????上周大部分時間，我都在紐約市94號碼頭參加TechCrunch Disrupt大會。筆者上次來到這里是在幾個月之前，當時是出席一場現代藝術展，主角是時髦的畫家和雕塑家，如今，看到的卻是一群群天才編碼員，這簡直就是“時光穿越”般的經典紐約時刻。

????據筆者猜測，與會的公司多達60家，因此，筆者很難做到面面俱到，而這些公司要想吸引投資者駐足也并不容易。

????有些公司成功吸引了投資者，而有的公司卻不如人意。在大會上，如何獲得投資者的青睞？筆者總結出了成功公司的3條策略，以及2條禁忌：

成功策略：舉行比賽

????免費的東西人人愛。此外，比賽這種形式總能吸引人們的眼球。筆者經過一個展臺時，一位創業者問道：“打擾了，能問一下您的手機里存了多少聯系人嗎？”

????聽起來是個很安全的問題。“我不知道。很多吧。”

????他的回答是：“如果您愿意查看一下，我會將您存入我們的數據庫，聯系人最多的人將贏得一臺iPad平板電腦。”

????接下來的幾分鐘，我們數了數我手機里的聯系人（發現一共有4,470個），這個過程中，他沒有提到一丁點與其業務相關的話題。但接下來，我們的對話卻很自然地轉移到他的創業項目上，原來，聯系人管理空間正是他的項目。

????我認為，這是一種非常聰明的策略。希望我能贏得獎品。

成功策略：展臺始終保持3 - 4名工作人員

????展臺中一定要有一名可以自由走動的工作人員，負責招呼路過的參觀者。如果只安排1到2名工作人員，他們可能沒空招呼新訪客，結果新來的訪客要么尷尬地在一旁等待，要么干脆離開。如果安排3 - 4名工作人員，就能保證始終有一個人接待訪問展臺的客流，并確保所有訪客都得到熱情的接待。

成功策略：在最大的LCD屏幕上，循環播放公司演示視頻

????在進入有大量展臺的會場后，筆者首先做的就是四處走走，看看有沒有感興趣的東西。筆者屬于純粹的圖像認知類型，目的就是大體了解一下會場的情況，然后優先安排自己的時間。公司的營銷材料必須在5 - 10秒鐘內吸引我的注意力，所以，他們需要清楚演示自己的創業項目。

????I spent much of last week at Pier 94 in NYC, attending TechCrunch Disrupt NY. The last time I was at Pier 94 was for a modern art show, so it was a bit strange seeing a bunch of developers hanging out where hipster painters and sculptors stood only a few months before. Truly a unique NY moment of quasi-deja vu.

????With (I'm guessing) ~60 companies on display, it was hard for me to cover all the ground I wanted and, conversely, hard for the companies to flag down the right investors.

????Some companies were great at attracting the right type of attention. Some were not. I wrote down 3 things the best ones did, and 2 things I wouldn't recommend repeating:

DO: Run a contest.

????Everyone loves free stuff. Moreover, contests are a great way to draw someone in. I walked by a booth, and a founder asked, "Excuse me, but how many contacts do you have in your phone?"

????Innocent enough question. "I don't know. A lot."

????His reply: "Well, if you look it up, I'll put it in our database, and the person with the most contacts wins an iPad."

????We spent the next few minutes figuring out how many contacts I have in my phone (4,470 it turns out), not talking about his business. After we were done, however, the conversation flowed very naturally into what he was working on, which turned out to be in the contact management space.

????I thought this was a clever ruse. Hopefully I'll win something as a result.

DO: Have 3-4 people at the booth at all times.

????You should always have one person free at your booth to greet passers by. This is hard to do if you only have 1-2 people because they both will get occupied, leaving new visitors the choice of awkwardly standing by waiting to talk to you, or simply walking away. Having 3-4 people will almost always result in your having a free body to manage the flow of new visitors to your booth and make sure all are welcome.

DO: Get the biggest LCD screen you can find and run your demo on a loop.

????The first thing I do when I enter a conference with a lot of demo tables is walk the floor looking for something that catches my eye. I am in pure pattern recognition mode, and my goal is to get a lay of the land, in order to prioritize my time. Your marketing materials have about 5-10 seconds to catch my attention on this loop, so they need to clearly demonstrate what you do.