Complete List of Business Conferences, Seminars, and Expos in the Philippines

Last Updated on – Feb 28, 2023 @ 5:47 am

Attending conferences, seminars, and expos is a great way to update and enrich your knowledge and skills in your field.

It gets you out of the daily work grind, exposes you to different perspectives, and lets you form professional relationships with people in the same industry. 

There’s so much value in joining live events. While webinars and online courses have become increasingly popular these days, nothing beats the kind of interactions you get on a face-to-face basis. 

Keep reading if you want to know more about conferences and other similar events and how they can help you achieve your personal, business, and career goals.

What is a Business Conference?

A business conference is a gathering of professionals working in the same industry to discuss new trends and opportunities in a particular business aspect, such as manufacturing, marketing, sales, customer service, and human resources management.

Typically, business conferences have several resource speakers who are experts or known personalities in the related field. 

What is a Seminar?

A seminar is a type of conference that equips attendees with new knowledge or skills on a certain topic. 

Seminars are often confused with workshops. While there are events that combine both in one setting, a seminar is different from a workshop. 

Seminars are more of the lecture-type events where various speakers give a talk or presentation about different subtopics under an overall theme. The objective of a seminar is to inform. 

Workshops offer a more hands-on and interactive experience for participants. These events consist of demonstrations and group or individual activities where attendees are expected to contribute their ideas or insights. 

What is an Expo?

An exposition or expo is a large event where a variety of companies from a specific industry participate to network with potential stakeholders, including customers, suppliers, and prospective job candidates. 

For visitors, an expo offers an opportunity to discover options when it comes to brands, products, services, suppliers, or distributors in a particular industry.

Also called trade fairs or trade shows, expos typically feature product displays, live demos, discussion sessions, seminars, and sponsored booths. An expo may be held as part of a conference that runs for two or more days.

What is a Convention?

Generally speaking, a convention is a large annual gathering of people with a common interest or delegates representing various groups.

Conventions held in the Philippines can be classified into career-oriented and hobby-oriented events. 

There are formal conventions that gather professionals in a particular field like engineering, science, and technology. 

On the other hand, some conventions are geared toward enthusiasts in areas like comic books (aka Comicon), anime, cosplay, pop culture, or gaming. These events usually feature activities like meet and greet, presentations, Q&A sessions, and booths.

What are the Benefits of Attending Conferences, Seminars, and Expos?

There are at least six good reasons attending events like conferences, seminars, and expos is worth your time and money.

1. Learning Opportunities

People attend conferences mainly for its educational aspect—to gain new knowledge and enhance skills.

In a conference, attendees are exposed to new industry trends and best practices that can spur their career and/or personal growth, or improve their business operations. 

Whether you’re a newbie or a veteran in your field, you can learn something valuable from a conference.

It could include insights from thought leaders, new techniques and strategies, lessons from an individual’s or company’s success or failures, and more.

2. Gaining New Ideas and Approaches

Conferences spark innovation by starting an exchange of new ideas and approaches.

They also enable participants to gain a fresh perspective through learning at a different venue—away from the usual office cubicle—which is critical for thinking outside the box.

3. Networking with Industry Experts and Peers

Conferences are a venue for meeting new people in your field, so attending them can help build your professional network and form collaborations in the future.

Who knows, you might meet your future customer, supplier, employer, mentor, or even life-long friend in the next conference you’ll attend.

Attending conferences also allows catching up with like-minded peers you haven’t connected with in a while.

Is a conference speaker someone you admire? It’s also a perfect chance to meet and talk to the expert or influencer you’re looking up to—and even take a selfie with!

4. Discovering New Products or Partners

Visiting trade fairs is a good idea if you need to find the best suppliers and service providers for starting or growing your business, or if you just want to explore your options.

Some companies that join trade shows are also on the lookout for prospective employees.

So if you’re considering to change careers or employers, then you can increase your chance of getting hired when you drop by the booths of those companies.

5. Seeing What Your Competitors are Doing

This is a good but less talked about benefit of joining expos as a visitor.

Such events expose participants to the different players in the industry they’re in, so entrepreneurs can get a glimpse of their competitors and observe how they do business.

6. Investing in Your Growth

Ultimately, all the benefits of attending conferences and similar events lead to one thing: self-development.

When you go to a conference, you’re investing in yourself, your company, and your career.

List of Business Conferences, Expos, and Seminars in the Philippines (2019 – 2020)

14 Tips on Attending Conferences, Seminars, and Expos

You or your company spend money and time for conferences and other events, so it’s important to ensure that you make the most out of your every attendance. 

Here are tips to help you maximize the benefits of attending conferences, seminars, or expos.

1. Know your goal

What do you want to get out of the conference? Is it to learn from the speakers? Build partnerships with potential clients and suppliers for your company? Meet a specific keynote speaker?

Set your agenda before you leave for the conference, so you can make a plan on how you’ll approach the event and which people to talk to.

2. Do your research beforehand

Coming unprepared is a waste of your time and money you’ve paid for the conference.

It may also cause a lot of hassle, confusion, and embarrassment. 

Days before the event, check the organizer’s website or Facebook page for the important details such as the topics to be covered, venue, schedule, and background on the resource speakers. 

3. Register early

Slots in some of the more popular events get filled up pretty fast. So as soon as you can, register for a conference, seminar, or expo that you want to attend.

Early registration can also save you money. Most event organizers offer early bird rates (which are significantly lower than on-site/walk-in fees) to those who sign up months before the actual event.

4. Book your flights and/or accommodation in advance

If the event is in Manila and you’re coming from a faraway province like Cebu or Davao, make arrangements for your flights and hotel accommodation as early as possible. 

Preparing these essentials early on will save you from the stress and hassle of finding available flights and hotels on the day of the event.

Nowadays, it’s quick and easy to find and book travel needs online, so you should be able to take care of them before you leave for the event.

5. Let people know you’ll be out of the office

Especially for events that run for more than two days, you need to set an out-of-office reply so that your colleagues or clients know why you won’t be able to respond immediately.

If possible, refer them to a colleague for urgent concerns.

Doing so not only shows professionalism but also prevents you from losing your focus and getting distracted and pressured to reply to email messages. 

6. Bring some business cards

When networking at a conference, handing out a calling card is a lot faster and more convenient than writing down someone’s contact details on paper or entering their number on your phone.

Don’t forget to bring a couple of business cards (at least 10) with you to a conference. 

7. Dress appropriately

In most conferences and similar events, guests are expected to come in business or smart casual attire. That means you won’t be allowed to enter if you’re wearing sleeveless tops, shorts, or slippers. 

To avoid embarrassment and wasting your time, know what the dress code is.

If the event website doesn’t specify anything about the required attire, check its photo gallery to see what the attendees wore in the past event.

8. Steer clear of distractions

If you’re sneaking in some work during the coffee break or while the speaker is talking, you’re missing out on the opportunity to learn and network in a conference. 

Resist the urge to check your work email or phone during the event. If you have to live-tweet about the conference, limit the time spent on your phone for a few minutes or so.

Ideally, put your mobile phone in silent mode to avoid distracting other attendees. If you have to take an important call, quietly step out of the room.

9. Write down notes, but only when necessary

Event organizers usually provide soft copies of the speakers’ presentations to the attendees after the conference. So you don’t have to take down notes of everything the speaker is saying—just the key takeaways will do. 

Also, refrain from taking pictures of powerpoint slides too often, as it will be distracting to your fellow attendees.

10. Engage with other participants and speakers

No matter how introverted you are, it pays to spend some time mingling with the people around you at a conference. Network with people before the session begins and over lunch and coffee break. 

How do you do that exactly? Start by introducing yourself and describing what you do. Then ask the other attendee about himself/herself. 

Also, don’t be afraid to stand up and ask questions during the open forum or Q&A session.

Apart from getting your question answered, you can also gain some exposure (both for yourself and your company) when you introduce yourself before asking your question.

11. Be an active participant

Some conferences and seminars have group activities, from serious brainstorming sessions to fun ice-breaker games.

Don’t hesitate to speak up and contribute your ideas—and even crack some light jokes when appropriate. 

12. Use social media for networking

Boost your networking efforts by being active in social media conversations (i.e., live-tweeting, using and following the event hashtag, liking and commenting on posts, etc.) about the conference.

It’s a great way to reach out to and get noticed by industry peers.

13. Share your learnings

When you get back to work, make time for sharing what you’ve learned from a recent conference with your colleagues. You can share it in an upcoming team meeting or simply via email.

This way, you’re helping others with the new knowledge you’ve gained and establishing yourself as a proactive team member.

You can also post about your learnings on social media. If you have a blog, consider writing about your experience, realizations, and thoughts about the latest conference you attended.

14. Create an action plan

After putting the things you learned in writing, you’re now ready to develop a plan for applying them to your work, business, or personal life. 

For example, how do you plan to implement the new strategies you’ve picked up from a conference with your team? What will be your goals?

Regardless of what you plan to do, be sure that you’re getting the most out of your learnings from the conference and putting them into good use.