How to Get the Most Out of Conferences
Attending a conference can be a smorgasbord of opportunity. But make sure to plan your menu first. Otherwise, you might end up having too much salad and be full once it’s time for the main course. Get-It-Done Guy explains.
Getting good value out of a conference is as much a science as it is an art.
This past New Year’s I had the chance to attend a really cool event. It was like a TED conference, but without the attitude. Accomplished people from all walks of life got together and give presentations to each other, talk, laugh, drink, and, of course, put together a completely participant-created variety show as our New Year’s entertainment before the almost-all-night dance party. It’s great fun!
Some attendees only go once. Melvin didn’t like it. He complained, “I didn’t make a single good networking connection. We just talked, laughed, drank, and danced. What a waste of time!”Â
This year, I was waffling. Do I sing with the chorus in the variety show? We sing new words to existing songs. We might take “Tradition” from Fiddler on the Roof and sing it as “Election! Election!” Then they said we were singing a song to the tune of “Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen. It opens with a brief a cappella number, and earlier this year was my first experience singing tight harmonies.
How could I resist? This was my chance to sing a capella in front of 1,000 people. How cool is that? (Pentatonix, if you’re listening, I want to be Mitch’s understudy.)
When it was time to leave, however, my business card Ziploc was almost empty. (Check out my episode on how to keep business cards organized when you travel for details on the Ziploc).Â
Puzzling. Most of the time, it has 10-30 cards from this event, and at least a couple of those people become close friends over the years. This year, no new close friends!!! Tragedy! How could this happen? I’ll tell you how – poor planning.
Know Your Priorities Before a Conference
Before you attend a conference, spend a few minutes getting clear about your priorities. Look over the conference schedule and identify the sessions that will help you reach your goal.
My priority at this event is to make friends. The sessions that help with that are the interactive sessions. The more we have group discussions, the more my natural Get-It-Done Guy awesomeness connects with other people’s Astrophysics awesomeness, or Mix-Media-Art awesomeness, or Entrepreneurial awesomeness. (That’s a lot of awesome in one place!)
See also:Â 3 People You Have to Meet at Any Networking Event
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Once we’ve met at a discussion, it’s important to have time to hang out in the hotel lobby chatting, to deepen our connection. Singing isn’t group discussion, nor does it give one-on-one time that an introvert like me needs to connect with others.
As much fun as it was to sing a cappella in front of some of the most famous sexologists in the world, I can sing at home. All it takes is a few phone calls to local musicians, the offer of free pizza, and a large bottle of scotch, and we have a passable rendition of “Little Drummer Boy” (are you listening, Pentatonix? Seriously. Rum pum pum pum).
But meeting and making new friends is why this conference is my favorite. The short-term lure of Queen hijacked my priorities! Two hours a day of rehearsal used up all the time in the schedule for meeting and connecting.
When Faced With a Decision, Review Your Priorities
There was really no hijacking involved. It was all about decision-making. When the question came up, “To sing, or not to sing?” The only considerations were how much fun the singing would be.
What I’d be missing, in terms of my other priorities, never came to mind. Epic fail.
Once you’ve laid out your event priorities, when decisions come up, refer to that list. If your list says “meet at least 10 new people,” then choose sessions that will help you meet new people. If your list says “sing “Bohemian Rhapsody” to sexologists,” you’ll choose different sessions. As a general rule, seek out experience, knowledge, and connections that you can’t get at home. Otherwise, why bother going to a conference?
When attending a conference, make sure you get what you came for.
You Can Split Your Priorities
Sometimes, you want a mix. You might want to be sure you meet new people, but leave yourself some flexibility, in case something truly amazing comes up, like singing the a cappella version of the entire Star Wars soundtrack to an audience full of Ewoks.
In that case, you can make your top priority “Make 10 friends.” Then your second priority can be “Sing a song.” And your third priority would be “Make 5 more friends.” Now you have plenty of incentive to make your first batch of friends, so you can get straight to the Ewoks.
When you’re attending a conference, don’t just show up and attend what looks interesting. Have a reason for being there, a reason that involves something you can’t do in your daily life.
Choose your sessions accordingly and pass up things in favor of things that will accomplish your purpose. If you want to mix it up, divide your priorities and then mix and match.
But if you’re going to attend a conference, make sure you get what you came for. If Melvin had gone to panels about his profession, rather than Dr. Ruth’s “Toy Tips for Soon-to-be-Newlyweds,” he might have made the professional contacts he wanted.
I’m Stever Robbins. I help people accelerate their careers, create a strong personal brand, and generally kick butt in their professional lives. If you want to know more, visit SteverRobbins.com.
About the Author
Stever Robbins was the host of the podcast Get-it-Done Guy from 2007 to 2019. He is a graduate of W. Edward Deming’s Total Quality Management training program and a Certified Master Trainer Elite of NLP. He holds an MBA from the Harvard Business School and a BS in Computer Sciences from MIT.Â
