
That gets answered, because there is something in it for them.
Timing
Next morning is best. Two days is fine. A week is the edge, and after that you need to acknowledge the gap rather than pretending it did not happen.
Never that same night. It reads slightly frantic, and you will write worse at midnight than you will at nine.
The ones you did not really speak to
You do not have to write to everyone. A follow up to someone you exchanged nine words with is transparently a list exercise, and they will file it accordingly.
If you want to reach them, wait and reach them with something real later. Four good follow ups beat eleven mediocre ones every time.
Do not ask for the meeting yet
The temptation is to convert immediately. Resist it for one round. The first message earns the right to the second, and a request for thirty minutes from someone you met once is an ask most people quietly decline by not replying.