How to Get the Most Out of a Conference May 7, 2009
Posted by B.J. Schone in eLearning.Tags: conference, Conferences, DevLearn, DevLearn2009, eLearning, eLearningGuild, InstructionalDesign, Learning, productivity, ProfessionalDevelopment, Training
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Conferences have been on my mind quite a bit lately. I will be presenting a session on mobile learning at the Corporate University Summit in a couple weeks in Chicago, and I’m getting ready to submit a proposal or two for DevLearn. So you can see why I was pleasantly surprised today when I ran across an excellent blog post on how to get the most out of a conference. The post is by Dan McCarthy, and he wrote it over on his Great Leadership blog. Here’s a summary of his suggestions:
- Choose your conference wisely.
- Take time to to explore and experience the surrounding area.
- Try to suspend your judgement, be open minded, curious, and open to possibilities.
- Watch your diet and stay fit.
- Force yourself to network.
- Don’t be one of those attendees that race up and down the trade show isles with a shopping bag, avoiding eye contact with the vendors, and grabbing handfuls of useless junk.
- Keep a running list of ideas, insights, and action items; your key take-a-ways from each day.
- Have fun, but be on your best behavior.
- Ship your stuff back to your office.
- Don’t forget to thank your manager for allowing you to attend.
- Share something with your team or coworkers.
- If you can, offer to be a presenter, break-out facilitator, discussion moderator, or any opportunity to get involved.
Read Dan’s full post, How to Get the Most Out of a Conference, for more information on each of his suggestions. And if you see me at a conference, please stop and introduce yourself!
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