I started State of Social in 2018 with a program in mind. What I didn’t plan for was how much of it would happen in between the sessions.

There’s a moment every year that I love. A session finishes, the doors open, and the noise jumps. Two people who walked in as strangers are still debating the last slide on their way to the coffee queue. Someone is writing down a name. Someone else is saying “send me that”. That’s the community. It doesn’t have a membership card or a logo. It’s the people who do this work, in one place for two days, telling each other the truth about it.

Social is a lonely job

In plenty of businesses, the social media person is a team of one. You’re the one who knows why reach dropped on Tuesday. You sat through the comments when a post went sideways. You get asked to “just make it go viral”. The people around you are lovely. They just don’t know what you know.

That’s who State of Social is for. Not an audience. Peers. People who nod when you describe the thing that broke, because it broke for them too.

“A sense of community (lame I know), to know that other social professionals are facing the same challenges”

SOS25 | Delegate

What the recording can’t give you

Every session is filmed, and All Access and Online ticket holders can watch them back. So it’s fair to ask why anyone bothers sitting in the seat.

The answer is everything the camera misses. The speaker who tells you over coffee what they couldn’t put on a slide. The person from a business twice your size who had your exact problem last year. The agency you’ll call in March because you sat next to them at lunch. None of that makes the recording. It only happens if you’re there.

Where it happens

There’s no sign-up and no secret handshake. You’re part of it the moment you start talking to someone, and the two days are built to make that easy.

The coffee queue. Hunt And Brew pours from first thing, and the line is the easiest small talk of the day. Everyone’s there for the same reason and nobody’s in a hurry.

Rub Shoulders. Sit down at a Rub Shoulders table and there’s no speaker, no slides and nobody at the front. Just a topic, a few chairs and whoever turned up. Quite often that’s the person who solved your problem eight months ago.

“It was incredibly beneficial to have a table of like minded people dealing with the same issues helping and listening to each other… I was still gasbagging to someone from another organisation all the way to lunch.”

SOS26 | Delegate

The session you just sat through. The best opener at State of Social costs nothing: “What did you think of that?” Everyone has an opinion, and nobody minds being asked for it.

Lunch. Sit with people you don’t know. That’s the whole tip.

The chillout lounge. Not every good conversation is a loud one. The lounge is there for a breather, and it’s a good spot for the slower kind.

The Barkout Session. Rescue puppies from Dogs’ Refuge Home at the end of day one, for a gold coin donation. It is very hard to be awkward while holding a puppy.

The sundowners. Drinks at the end of the day, when the sessions are done and the conversation isn’t.

How to be part of it

Come on your own. It’s completely normal, and arriving solo means you talk to more people, not fewer.

“I made some great connections, go it solo, don’t bring a buddy.”

SOS25 | Delegate

Say hello first. Most people are waiting for someone else to go first. Be that person. Your lanyard carries your name, job title and company, so half the introduction is done before you open your mouth.

Leave the pitch at home. Nobody here wants your elevator pitch. They want to know what you’re working on, what’s working and what isn’t. Curiosity is enough of an opener.

Share what broke. Speakers at State of Social show their work, the wins and the bits that went wrong. The best conversations in the breaks do the same. Tell someone about the campaign that flopped and watch how fast they pull up a chair.

Introduce people. If you’ve met two people who should know each other, put them together. It’s the most generous thing you can do at a conference, and people remember who did it.

Take a breather. You don’t have to be on for two days straight. Step out, sit in the lounge, skip a sundowner if you need to. Everyone will still be there tomorrow.

Follow up the week you get back. A conversation over coffee only counts if it carries on. When you connect on LinkedIn, say what you talked about, not just hi.

Everyone was new once

“As an introvert, I was nervous attending alone, but I needn’t have been. Everyone was so friendly and welcoming, I found a group of other soloists within the first half hour of arriving.”

SOS24 | Delegate

Every person laughing at a Rub Shoulders table walked in for the first time once. It can feel like everyone already knows each other. They don’t. They just know how it works, and now you do too.

Not sure where to go or who to talk to? Ask anyone on the State of Social team. That’s what they’re there for.

See you in the coffee queue

The program changes every year. New speakers, new ideas, new things to argue about. The people are what keeps it going, and there’s always room for one more.

I’ll be the one with the Texan accent. Come and say hi.

First time? Start with the first-timer’s guide.