My Recipe for Success at a Conference? Homemade Shortbread.

Authentic Moments Create Lasting Impressions

Future Proof 2025 was the first financial services conference I attended where I wasn’t attending as a sponsor. Instead, I’m seeking a new career opportunity. Different objective. Different pitch. Different value proposition.

In preparing for the event, I did my usual work of checking out the agenda, reviewing attendee lists, deciding who I wanted to meet with, and thinking about what shoes would help me survive 3 days of 16,000+ steps. But one thing kept bugging me. Swag.

In my previous roles I’ve selected conference giveaways, always pushing for a clear tie-in to the event. But obviously I wasn’t going to be purchasing custom Yeti tumblers or golf balls to carry around in my bag. I felt like I needed something – a memorable moment – to help me warm up conversations and leave a lasting impression beyond the event.

So, I thought of something easily packable, inexpensive, and most importantly, an authentic representation of me. I baked.

My mother was born in Dundee, Scotland, and one thing that’s been a universal constant in my life has been tea and shortbread.

So, I made enough to create 45 bags of shortbread, each sealed with a custom label that included my name and contact information. As a marketer, it became a way of demonstrating my personal brand of creative thinking and strategy in 3 seconds or less.

And it worked. Handing someone the little package became an easy ice breaker, an opportunity for my connections to easily update info in their phones in real time, and to create a memorable moment I can refer back to the next time I meet with someone.

While my grandmother knows there’s a tiny corner of the internet where her recipe will be just a little bit famous, I’m delighted to think that a simple family recipe may be the key to my next career move.

What’s the most memorable or authentic moment you’ve experienced at a conference or event?