The only indicator of whether the trip will be worth the time and money is the meetings I have set up beforehand. My go/no go criteria is this - at least five decent meetings and one excellent meeting set up before I get on the plane. To hit this number, I start working it about three weeks before the conference. I'm looking over the speaker list and the exhibitor list for my prospects or big customers, and I'm emailing my contacts at those companies to see if they are going. Here are sample sales emails for setting up conference meetings ahead of time.